All Grain Spoiling? [no Chiller Method]

[SicOfVic]

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!

 

[peas_and_corn]

However, my first two all grain batches are experiencing issues. I sterilised all equipment prior to use -: mash tuns, boilers, fermenters, equipment the usual.

You do way way way more sterilising than me (I haven't sterilised my mash tun yet, in fact I don't sterilise anything pre-boil).

Indeed that was what I was thinking when I read the first post. I've never sanitised anything before the fermenter, and I didn't think that it was necessary- I think you can save on iodophor by not sanitising your mash tun or boiler

 

[Beejay]

Indeed that was what I was thinking when I read the first post. I've never sanitised anything before the fermenter, and I didn't think that it was necessary- I think you can save on iodophor by not sanitising your mash tun or boiler

It is worth a listen to the Basic Brewing podcasts (www.basicbrewing.com) too on the correct use of Iodophor. I was amazed to find out that I have been overusing it and have since cut usage down dramatically. Like most, I started off cleaning and soaking the ferementer and other post boils items in a full fermenter of approx 10 ml of iodophor to the full 25 odd litres of water, and soaking it for a long time (at least 30 mins). Whilst this concentration is pretty much correct ( a little high but not too bad), the gent who did the podcast (who manufactures the stuff and hence has no real reason to tell us to use less) has stated that as long as your fermenter is clean, you really only need a couple of cups worth of mixed Iodophor solution to sanitise everything. No need to soak, you simply need to thrown a couple of cups of the solution into the fermenter and shake and splash it around inside so as to wet all surfaces. Tip it out and wait 2 mins (yep only 2 minutes contact time) and you are sanitised. As he stated, if you look under a microscope (the bloke is an industrial chemist remember), the surface at the micro level is actually still wet with the solution.

Have a listen to the podcast, definitely worth the listen. Podcast is called "Using Iodohpor properly" and is released 23/03/07


Also, the podcast the following week talks with the creator of Star San, and interestingly he spends most of hte podcast talking the virtues of using bleach properly to sanitise. Have a listen as it explains how to use bleach and vinegar in water solution (heed the warnings too!!!!) to create a very effective, low cost, no rinse santiser.

I have a listen to most of the basic brewing podcasts and they are a great source of technical know how with all of the experts they interview. They cover yeasts, hops, grains, and all in very good detail.

Cheers,

Beejay

 

[fixa]

Having read this post when it came out, and thought "Poor buggar, i'd hate that"... it happened. A couple of weeks ago i did a double batch, one straight into the fermenter, the other into a cube. Yesterday was out in the shed, saw the cube puffed up like a balloon. " Gosh, thats unfortunate" i proclaimed quietly.. not.
So i'm chucking my cubes, and getting new ones. I may have been a little slack with cube sanitation in the past, but they always had a week soak in nappisan prior to use, then hot wort transfer to finally steralise. I'm buggared if i know what it could be if not the cube. The other brew i put down has finished fermenting, tastes fine. Dunno.....

 

[SicOfVic]

Just an update from your resident beer spoiler.

Bought a couple of cubes & proceeded to make an American Brown & a Belgian Wit. Both in the cube for 2 weeks plus & pitched yeast into the Belgian Wit last weekend. Taste test number 1 today and it is tasting heavenly. American Brown has no issues also, and i will pitch this weekend.

So cubing is definately the way to go for me. A little bit more work, but worth it for the peace of mind IMO. Thanks to everyone who responded to my thread, I was almost ready to chuck in the towel. But thanks to the helpful advice, i believe this is the start of a long and loving relationship with all grain. :super:

Sic

 

[PostModern]

Just an update from your resident beer spoiler.

Bought a couple of cubes & proceeded to make an American Brown & a Belgian Wit. Both in the cube for 2 weeks plus & pitched yeast into the Belgian Wit last weekend. Taste test number 1 today and it is tasting heavenly. American Brown has no issues also, and i will pitch this weekend.

So cubing is definately the way to go for me. A little bit more work, but worth it for the peace of mind IMO. Thanks to everyone who responded to my thread, I was almost ready to chuck in the towel. But thanks to the helpful advice, i believe this is the start of a long and loving relationship with all grain. :super:

Sic

Excellent stuff. Thanks for posting back. We all love to hear a brewing success story!

I posted my foolproof method earlier in this thread. If you follow the same safe method every time, it will work out. It's pretty much what all the IBU's do and appart from Scotty's attempt at developing "chuck the cube in the pool method", it's not gone awry. When you think about it, wort at pasteurisation temperature, heat entire cube with said heat, exclude oxygen, clean cube.... how can it go wrong?