Ahb Wiki: The No-chiller Method / Using A Cube

[Cortez The Killer]

This is the discussion topic for article: The No-Chiller Method / Using A Cube

I wrote this article up yesterday for the wiki about no-chilling. There always seems to be interest in the topic amongst new brewers and there didn't appear to be any article in the wiki covering it. Nor is there a succinct thread about the method.

Also for some reason a discussion topic was not automatically created. Mods please move this into the Wiki forum - I can't start a thread there myself.

Cheers

 

[white.grant]

Nice article Cortez. I hot packed my first two AGs and found the process pretty straightforward and water efficient.

So far I have only been able to locate 15L cubes at Bunnings and Rays Outdoor etc, and would really like a couple of 20's. Any ideas where they can be found?

cheers

Grant

 

[brettprevans]

brillient Cortez.


Let me ask a question for discussion - why we cant no-chill in the kettle? Is it just because its not airtight? What if you can make your kettle air tight?

 

[Cortez The Killer]

I got my larger ones (20L + 25L more like 23L + 28L) from aussie disposals at the bottom end of wollongong mall

They also have 30L fermenters there for $20

Cheers

 

[Cortez The Killer]

Let me ask a question for discussion - why we cant no-chill in the kettle? Is it just because its not airtight? What if you can make your kettle air tight?

You can no chill in the kettle - but you'll need to start fermentation as soon as the wort is cool enough

The advantage of the cube is that you can store the wort (much like canned food for extended periods)

I don't think you would be able to effectivly (and easily) be able to make your kettle air tight

Cheers

 

[vchead]

Thanks Cortez. Excellent.

R

 

[Alouyius Phlegm]

Nice one Cortez... Appreciate your time and effort regards this... Summed up really easily for the new brewer, me!!!

 

[brettprevans]

You can no chill in the kettle - but you'll need to start fermentation as soon as the wort is cool enough

The advantage of the cube is that you can store the wort (much like canned food for extended periods)

I don't think you would be able to effectivly (and easily) be able to make your kettle air tight

Cheers

Thats what I thought. Cube option is obviously the way to go for storage. My keetle should end up having a lid that I can put rubber seal around and make relatively airtight so i might consider that.

again great article

 

[KHB]

cortez what size cube is in the article, i use 25lt ones and mine have to be squeezed a big amount. Ive done 4 no chills with no problems

 

[Cortez The Killer]

17 litre

My 25 litre one will hold nearly 28 litres

Lately I've been making concentrated 17 litre batches and topping up with 3 litres at fermentation time

Cheers

 

[Cracka]

Nice article Cortez. I hot packed my first two AGs and found the process pretty straightforward and water efficient.

So far I have only been able to locate 15L cubes at Bunnings and Rays Outdoor etc, and would really like a couple of 20's. Any ideas where they can be found?

cheers

Grant

I got mine from supershit. Oops supercheap. There 20L but hold about 24L

 

[Murcluf]

Excellent article Cortez, I have been no chilling straight from kettle to fermenter ever since I started brewing and had no issues and couldn't the point to transfer to cube first. But now I have read your article I see the two greatest advantages are storage and dry hopping in the cube. Definitely take it on board and give it go in the near future.

Cheers

Wayne

 

[hillbillybreweries]

Using the no chill method wracking into a cube how do you ensure you get no hot side aeration?

 

[Cortez The Killer]

I make sure that the hose is touching the bottom of the cube and make sure there isn't excessive splashing

The existence of HSA is a matter of contention

But as a matter of course I ensure that there is minimal splashing (if any)

Cheers

 

[durgarth]

Excellent article, this explains everything very neatly, well done. I have been cubing exclusively for the past 9 brews without a problem and have a couple in "storage" waiting to go. It just makes sense (to me anyway) on brew day to do double batches and brew perhaps twice in the day, then store the wort away. I have never had a problem, but then again I like to sterilise my cubes not once but twice before I use them.



Steve :beer:

 

[PostModern]

If you run the wort in hot enough, via a short enough tube, the heat of the wort itself will sanitise the cube. Especially if it cools slowly. The cube should of course be ~clean~ (and I use one dose of either iodophor or caustic if I have it about) but going overboard with sanitising the cube is wasteful of time and solution, imho. Cortez made a good point in the article about not rapid chilling the cube, and that's because pasteurisation is a function of temperature and time.

 

[rich_lamb]

Hey, great article Cortez.

I'm just getting into no-chill though I've been doing AG for some time; for me it's a simplification. I like simple. (Am simple?)

You might want to mention in the cons that it's "theoretically" more prone to DMS. This was one of the points that had me holding off on no-chill for a while.

I questioned no-chillers at length about it - even personally tasted their beers and looked at their comp results. I don't think the DMS theory bears out! Dunno where the extra DMS goes, maybe it's scrubbed out during fermentation. Maybe it's all a bunch of hooey to start with.

 

[Cortez The Killer]

My understanding is that DMS is more prevalent in US malts

But I'm not 100% on it

Cheers

 

[PostModern]

My understanding of DMS is that it is driven off during the boil, not made by boiling. By the time the boil is over, there is no more DMS to stay around. Where does the DMS go in a kettle chilled wort?

 

[amiddler]

Oh Wow,

I didn't even know you could go without chilling your beer after boiling. This makes allot of sense to me. I could never see the point of using a chiller and just letting all that water run away. This will see me into AG much quicker and cheaper.

Cortez, a magnificent job on the WIKI. B)
Keep it coming.

Cheers