Whos on team #NOCHILL

[Mark Farrall]

No chill brewer here. I have an plate chiller, but the simplicity of no chill as well as the time savings on brew day make it where I rarely ever use it. In some ways my IPA's have even improved because I have developed my own system for what I like.

So preparing for eight or so months time when the ground water starts warming up again have you got some tips for handling the late boil/whirlpool additions? I was thinking that my post boil steeping hops could just be added in a bag to the cube. Gives them more exposure time than I currently do, but may work.

 

[HighVoltageMan!]

I'm interested in this method as I live on a well and as the child of 2 depression era parents, waste usually warranted a whack on the head!

So how did the old timers do it before the days of Ice Baths, Immersion Coils and Chill Plates?

I would imagine it was something like no chill but perhaps along the lines of moving the hot wort to a different vessel a small amount at a time. Science says less volume would hold less heat so would a siphon and dropping the wort into a fermentation tank drip by drip accomplish 2 things, cooling and wort oxygenation?

Chillers have been around in pro circles 120 years and more. I seen some that were from the 1890’s that were made of 2” cooper pipe. Cool water from a stream were diverted over the copper pipes. The thing was huge. 6 meters square at least. It was just laying in a hay field when I saw it 20 years ago.

Cooling wort was always important.

 

[Mark Farrall]

Chillers have been around in pro circles 120 years and more. I seen some that were from the 1890’s that were made of 2” cooper pipe. Cool water from a stream were diverted over the copper pipes. The thing was huge. 6 meters square at least. It was just laying in a hay field when I saw it 20 years ago.

Cooling wort was always important.

Though so much more when they needed to get it down to temps that allow the sacch to outcompete other microflora because they couldn't keep the competitors out.

 

[GFHomebrew]

It's going to be in the 40's F, here this weekend so I am going to let try this and do my Whirlpool hop additions at the chosen temp once it gets there. After all, we are "knights of the brewtable"

Ive done the whole shebang as well in the cube.
Racked boiling wort onto hops
Let cool overnight
Removed 1-2lt out the tap
added kviek and bio hops
put cube lid on loose
Let it rock for couple of days
Tightened lid on cube placed cube with lid on into chiller for crash down.
cube sucks in but no suck back untill transfer that is.

 

[AGbrewer]

anyone got hyperlinks to the no chill bucket or cube that you use?

 

[dharmadog]

Hello AGbrewer
I bought 2 of these 6-gallon containers for my no-chill cube. They work well for me when I drain the hot wort from my brew kettle.
There are 2 problems, though. The handle is very flimsy, and I end up sliding the container on a towel on my garage floor to the corner for cooling overnight, instead of lifting the heavy container by it's handle. The other problem is that when I pour the cooled wort into my fermenter (instead of siphoning) it does not have a vent, so the wort gurgles and splashes all over the floor and my on shoes. I will probably get a siphon tube sooner than later.
But I am a fan of no-chill, it saves a lot of time on brew day.

https://www.usplastic.com/catalog/item.aspx?itemid=31615

 

[AGbrewer]

Hello AGbrewer
I bought 2 of these 6-gallon containers for my no-chill cube. They work well for me when I drain the hot wort from my brew kettle.
There are 2 problems, though. The handle is very flimsy, and I end up sliding the container on a towel on my garage floor to the corner for cooling overnight, instead of lifting the heavy container by it's handle. The other problem is that when I pour the cooled wort into my fermenter (instead of siphoning) it does not have a vent, so the wort gurgles and splashes all over the floor and my on shoes. I will probably get a siphon tube sooner than later.
But I am a fan of no-chill, it saves a lot of time on brew day.

https://www.usplastic.com/catalog/item.aspx?itemid=31615

interesting. I saw somewhere that folks were using kegs to pour smoking hot wort for no chill. that sounds pretty cool, might have to try that. Especially since SS is probably better than plastic for this purpose. Not to mention that you can probably clean the keg out a bit better than the plastic containers. I'll probably give it a go to see how it works on the next batch.

 

[Over The Cliff Brewing]

What if I just left the wort in the kettle with the lid on until I am ready to move it to my big mouth bubbler for fermentation? Would you expect any issues?

 

[Nosybear]

Slight risk of DMS but likely a good way of cooling.

 

[AGbrewer]

What if I just left the wort in the kettle with the lid on until I am ready to move it to my big mouth bubbler for fermentation? Would you expect any issues?

