No Chilling In A Fermenter

[t2000kw]

Thanks for the reply's guy i just really wasn't sure what the difference between a cheapo 20L cube and a fermenter made of slightly less cheap material.
So the risk is that it might get infected while it is cooling, because there is a little grommet hole in the fermenter? Have i interpreted all that correctly? What about if i plug the hole with a chopstick? I would have thought colling it in the fridge could easily be done in 12 - 24 hours.

When the wort shrinks, it will draw air in unless your fermenter has a good seal and will allow it to hold a vacuum.

You can plug the hole with an S type airlock with some vodka in it. It will let some air in, but if any liquid gets in, that liquid will be safe since it's alcohol.

You can also tape some cotton over the hole and hope it keeps out any nasties.

I prefer using my immersion chiller now that I have one.

Don

 

[fcmcg]

when i was researching chillers and i noticed how much waste comes from immersion chillers compared to plate chillers, it was a no brainer. i can cool down a 23 litre batch to pitching rate using only enough water to clean my mashing equipment, my pot and with very little left over for the garden. plate chillers are far more efficient in my humble opinion

Mate...i've just bought a plate chiller and i think the first time i used it , i had the flow through it too high, as i ended up still at 30 degree and had to put the fermenter in the fridge to chill to hit pitching temp . Can you tell me how long it takes you to go from kettle to fermenter ? Do you really back off the flow on your kettle and have a slow flow through of water ?
Cheers
Ferg

 

[smudge]

Safest method is to send the (near) boiling wort straight to a cube or two. Make sure all surfaces have been exposed to the
near boiling temps and then let naturally cool. Then pitch etc.

Or do what I did last weekend.

I was doing an APA with lots of late hops and I'm not confident enough about my process to calculate the IBU's with no chill.

65 litre batch, cooled with an immersion chiller that only got to 30*C by my Tempmate's readout. Put fermenters into fridge
and set temp to pitching temps...about 19*C with 1056. That's wort temp, not fridge temp.

Left overnight and pitched the next morning. I was confident that my fermenters were sanitised enough to last that long.

12 hours later the krausen that was forming confirmed that any bugs that had escaped my process had been well and truely
outcompeted by the hungry 1056.

Cheers,
smudge

 

[browndog]

What's the problem with air being drawn into the fermenter when you are going to pitch as soon as it is down to temp? It is not an issue, all you people that chill do you realise you have air in your fermenters too?

+1 for the gladwrap Steve.

cheers

Browndog

 

[pb unleaded]

I usually chill with plate chiller, did no chill few times.
Last two batches I plate chilled into (cleaned and sterilized) cubes and put them in the fridge.
I don't like the idea of hot wort doing the sterilizing.

 

[Thirsty Boy]

What's the problem with air being drawn into the fermenter when you are going to pitch as soon as it is down to temp? It is not an issue, all you people that chill do you realise you have air in your fermenters too?

+1 for the gladwrap Steve.

cheers

Browndog

Yes - but chillers are pitching into wort that has recently been at 100C and doing so within a very short time of it not being that hot. The yeast get a foothold before any other bug has a chance; and provide protection from bacterial infection.

In (fermenter or kettle) no-chill - if bacteria happen to be drawn into the vessel with the cooling air, and survive, then they have a period of many hours - a goodly chunk of which will be at bacteria loving temperatures between 45 and 20C - to get established in great enough numbers to perhaps survive the competition of the yeast and infect the beer.

Its probably a small risk, but it is one that is avoided altogether by using a cube.

So its minor differences in degree of safety - NC in a fermenter is pretty safe vs infection before pitching - NC in a cube is (almost) completely safe vs infection before pitching.

I usually chill with plate chiller, did no chill few times.
Last two batches I plate chilled into (cleaned and sterilized) cubes and put them in the fridge.
I don't like the idea of hot wort doing the sterilizing.

If anyone's NC cubes (or fermenters or whatever) aren't as sanitised as they can possibly make them - so just as sanitised as your cubes could possibly be - before they put the hot wort in; then they aren't following any of the NC advice I have read. It all says to sanitise the cubes properly, then no-chill into them. The heat sanitation is extra protection. It shouldn't be the only protection.