No chill transfer troubles

[Yeastfridge]

I've been no chilling for the last couple of brews with great success and am a very happy no-chill convert... BUT, I want to know how you transfer from your kettle to your cube.

I use standard cubes with plastic taps and a silicone pipe that fits over a barb on the ball valve on my kettle and then over the outside of the tap on the cube. It fits tightly but it starts to slip off when near-boiling wort is running through it. A mistake I only made once, and luckily only lost about 750mL. It's not such a pain having to hold on but it would be nice to not have to.
I tried a tightening fastener ring which I use on a water filter in the kitchen but it still starts to slip off no matter how tight I screw it on.

The only way I can see this working is to feed the pipe into the top of the cube, but I like filling from the bottom and leave the lid loose so nothing can get it.

(Sorry for such a long winded question)

How are you transferring?
Any suggestions?

 

[QldKev]

I don't have taps on my no-chill cubes, so I always fill via the top of the cube. Never had an issue in the years I've been brewing. My mate soaks a tea towel in starsan mix and throws it around the hose over the opening, but I've never worried about it.

 

[marksy]

Whirlpool and leave the boiled wort for 30mins to take the boil heat off, use a cable tie to secure, or plumbers tape to thicken the tap, turn tap 90-180 and suspend racking tube to handle of cube, or just do it through the lid it won't hurt it.

 

[Florian]

Through the lid opening with a piece of al foil wrapped around the opening and hose.

 

[Yeastfridge]

Sounds like I should just ease up and pipe it through the lid. Thanks everyone

 

[slcmorro]

Straight into the narrow lid. Hold the tube there, it doesn't take that long to fill a cube

 

[Markbeer]

If you want to use the tap use a hose clamp. Tightened with a screwdriver won't come off.

 

[ekul]

Straight in the top with the tube sitting on the bottom. I've purposefully tried to infect nochilled wort and as long as its hot nothing will hurt it. Those same nasties that are going to get in the hole of your cube are also circling your kettle, which i imagine is open, dont worry about it.

 

[Cervantes]

I use standard cubes with plastic taps and a silicone pipe that fits over a barb on the ball valve on my kettle and then over the outside of the tap on the cube.

Any suggestions?

Hi,

Is the theory behind filling through the tap to avoid any oxidisation of the hot wort?

I'd have thought that filling through the lid. but with the syphon tube going to the bottom of the cube would achieve the same effect.

Cheers
Andy

 

[jaypes]

Hot side aeration is negligible

Aeration after your wort has fermented is where you have to watch

 

[Yeastfridge]

Markbeer, I tried a hose clamp and ended up permanently distorting one of my taps, the tighter you go the more the tap bends. HDPE won't melt but it does become more malleable.

Cervantes, filling from the bottom means I don't open the lid all the way so nothing can come in from the top. Also in theory to prevent oxidation, but mainly just out of habit - I'm used to transferring from fermenter to bottling bucket because I bottle and bulk prime, and that's when I definitely want to avoid aeration.

 

[barls]

Not opening the lid is your problem. Hot wort in to a closed space.. Not good nowhere for the air to go if you were to crack the lid enough you won't have a problem and since it's only going to be air escaping your chance of infection is almost nil through the lid.

 

[Yob]

Be cautious with a tap On a cube, they can leak slightly inviting infection or worse, bump it when it's hot and soft it can easily be dislodged

 

[Liam_snorkel]

I don't even use a hose any more, just tilt the cube so it pours down the inside wall minimising splashing. 98deg liquid wort isn't going to hold a lot of 'air' for long.

this thread is a good read:
http://aussiehomebrewer.com/topic/33845-is-hot-side-aeration-a-big-worry/

 

[Cervantes]

Hot side aeration is negligible

Aeration after your wort has fermented is where you have to watch

Jaypes,

I don't claim to be anything more than a well read newbie brewer, but I understood that hot side aeration of the wort prior to fermentation was a bad thing.

"Fix (1999) belives that HSA (Hot Side Aeration) is the primary cause of staling in beer due to this careless aeration of the wort whilst it is still hot."

Some light reading can be found here.

My reading up on the subject leads me to believe that HSA pre-boil is okay as the O2 will probably be boiled off, but that HSA post boil whilst the wort is above 50 deg C is where there may be a problem.

Cheers
Andy

 

[paulmclaren11]

I just attach my silicone hose and clamp it to my Braumeister kettle tap and run the hosing right to the bottom cube to avoid splashing.

I often just sit the cube lid on top of the opening after giving it a spray of star san. No issues to date.

 

[Yob]

My beer doesn't last long enough to go stale

 

[Yeastfridge]

Not opening the lid is your problem. Hot wort in to a closed space.. Not good nowhere for the air to go if you were to crack the lid enough you won't have a problem and since it's only going to be air escaping your chance of infection is almost nil through the lid.

Not closed shut, just sitting on top unscrewed...

 

[jaypes]

Nice find, I have never bothered watching out for HSA after reading some who say its true and others a myth. I have never had any problems.


http://forum.northernbrewer.com/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=107842 - 5th post

 

[barls]

Right my misunderstanding of what's written. Just go in through the lid and you will be right

 

[Bribie G]

Coming up six years that I've been AG brewing and no chilling and I have always just run the wort from the urn into the cube. After the first couple of seconds the near boiling wort is just running down through some foam covering the wort already in the cube and I can't see that it's going to pick up any oxygen on the way down - if hot side aeration was anything to worry about then tell that to the many breweries that used "coolships" before the advent of modern refrigeration, for example Pilsner Urquell until the brewery was rebuilt in the early 21st Century. And quite a few use coolships to this day, including the famous California Steam Beer.

The boiling wort is flooded into a huge flat pan to be cooled, in this case by the cool winds from the Pacific, giving rise to clouds of steam.



I'd venture an opinion that HSA can indeed be a problem for megaswill that is carted around the planet and is often a year old before it's drunk, and indeed staling can be a problem especially down here at the arse end.

But for our home efforts where the beer is drunk comparatively young, I for one have never tried to minimise HSA.

 

[Black Devil Dog]

I wouldn't bother connecting your transfer hose to the tap of your cube, as others have said, run the hose inside the cube.

I actually don't have a tap connected to the cube when transferring hot wort, I use the bung and connect the tap when I'm ready to transfer to fermenter.

HSA might not be an issue, but I would rather err on the side of caution and minimize any risk, so the less splashing, the less likelihood of HSA.