Mash tonight, boil tomorrow?

[Calum]

Is it a good idea or not?

My plan is to mash and sparge tonight. Leave the waort in the boiler for 18 hours and then start the boil off tomorrow.

Has anyone done this before? I've just put my mash water on so I have 40 minutes to be talked out of it.

[tubby_shaw]

I am pretty sure that the boil halts the enzyme activity.
It could be that leaving it unboiled overnight would give the amylase time to reduce the majority of dextrins to maltose. This would give you higher acohol content but thinner body.
There is also the slight chance of an infection setting in, which although it would be killed by the boil may leave off tastes
Finally theres the added cost of heating the wort from cold rather than from 70º C or so.
I am not trying to talk you out of it btw as I would like to know what happens

[vaudy]

I agree with all the points Tubb Shaw raised, especially with regard to the continuation of the enzymes converting.

Regards

Vaudy

[Calum]

Cheers Tubby,

I committed now, the water is nearly at the right temperature and the grain all measured out.

I'm quite excited as I was planning to brew next Friday as I have to take a day off for half term hols but I got in tonight and thought I'd go for it. Its like an extra treat.

As I said, I have the grain sorted, I just need to finalise the hops which means going to the freezer to see what I have! Once I have everything sorted out I will post the whole recipe.

[Calum]

I meant to add that I'll se how I feel after the sparge. If I'm not too tired I might just go the distance.

[tubby_shaw]

I meant to add that I'll se how I feel after the sparge. If I'm not too tired I might just go the distance.

Go for it
Stay up 'til its done and call it "Redeye"

[Calum]

Mash is now on. Managed to get 66.5C without any messing around so happy with that.

Batch Size: 23l

Grain
====
3.8kg Pale Malt
166gTorrified Wheat
250g Crystal Malt
22g Chocolate Malt

Hops
===
60g Challenger 60 mins
26g Hallertau 15 mins
13g Challenger 5 mins

Irish Moss

Yeast
====
Nottingham

At the weekend I tasted a great brew with a lovely floral nose. When I asked what the aroma was I was surprised when he told me it was Challenger.

[Calum]

That is exactly what I am doing DaaB. I'll leave it overnight in the garage to cool down and pitch the yeast in the morning.

Just waiting for the boil now. Shouldn't be too long.

[Calum]

Its surprisingly warm for the time of year but hopefully by the back of six things will be cool enough to pitch the yeast.

I have been left with just over 21 litres. I'm hoping that this will be a good session ale so I'll check and adjust to around 1040 in the morning.

Thanks for all the input lads. Although no-one actually told me not to carry through with my original plan I got the feeling that I was introducing a risk that wasn't worth it and it seemed to make more sense to soldier on and get the boil finished.

I came home from work wondering what I would doing. After a spur of the moment decision I now have 5 gallons of beer to look forward to. It must have been fate

Next brew is planned for the 9th (during the day).

[Calum]

I was tired last night, slept like a baby. My better half also informed me that I have full resposibility for the kids bedtime routine as my "

The beer had dropped to 29C over night adn I checked the gravity and it was 1043. As I was aiming for 1040 I added around 1.75 litres of water which gave me final stats of 23 (and a bit) litres @ 1040 measured at a temperature of 25C.

[Andy]

good work!

[guildofevil]

I have mashed on one night and boiled the next many times, with no trouble at all. It means that I can get more beers done.

As DaaB said, raising the temperature to mashout will end the enzymatic activity, but I don't normally bother and haven't had problems with thin tasting beers.

As to infection, I usually store the wort in a sealed, sanitised plastic bucket. Nasties don't get much of a chance to get established, as long as you don't leave it for too long and the boil will sterilise the wort anyway.

Chilling it over night and then pitching the wort in the morning gives you a greater chance of an infected beer, because, in the absence of yeast, nasties can get into the wort and as it won't be sanitised again, they get to remain in the beer doing their thing and competing with your yeast for the entire fermentation.

[Calum]

good info GOE.

I have always just let the beer cool overnight with the lid snapped over as I don't have an immersion wort chiller. I have never had any problems with this although I am aware of all the things that can go wrong.

I think an immersion chiller might be my aquisition.

[guildofevil]

There's not much of a risk anyway. You pitch a lot of yeast cells into a batch and they change the environment pretty quickly. Acidifying it and producing alcohol and co2 to make it hostile to most nasties. You just might get unlucky.

I built an immersion chiller from copper pipe and some bits of hose. It's ugly but it works well and didn't cost too much. If I can build one, anyone can, as I am NOT a DIY enthusiast and quite simply lack even the most rudimentary handyman skills.

[Calum]

I have a similar level of DIY ability.

I have it in my head that I can take a long length of 1/2 inch copper pipe, wrap in tightly around a cornie to get the appropriate diameter and then step each end up to a normal garden hose type connection. If I take that specification to the B&Q I'm sure one of the assistants would be able to point me in the direction of all the parts I need.