Hi everyone…
I had a friend brew a Saison that he mashed over night, making for a really long Sac rest. That Saison ended up taking Bronze for the category in the 2nd round of the NHC a couple of years ago. However, it’s only one point of reference, so if anyone else has info about an overnight Mash, I would like to hear it!
Thanks,
Dave
pp. 47-48
Is that from your book Gordon?
yes
A link would be more succinct… 
Since no one that has actually done an overnight mash seems to be able to give you an answer, I can give you some more indirect experience. I have a friend who performs overnight mashes frequently. He’s an excellent brewer and the beers that he has made with wort produced from an overnight mash have also been excellent.
Go over to tastybrew.com forum and ask, bunch of folks do it.
Thanks gang, but I mashed my usual way (an hour). I was just too tired Saturday night to get a mash started… I think I will next batch though… Thanks!
I read Gordon’s book pages last night. Sounds to me like that deal with doing a regular mash and then holding the wort warm overnight to boil the next day. I’m not sure if you are thinking of that or mashing in at bed time and lautering in the morning. I’d think that would be pretty sour or at least starting to sour if the temps dropped below 140 or so. I have to admit, I didn’t think that that little section (also not written by Gordon) was the best written part of the book.
I was actually thinking of trying that on 3 gals to make a sour wheat beer (not exactly a berlinner weisse per se).
I overnight mash alot, makes for much easier brew days. I’ll dough in around 10:30 at night and start sparging up to 10hrs later… usually more like 8hrs. Mashing in around 152F, I usually only lose about 11 degrees in that period. The last time I did this a couple weeks ago it sat about 11hrs…it smelled slightly sour but it wasn’t. One thing to keep in mind is you will end up with a dryer beer even if you mash in at 156-158. So I would suggest you don’t do this for all styles.
I have overnight mashed plenty of times. Usually have a 5* or less drop keeping the mash tun in the house wrapped in a quilt. No sour issues at all. I do it just to save a little time the next day when I have other project going on like making cheese, canning…or more recently, making sausage ;D
;D ;D I hope one day I can answer a question that way.
I thought it was pretty arrogant…
I thought it was succinct and to the point…
and arrogant to think that everyone bought his book.
Book?
Maybe not an overnight mash, but an all day one. Mashed in at 4:30 am, hit a temp of 156* on the Halcyon Wheat kit from NB. In a 5 gal cooler set up, I dropped to 139 after 15 hours. (Damned kids take up even more time than I had planned for.) No souring that I could detect, fermented from 1.054 to 1.007 with US-05. Should be carbed in a week or so.
I am not sure how much time this saves me, maybe an hour or so in the evening. But in my case, with kids and wife and the rest of the American Dream to contend with, this method forces me to brew the beers I know I want to get brewed, when the weekends are just too booked up. I’ll do it again for sure. From all the reading on forums I’ve done, it sounds to me like this method can be used for either clean beers or sour ones. Just comes down to temp management.
Thanks for the reassurance. I usually wait until I put my son to bed to start my brewday, but now that I’ve made the jump to all-grain I may be able to mash-in between the time I get home from work and when I pick him up from daycare. Unless it’s something I want real low attenuation on, then I feel OK if I have to leave it in the mash tun for 2-3 hours before I can run it off and start my boil.
I just think it’s unfortunate that Gordon didn’t actually give an answer that those of us who don’t own the book will be able to read.
I’d like to read his answer, but…
My lhbs has chosen not to carry his book (for whatever reason).
So, I haven’t gotten around to paying the $18 + shipping & probably won’t.
I’m hoping maybe someone will share the knowledge, without charging me a fee.