Split brew day

[gavp1979]

Hello all,
This is my first post but been lurking for a while so first of all thank you for all.the help that you have unknowingly given me up to this point .

Finally got around to buying a boiler (the peco biab kit from the Homebrew company) and planning on my second brew day this weekend, problem is that I am struggling for time to fit it all in in one go so would it be possible to break the brew in half by doing the following:

• Saturday Morning: Heat strike water and mash to create my wort then remove grain, add lid to boiler and leave
• Saturday Afternoon/Sunday: Boil, Hops, Cool, Fermenter.

Is the above a viable option or am I asking for trouble? If the above is viable would I need to cool the wort after mashing or would it be fine because it is going to be boiled for an hour to kill any nasties?

Cheers,
Gav.

 

[GerritT]

• Saturday Morning: Heat strike water and mash to create my wort then remove grain, add lid to boiler and leave
• Saturday Afternoon/Sunday: Boil, Hops, Cool, Fermenter.

Is the above a viable option or am I asking for trouble? If the above is viable would I need to cool the wort after mashing or would it be fine because it is going to be boiled for an hour to kill any nasties?

Cheers,
Gav.

Welcome!

There is a thing, "no-chill" where brewers leave the mash overnight after a boil and let it cool down to 20º, so the yeast can be pitched in the morning.

Since you boil it after having it left for a while, the nasties that somehow managed to introduce themselves will be killed to death in the boil. The period AFTER the boil, the cooling window, is the risky one. But as I practice no-chill I can tell you that the odds are very small.

 

[gavp1979]

Welcome!

There is a thing, "no-chill" where brewers leave the mash overnight after a boil and let it cool down to 20º, so the yeast can be pitched in the morning.

Since you boil it after having it left for a while, the nasties that somehow managed to introduce themselves will be killed to death in the boil. The period AFTER the boil, the cooling window, is the risky one. But as I practice no-chill I can tell you that the odds are very small.

Thank you, that seems to go along with what I thought was logical, just wanted some confidence from more experienced brewers. Really looking forward to seeing what I can create

 

[GerritT]

Tip: keep it simple in the beginning, focus on process, don't start with huge malt and hop bills and triple decoctions, two malts and two hops should be sufficient. There are also SMaSH recipes: single malt, single hop.

Already got a book?

 

[Cwrw666]

You're only talking about a small window between the end of the mash and the beginning of heating for the boil. If you've got a lid on it you'll have no problems. Remember, mash temperature just happens to be the same as pasteurisation temperature, so just doing the mash has effectively de-bugged the wort.

 

[gavp1979]

Not got a book, I was going to follow the base recipe suggested by Harvey an this thread (https://www.thehomebrewforum.co.uk/threads/citra-brew-planned-and-looking-problem-solve.81733/) and hop with a mixture of citra and mosaic, my plan is to make a few brews using the same base and change hops/yeast one at a time so that I can see the effect, that really appeals to my geeky side

 

[GerritT]

Citra and Mosaic go well together :)
Citra might be a bit harsh as a bittering hop, so after your experiment with the hops you could try to shorten the boil to 45 minutes or even less, you use more hops to get the same IBU's but Citra seems to leave less rough edges.

There is a thread here somewhere that discusses books, you might look into it.

 

[gavp1979]

Citra and Mosaic go well together :)
Citra might be a bit harsh as a bittering hop, so after your experiment with the hops you could try to shorten the boil to 45 minutes or even less, you use more hops to get the same IBU's but Citra seems to leave less rough edges.

There is a thread here somewhere that discusses books, you might look into it.

I was going to use magnum as the bittering hoo

 

[gavp1979]

Citra and Mosaic go well together :)
Citra might be a bit harsh as a bittering hop, so after your experiment with the hops you could try to shorten the boil to 45 minutes or even less, you use more hops to get the same IBU's but Citra seems to leave less rough edges.

There is a thread here somewhere that discusses books, you might look into it.

