Mashing overnight???

I was thinking of mashing over night.... So it would be ready to lauter and rinse in the morning. Any thought on this?

There's lots of threads on it. Start with those in the similar threads box below. One of the guys has a great chart on fermentablilty based on temp used to overnight mashes. Just make sure your temp is overal maintained overnight, some folks wrap a sleeping bag around the tun to help

I think you will be extremely unhappy with the result unless you are doing a beer that needs a sour mash.

...unless you can keep the temp pretty high. Hoping it posts before a Revvy smack down.

Well it's not inparitive that I do it, I was just thinking it would save time on brew day tomorrow... But I guess I'll just get up a bit earlier. Thanks ya all

I've done several overnight mash batches. Love how it breaks up the brew day and gets most of it done while my kids are less active.

I will often fill my 10 gallon cooler mash-tun with as much of the mash water as possible. For a beer that is below around 1.060 I can do a no-sparge overnight mash. Basically mash in your grains with 8-9 gallons of strike water, drain to the BK in the AM and begin your boil. I get about 75% to 80% efficiency with these no sparge overnight mashes.

I think more strike water helps maintain temp in the cooler overnight. I also wrap my cooler with those big bubble wrap sheets that come in Northern Brewer packages and wrap/cover it with towels to help insulate it.

Your beer will attenuate more than a 60 minute mash at the same temp. Works great for a beer like a dry Irish stout, Munich Helles, or APA/IPA that you want to finish low. I target a mash in around 152 for those type of beers and my mash is usually around 140 after 8 - 10 hours. No issues with sour wort.

Give it a try and let us know what you think!

amaier48 said:

Well it's not inparitive that I do it, I was just thinking it would save time on brew day tomorrow... But I guess I'll just get up a bit earlier. Thanks ya all

Click to expand...

I just told you it's quite common, did you look at the other threads I suggested? I told you there's a ton of info about it. Right below these posts.

Enzymes become denatured with time and temp, according to the mash thickness. If the extract potential of the grain is 80%, no amount of mash time is going to increase the percentage. The minute gain from a long mash rest comes from when the hard parts of the starch, like the ones that are stuck in the tips of the grain, become softened and then absorbed into solution. If the enzymes aren't quite denatured they will convert the extra starch in solution to sugars. A decoction does the same thing by bursting the hard starch BB's, during the boiling phase, getting them into solution. Giving the enzymes more starch to work with. Hence, higher yield from a decoction using the same grain bill as an infusion.

VladOfTrub said:

Enzymes become denatured with time and temp, according to the mash thickness. If the extract potential of the grain is 80%, no amount of mash time is going to increase the percentage. The minute gain from a long mash rest comes from when the hard parts of the starch, like the ones that are stuck in the tips of the grain, become softened and then absorbed into solution. If the enzymes aren't quite denatured they will convert the extra starch in solution to sugars. A decoction does the same thing by bursting the hard starch BB's, during the boiling phase, getting them into solution. Giving the enzymes more starch to work with. Hence, higher yield from a decoction using the same grain bill as an infusion.

Click to expand...

Right. I think I am probably getting better extract conversion and slightly worse lautering efficiency with the longer mash and low/no sparge. Ends up being similar to the total mash efficiency I get from a 60 minute mash and batch sparge, but with a more fermentable wort. YMMV.