Is there any disadvantage to mashing/sparging in the evening , leaving the wort overnight and then starting the boil next morning and continuing as usual?
One advantage I can see is that the grain has more time to drain so you should have a bigger volume of wort.
Do many people do this?
Eoink
I would research the contamination risk.
The boil will kill everything, and a temp drop wont allow much of a window for anything to munch on your wort. I wouldn't overnight mash, and then wait too long the next day before boiling.
I would not be overly concerned - there are people who incorporate an overnight mash as part of schoolnight brewing.
A good few people do it, but it can lead to a very thin wort. Unless you mash out at least.
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If you mash out your wort will last for 48 hrs without boiling. just cover with starsan tinfoil or similar. Any longer than that & it'll start to go sour & that sourness wont boil or ferment out. It wont taste sour, it'll just stink of shite a bit.
Hie eoink,
I have done this for my last four batches as have some small fellas that I can't leave near anything. I sprague at night and leave wort in a fermentor until I boil. Haven't had any issues and makes brewing more relaxing. Last batch I first wort hopped mostly to see what it would taste like but also to make it less hospitable place for nasties as it rests overnight. Will probably add some hops after sparge in future for this reason.
Dara
I've done it a few times leaving my wort in the boiler overnight and not noticed any difference in the final product. The only disadvantage I can see is the use of extra time and electricity to heat the wort back up again.
I've done both overnight mashes and just leaving wort(post mashout) overnight. Only problem I've ever had was with too much attenuation resulting in thin beer but this was only with overnight mashing. I BIAB so it doesn't lose a huge amount if temp overnight and these days I always mash/mashout day1 and boil day2. If I want a thinner end product I mash overnight
I brew this way about 90% of the time, i.e. mash and sparge first night, boil, cool and pitch the second night. Never had any adverse effects in the resultant brews and they've definitely not over-attenuated either. Means I can brew on weeknights after the kids are in bed, freeing up weekends for family stuff.
As Dara, says, it's a more relaxing approach, so less mistakes are made.
Disadvantages? Extra leccy needed and the need to plan for 2 free consecutive evenings.
-Barry
Thanks for the advice everyone
My plan was to mash out say friday PM and continue first thing Saturday, that way not too much of Saturday is tied up. 12 or so hours should be too short for an infection to develope but I like the suggestion to add hops at that stage to make doubly sure.
I will try it tonight on a Chocolate Stout.
Eoink
@Eoink, it's a great idea. I can be nearly finished cleanup by 11am doing it this way
Quotebut I like the suggestion to add hops at that stage to make doubly sure.
Don't add all the 60min hops! I'd imagine it would only make a marginal difference to the risk of infection. But for an overall finished product, my experience was that it mellows the bitterness. However it gives no where near the perceived bitterness that a 60 min hop addition will give. OK this was my first time trying it, so very limited. What I intend on doing from now on (assuming I spread my brew over two days) is adding a small amount of hops after sparging and leave overnight for boil the next day. By a small amount I mean 15g/25L or less and keep all other hop additions the same (this is not for 'clean tasting' beers, got a grassy taste when I did this). I would design a beer as normal and ignore the fact that I lashed in these hops (may make a slight adjustment to bittering hops) - peoples views on this will differ.
Dara