Rather than stay up late tonight after work brewing I decided to mash while I'm at work. I have an expensive Yeti cooler that is very well insulated that I'm mashing in. I've mashed for extended periods of time before in it. Once I left it for a 4 hour mash when I got busy and I think I might have only lost 2 or 3 degrees the entire time. I mashed in at about 152 or so and I'll do the boil when I get off work this afternoon. It doesn't really "save" me any time but it's nice to mash while I'm at work or doing other stuff. I've done this once before and made on of my best IPAs so we'll see how this batch goes. Since my BIAB efficiency is generally a little low anyway these long mashes help with that too. I anticipate this IPA tasting every bit as good as my last one. I know there's lots of information on here about lacto and your beer souring and stuff but I think that's overblown and it's hard to beat splitting up the brew day. I even brought the strike water to temperature on the stovetop in my house rather than with my patio burner which saves me a little propane. There's a lot to like about this method in my opinion. If you're on the fence, try it.
Overnight mashing
- Thread starter Jim311
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I agree! Have done it many times with zero bad effects. Lacto effect is overblown. It takes 10-12 hours to even begin to have a slightest effect of lacto. (to get real sourness you need a few days at much lower temperatures). And lactobacillus is not very happy at 150F anyways (in fact most lacto strains cannot even survive above 140F!) - it works best closer to 110-120F. My regular Coleman Cooler can keep the temperature within a few F of the original 152F or whatever overnight. Some may want to tape the lid with duct tape and throw the blanket over to keep temperature from falling. Another fear is gelatinization as the temperature drops, but if you can keep it even >130F by the morning, it will be fine.
It does actually save time since you don't need to sit around for an hour or 90min waiting for conversion. Wakeup, start draining and boiling sparge water, and you can start boiling the wort within 20-30min or so.
Yeah, I just don't see how lacto could survive the initial mash in. To compensate for the thermal mass of the cooler and the grain I mash in with water somewhere around 166 degrees. I stir for a minute or two and eliminate dough balls and by then my temperature is usually somewhere around 152 degrees or so. If it isn't, I'll add a few ice cubes to bring it down. I just don't see how any bacteria could survive that initial shock of 166 degree water. Some pasteurization happens at even lower temperatures than that, and as long as the wort doesn't lose more than a few degrees of temperature it's going to stay very hot. I guarantee the grain bag will still be almost too hot to comfortably touch by the time I go to boil tonight. I just don't see how any bacteria is going to survive that.
I already owned it before brewing. It's usually the coffin for fish or scallops or my lunch on the boat. It just happens to have the side effect of being a really kick azz mash tun. Keeps beers cold a week, and your mash warm for way longer than necessary.
Ehhhhhh, fish flavored beer.... Just kidding
bucketnative
Well-Known Member
Mmmm... oyster stout.
Clam Chowder Porter with Bacon....
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