No-chill... just leave in the urn?

[Donske]

I don't waste a drop. Green bin from bunnings holds a batch worth and then gets dumped in the yard. The other day I realized too late that I hadn't emptied and just got the missus to directly water the yard as I chilled. The long length of out hose got it back to a decent garden safe temp.

I do pretty much the same thing, bought an IBC for about $100, water gets used on the trees and grass, makes chilling water neutral for me.

It does take a huge amount of water to get anywhere even close to pitching temps though, closest I can get at the moment is about 30° and that's using about 200L of water.

 

[Mr. No-Tip]

It does take a huge amount of water to get anywhere even close to pitching temps though, closest I can get at the moment is about 30° and that's using about 200L of water.

Wow, really? I've been getting the shits with only getting to 24 degrees with the tap on full and the ball valve on half. Still, it's only 50l till the kettle is empty. I should be more thankful for my Canberra mountain water, I guess!

 

[manticle]

200L of water to water the lawn?
Depends how often you brew I guess.

 

[Markbeer]

A better option is just no chill into plastic fermenter. I hope the tap on your kettle had been recently stripped and cleaned.

 

[Scooby Tha Newbie]

I did this for ages. Works well as long as the lid gets hot. Winter was great but now summer has hit iI stays to hot in my 50lt pot. I've gone to the plastic Jerry cans from Bunnings. My two cents.

 

[dr K]

For best results minimise any chance of infection, getting your wort to pitching temp as quickly as possible is one of many ways to minimise the chance of infection.
Without wanting to lead by example I have on more than a few occasions finished the boil. cooled by an immersion chiller/whirlpool arrangement then simply pitched the yeast directly into the boiler (which resides in my brewhaus without a doubt the must disgustingly unsanitary known) the resulting beer being usually whilst not awrd winning more than tolerable read on a level equal to my average quick ale.

K

 

[manticle]

No chill is very sanitary when done correctly dr k.

Has other advantages too. For me 2 things - identical wort available for active starter and getting wort to exact desired pitching temp prior to commencing an exothermic process.

 

[GalBrew]

No chill is very sanitary when done correctly dr k.
Has other advantages too. For me 2 things - identical wort available for active starter and getting wort to exact desired pitching temp prior to commencing an exothermic process.

Got to agree there, especially like the fact that your cube can be stored at whatever pitching temp you desire.....great for lagers.

 

[manticle]

Also NC does use a lot less water. I know from previous posts that drK disgarees but I have chilled and no-chilled and it is absolutely the case.

If you have means to re-use the water (and i don't mean watering the lawn) then it's a non issue but for those of us without tanks or orchards, etc, it is a water saving mechanism.

Where NC does fall down is in capturing hop aroma and flavour for super fresh highly hopped styles and while there are ways and means, chilling is possibly an easier way to go about it. Also the increased bitterness thing but that is easy enough to adjust if you find it necessary. I don't but I rarely brew anything over 50-60 IBU and usually more like 30-40.

Both have their place as techniques for making beer that suits the brewer.

 

[dr K]

Of course no chill is sanitary... it too is only one of the many ways to minimise infection, but I was suggesting that infection may not lurk under every bed. Having said that I should add a small rider to my previous post....
On each occasion: the weather was moderate (late Autumn or mid Spring) I used a lot of yeast and pitched nutrient as directed and generally transferred at 3 - 4 days. At no time was it deliberate each time was a result of a highly punctuated brew-day (visitors, sudden errands, assorted emergencies and SNAFU's, falling asleep drunk and so on), given the above seasons it was night time at pitching) . It could be argued that given the punctuation, the on again off again nature (except for the cooling of courrse) of the brew day the ale was never destined for greatness anyway. In each case the beer was cooled for longer than I may have normally to ensure the best (available) conditions for yeast pitching, the seasonal conditions helped during the night and by morning fermentation had well started whether conceived or not all balls available were in my favour. So lets face it, a conjurers trick.
Goes without saying ..do not do this at home .....unless you count your balls first....

K
ps...of course no chill uses less water....you think we chillers chiller with ice blasters !!!!

