how long can the wort stay in the pot?

[mrjonnyp]

just wondering once you have collected the water from the mash tun and sparged it can you keep it in the pot for a few hours before boiling it?

[boingy]

Yup, it will be fine unless your few hours extends to a day or more, then you might have problems.
Of course, the longer you leave it the colder it gets and thus the more time and energy it takes to get it to the boil.

[Lime Corridor]

I regularly brew over two days leaving my collected wort in the boiler overnight ready for the next mornings big switch on. My beer has never had any ill effects.

LC

[mrjonnyp]

Thats good to know. my wife would never let me spend a full day on it because in her words "i have to spend time with the children"
thought mabe i could get it ready in the day and then boil it when they are in bed

[DerbyshireNick]

I am in pretty much the same boat, though to be fair I haven't been told in quite so certain terms.

I took to doing the mash the night before after they are in bed and then its only a 3-4 hour session first thing in the morning to boil, cool and get in the fv ready for pitching once its down to 18-20 (just how I do it)

I did used to stick it in the boiler ready but in the last brew i needed some seal to dry on a little leak around an element so kept it in a bucket over night. Even though I did all the usual recirculating allot of "dust" settled out over night (see my thread on this ill post some pics). So if your going to do this method I recommend using a bucket and settling it out too.There is no science behind this... just me noticing by accident and tasting that the resulting grain dust didnt taste great so it can only be a positive not to boil it.

[Fuggled Mind]

Thats good to know. my wife would never let me spend a full day on it because in her words "i have to spend time with the children"

Never really thought about the ethics of it all but my six year old daughter likes to help me with bottling. So long as she doesn't touch the bottling stick, I'm happy to let her do her bit.

Cheers

Jason

[norstar]

I've been told the same in no uncertain terms.

My solution was to teach my 8 month old how to brew by leading by example. Now I get to spend time with him and brew!