Users Of The "no Chiller Method"

[Duff]

That's it, i've read enough, im doing it!!. Gunna get a cube from bunnings, and put my cfc in plastic in the shed. I really like the fact that if i have a free week, i can brew a couple of batches, and store them for a few weeks in a cube, then, if i get busy, all i need to do is just make a strarter, and dump a cube on top. Too easy, saves a LOT of water too. I guess running it into the cube hot, you would have to do it gently, and not aerate, until you pour it out of the cube cold, on top of the yeast.

CHEERS

You won't regret it. When I'm not using the 15L cube in between use, I just fill it with a bleach solution to keep it clean.

 

[timmy]

Ive only done one no chill, it was also the best hefeweizen ive done yet ( but I'll put that down to good weyermann malt and a decoction) . When the warm weather comes around and the Canberra water temps come up again, the CFWC is getting mothballed and no chilling my way thru summer.

 

[Lukes]

A while back i did a no-chill brew (Big Brew Day 06 - Poor Richard's Ale) it sat in the no-chill cube for at least 6 weeks, more likely 2 months.
It placed second in the sabsosa Specialty category on the weekend with an ave score of 40.
Everyone who has tried it has commented on how clean tasting it is so i see no problem at all with no chill. It has to be said though, that it was not a hop driven beer at all. mid 30 IBU with no hops after 30 mins. It did retain the molasses aroma quite well though.

It's good to hear even judges think it's a winner.


Luke

 

[Jazzafish]

Have done a few quite a few of these no chillers without a problem :beer:

However I brewed my first pilsner the other week and have gotten a DMS issue.
My sanitation is sound, and probally a bit fanatic!

I put my problem down to forgetting to squeeze out all of the air in the cube. So it is my guess that the headspace in the cube was the cause, not to mention the transporting and splashing that would have had to take place.

:excl: NO HEADGAPS IN CUBES!!!

My first brewing failure :angry:

 

[Samwise Gamgee]

Not a failure, just a learning curve

 

[timmy]

Not a failure, just a learning curve

Nah, its a failure....................

 

[sluggerdog]

I've done around 10 no chill brews now but have not once squeezed the ari out of the cube, why does this need to be done?

All 10 brews came out just as I wanted them too...

 

[Samwise Gamgee]

Mainly to prevent oxidisation if the cube gets moved around therefore splashing internally.

I'm sure there are probably a couple of other reasons too.

 

[Adamt]

Was talking to someone about no chill the other day, I decided I wouldn't even bother racking to a jerry, just leave the pot on the stand where it is, cover it and leave it until its cool. This is mainly due to me being a bit of an unco and not liking the thought of syphoning, especially boiling hot wort.

Only reason I'm bringing this up, is there any problems with leaving wort on the hot break material? I've read of people doing it before, but is there actually any possible theoretical problems?

-Adam

 

[Bobby]

doubt leaving it on the break material does any damge. i actually drain all the contents of my kettle into my no chill cube and i dont have any probs.

 

[Gerard_M]

I have just topped up my large fermentor with another 22litres of ND Pale. This batch was transferred straight from the kettle to a keg as it was the only thing that I had that was sterile. Its been waiting about 4 weeks, looked & smelt great. This brewing at home is getting to be fun again.
Cheers
Gerard

 

[dubzau]

I've gone back thru some other threads about the "no chiller" method. Some people have talked about the advantage of this method being "removal by racking of all the cold break".

I don't get this so maybe somebody can explain? To get "cold break" you need to rapidly force-cool the wort. Noonan, in New Brewing Lager Beer, under "Poor Cold Break" (page 249) writes "Wort cooled too slowly". All brewing literature suggests that wort must be cooled rapidly.

Another reason for cooling rapidly - other than Cold Break - is that DMS, which is released during the boil, begins to form again as soon as the wort is taken off the boil. Thus, leaving the wort to cool slowly in a closed vessel will cause significantly elevated levels of DMS (not a problem with some malts, but a problem for pilseners).

I have not tried this method, tho I have used a settling tank to remove cold break after force-cooling - perhaps the brewing gurus are wrong?

 

[Darren]

I've gone back thru some other threads about the "no chiller" method.


I have not tried this method, tho I have used a settling tank to remove cold break after force-cooling - perhaps the brewing gurus are wrong?

More likely some lazy brewers with no sense of taste are clinging to false beliefs.

cheers

Darren

 

[johnno]

I've gone back thru some other threads about the "no chiller" method.


