Great to hear you are stubborn SicOfVic. As Seth said, it's really dissapointing when a first AG goes wrong.
I always hear good reports of no-chill but only know the principles from a distance so my following comments could well be wrong...
I'm guessing here but I think no-chill could be spilt into two categories and often people are talking about the two different situations in the same thread....
1. You Want to Pitch ASAP or the Next Day: This would be desired by those who do not have a chilling device but can brew on a regular basis.
2. You Want to Pitch A Considerable Time Later: This would be desired by those who want to brew a lot of wort in a short amount of time that can be fermented later at their leisure.
Obviously, the best ways that need to be applied in the above situations are totally different. I would imagine that in the first instance, any use of a cube could be avoided.
But, I don't really know so what hope does a new guy have - lol?
In this thread, I can see at least three well-written and informative posts. I'd love to see you guys write an article on all this stuff. Maybe two - 'No-Chill Immediate' and 'No-Chill Long-Term.'
Yep, it'd be really good to see that.
Spot ya,
Pat
hey Pat
Thats basically where I went wrong.
In all honesty, I didnt really know there were two types of methods used to Nochill. I should have done more reading, but my paranoia was more concentrated on the whole all grain process, sparging etc.
i read somewhere u could then nochill for almost any length of time until u wanted to pitch, and I kind of just assumed this would be fine. I also read something about pitching into fermenters... so i kinda put the two together... obv this ain't a good idea! Anyway, I am now armed with a few airtight cubes, and a little bit more knowledge, so a Belgian Wit AG will be brewing first thing this weekend.
looking forward to that first drinkable AG! btw - I think it was your batch sparging guide i followed to initiate myself in the AG process - and that part ran smooth as silk. So thanks!