First No-Chill. What to do with hops...

[jonnir]

Now please don't take me as having a go at anyone here, just an enquisitive mind

My thought on no chill is that you do it to save time at the end of a brew day AND you save water by not having to chill

For those (seem to be quite a few) who sterilize etc theyre cubes and wait till certain temperatures before draining off into theyre cube, is there any reason you don't just chill your wort down before transfer to cube? It would save a lot of the confusion we have as no chillers with working out IBUs etc from the hops.

 

[Kingy]

I drop my hops by 20mins also the 20min goes in at flame out. I wait ten mins before i add 10min addition and whirlpool.wait another 10mins before i cube with aroma hops in the cube. Works well.
I use brewmate with the nochill box checked to get my numbers right so they correspond with beersmith etc.

 

[Blind Dog]

Now please don't take me as having a go at anyone here, just an enquisitive mind

My thought on no chill is that you do it to save time at the end of a brew day AND you save water by not having to chill

For those (seem to be quite a few) who sterilize etc theyre cubes and wait till certain temperatures before draining off into theyre cube, is there any reason you don't just chill your wort down before transfer to cube? It would save a lot of the confusion we have as no chillers with working out IBUs etc from the hops.

I no chill because it's quick, simple, convenient, saves a chunk of water and because I often brew when I don't have capacity in the fridge to ferment, so no chilling allows me to wait until space is available

It doesn't take much to work out how to create or amend a recipe to account for no chill on your own system.

 

[Pogierob]

I adjust by 20 minutes. 60 in at 60
20 at flame out
0 into the cube.

I forgot to adjust once in my early days and found it too bitter.

 

[manticle]

Now please don't take me as having a go at anyone here, just an enquisitive mind

My thought on no chill is that you do it to save time at the end of a brew day AND you save water by not having to chill

For those (seem to be quite a few) who sterilize etc theyre cubes and wait till certain temperatures before draining off into theyre cube, is there any reason you don't just chill your wort down before transfer to cube? It would save a lot of the confusion we have as no chillers with working out IBUs etc from the hops.

That still wouldn't save any water and you would need a chiller (something many no-chillers might not have).

There's a bunch of other reasons NC suits me (getting same wort active starters going for example) but mostly it's just how I've set myself up and what I'm used to. Then again I design my own recipes and don't really buggerise around trying to get some theoretical numbers right in software. Most of my brews these days are bittering and whirlpool, with very ocassional 10 minute and/or dry hop additions, I wait after flameout purely to let break material coagulate and drop out and waiting involves me doing something else inside.

I brew more by taste, less by numbers, similar to how I cook.

 

[jonnir]

Your last line there is what I was looking for. I myself don't understand all this bitterness stuff yet.

If your happy with your brew and can repeat it with ease. Why not hey!