" No Chill" Lager

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Dwain

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I have been experimenting with the "no chill" method of brewing. I have been very happy with my results on the ales that I've done. My question is:
Can you "No Chill" brew a lager?
If not, why? I have reread the "no chill" threads and searched the forums, but can't find an answer. Thanks - Dwain
 
Well, wort is wort until you pitch the yeast. It's the type of yeast you pitch that makes it a lager. So there's no reason you can't no chill your wort for a lager.
 
If you are going to No-Chill a lager, I'd suggest making sure you siphon off the wort from the no-chill tank and leave as much of the cold break behind as you can. I just dump it all in from my no-chill tank, but I only do ales.
 
I've done three "No-Chill" lagers so far with great results. The first was an Oktoberfest for a party last fall and I have since re-brewed that beer and also a Munich Helles which everyone seems to love. Had a brewing buddy tell me I was crazy for doing the No-Chill method and would end up with a lot of DMS in my beer but with 26 batches brewed using this method, including the lagers, no one has picked up DMS in any of them. I do make sure to do a 90 minute boil for any of my pilsner base malt beers and it works fine.

I don't siphon out of my No-Chill container but do run the wort through a strainer to remove hop material and some of the break material and I think the results are as clear as any other unfiltered beer I have seen.
 
Having done a lager that I could not cool down to lager temps, the results were less than pretty, the Lager yeast produced lot's of DMS and a very weird fruity over tones. So, yes you could brew a lager yeast at 85 degrees, but the results would not be very drinkable.
 
Having done a lager that I could not cool down to lager temps, the results were less than pretty, the Lager yeast produced lot's of DMS and a very weird fruity over tones. So, yes you could brew a lager yeast at 85 degrees, but the results would not be very drinkable.

The question was chilling the wort, not controlling the ferment temperature.

You are correct though that a lager at 85 would be unpleasant at best!
 
If by no chill you mean letting it sit for a prolonged period while it gets down to pitching temperature than yes I have done it. I like to ferment my lagers starting at 44F so I need to get them really chilled before pitching. I'll get them down to the mid 60's easily with my immersion chiller and then I either have to set up my auxiliary recirculating chiller in an ice bath or I place the kettle in my fermentation fridge and chill it overnight to 44F. I then run off crystal clear wort into my better bottle and swap it into the fridge, aerate and pitch.

GT
 
best 'no chill' lager i made was a mexican "lager" (in the style of dos equis, and corona) that used Danstar Nottingham yeast pitched and fermented at 58*F. it gave a really crisp, clean tasting beer with great clarity, and lager-like results without having to chill the fermenter.

no mess, no fuss and still got a "lager-like" results
 
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