Cubes
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MastersBrewery
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mate I do believe there are very few home brewers with the coin on here to afford ss fermenters. yes if it weren't for the costI think most would love a bilchman conical in the brew shed, they are easier to clean and will out last the great grandchildren. Plastics on the other hand have to be carefully washed so as not to scratch them and for most last a good2-5 years, the cubes are made these same plastics. Some forum members no-chill and then ferment inthe same cube, alot of these guys have been doing so for years, producing competition winning beers with these meathods. If there were problems with off flavours because of these meathods they would not be being used let alone hold the popularity they do.
technobabble66
Meat Popsicle
Hopefully someone more experienced will chime in, but in the meantime, a super-detailed version:
The cubes are plastic jerry cans. They're typically made from "#2" plastic (as indicated by the little insignia at the bottom of plastic things).
The idea is to use them as a v low tech method to chill the wort after the boil in the kettle. So instead of spending lots of cash on various plate/immersion chillers, you could pickup a cheap plastic jerry can/cube at Bunnings/Rays outdoors/etc for ~$25.
The basic requirement for chilling is to drop the temperature to allow the yeast to be pitched & cold break to form; get the temp down quickly-ish to reduce risk of oxidation; & cool the wort under sterile conditions as you have a very fertile medium for infections to occur before you get the yeast in there.
The Cube allows this as you can carefully fill a 20L cube just after the boil with 20L wort while its still hot & squeeze out almost every little bit of air as the slightly soft plastic can be easily squished. No air in it means there's no/little risk of oxidation, & no air for infections to occur. Doing it while the wort is still v hot means the heat effectively sterilizes the cube. The cube then sits overnight or longer and gradually cools down. The cubes are used opposed to other plastic vessels because the shape of them allows you to more easily squeeze them, allows better heat loss, and the shape is space efficient for storage.
Some people have safely stored wort in cubes for 2-odd years.
The plastic flavour can be an issue, but is generally removed with a few rinses with hot water. Leave the cube full for a few hours or a day, toss the water, repeat a few time and the placky flavour issue is gone.
Because you are not "actively" chilling the wort, it's referred to as the "No Chill" method, or Cubing.
Some people also use them to ferment in, esp but the cubes fit nice & efficiently in fridges.
The cubes are plastic jerry cans. They're typically made from "#2" plastic (as indicated by the little insignia at the bottom of plastic things).
The idea is to use them as a v low tech method to chill the wort after the boil in the kettle. So instead of spending lots of cash on various plate/immersion chillers, you could pickup a cheap plastic jerry can/cube at Bunnings/Rays outdoors/etc for ~$25.
The basic requirement for chilling is to drop the temperature to allow the yeast to be pitched & cold break to form; get the temp down quickly-ish to reduce risk of oxidation; & cool the wort under sterile conditions as you have a very fertile medium for infections to occur before you get the yeast in there.
The Cube allows this as you can carefully fill a 20L cube just after the boil with 20L wort while its still hot & squeeze out almost every little bit of air as the slightly soft plastic can be easily squished. No air in it means there's no/little risk of oxidation, & no air for infections to occur. Doing it while the wort is still v hot means the heat effectively sterilizes the cube. The cube then sits overnight or longer and gradually cools down. The cubes are used opposed to other plastic vessels because the shape of them allows you to more easily squeeze them, allows better heat loss, and the shape is space efficient for storage.
Some people have safely stored wort in cubes for 2-odd years.
The plastic flavour can be an issue, but is generally removed with a few rinses with hot water. Leave the cube full for a few hours or a day, toss the water, repeat a few time and the placky flavour issue is gone.
Because you are not "actively" chilling the wort, it's referred to as the "No Chill" method, or Cubing.
Some people also use them to ferment in, esp but the cubes fit nice & efficiently in fridges.
Yob
Hop to it
You can actually fit about 22 lt in a new cube with almost no air space, repeatedly doing this will see the cube stretch and I can get almost 25 into a couple of mine now… I do get it totally full though, almost no air bubble at all and only minimal squeezing.
MastersBrewery
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Just let me reiterate I want a Bilchman conical!!! There is also the bling factor
Hi KevKevinR said:
Cubes are excellent for home brewing, you can use them for no chill and fermenting as mentioned above but they are also great for serving cask conditioned ale.
In fact if you are just getting in to home brewing a couple of cubes and a short length of tube is the only equipment you need.
Cheers Sean
Kev, just out of interest when you “ just put down my first brew” what did you put it down in if not a plastic container?
Also further to my earlier comment regarding only needing a couple of cubes to start brewing, if you bought a fresh wort kit you would only need to buy one 25L cube to ferment in then transfer back to the original cube after it has been cleaned to condition and serve.
But then you may need a few PET bottles or something cos if I remember correctly FWK’s are 17L cubes and made up to 22L.
Also further to my earlier comment regarding only needing a couple of cubes to start brewing, if you bought a fresh wort kit you would only need to buy one 25L cube to ferment in then transfer back to the original cube after it has been cleaned to condition and serve.
But then you may need a few PET bottles or something cos if I remember correctly FWK’s are 17L cubes and made up to 22L.
jimmyfozzers
Well-Known Member
Another tip for increasing the volume of plastic cubes: fill with sodium percarbonate solution, screw the lid on and leave overnight...I did that by mistake the other week (forgetting that sod. perc. creates a lot of gas) with a 10l cube and nearly popped the bloody thing! End result was it can now hold around 12 litres!
Disclaimer: I take no responsibility for popped cubes
Disclaimer: I take no responsibility for popped cubes
Thanks for all the advice.
I fermented in a Coppers fermenter i got as part of a kit from Kmart. The one with out an airock.
Used the Coopers larger tin with 1kg of light dry malt boiled it up for 10 min chilled to 16c and pitched a yeast starter of 2 pkts of brew celler larger yeast. Fermented at 12c.
I was hoping to use the cubes to larger it in.
Kev
I fermented in a Coppers fermenter i got as part of a kit from Kmart. The one with out an airock.
Used the Coopers larger tin with 1kg of light dry malt boiled it up for 10 min chilled to 16c and pitched a yeast starter of 2 pkts of brew celler larger yeast. Fermented at 12c.
I was hoping to use the cubes to larger it in.
Kev
Yob
Hop to it
Maybe its a big one…
manticle
Standing up for the Aussie Bottler
Not sure if anyone has mentioned but the plastic fermenters are made from HDPE. Cubes used for brewing should also be made from HDPE.
manticle
Standing up for the Aussie Bottler
bum said:
I don't think so. He's talking about using them to lager a kit based brew in so I think it's more to do with leaching of flavours via exposure. He will leach no more plastic flavour from a rectangular HDPE container than he will from the round one he is already using for fermentation.
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