I have not tried this method, tho I have used a settling tank to remove cold break after force-cooling - perhaps the brewing gurus are wrong?

More likely some lazy brewers with no sense of taste are clinging to false beliefs.

cheers

Darren

Out of curiosity did any No Chiller beers place in the recent SA comp?


cheers
johnno

 

[Darren]

Good question Johnno,

I got some BAD DMS in the flight I judged though.

cheers

Darren

 

[johnno]

I've gone back thru some other threads about the "no chiller" method.


I have not tried this method, tho I have used a settling tank to remove cold break after force-cooling - perhaps the brewing gurus are wrong?

More likely some lazy brewers with no sense of taste are clinging to false beliefs.

cheers

Darren

Out of curiosity did any No Chiller beers place in the recent SA comp?


cheers
johnno

I would like to bring this up to the top as I am still curious if anyone entered any "no chill" beers in the SA or any other comp.

It would be interesting to see the results.

cheers
johnno

 

[DJR]

I would like to bring this up to the top as I am still curious if anyone entered any "no chill" beers in the SA or any other comp.

It would be interesting to see the results.

cheers
johnno

From up a bit

A while back i did a no-chill brew (Big Brew Day 06 - Poor Richard's Ale) it sat in the no-chill cube for at least 6 weeks, more likely 2 months.

It placed second in the sabsosa Specialty category on the weekend with an ave score of 40.

Here we go again!

 

[goatherder]

I've gone back thru some other threads about the "no chiller" method. Some people have talked about the advantage of this method being "removal by racking of all the cold break".

I don't get this so maybe somebody can explain? To get "cold break" you need to rapidly force-cool the wort. Noonan, in New Brewing Lager Beer, under "Poor Cold Break" (page 249) writes "Wort cooled too slowly". All brewing literature suggests that wort must be cooled rapidly.

Another reason for cooling rapidly - other than Cold Break - is that DMS, which is released during the boil, begins to form again as soon as the wort is taken off the boil. Thus, leaving the wort to cool slowly in a closed vessel will cause significantly elevated levels of DMS (not a problem with some malts, but a problem for pilseners).

I have not tried this method, tho I have used a settling tank to remove cold break after force-cooling - perhaps the brewing gurus are wrong?

Hey there Bud

The racking of the cold break is an advantage for those using a plate or counterflow chiller. Using either of these methods, the cold break is formed as the wort is cooled and thus ends up in the fermenter. When you no-chill the cold break still forms - slowly however. When you dump the brew from the no-chill cube into the fermenter, you can take the opportunity to leave the break behind. I have seen this in action when I did a no-chill brew myself.

The DMS debate was done to death in the original thread, with the no-chillers reporting no adverse DMS problems and the no-chill skeptics talking a lot of theory but not actually trying anything.

The summary is that bunch of people with a wide variety of brewing experience have tried this method and reported good results. A number of "fresh wort kits" available from LHBS's use this method also, and the users of these report good results. A couple of people have reported bad results but I believe these were infections caused by inadequate sanitation of the no-chill cube.

I see the evidence in support of no-chill building but not yet conclusive. I don't think the DMS issue has been solved, as it has been reported that many people do not detect DMS very well. As johnno has mentioned, some comp results from no-chill beers would help to settle this issue.

Give it a try yourself if you are curious, it's the only way to find out.

GH

 

[Kai]

I always get a lot of break material in the bottom of the hot wort cube once it has cooled, even when nothing but clear wort runs into it. Whether or not it's as much break as from a rapid chill, I cannot say.

 

[Weizguy]

Just pitched the YeastLabs Pils yeast into the Nth German Pils wort (no-chill into fermentor, and then into fridge at 10-12C) on 20/8.

Started a 500ml batch of yeast in a 600 ml PET bottle. Then prepped a 3 litre fruit juice bottle, and aseptically (within the capacity of my kitchen and my Uni Biology studies) poured it into the fruit juice bottle. Next, I went to the fridge, and used a cotton bud sprayed with bleach solution to clean the fermentor tap, subsequently topping up the yeast culture bottle with the wort that it would go back into.

At pitching, I pre-sampled the wort, as there would not be much point pitching into an infected beer. The wort was quite clear after sitting in the fridge all that time. The beer had no head from contamination and was not perciptibly off-tasting...so I pitched the yeast,and popped it back into the fridge, and turnned the thermostat down to about 10C.

No DMS yet.
Darren, you have lots of opinions. (ha ha ha)

Beeerz
Seth

Edit - Spellig & word replaced only