Newest Threads

LVBen · 08-31-2011, 11:30 PM

After having some very successful no-chill batches, I've had a series of bad batches that might be infected. I recently moved, and my fermentation freezer is now in a garage that constantly smells wretched from various trash items placed in the garbage can. I can't imagine there is a lack of nasty bacteria and wild yeast in the air.

I've been pouring the hot wort into my bucket and putting the airlock on, and then placing the bucket in the freezer to cool over night, but I'm afraid that maybe the suck back when the temperature drops is sucking in some of this pure nastiness. I'm pretty sure I'd be getting the same bad results even if I was using my wort chiller, but I'm definitely an unhappy brewer right now. :-(

Germelli1 · 08-31-2011, 11:36 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by LVBen

After having some very successful no-chill batches, I've had a series of bad batches that might be infected. I recently moved, and my fermentation freezer is now in a garage that constantly smells wretched from various trash items placed in the garbage can. I can't imagine there is a lack of nasty bacteria and wild yeast in the air.

I've been pouring the hot wort into my bucket and putting the airlock on, and then placing the bucket in the freezer to cool over night, but I'm afraid that maybe the suck back when the temperature drops is sucking in some of this pure nastiness. I'm pretty sure I'd be getting the same bad results even if I was using my wort chiller, but I'm definitely an unhappy brewer right now. :-(

Ben, I might just have the solution for you. I have been DYING for some no chiller to give me feedback on my idea...give me a sec to grab the link

Ok here it is....http://www.homebrewtalk.com/f13/question-no-chillers-not-pitching-yeast-right-away-265805/

NO CHILLERS Please give me some feedback on this...even if you think it is the worst idea ever!

**smokinghole** · 08-31-2011, 11:58 PM

After doing a bunch of no-chill batches my IPAs suck doing this method. I'm losing aroma in a month's time after carbonating in bottles. I just dumped a whole bunch of PtE clone recipe bottles because they blow. Sure I could have drank them but screw that. My belgians using this method have been great so no problems there. I think my next IPA will get chilled to see if that helps out my situation. The hop aroma was completely gone when I opened one today.

LVBen · 08-31-2011, 11:58 PM

Oh, I read that when you posted it, but didn't put much thought into it.
However, the more I think about it, the more I think that you are on to something...

I will definitely consider it, but I haven't fully decided on how to approach this problem yet.

PickledFetus · 09-01-2011, 12:59 AM

A couple of questions for those of you who have successfully no-chilled using pilsner malt:

What brand of pilsner malt are you guys using? (eg Weyermann, etc)
How long do you boil?
What is your normal boil-off rate? (gal/hr)
How "vigorous" would you say your boil is? (obviously hard to quantify, just give me an idea if its just barely turning over or a violent frothy boil)
What temperature is the wort when you drain into the cube? If you don't know that, how long on average do you wait between switching off the flame and draining, and what are you doing during that time (whirlpooling, just letting it sit while you do other stuff, etc)

**smokinghole** · 09-01-2011, 01:18 AM

The pils I use is either Dingemans or Franco Belges.
I boil for 90 typically
1-2 gal
fairly vigorous depending on the type of beer
I transfer immediately after I turn the flame off. I will whirlpool and crack my kettle valve.

manticle · 09-03-2011, 10:00 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by smokinghole

After doing a bunch of no-chill batches my IPAs suck doing this method. I'm losing aroma in a month's time after carbonating in bottles. I just dumped a whole bunch of PtE clone recipe bottles because they blow. Sure I could have drank them but screw that. My belgians using this method have been great so no problems there. I think my next IPA will get chilled to see if that helps out my situation. The hop aroma was completely gone when I opened one today.

There are various methods NC brewers have used to combat this.

One successful one is described here (this brewer has won a number of awards in AU)

http://www.aussiehomebrewer.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=55801

As a no-chill, no adjustment brewer, I recently brewed a double batch of house APA which relies on frequent late hops for flavour and no chilled half, with the rest run through a plate chiller. Definite difference in the amount of bittering. Aroma, less so but flavour is also different.

For me it's about finding what method works for your system/palate and adjusting your recipes from there. Obviously if you are competition mad then you have other considerations. I mainly brew beer I want to drink.

ghpeel · 09-04-2011, 12:19 AM

I use Weyerman Pils, boil for 70-80min and drain to the cube after maybe 5-10 minutes after flame out. I've done perhaps 20 batches of No Chill (including 3 lagers, 2 of which had Pils) and haven't had any infections or off flavors that I attributed to the No Chill.

PickledFetus · 09-08-2011, 03:00 PM

Just an update on my situation. I racked the first no-chill batch to the secondary after about a week and tasted it (normally I would have let it be, but I needed the primary for another batch). It appears most if not all of the corn/cabbage flavor fermented out. There's a tiny bit of a fruity twang to it, but I am chalking that up to fermenting with S-04 at 72F. I think after some conditioning it will be a very drinkable beer. One of my ex-coworkers is a BJCP judge so I'll see if I can get some to him and have him taste it (without telling him what I did) and see if he detects any DMS. At this point I can't tell if I can actually taste it or if I'm fooling myself...

I also just pitched the yeast on my second no-chill batch. I did the same recipe (Centennial Blonde) but chose Maris Otter for the base grain instead of Pilsner. When I racked into the fermenter, I took a sample for a gravity reading and to taste. I couldn't tell the difference between that wort and others where I've used my immersion chiller (except that it was far cloudier than even the pilsner batch, even though I forgot to use whirlfloc on both batches). I'm going to use US-05 on this batch. It should be a good experiment to see how the different base grain and yeast affects the final beer.

I'm calling that a success, though its flushed out a few things in my process I need to improve. It definitely looks like the pils in my first batch was the culprit (even though I suspect it won't affect the final beer much). Since many people successfully use pilsner malt in no-chill brews, I wonder if my boil isn't vigorous enough. I start with 6.75gal in a 7gal turkey fryer, so I really can't boil that hard without risking boil-overs. I'm planning on getting a larger kettle eventually, so I will see if that changes anything.

ghpeel · 09-08-2011, 03:06 PM

Corn/Cabbage does sound like DMS. I haven't experienced it in my No Chills, but I guess I boil pretty hard. Since this is likely to be the culprit, I suggest you look into foam control (although it looks like FermCap-S isn't considered food grade anymore).

I've often heard that if you have a fan blowing on the top of your wort, you won't get a boilover. I think it's worth some experimentation on your part to find a way. Perhaps even take a gallon inside and boil it real hard on your stove, while you boil the other 5.75 gal hard on the turkey frier.