Overnight mash?

[LiverDance]

I've done lots of over nighters. I usually do it with IPA's or IIIPA's as it tends to give better attenuation. Try and keep the mash temp as much as possible by using a sleeping bag or something as insulation.

[jacinthebox]

OK, I'm going to rehash this thread. I have the rare opportunity to brew this weekend as the wife and kid are gone (first time ever!). So I'm going to brew the shit out of this weekend and I want to maximize my time and I'm considering overnight mashes.

Trevor - you still doing this? how did they turn out in the end?

For everyone else - have you done this yet? Any tricks/tips/advice/thoughts? Any styles you wouldn't mash overnight?

I may start tonight if the gods be with me.

do you still want/need my gear?

[GillettBreweryCnslt]

Tried it lots of times. Didn't like the results and stopped doing it.

Can you elaborate on what you didn't like about the results? What did you find was different from a 60 minute mash?

[GillettBreweryCnslt]

do you still want/need my gear?

Yes Sir. I'll txt you momentarily.

[dean2k]

I try to overnight mash when the stars align and I don't just start thinking about setting up for a morning brew at 11pm. Only done 'standard' OGs from 1.04x-1.06x but never had a problem.

[GuingesRock]

Tried it lots of times. Didn't like the results and stopped doing it.

Can you elaborate on what you didn't like about the results? What did you find was different from a 60 minute mash?

Sorry Dave, nothing specific. After kidding myself drinking it and saying this is good, I like Overnight Mashing. This beer is good. That went on for quite a while. Then one day I thought I don't like this so much, then that went on for a bit. Then I stopped doing it.

[GuingesRock]

I had a bit more time to try and think about this. Have you ever had a stew cooked in a slow cooker? It seems like a fantastic idea when you are both working, and “supper’ is ready when you get home from work, but you can’t really eat it. Our slow cooker is now on the floor, in the basement, and I feel like kicking it whenever I walk past it. To me the overnight mash beer taste is slightly like that.

I always did 90 minute mashes, but over the past month or two I got lazy and started doing 60 minute mashes, and I think the beer tastes better for it. I think taste is more important than a few more points of efficiency (and you may not even get that), especially when grain is so cheap.

Then you have the time thing. The mash is working overnight when you are sleeping, but that’s the slow cooker principal, it sounds like a great idea, but it’s only an hour you are saving, and it also takes longer to heat it up to the boil since it has cooled down overnight.

It won’t improve the taste of your beer, and may detract from it, but you have to try these things for yourself, everyone’s experience will be different, so I say go for it …and let us know.

I have a heat stick with a thermostat on it which will heat the mash water to the correct temperature and hold it there overnight or while I am at work. I throw in the grain in the morning and have my tea, or when I get home from work, it’s ready to mash in. I prefer that as a time saving thing. It beats sitting and waiting for mash water to heat up, and constantly running to keep an eye on the temperature, and often overshooting.

db_file_img_381900_166x166.jpg

[bluenose]

I love slow cooker food, especially pulled pork

[GillettBreweryCnslt]

Have you ever had a stew cooked in a slow cooker?

I understand what you're getting at with, that with a longer mash you risk extracting more tannins and producing a more astringent brew, and that with a long slow reduction in mash temp the beer would be drier then normal.

But you should really try my wife's slow-cooker stew, absolutely amazing!

[GuingesRock]

I love slow cooker food,

I'm a bit weird like you guys too. I like fridge burned cheddar. I deliberately leave the end unwrapped so I can eat that dried out, cracked slice on the end of the block. Drives everyone else nuts though ..."why do you never wrap the cheese properly"

I met someone once who was addicted to it also. He was 101 years old, so it can't be that bad for you, and he also survived being blown up in the Halifax explosion and was deaf as a post because of that. It was great to have a yell about it. I no longer felt alone. He always had a block of cheddar or two "ageing" in his fridge.

[mumblecrunch]

Edit: oops, nothing to see here; pocket post.

[GAM]

I don't think I've seen that before.

Sandy