what's the longest you've kept a no chill brew before pitching

[Hefty]

I did a quick search but couldn't find much info. I thought I would find something so I might have just searched like a noob.

So, to all the no chillers out there like me:
What's longest you've kept a no chill cube before pitching?
and
was final beer good? or infected? or in any way off flavoured?

I've got an APA ready to keg. It's finished at 1.007 from 1.043 (from memory) but there's an unusual (kinda "meaty") flavour in there that I think might be my first bret infection.
I'm pretty confident in my sanitising routine and haven't made any significant changes to it but I did have this brew cubed for a good 3 or 4 months.
I realise there are all sorts of ways an infection could get in but it just got me thinking about whether or not this could be a factor.

So, how long?

Cheers!
Jono.

 

[barls]

5 years, it was fine
i believe i think bribie has me though in time with an older one

meaty is normally a flavour associated with autolysis

 

[petesbrew]

A day.
I left one for a week, and it was swelling at the sides.
Maybe leaving it near the mower in the warmer months had something to do with it.

 

[verysupple]

meaty is normally a flavour associated with autolysis

+1

Yeah, it sounds more like you have autolysis than oxidation or any other staling.

 

[manticle]

Rarely leave mine for longer than 2 days but I tasted one that a fellow brewer had sitting around for a couple of years and it was delicious. Won a 1st prize at Yarra Valley Belgian Beerfest earlier this year.

If the process is right, then the wort should be. Make sure there are no leaks.

Meaty is likely yeast related (fatty acid breakdown from memory)

 

[Charst]

im fermenting a couple saisons i brewed in early jan, wort at pitching tasted fresh.

 

[Yob]

6-8 months, no signs of anything wrong with them at all, as mentioned, leaks are the cube killer, I had a leaky tap on the only one i've lost… if I had fermented it as soon as I had seen the leak I may well have saved it.

I no longer use taps on my cubes.

 

[lukiferj]

I have had a couple in cubes for over 3 months. Nothing wrong with them after fermentation. I have 4 cubes full most of the time and depending on the weather, will only ferment what I feel like drinking. Would have no issues leaving it longer except that someone keeps drinking all my beer h34r:

 

[beerdrinkingbob]

about eight months, tasted great still. I use two cubes on a brew day, first one i twist the ball valve so the dip tube faces up and gets no break, this is the one i leave for the long term storage. I have used one with some break in it and thought the beer had lost the smallest edge,

 

[mxd]

2 years.

 

[GalBrew]

6 months, no problems.

 

[QldKev]

I store some many months, never really tasted much difference against a fresh one.

 

[Bribie G]

18 months exactly, so Barls beats me there. It's a RIS and I fermented it out recently, currently just stored in a lightly primed keg for maturation. It was my first RIS so hard to tell what it's going to be like, I'll let you know in July when I draw some bottles off for comps.

 

[felten]

5 weeks is the longest one I can remember

 

[Online Brewing Supplies]

Wow these times amaze me, I would not do it, I panic if by necessity I pitch after 12 hours.
Nev

 

[GalBrew]

If packaged properly, what's the difference between a no-chill beer and a commercial FWK?

 

[Bribie G]

I rarely keep mine for more than a couple of days max. I brewed 3 cubes before moving down here so I could get the brewery packed up and then reestablished straight away. They actually ended up being cubed for 6 weeks and 2 of them swelled and got dumped. Interesting that they swelled after so many weeks, must have been just one little bug in there, then two, then four, then eight then........

 

[Bribie G]

GalBrew I reckon the main difference is that the FWKs are "one trip" containers whereas we no chillers use them over and over again, which can introduce risks.

 

[Online Brewing Supplies]

I think you need to compare these success's with the failures to bring this thread into perspective,
or you risk sending the wrong message to newer brewers. The quicker you pitch the better !
Nev

 

[spryzie]

24 hours.