No Chillin I Have Seen The Light

[Bribie G]

Actually when I ran a LHBS in the late 70s, Coopers were putting out full sized cubes of Sparkling and Stout wort which were essentially just no chill cubes, so probably they should get the kudos in Australia. They went to bag in a box then abandoned FW and went to tinned kits, and the rest is history.

 

[mje1980]

Ray is the IBU guru. Great brewer, great bloke. I got into AG brewing in 2004 after one of his "big brew day's", which still happen every year, and is my fave day of the year, although the Real ale festivals we have is a close second. I think i asked him 1000 questions when i started and i would say most of the things i do are because he does them haha. His beers have won at national level too.

 

[tavas]

I invented the Internet, but just then I searched for 'google' from google and now I have broken it!

QldKev

I thought Al Gore did.

Careful there Kev, you'll create an evil parallel universe where we all wear goatees.

 

[drew9242]

I was the same Paul when i started no chill. It is just so easy and takes up less time on brew day. And you have the flexibilty to brew when you want. Also i was having major dramas with infections with my chiller (might try it again to see if they still exsist). But haven't had one yet with no chill.

 

[QldKev]

I thought Al Gore did.

Careful there Kev, you'll create an evil parallel universe where we all wear goatees.

goatees FTW!

QldKev

 

[megs80]

Ive used this method since I move to a larger brew system as my ferment fridge can only fit a 30ltr fermenter. Ive had no problems and have been happy with my beer. To ensure I get clearer wort into the cube I used a braided SS hose connected to a T section pickup tube. I have no problems with clogging and the last batch I cubbed had 180g of hops in it. Also instead of taking some wort bringing to boil and adding the late hop additions to that. Which sounds like a great idea. Ive been making a stronger wort and filling brewers selection cubes. When Im ready to ferment I chill the cube in the fridge bring 5 ltr of water to boil then adde hops, strain into the fermenter. Tip in the cold cube then pitch. Easy

Cheers,

 

[BOG]

Ok,

I'm concerned by a comment up tin the thread that a CFC or plate chiller would put cold break into the fermentor.
What about recirculating the wort through the chiller back into the boiler until it reads the correct pitch temp.

Done, eveything stays in the kettle....


Did I miss something ?


BOG

 

[DJR]

Ok,

I'm concerned by a comment up tin the thread that a CFC or plate chiller would put cold break into the fermentor.
What about recirculating the wort through the chiller back into the boiler until it reads the correct pitch temp.

Done, eveything stays in the kettle....


Did I miss something ?


BOG

Yup, if you recirc, fine, if you just drain through then you will get it... anyway a bit of cold break doesn't really hurt that much unless you have heaps of it.

I've never seen anyone with a plate chiller or CFC recirculate it back though.

 

[Bribie G]

Cold break isn't detrimental. I think the only reason that some commercial breweries remove it, is because it takes up valuable dollar space in the bottom of their fermenters that would be better occupied by saleable beer. Many UK breweries used to double drop their wort to get it off the cold break / hop debris, but CB of itself doesn't harm the finished beer.

 

[BOG]

Why not?

Keeps the whirlpool going, cools to pitch temp and if you cannot get it to temp at first pass as the water is not cold enough, just have a beer and wait.

Plate gets about the same amount of crud in it...

I don't see a down side. Does anyone see any issues with it?

(Yes you have to pump it)


BOG

I also no-chill in a cube, if you don't count the swimming pool as a chiller. Lot's a cold break, not issue with a good flocing yeast.

 

[argon]

Why not?

Keeps the whirlpool going, cools to pitch temp and if you cannot get it to temp at first pass as the water is not cold enough, just have a beer and wait.

Plate gets about the same amount of crud in it...

I don't see a down side. Does anyone see any issues with it?

(Yes you have to pump it)


BOG

I also no-chill in a cube, if you don't count the swimming pool as a chiller. Lot's a cold break, not issue with a good flocing yeast.

Jamil does this with an immersion chiller... and as he spells out of course this could be done with any type of chiller;

Q: Can't I do this same thing using my counter-flow/plate chiller?

A: Yes, you can. Several people have reported good results using their counter-flow devices. Just run the output from the device back into the kettle. You'll probably get less of a whirlpool effect, but the chilling should be just as good, no DMS and great hop character.

By the way, i love no chilling... it works for me, as i can brew and stockpile as needs be. One day i'll get a chiller... but in no hurry and i'll not give up no chilling.

 

[ekul]

I usaed to have a chiller, but i was getting infection when the owrt was cooling down. After the first time nochilling i've never looked back, just offers so much flexibility. After a long day brewing (and more importantly drinking) i really don't feel like fluffing around with fermenters and yeast, so much easier to do that the next day or whenever i could be bothered. PLUS, it means i can back to back ferment,something i couldn't do when chilling. These days i have a coopers yeast fermenter, a US05 fermenter and a S189 fermenter, as sooon as one is empty i drain some trub and then throw in another cube.
NOchill and not paying for yeast FTW!!

 

[Nick JD]

I like to kettle chill. At flameout the lid goes on. At ambient it gets poured into the fermenter, with about half of the cold break, and none of the hot.

Can't tell the difference in flavour between no-chilling and kettle chilling, but that's not back to back tasting, just the same recipe done both ways. The wort is on the hot break for 12 hours, but I can't notice any affects from this.

It means I have to contain my hops though, and remove them at flameout, but that's not a biggie.

 

[kieran]

Jamil says that you must flash chill to achieve the cold break. Bullshit, sorry Jamil but this is something you really need to get current with.

Sorry to pull you up there Bribie, but while you might be getting some cold break with a no chill, you aren't getting a lot of it. It's easy to make a claim in a qualitative non-lab setting, but if you look at it from a quantifiable perspective, you'll probably find something quite different.
It is a known fact of science. Hot denatured protein is "pulled apart" from its normal shape. When proteins cool slowly, they re-anneal and many (take note, I didn't say all! ) return to a soluble state. When they are cooled quickly, they do not have to time to slowly reform their native structure, so they become all tangled up and form a precipitate. So a lot of slowly cooled proteins can jump back into a soluble state, and you end up with protein in your beer. A rapidly cooled solution has a lot more protein 'drop out' of solution, and never get into your beer.
There is also a state where proteins are partly re-annealed, and by post-chilling, you can get an effect where those proteins can then actually become heavy enough to drop out of solution. I think, probably, a combination of those two things is what is helping, and also with the addition of finings, this might help a bit too in a no-chill setup.

But, truth be told, it isn't 'best practice'. In the lab, I boil some protein, and then chuck it on ice to keep it denatured (I want to run the denatured protein on an acrylamide gel matrix).. if you don't do it, it can go back into solution, and it can really **** up your experiment..

Then, FWIW, a lot of the things done in home brew aren't best practice, there are a lot of factors that go into a 'good brew'. I guess I have to somehow justify the amount of effort I've put into my therminator-enabled whirlpooling setup though.. lol.

cheers