Should I try overnight mash?

[Siscokid85]

Mash cold overnight at 20c.
Start a temp uplift about early in the morning. Aim the end of mash to arrive at the same time as your first coffee

Warning. You may never go back to brewdays.
I dropped sparge & chill and my beer has only improved.

For 2000w and 29liters I allow 1min for 1°c increase in the temp. That isn't absolute, but it is vf close.

I use the 5 braumeister mash steps as a timer.

Hi mashbag. I have a BM and have tried overnighting before but I was worried about wortfountains. I held it at mash temp all night but it never occurred to leave it at 20 for the delay. Interested to hear more about how you do it. What kind of mash efficiency do you get doing over night?

Does mashing in at 20 cause more dough balls? And do you just have the pump running at 20 for the delay steps?

Also on your no chill, do you adjust hop addition timings? I generally use a hop sock so I could always remove at end of boil, to prevent the no chill impacting hop extractions etc. how do you clean your cube and sanitise it?

 

[Siscokid85]

Mash cold overnight at 20c.
Start a temp uplift about early in the morning. Aim the end of mash to arrive at the same time as your first coffee

Warning. You may never go back to brewdays.
I dropped sparge & chill and my beer has only improved.

For 2000w and 29liters I allow 1min for 1°c increase in the temp. That isn't absolute, but it is vf close.

I use the 5 braumeister mash steps as a timer.

Hi mashbag. I have a BM and have tried overnighting before but I was worried about wortfountains. I held it at mash temp all night but it never occurred to leave it at 20 for the delay. Interested to hear more about how you do it. What kind of mash efficiency do you get doing over night

Does mashing in at 20 cause more dough balls? And do you just have the pump running at 20 for the delay steps?

Also on your no chill, do you adjust hop addition timings? I generally use a hop sock so I could always remove at end of boil, to prevent the no chill impacting hop extractions etc. how do you clean your cube and sanitise it?

Sorry a lot of questions but appreciate any advice.

 

[peebee]

I'm always looking for ways to split up a brewday. I'm just not good at the "I've started, so I'll finish" routine any longer and "over-night mash" fits with that very well (the "I've started, so, ... I canna be bothered now; I'll finish it tomorrow" routine).

But I don't really "over-night mash"; and neither does anyone else ... really! The mashing enzymes just can't keep going that long at that heat. I don't know exactly how long the beta-amylase keeps going at 65C, but it's in the order of an hour or so. Alpha-amylase keeps going longer, so all the suggestions that over-night mashing increases efficiency isn't really what it suggests ... the fermentability hardly budges. Holding a dead-steady temperature all through the night is just a waste of effort.

So, I remove the grain, do the sparge (if this isn't the usual "no-sparge" brew - another of those tricks to shorten the workload) perhaps heat the wort to 75C to stabilise it - but I doubt it does any such thing - and then go to bed. The boil can wait until tomorrow. An easy option if using "one-pot" brewing systems. "Over-night mashing" ... more or less.



Next brew has the nice spanking-new "no-chill" cubes lined up - always looking for ways to cut a day's labours!

 

[peebee]

Does mashing in at 20 cause more dough balls? And do you just have the pump running at 20 for the delay steps?

No dough balls at all! Dough balls form because of a surrounding of gelatinised starchy stuff. 20C is well below the "Gelatinising" temperature.

 

[MashBag]

OK eyes down look in.

Hi mashbag. I have a BM and have tried overnighting before but I was worried about wortfountains.

That is a different issue. Fix the top disk and that will never happen.
You might have lit a blue tick paper with that question..
but I can honestly say I had just the one wort fountain and stopped it EVER happening again by putting a seal around the top disc to stop it moving... many brews and many years ago.

What kind of mash efficiency do you get doing over night?

Same. This is a process change to save huge amounts of time. Not a recipe change. The reason for the 20c is to retain original recipes and nn minutes mash parameters to ensure consitancy.

Does mashing in at 20 cause more dough balls? And do you just have the pump running at 20 for the delay steps?

No dough balls anywhere ever.

I invented & built the 3 fin mash paddle long before bac brewing, because you need to dough in slowly and mix the bugger properly. No I don't open the mash tube and stir during. But I do like the camurri build.

Pump runs like normal. I don't have an option to turn it off.

Also on your no chill, do you adjust hop addition timings?

Why would I. The boil (recipe) hasn't changed?

BUT MAKE SURE to remove all hops before leaving the kettle to "no chill"

Peebee.. Is this post longer than any of yours yet? FFS I need a beer now.

 

[MashBag]

But I don't really "over-night mash"; and neither does anyone else ... really! The mashing enzymes just can't keep going that long at that heat.

Absolutely. This is "cold holding and then an early morning mash". But to be fair that's a lot to type when you bang on about it as much as I do

 

[MashBag]

Beer

 

[Siscokid85]

OK eyes down look in.


That is a different issue. Fix the top disk and that will never happen.
You might have lit a blue tick paper with that question..
but I can honestly say I had 1 wort fountain, and stopped it EVER happening again by putting a seal around the top disc to stop it moving... many brews and many years ago.



Same. This is a process change to save huge amounts of time. Not a recipe change. The reason for the 20c is to retain original recipes and nn minutes mash parameters to ensure consitancy.



No dough balls anywhere ever.

I invented & built the 3 fin mash paddle long before bac brewing, because you need to dough in slowly and mix the bugger properly. No I don't open the mash tube and stir during. But I do like the camurri build.

Pump runs like normal. I don't have an option to turn it off.



Why would I. The boil (recipe) hasn't changed?

BUT MAKE SURE to remove all hops before leaving the kettle to "no chill"

Peebee.. Is this post longer than any of yours yet? FFS I need a beer now.

Thanks Mashbag, all makes sense. Appreciate your help and response.

What type of seal have you used? I have the bac brewing yield increase disc which is fixed, if I used that all the time would that have the same effect do you think?

To be honest I have had a wort fountain once and it was my own fault for doing a brew with a malt bill slightly under 4kg, it’s below what Speidel advise so my own fault, cured it by reducing the pump speed slightly, after a bit of loss on the floor.

 

[MashBag]

What type of seal have you used? I have the bac brewing yield increase disc which is fixed, if I used that all the time would that have the same effect do you think?

If you have a bac already spot on.

I have the standard disc, with a handmade silicon seal (small bore silicone hose cut down one side) just pushed on. It keeps the mesh and the disc together, snug fitting in the tube.

You can go sub 4kg when the upper disc is fixed.

You bac disc is also be good for sous vide. Bit more protection for the element.

 

[Birdsnestbrewery]

What's a "wort fountain"?

 

[MashBag]

It is a phenomenon unique to a braumeister. Because they are pumped from the bottom up, a compacted mash can create a channel(s) and the pump swirts wort out of the malt tube under pressure. Visually entertaining but the audio soundtrack can be quite explicit.

 

[Birdsnestbrewery]

Sounds fun