Splitting the brew day

[Doug Hicks]

So the dentist has to move my 10am appointment to Noon, which will really put a pinch on my brew day plans. Usual process is to heat water, mash for 60 minutes, mash out, collect wort and boil.
It got me to thinking about splitting up the jobs...if I were to start the mash, then the appointment lasted say 2 hours (don't laugh, it could happen), what would the effects be on the finished product? Or if I finished the entire mash and left the collected wort covered in the kettle without boiling a couple of hours?
Google has plenty of contradicting answers to both questions. Someone here has probably run into situations where they had to split up their normal processes - what did you do and did it affect the final product for good or bad?

BTW - too late for me to do any of this today. I'll squeeze it all in later or punt for another day, but I'd love to hear any experiences!
If the style factors into your thoughts, I'm doing an American Porter with a 155F mash.

[James Smith]

Have you read this: https://brulosophy.com/2018/01/08/mash- ... t-results/ ?

I have not had a reason yet to go to this extreme, but I think if I had to, it would be at the mash/conversion phase and not post-mash where the wort just sits. The exBEERiment referenced above is also an overnight, not just a few hours, so I think you would see no effect from doing it either way. I would probably prefer just to extend the mash though. Would love to sample the final product and hear your expectations vs. results.

[James Smith]

As an aside, some of these exBEERiments should be taken with a grain of salt. However, this overnight mash has pretty predictable results like higher pre-boil gravity and lower final, indicating there was better extraction and fermentability over time. The lack of head retention, unless there is some plausible explanation, would require more experimentation.

[Doug Hicks]

Cool experiment. I agree and would lean more towards the longer mash. The only concern being a loss of body, but it probably wouldn't be significant with an extra hour or so.

I'm heating up water now. I'll have just enough time to do this one by the book!

Cheers!