Chill vs No Chill - can of worms

[Bribie G]

See my post in the other no chill thread.

 

[leighaus]

I brew very hoppy beers using NC... People love them.. There's a bitter back profile, but it mellows out alright in the kegs ( i like bitter ) ...
If you want more aromas, hit a reasonable dry hop in the Ferm to bump it up.

I find no chill to work great.. .Only real issue i've had is i no chill straight into the ferm and its maybe lost a tiny bit of its shape, but it normally bounces back.... Oh and i melted my test tube taking my OG a flame out when i wasn't thinking real clear

 

[Tahoose]

All of my APA's are cube hopped. I don't use any hops in the kettle at all.

Calculate as a 20min addition and then a dry hop (2-3g/ltr) after about 4 days. I find this is a good balance of bitterness, flavour and aroma.

My house APA is about 30ibu and 4.9%.

For an IPA at 60 ibu I'd would look at about 30 ibu as a first wort hop, and the other 30ibu in the cube. Again with a generous dry hop.

As noted in other threads, if you are after hop flavour and aroma then there is plenty of options. Mini boil, French press, dry hop either fermenter or keg.

 

[leighaus]

if you're going to keg hop, make sure you use something like a fine stocking... nothing worse than blocked diptubes

 

[Tahoose]

And hang it so that it doesn't sink to the bottom.

Nothing worse than blocked dip tubes...

 

[Kingy]

Oh and i melted my test tube taking my OG a flame out when i wasn't thinking real clear

Lol i done that a few years ago thought id draw off some and let it cool to get a reading. Soon as it hit the tube the tube shrivelled up lol. Stoopid idea. Haha

 

[jimmy_jangles]

i was under the impression that while your wort was above 70 degrees C, that the wort continued to increase in IBU's. i use a plate chiller, so i have control over the IBU's of my beer. I have however been very wrong with a lot of my techniques in the past, so please set me straight if i am wrong here haha

 

[michaeld16]

i was under the impression that while your wort was above 70 degrees C, that the wort continued to increase in IBU's. i use a plate chiller, so i have control over the IBU's of my beer. I have however been very wrong with a lot of my techniques in the past, so please set me straight if i am wrong here haha

Im sure you are correct thats why we no chillers have to work out our process keep it the same each time we brew and dial in with our tastebuds to work out what works with our systems and process

 

[SnakeDoctor]

Either that or no chillers for hop forward beers end up with a certain amount of denial and they eventually come around after a few years?

(jokes)

 

[manticle]

i was under the impression that while your wort was above 70 degrees C, that the wort continued to increase in IBU's. i use a plate chiller, so i have control over the IBU's of my beer. I have however been very wrong with a lot of my techniques in the past, so please set me straight if i am wrong here haha

Above about 80 I believe but yes. There's many variables affecting the exact extraction of bittering units from hops so I doubt many homebrewers have total control over the ibu content of the beer. Unless you are measuring with spectroscopy or somesuch (and comparing that to palate preference anyway), your palate will tell you ultimately how bitter and balanced your beer is. If you get the results that suit using a chiller, then it's worth continuing to do so.

 

[dannymars]

I've brewed the same recipe both NC and Chill... The hops stand out a lot more in the second version.

 

[mje1980]

I wouldn't doubt there's a difference. I dint think any no chiller would, but it's not hard to adjust to suit.

I don't brew many highly hopped beers so for me it's perfect.



Hops are over rated anyway

 

[Bribie G]

For those who haven't heard of the Argon Method (I linked to that above) I did a Hop Thief tribute yesterday but only used Simcoe bittering addition, then cubed.
I produced about 3L extra wort that's in a stockpot. That will be brought to the boil shortly with the 10 minute addition of Columbus then the flameout addition of Simcoe, cooled in laundry tub and poured into FV along with the cubes. Then later I'll dry hop with Columbus.

So the hop profile should be virtually the same as a chilled version of the same recipe.

 

[Fylp]

I NC and have found that apart from a lighter bittering addition, I'm adding more and more hops to the cube. I'll dry hop sometimes, but the bulk of mine go in the cube. I naturally carb most of mine and find that after I'm done with a few weeks of that and aged cold for a week or two the hops have settled in nicely. I did notice when I did the same hop schedule and rushed with a force carb, it was a bit... Tartly bitter? If that makes sense. I just bought another cheap keg off eBay so I've got 2 drinking and one ageing. I'd love a calculator for cube hopping though.

 

[jc64]

Chilling or No-Chilling, it's all down to the recipe and the timing of the hops, and the way they are used. Both methods are proven to make awesome beers so choose the method that works for you and run with it.

I like to chill most of my brews as I generally have a spare fermentor but love the ease of no-chill when I don't. I'll just tweak my recipe or try something new, I'm only a homebrewer after all. As long as I make beer that I like and hopefully others deem adequate I'm a happy drinker. :chug: