The Art Of Chilling.

[blink471]

Just thought I would put out there one part of brewing that I just cant master or enjoy.

I totally enjoy the process on brew day of milling the grain, preparing the mash stages and watching the boil as I add my hops and
smell the aromas it gives off....

But then I have the stage where I add the copper pipe chiller to the wort and begin the quick chill...
I have to admit this part I hate.
Not only the water it uses.. (although I try to save it and use it on garden..).. but the entire fiddling around with hoses and whirlpooling to get the wort to fermenter.

I have looked at no chill procedure.. but I'm not sure how accurate this is as far hop addition timings, as the wort cools slowly.

Im hopeful some advice on this... Its not a big deal... But would brew day a bit easier.
Cheers guys.

 

[MickGC]

I used to use a coil, same issues.
Went to no chill,to start, moved everything by 15 mins. tweaked individual recipes from there.
then got me a counter flow plate chiller. i love it.
next up is a water tank cause it does still use a fair bit of water.

 

[timmi9191]

A change to brewing technique is like a change of equipment, it takes a brew or 2 to dial it in.

If chilling gives you the shits, stick to no chill. Use the no chill option on your brewing software and after a few brews you'll have it dialled in.

On the odd occasion Ive no chilled, Ive designed the recipe as I normally would chilling and then just altered it by flipping the no chill option on and off until it was similar. Worked a treat.

 

[manticle]

Try no chill and see.

For hoppy beers, you may need to adjust late hop additions but that is based on your preference and is easy enough. There are multiple methods to try. Accuracy is only relevant if you are using some kind of analytical device to measure actual ibu - otherwise your palate is your best spectrometer.

For non hop forward beers, no chill is not especially different to chilled in that department. There are a number of other considerations - none of these I have found big obstacles in my years of nc brewing but everyone's experience is different.

You could also try and maximise chill efficiency and reduce or recycle water usage if nc does not work or does not appeal.

 

[Tony121]

Best thing I've done lately is buy some cubes thanks to Welly (threw the chemical ones out) and enter the world of no chill.

Plenty of more info with a search but essentially fill, squeeze out air, seal and tip in side for 20 mins. Then leave till cool.

Re hops; some don't change schedule, some reduce 20, 15, 10, etc. mins but all comes down to personal experience. Myself, at the moment I move 15 mins and anything under that goes in as cube hops - still playing with it though.

Hope this helps,
Tony

 

[Zorco]

I like the chilling process, but I prefer a counter flow and pump through it for the last 10 minutes of my boil to sanitise.

As for water, the outlet is pumped back into my HLT for cleanup. Sometimes when the water is just the right temp I connect to an outdoor shower and the kids love it.

As for water waste, I prefer to think of water cost. 1000l for a couple of dollars.

 

[blink471]

I like the chilling process, but I prefer a counter flow and pump through it for the last 10 minutes of my boil to sanitise.

As for water, the outlet is pumped back into my HLT for cleanup. Sometimes when the water is just the right temp I connect to an outdoor shower and the kids love it.

As for water waste, I prefer to think of water cost. 1000l for a couple of dollars.

Yeah I guess the cost is minimal... just didn't feel right. Thanks.

 

[blink471]

Thanks guys... now a few hours online researching no chill... It seems it might answer the problem I have.

 

[sp0rk]

Embrace the no chill, it is love, it is life

 

[Curly79]

I know nothing other than no chill? I'm yet to find a reason to buy a chiller. Maybe cos I don't fancy wasting my tank water? Also I think at the end of a brew day I can just cube it, then take my time over the next week preparing yeast starters, cleaning the fermenter or whatever else needs doing before fermentation.

 

[manticle]

I like the chilling process, but I prefer a counter flow and pump through it for the last 10 minutes of my boil to sanitise.
As for water, the outlet is pumped back into my HLT for cleanup. Sometimes when the water is just the right temp I connect to an outdoor shower and the kids love it.
As for water waste, I prefer to think of water cost. 1000l for a couple of dollars.

Cost of water goes beyond money, especially in Australia.

If you can find ways to use the same water for multiple things, as you have, then obviously that cost is reduced.

 

[Rocker1986]

I do like the convenience factor of no-chilling too and also have no need or want to buy a chiller. It allows me to do brew days when the FV is full, or stockpile a few brews in a row if I need to free time up.
As for the hop additions, they are something that you will have to work out for yourself if you do switch. There is no one size fits all because everyone has different tastes and experiences. I mainly make up my own recipes so I've worked out hop schedules for say, APAs, that work with no-chilling to give me what I want. For other recipes I brew as written with no adjustments the first time, then tweak on future attempts if needed in the instance of me brewing them again.

 

[Zorco]

Yeah I guess the cost is minimal... just didn't feel right. Thanks.

I feel something like that too. I have 9 cubes now and I make most of my wort no-chill lately. Good too for sharing / swapping wort with fellow Brewers

 

[Mardoo]

No-chill is insanely convenient. Makes it very easy to pitch the yeast and wort at exactly the same temperature. Makes it very easy to ferment someting when you're running low, even if you don't have time. I was never going to no-chill. Totally sold on it, althought I'm going to have a go at some chilling again sometime soon.

 

[mofox1]

Mirroring Mardoo's comments... So fnukn easy.
I do plan on making myself up a copper immersion chiller this summer, just so i have the added flexibility of either: not having to wait for a cube to cool down, and/or do those big insanely hoppy IPAs thru kettle additions only.

 

[earle]

I know nothing other than no chill? I'm yet to find a reason to buy a chiller. Maybe cos I don't fancy wasting my tank water? Also I think at the end of a brew day I can just cube it, then take my time over the next week preparing yeast starters, cleaning the fermenter or whatever else needs doing before fermentation.

Chilling doesn't have to waste tank water. I just pop the outlet hose into the down pipe that runs into the tank. Loss of tank water is negligible, probably the volume held in the chiller and 2 garden hoses. The only other cost I see is a small amount of electricity to run the rain water pump while fhilling.

 

[Zorco]

When doing a double batch day, collecting heated water from the chiller outlet into the HLT can accelerate your schedule and save gas or electrical energy.

Green star rated brewing.

 

[Ducatiboy stu]

No chill works

But it will change your hop utillisation

I remember way back when myself and a few other brewers started playing with no-chill. This was in a time when brewers where burnt at the stake for even daring to try something different and we where constantly told that we would all get botulism and die. Was rather funny seeing brewers get upset and wound up because we where trying no-chill

You will notice a change in your late bitternes. It took us a while to work out why the beers tasted different, even with the same recipie, mash etc. To get that 0-5m flavour addition you had to add it later ( by means of a separate 0-5min hop boil in a saucepan, then thrown in cold to the cooled cube ) or cube/dry hop it

 

[Rocker1986]

I still have to play around with cube hopping, it's next on the list of things to try out.

 

[damoninja]

Using an immersion chiller works just fine for me

All the water does not go to waste. The first bit that's hot goes in the washing machine, once it's cooler I back the pressure off hook up a longer hose and go water my vege patch.

The one thing that's a bit of a pain is when the water's 30 degrees so won't chill any lower. No sweat, my ferm fridge is a freezer and has been set to -18C for a few days so in an hour or so she's dropped to pitching temp.

I used to do no chill and probably ought to again over summer providing it's not a hoppier beer, if it is then I'll deal with it in the above manner.