A few questions

[pottolom]

A couple of weeks back I decided it was time to move on a step from kit brewing. My original intention was to try an extract brew, but after doing some reading I decided to throw caution to the wind and go all-grain, using a mini-BIAB method. I bought a few bits of kit, some ingredients and did my first brew this weekend - a hoppy IPA - and don't seem to have encountered any major hitches. Obviously the proof is in the drinking, but it's in the fermenting bin now and the airlock is bubbling away nicely.

One issue I did have, though, was that it took a long time. Pretty much a whole day. It got me thinking - it would be a lot easier for me if I could stretch the process out over several weeknights. By the time I get home from work (long commute!), my weeknights are a write-off anyway, there's no time to do that much with them, but I do usually have 2-3 hours to spare. If I could do this over the week, it would save me using a whole day to brew over a weekend. My idea would be to do the following:

Weeknight 1: mash
Weeknight 2: boil, then leave to cool with lid on stockpot overnight
Weeknight 3: siphon into fermenter, aerate and pitch yeast

My questions are as follows:

- Is there any reason the above wouldn't work?
- After mashing, if I am leaving it overnight, would it be better to leave the grains in the bag inside the pot as the mash cools? Bearing in mind that this would mean they'd be in there 24 hours. Or would it be better to remove the grains from the mash after 90 mins and then just leave the sweet wort alone in the pot?
- Is it safe to leave the wort post-boil in the stock pot for 24 hours, or am I seriously risking infection? Bearing in mind the stock pot lid will be on?

Cheers!

[Twistedfinger]

Weeknight 1: mash
Weeknight 2: boil, then leave to cool with lid on stockpot overnight
Weeknight 3: siphon into fermenter, aerate and pitch yeast

1: Overnight mashing is possible and some guys have/do do it.
2: Boil then cube, this is called no chill and is widely practised. Do a search on "No Chilling" /"No Chill". Although some guys do "no chill" in the kettle so this is what you are proposing.
3: This can be delayed until your ready by no chilling in a cube.

[themadhippy]

instead of an overnight mash start the mash off as your leaving for work,boil it up when you get home

[pottolom]

[quote="themadhippy"]instead of an overnight mash start the mash off as your leaving for work,boil it up when you get home[/quote]

I couldn't really do that. I found I had to add heat to the mash (whilst lifting the bag/grains to prevent a burn) a couple of times during the 90 mins to keep it at around 65-66 degC. Of course, I could insulate the stockpot, but I'd prefer to avoid having to buy/take up more space with any more equipment if I can.

[bigchris]

I think your proposed method would be fine. I'd be inclined to put the stockpot lid on for the last couple of minutes of the boil, just to steralise the inside of the lid and all the air inside, then leave to cool overnight, perhaps cover with a clean tea-towel or similar. Next night syphon into the FV.

Chris

[Jocky]

I think my issue with multi-day brews is that I end up spending even more time sanitising and cleaning things as I have a shared brewspace (kitchen) and can't leave everything a mess in between. Also I like to get stuff clean rather than giving bacteria a chance to get going on something before I clean it.

As Twistedfinger says, no-chill is a good option, but I'd think about your brew day steps and think about how you can plan it better to reduce the time between the major steps (mash, boil, transfer) by preparing ahead of time for your next step. If your mash is 90 minutes and the boil 60 minutes, where is the rest of your time going beyond 2.5 hours?

Some of my tips:

• Set up as much as you can the night before so the moment you wake up you can just turn on the heat and your water gets up to temperature while you wake up/have breakfast/shower.
• If you have an electric heater you could even put that on a timer so it's hot when you get up.
• Starsan, starsan, starsan. It seems pricey, but I defy anyone to say that the cost of that plus the odd 5 litre bottle of supermarket water to use with it does not return its value several times over in time saved.
• Sanitise your equipment all together at the start. A trigger spray bottle with starsan solution is essential.
• Keep everything sanitary during brewing. A washing up bowl with half an inch of starsan solution in it is a quick place to dump any equipment and keep it sanitary.
• Clean your equipment all together at the end.

[Clibit]

If you have a combi boiler, use hot water to save a lot of time heating water up to mash and sparge temp.

If you do mini BIAB, presumably you are not boiling all the final quantity of beer, so you can add cold water. So by standing the pot in the sink in cold water and then adding to cold water you should be able to cool down pretty quickly.

Another option is to cool overnight, get up early and siphon and pitch yeast - doesn't take long, and less time for infection. I would be aiming to cool and pitch yeast before bed myself though - do the whole thing over two nights at the most.

[raiderman]

instead of an overnight mash start the mash off as your leaving for work,boil it up when you get home

I couldn't really do that. I found I had to add heat to the mash (whilst lifting the bag/grains to prevent a burn) a couple of times during the 90 mins to keep it at around 65-66 degC. Of course, I could insulate the stockpot, but I'd prefer to avoid having to buy/take up more space with any more equipment if I can.

I've stopped worrying about that. I chuck the malt in at around 75c, lag the boiler and shove a couple of towels over the lid and leave for 90m and on the basis I might end up with a drier beer because theres no temp control I always use carapils or oats to give some body and mouthfeel.

The big advantage of doing everything in the one pot should be speed. One of my offspriing has been home and drank me out of pale beer which I discovered sunday morning when I got back from golf and wanted a pint! I put the boiler on after lunch and was finished by six. Why is it taking you all day?

[raiderman]

and that included standing for an hour after the boil seeping hops