Can You No Chill In A Corny?

[opposition]

Hi all,

This may have been asked before, but is this possible?

Would the heat have a bad impact on the keg materials?

Any advice would be appreciated.

Cheers,

Dean.

 

[Sammus]

The heat shouldnt be a problem, I use boiling water to clean mine all the time. No harm yet (3 years or so).

 

[PostModern]

As it chills, it'll suck air into the disconnects. I reckon, tho I haven't tried it, it would be OK if you didn't plan to store it. Just chill and pitch.

There was a thread on here before with someone going to try it, no-one answered my concern above, but people have done it. (EDIT: I think someone suggested pressurising with CO2 to prevent the suck-in, now that I think about it... do you mind CO2 in your pre-fermented wort?)

 

[Jakechan]

Of course you can! This is how I started with my first few AGs. The only reason I went on and made a chiller coil was that the cornies dont fit a whole batch. I like to make over 20 litres so I can bottle a dozen stubbies or so.

I was chilling mine in the swimming pool which actually got the temp down to 30 within in an hour anyway, so really, its chilling, not no-chilling. But I see no problem leaving it in the keg overnight, just make sure you whack a bit of positive pressure in the keg to allow for reduction of volume due to the wort cooling overnight.



Of course, very soon, someone will come along and tell you not to do it, or to be super duper careful, or to wear 2 condoms etc. You may even get the classic "Just use a cube damnit!".

I say go for it, and let us know how you go.

Cheers,
Jake

 

[Kai]

The only other thing I can think of is the lids might not seal very well during chilling since they're designed to seal with a pressurised keg rather than one drawing a vacuum.

 

[Jakechan]

The only other thing I can think of is the lids might not seal very well during chilling since they're designed to seal with a pressurised keg rather than one drawing a vacuum.

What vacuum? If you whack enough CO2 in there you will easily counter what effect the chilling will have IMHO.

 

[Thirsty Boy]

You may even get the classic "Just use a cube damnit!".

Less likely than last time - that was my comment and I have learned my lesson.

I am still of the opinion that the "stock" no-chill method using a cube with all the air pushed out of it - addresses more of the potential downsides of no-chilling, than does any other method I have seen suggested.

But - can you use a corny keg?? - of course you can. Jakechan has proved it works.

TB

 

[Cortez The Killer]

You may even get the classic "Just use a cube damnit!".

Alright I'll bite

There a couple of benefits to be had in using a cube eg extended storability of the wort until pitching time

A keg will work - as will any other container if you are going to pitch as soon as pitching temps are reached

In the cube the wort is effectively hot packed meaning extended storability

Cubes are cheap and you won't be tying up a keg with wort

But give a keg a go - others have reported success

Cheers

 

[raven19]

What vacuum? If you whack enough CO2 in there you will easily counter what effect the chilling will have IMHO.

+1.

And if the posts are giving you issues, just put on your QD's with a small piece of hose joining them, so its all in balance.

And careful moving initially - being metal the sides will get bl00dy hot!

 

[Kai]

What vacuum? If you whack enough CO2 in there you will easily counter what effect the chilling will have IMHO.

I meant the vacuum if you attempt to chill without adding top pressure.

 

[Rurik]

I have no chilled into a keg. Just waked over presure on top of it no worries. I have also seen some one fit a sterlising air filter to a quick disconnect and let the keg/ wort do its own thing.

 

[dr K]