I was going to use magnum as the bittering hoo, shortening the boil time looks like an interesting idea and another variable that I can explore. I will look for the thread regarding books but getting time to read one with 3 kids might be another problem

 

[Clint]

Just done a mosaic pale...can't wait!

 

[DavidDetroit]

How do you shorten the boil time with BIAB? I thought you had to boil until you got your target gravity?

 

[fury_tea]

How do you shorten the boil time with BIAB? I thought you had to boil until you got your target gravity?

Target gravity needn't be a completely stable thing at the homebrew level. If you want to produce identical beers each time then yes, but getting 2 or 3 more bottles and a gravity point less isn't too much of a big deal. Plus if you use beer Smith or brewers friend you can account for the shorter boil and adjust your strike water amount accordingly

 

[DavidDetroit]

@fury_tea
I don't do all-grain but have read so much, I kind of understand the process.
So you would also adjust your grain amount and maybe use less water at the beginning so you don't have to boil as long but still get your desired end volume and SG?
Thanks for the response.

 

[fury_tea]

@fury_tea
I don't do all-grain but have read so much, I kind of understand the process.
So you would also adjust your grain amount and maybe use less water at the beginning so you don't have to boil as long but still get your desired end volume and SG?
Thanks for the response.

Yeah pretty much, you can work it out with those programs and hit close to what you desire with tweaking of grain bill, water amount, boil length etc etc. You can even set the boil off rate for your own system.

 

[DavidDetroit]

My "system" is a 15 gallon (56.8L) steel pot and a Hellfire burner (cool name) which I don't use for beer but for deep frying turkeys and other fry-able food items. I make extract w/grains, exclusively, inside on the stove top, so far.
However, I have been tempted to take a bunch of the long, muslin bags and loosely fill those to make a tripel and call it BIMB (brew in muslin bags). I know I'm not the first to think of this method.
The pot is absolutely gigantic. The burner is ridiculously fast at heating 60 pounds (27Kg-plus) of oil. I actually have to keep turning it off because it is so fast. Happily, both the pot and burner were my wife's idea.
In any case, I might try it once the weather is right since I am curious as to the difference.

 

[fury_tea]

My "system" is a 15 gallon (56.8L) steel pot and a Hellfire burner (cool name) which I don't use for beer but for deep frying turkeys and other fry-able food items. I make extract w/grains, exclusively, inside on the stove top, so far.
However, I have been tempted to take a bunch of the long, muslin bags and loosely fill those to make a tripel and call it BIMB (brew in muslin bags). I know I'm not the first to think of this method.
The pot is absolutely gigantic. The burner is ridiculously fast at heating 60 pounds (27Kg-plus) of oil. I actually have to keep turning it off because it is so fast. Happily, both the pot and burner were my wife's idea.
In any case, I might try it once the weather is right since I am curious as to the difference.

Sounds like a plan. Your set up can easily handle all grain brewing. There's a wealth of info out there on YouTube and the web, and starter books like "How to brew" by Palmer are good places to learn the process. You could start with an all grain kit if you're unsure about recipe development or find one online and follow/tweak it.

My advice it start with something fairly easy like a pale ale, learn the process before you give yourself too much to do.

 

[Cwrw666]

So you would also adjust your grain amount and maybe use less water at the beginning so you don't have to boil as long but still get your desired end volume and SG?

Lots of BIABers brew short anyway and at the end of the boil top up with water to the desired volume. If you didn't do that you'd struggle to get a 23L brew out of a 30L boiler without risking a boilover.

 

[samale]

Target gravity needn't be a completely stable thing at the homebrew level. If you want to produce identical beers each time then yes, but getting 2 or 3 more bottles and a gravity point less isn't too much of a big deal. Plus if you use beer Smith or brewers friend you can account for the shorter boil and adjust your strike water amount accordingly

I would agree with that I do biab and don't use recipe calculators. I am well used to my burco boiler. For around 5 kg of grain I would get around 40 bottles of 5-6 % beer. I don't stress if I get slightly less or more as long as it's a nice drink.

 

[MmmmCitra]

Just done a mosaic pale...can't wait!

Snap, I did one yesterday, just LOVE mosaic hops