Advice Needed - Split Brew-day

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Robbo100

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Hi All,

I thought it worth asking for a quick bit of advice.

I am thinking of doing a split brew-day, where by I do the mash and collect the runnings on one evening and the boil the next evening (storing the pre-boil wort overnight in the garage where it is nice and cool).

Is there a limit in the time between the lautering and the boil which should never be exceeded? Clearly this is sugary water at this stage and any bacteria could grow quickly. Any advice would be very much appreciated.

Thanks

Robbo100
 
I've never done it but I don't see any reason why dropping the temperature to +/- 4 degrees and waiting for 24 hours should ruin a perfectly good wort.

We store stuff in the fridge at 4 degrees for days and sometimes weeks on end; and still eat it or drink it. :thumb:

Just a thought.

How many times have we seen people worrying that NOTHING has happened for 48 hours AFTER pitching a shedload of yeast into a wort at an ideal temperature for bacterial activity? :whistle:
 
I agree with Dutto. I've never done it preboil. I've boiled and pitched yeast the next day as I'm sure a few here have, but I'm sure there's no problem chilling or refrigerating overnight before boiling.


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Not my usual practice, but I have done this when time or events have got the better of me! :)
I've not had a problem. I don't foresee one either: even if a few wild yeast or bacterial spores or cells have found their way in. I don't think that any organism that will thrive in, and spoil, beer is likely to survive the 60min boil you're about to give it!
I've no real advice on a "safe time". This isn't really a time, but a function of both time and temperature. I still reckon, though, that you'd likely get away with it as long as there were no obvious signs - particularly smells - of a "wild" fermentation underway. Not good practice, though! :-?
 
I've one this myself and actually stepped it over three days.
Day 1 Mash and gather wort let cool with lid then cover with cling film.
Day 2 boil with hop additions and pour into water container/jerrycan with sealed lid as it will pasteurize due to heat.
Day 3 either change lid with premade airlock assembly which I have done and pitch yeast at which point it will have cooled or transfer to sterilised FV and pitch.
Try it yourself if you please but it does work 🍺

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Thanks guys.

I suppose that my main worry is that the malt grain is unlikely to be fully sterilised (although it will probably have been dried at fairly high temperatures). The mash will also be at temperatures very near the temperature that would kill all bacteria, so it should be pretty food-safe at the end of the process.

I will probably give it a go.
 
Your mash is preboil so no worries.When your boiling your wort this will sterilise and get rid of any unwanted hitchhiker's.

Agreed, and the 24 hours before the boil wouldn't be enough time for the small number of natural yeast to generate any off-flavours.

I think I will test the theory with my first attempt at making a Punk IPA clone. I have just taken out a second mortgage to purchase all the hops :lol:
 
Agreed, and the 24 hours before the boil wouldn't be enough time for the small number of natural yeast to generate any off-flavours.

I think I will test the theory with my first attempt at making a Punk IPA clone. I have just taken out a second mortgage to purchase all the hops [emoji38]
Funny downloaded Brewdogs recipe PDF last week and will certainly be testing a few of those 👍

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I had a look through their recipe pdf a while back, but could never justify spending that much money on a brew. It basically works out at nearly 50p a pint, which is a hell of a lot in comparison to an English style beer (A DMASH is normally the most expensive my brew general gets).

However, my wife bought me this book for Christmas which has Punk IPA listed. Clearly, if she bought me the book, then she is obviously completely pushing for me to make the brew (and spending the extra money) :-)

Who am I to defy her (on this particular case)? :-)
 
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I've just been looking in to this as thought I could remember reading of possible problems with cooling unboiled wort but couldn't remember what they were.
It seems that most people who have tried this there beer has turned out fine but you need to raise the temperature of the wort to mash out before cooling otherwise the enzymes keep working and you may end up with a thinner (but more alcoholic) brew.
 
Hmmm.

Alternatively, I wonder whether I could just have a really long mash.

Could I put the liquor in the Mash Tun with the grain at 07:30, wrap it up really nice and tight and then sparge at 18:00? That would have me doing the boil by 20:00 and then finished by a reasonable time.
 
Hi all,

Just to feed back.

Firstly, thanks for all the advice. I have to admit, I ended up chickening out and going for a single day brew. I managed to get 50 pints done and everything tidied up in 5 hours. So, starting at 12:00 meant I was doing the boil while it was still light.

It is far more efficient doing it that way, and I am far less likely to get in trouble for making a mess twice!

Cheers
 
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