If you do as Jakechan has and not fill your "cornie" to the top ( I reckon on their being maybe 15 litres of wort in that keg floating in the pool) then you have a heap of give, of course you also have a heap of air which unless it is chockers full of nasties should not cause a problem if you pitch very soon after, of course if the keg there was left for a day or two then bug central.
Of course I do not "no chill" but I do understand that if a a food grade HDPE container or whatever (SS perhaps?) is filled to the brim with >75C wort and sealed, assuming there were no major bugs in the said container then in a similar way to baked beans it will be fine for months or more, and if it is your intention to do so then fine. If you just do the odd batch or just starting and wanting to see how you go before investing $130 in a plate chiller (or quite a bit less if you go the home made immerison route), then again fine.
The Fresh Wort Kit (first marketed by Coopers in the early 80's in an oversized wine cask) is really the pinnacle of kit brewing, Brewery Fresh (when it left) Wort.
Can you do this at home, of course you can!
The recipe, ingredients,water, cracking, mashing, sparging, boiling, hop addditions are all up to you, the technology transfer is merely the transfer of hot wort to a food safe container rather than rapid chilling.
The overriding question is why?
Do the Breweries that produce these no chill kits no-chill themselves, I would think and most certainly hope not.
You are getting a moment in time, a midstream between the boiler and the chiller, if the brewery were to cool/chill the wort and transfer it into sterile cubes it would be unusable within days and a bio-hazard by the time it hit the LHBS.
Now leaving aside the debate about whether or not rapid chilling makes a better beer, gives more break, greater colloidal stability and so on why would anyone even think about, lest investigate another form of no- chilling (well they might if they were convinced that rapid chiilling of the wort was deliterious to the final beer).
The SHB (Standard Homebrew Batch) is 30 long necks, 23.5 litres or 2.5 slabs of disgusting megaswill or about $100 in megaswill notes, a "Cube", Willow or otherwise is say $15.
Chilling seems a valid option for the homebrewer, no-chill does not.

K

 

[Jakechan]

If you do as Jakechan has and not fill your "cornie" to the top ( I reckon on their being maybe 15 litres of wort in that keg floating in the pool)

T'was pretty much fill to the brim actually.

 

[Zizzle]

I have thought about doing this in the past.

I don't like the idea of the the plasticisers leaching into the hot wort when using the cheap plastic cubes.
I think my taste and smell is sensitive to plastic.

Maybe bump up my batch size to 36 litres and do two cornies per batch. Hmmmm....

Otherwise I would love to source some 24 litre Stainless jerry cans

 

[MarkBastard]

This sort of related to an idea I had, a competition of sorts but for novelty reasons only.

Imagine a competition where you had to do EVERYTHING in a corny keg. You had to use it as the mash tun, the boiler (using immersion element), the fermenter, and then finally as the serving keg, but without being able to ever transfer the beer out of it. You'd be allowed to use BIAB and hop socks only.

And the winner makes the most drinkable beer.

 

[drsmurto]

This sort of related to an idea I had, a competition of sorts but for novelty reasons only.

Imagine a competition where you had to do EVERYTHING in a corny keg. You had to use it as the mash tun, the boiler (using immersion element), the fermenter, and then finally as the serving keg, but without being able to ever transfer the beer out of it. You'd be allowed to use BIAB and hop socks only.

And the winner makes the most drinkable beer.

Exactly how do you get all the hot and cold break etc out of the keg as well as an entire yeast cake?

 

[MarkBastard]

Exactly how do you get all the hot and cold break etc out of the keg as well as an entire yeast cake?

That's the point kinda. I guess you'd have to move your dip tube to the side or cut it short, or try and pull it out with the first few glasses.

The limitation is what would make it interesting in my opinion

 

[drsmurto]

Knowing how large my yeast cake is in a fermenter you would need the dip tube to be cut in half IMO.

Not canning your idea, just pointing out a few stumbling blocks you may come across.

 

[Jakechan]

This sort of related to an idea I had, a competition of sorts but for novelty reasons only.

Imagine a competition where you had to do EVERYTHING in a corny keg. You had to use it as the mash tun, the boiler (using immersion element), the fermenter, and then finally as the serving keg, but without being able to ever transfer the beer out of it. You'd be allowed to use BIAB and hop socks only.

And the winner makes the most drinkable beer.

Well, as ideas go, thats certainly the most recent

 

[MarkBastard]

Yeah you're not wrong

Maybe after a while people would come up with ideas such as a floating dip tube that was made using flexible line and sat about half an inch under the surface of the beer, so it was always drawing from near the top etc etc.

Just a funny idea I had anyway. Single vessel everything.