No Chill / Partial Chill / Full Chill Experiment

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donburke

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I am proposing a no chill / partial chill / full chill experiment, as inspired from a discussion with Ross

My rig can make 80 litres of beer, and I can chill all the way down to pitching temperature if i want to

The purpose of the experiment is to see the effect the different rates of chilling have on the bitterness and flavour of the beer

I propose to brew a simple beer of around 1.048 with IBU of around 30 using 3 equal additions of probably cascade at 60, 20 and 5 and then fill 4 x 20 litre cubes according to the following;

1st cube filled straight away

chill remaining wort to approx 70 deg

2nd cube filled with 70 deg wort
3rd cube filled with 70 deg wort and cube hopped with approx 20g cascade

chill remaining wort to 20 deg

4th lot straight into fementer and pitched

next day pitch the 3 cubes and ferment all beers at same temp using US05

i appreciate any input to help make this a useful experiment
 
Sounds like a good experiment and I'm interested in feedback.

Next time I propose another experiment.

1 - Normal chilled beer + ferment hop
2 - No-chill beer + cube hop + ferment hop
3 - No-chill beer + ferment hop
4 - No-chill beer + french press hop tea addition in fermenter
 
Nice experiment. But im pretty sure we already know what the outcome is going to be.

and unless someone has a lab that you can use to test the IBU in the final products then its all just "calculated" numbers. Also it will just be your judgment at how they taste im assuming? (maybe Ross as well?)

still a good experiment though and one thats been begging to be done properly for some time now so all the no chillers have some proper numbers to run with.
 
Nice experiment. But im pretty sure we already know what the outcome is going to be.

and unless someone has a lab that you can use to test the IBU in the final products then its all just "calculated" numbers. Also it will just be your judgment at how they taste im assuming? (maybe Ross as well?)

still a good experiment though and one thats been begging to be done properly for some time now so all the no chillers have some proper numbers to run with.


i'm happy to bottle a few and send for proper analysis if someone is offering

and if so, i'd appreciate some input on tightening the parameters of the experiment

i think fermenting them at the same time will also eliminate any aging differences
 
Analysis doesn't concern me much unless there is first a distinctly recognisable difference that the tasters notice.

The ideal outcome for this would be very minor differences with the cube hopped one having more late hop character. I doubt that'll happen but it'd be nice.
 
How much would analysis cost?
Id be happy to contribute, would think other no chillers may as well ?
Cheers
sean


might also get another brewer involved to help with the integrity of the brew process
 
Maybe start an experiment donation fund? And when the list of donatations reaches the target the experiment is commenced? There is only theory in circulation regarding this topic, so it would be great to get some scientific data that can be used to formulate an accurate post boil temperature/bitterness calculator. Just need to convince a lab to consider a discount for doing a few tests and then share the figure/donation target. If there isn't enough interest then you could just conduct the experiment as planned.
 
I would not worry about the measured IBU, it's only a number. It is the perceived bitterness that we taste. ie 0min hop additions add no IBUs, but throw 3g/L of 10%AA hops in at 0min and I think it makes a huge difference to the bitterness taste.

Great idea, the only think I would like to see is a few people having a sample to get a few inputs. Could be worth doing a blind tasting of it.

QldKev
 
A panel of blind tasters sounds like a good idea to me. Happy to volunteer my sensitive taste buds, although they are located in vic
 
+1 to the blind tasting idea. Only way to really perceive the difference in flavour/aroma/bitterness without first mentally deciding what each brew should taste like if its wasn't done blindly.



Sponge
 
A panel of blind tasters sounds like a good idea to me. Happy to volunteer my sensitive taste buds, although they are located in vic


how does blind tasting work ? drink 2 or 3 litres of your favourite IIPA before doing the tasting ? that should get you blind
 
Haha after that everthing will taste like 20ibu. You just number them and the taster notes their thoughts before being told what each number represents
 
I would not worry about the measured IBU, it's only a number. It is the perceived bitterness that we taste. ie 0min hop additions add no IBUs, but throw 3g/L of 10%AA hops in at 0min and I think it makes a huge difference to the bitterness taste.

Great idea, the only think I would like to see is a few people having a sample to get a few inputs. Could be worth doing a blind tasting of it.

QldKev

i can push the late hop additions to 15min and 0min and use a higher aa hop to amplify the effects
i'd agree and say the differences would likely be more noticable
 
Haha after that everthing will taste like 20ibu. You just number them and the taster notes their thoughts before being told what each number represents


Thats it, glasses are just numbered and the panel does not know which beer is in the sample, and they are sent out in a random order.
The panel record their notes against the glass number.

And not until all samples are tasted and recorded are they told which beers were in the glasses.

ps. you don't need to poke any eyes out

QldKev
 
A proper blind tasting is an excellent idea. Randomly allocate numbers to the 4 brews and get a decent number of testers, then correlate the results. Would think that the results may obviate need for lab analysis
 
i can push the late hop additions to 15min and 0min and use a higher aa hop to amplify the effects
i'd agree and say the differences would likely be more noticable


I think it would help in the experiment, and personally am really interested in the outcome.

I've been thinking of a few experiments myself (since I already have an immersion chiller that never gets used sitting around)

QldKev
 
A lot of no chillers use the +15 min addition method. Any feasible way of removing a portion of wort for a seperate boil ( with same boil rate) to see how this method compares?
 
manticle has done a no chill and chill experiment off the one batch, I tasted both and could pick the no chill, for me it wasn't the bitterness it was more the harshness/smothness (maybe that is the bitterness :) ). No surprise the no chill was a little harsher, both we beautiful beers though.
 
A lot of no chillers use the +15 min addition method. Any feasible way of removing a portion of wort for a seperate boil ( with same boil rate) to see how this method compares?

is this the argon method ?arent the 15min additions eliminated altogether then added on pitching day with a small boil of part of the cubed wort ?

i supposed 20 litres of wort can be drawn just prior to the 15 min additions of the main boil
 
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