 

[manticle]

I remember a thread from you once suggesting once you accounted for cleaning the cube, etc that the water saving was minimal. I use maybe 5-10 L of water to clean and rinse a cube (an amount of water I can re-use for my small garden, cleaning the bath or some other thing).

I have often NC'ed the dregs from the kettle into a stainless pot and let settle outside the fridge overnight with a glad wrap lid (also weather that's mild), decanted the clear wort the following day, re-boiled, cooled (ambient) and used for my starter so maybe not disimilar to your pitch in kettle idea. The kettle would be quite sanitary after the boil anyway so if your chilling regime was efficient, I can't conceive of why your method wouldn't be just as good as chill, transfer or NC.

Does that mean you were fermenting on hot break though?

 

[dr K]

Manticle, I am wondering who is taking the piss out of whom at the moment!!!!
Of course I (in my "method") was fermenting on hot break, and there is no doubt that excessive hot break is not good for beer and is not good for fermentation (although a little helps fermentation) same can be said for cold break but in differing proportions.
In an NC cube the hot break not left in the kettle (and unless the wort settled for a while before transfer there will be quite a bit) will settle to the bottom, I guess in a matter of days, it is an assumption but I guess the settling is a function of both cooling and time. Thus decanted from the cube some days or weeks later most of the hot break is left behind.

 

[manticle]

Not taking the piss at all although I'll admit I think I misinterpreted the intention of your first post.

 

[Wimmig]

I've been doing NC for a bit now due to lack of time. I use one of the food grade willow units from Kmart, cleared with starsan and ensure I pitched within 24 hours. I also ensure to use food grade tape on the threads of the unit to ensure sealing (can squeeze out oxygen with legs while doing up with jeans, though with proper steri no need).

 

[mosto]

I read this thread yesterday and went with the consensus of why risk it. However, I got the chance to brew today for the first time in weeks, and, during the boil, went to empty the Starsan solution out of my only cube which had been sitting in there since my last brew. It had gone a reddish colour and smelt like a septic. No way I was putting my wort in that so, with this thread in mind, I've covered with foil, put the lid on (converted crab cooker, not an urn), and hoped for the best. Usually build a Coopers starter from part of the wort for this brew but, obviously, need to pitch ASAP, so will use US05 instead. Hopefully it works, but not a practice I want to repeat.

Just an update, this brew has pretty much finished fermenting, awaiting cold crash towards the end of this week. Smelling and tasting fantastic (been weeks since I've been able to brew, can't wait to have some fresh, home-crafted beer on tap again).

So this method CAN work. However, as I said above, it's something I did out of necessity rather than by design, and not something I'd be confident in doing to often.

 

[wide eyed and legless]

Got to agree with citizenships about plastic, I wish there was some alternative that was as cheap even though they are labelled food safe the word safe should be used loosely, microwave plastics are safe as long as they aren't put in the microwave, plastic babies bottles are now considered not as safe as once thought, cling wrap should not be used in the microwave.
I think we should all be given medals for using plastic the way we do.

 

[Mr. No-Tip]

Got to agree with citizenships about plastic, I wish there was some alternative that was as cheap

I suppose you could no chill in a keg?

 

[slcmorro]

microwave plastics are safe as long as they aren't put in the microwave, plastic babies bottles are now considered not as safe as once thought, cling wrap should not be used in the microwave.

Meh. There's enough shit floating around in the air, that you're going to die of something sooner or later anyway. I'd say you inhale more carcinogens when breathing regular air when going to the supermarket, than what you'll ever ingest by heating heat-safe plastic. Not to mention filling your car with fuel.

If you're going to be super anal about something like not heating foodgrade plastic, you can't really justify it unless you breathe purified air, drink nothing but pure filtered water and eat food that's 100% organic and transported and grown in a sterile bubble. In my opinion.

 

[wide eyed and legless]

Never said it killed you, just fucks with the hormones and causes alzheimers by the time your 60 you've
forgot if you was born male or female.

 

[manticle]

If I was concerned about plastic, I would either chill or investigate no chilling into cornies which should handle the pressure as far as I know.