Interesting Idea. If you boil long enough to drive off dms and make sure that the lid has a decent seal that sounds like a great idea. I might have to try that. I won't have to clean out another vessel if I use the boil kettle. Yay! Why oh why didn't I think of that!

 

[Nosybear]

Generally 120 degrees is considered "safe" for putting the lid back on. But then, our brewing brothers in the Southern Hemisphere have been doing no-chill in demi-johns for years, completely sealed, and I haven't heard of Ozzie Homebrew being boiled cabbage bombs. I'm not on Team Nochill - I use an immersion chiller and recirculate during the chill - but I do chill in the boil kettle.

 

[GFHomebrew]

Hello AGbrewer
I bought 2 of these 6-gallon containers for my no-chill cube. They work well for me when I drain the hot wort from my brew kettle.
There are 2 problems, though. The handle is very flimsy, and I end up sliding the container on a towel on my garage floor to the corner for cooling overnight, instead of lifting the heavy container by it's handle. The other problem is that when I pour the cooled wort into my fermenter (instead of siphoning) it does not have a vent, so the wort gurgles and splashes all over the floor and my on shoes. I will probably get a siphon tube sooner than later.
But I am a fan of no-chill, it saves a lot of time on brew day.

https://www.usplastic.com/catalog/item.aspx?itemid=31615

If you got a tap on it open the tap that will make it flow nice and smooth.

I drain mine through a tap at the bottom so dont have the issues you seem to be having.
You get a crystal clear break on no chill too btw your call if you want to transfer that or not.

 

[GFHomebrew]

What if I just left the wort in the kettle with the lid on until I am ready to move it to my big mouth bubbler for fermentation? Would you expect any issues?

Same thing as chilling in the cube just longer hop isomerisation times.

See another advantage of "cubing your wort" is you can use it at your leisure.
You see them Real Wort Kits in your Hombrew stores you know the ones you just decant the wort top off to the 21lt mark add yeast and let her rip.
Well their made in the same way

 

[Over The Cliff Brewing]

Well I tried the "no chill" method yesterday. It took more than 7 hours to get from 175F (whirlpool hops temp) to 70F. Just pitched the yeast an hour ago. Not sure if the constant checking the temp of the cooling the wort is worth it vs using my immersion chiller with ice in a cooler method. I did have less equipment to clean but the "no chill" method might be a one and done!

 

[Hawkbox]

Sounds like you should just wait 7 hours next time before testing.

 

[GFHomebrew]

Usually you brew one day cube wort leave over night then transfer to fermentor next morning.
Might be different over there where your night time temps get a lot lower.

 

[Ozarks Mountain Brewery]

I have three ways to chill, one using my HLT coils which literally brings it down to 60F in 15 to 30 minutes then I have a freezer that I use as a fermentation chamber and that doubles to cool the wort, the last is a no chill I do in the winter just set out on the back porch and forget about it, usually the next day its ready, I cant tell the difference in any way so no problems with either

 

[Mark Farrall]

Well I tried the "no chill" method yesterday. It took more than 7 hours to get from 175F (whirlpool hops temp) to 70F. Just pitched the yeast an hour ago. Not sure if the constant checking the temp of the cooling the wort is worth it vs using my immersion chiller with ice in a cooler method. I did have less equipment to clean but the "no chill" method might be a one and done!

The only way it makes sense to me is to put it in the sealed container and walk away. Then add it to the fermenter and pitch yeast the next day. So a slightly longer brew day split into two chunks.

 

[Zambi]

I was thinking of going half-half.
No shortage of water, but a shortage of cold temperatures.
Cool with immersion chiller till about 25-20 oC above water temperature (as after that, cooling takes forever), then transfer to fermenter with waterlock etc and then put in dedicated fridge set to required yeast pitch temperature.
Next day, pitch yeast.
Would that work?

 

[GFHomebrew]

I was thinking of going half-half.
No shortage of water, but a shortage of cold temperatures.
Cool with immersion chiller till about 25-20 oC above water temperature (as after that, cooling takes forever), then transfer to fermenter with waterlock etc and then put in dedicated fridge set to required yeast pitch temperature.
Next day, pitch yeast.
Would that work?

One of the key reasons to transfer piping hot wort into your "cube" is that the hot wort sanitizes the container.
At lower temps you risk contamination.
I'd say if your going to "no chill" either transfer 80c + hot wort or just chill via imersion or plate chiller as much you can then transfer into chosen fermentation vessel.