Exploring "no chill" brewing

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Well, I have two no chill containers both of which are full with beer and it's too early to transfer out of them. So this weekend I will atempt a no chill in a bucket fermenter. Must admit that I'm a little nervous. Plan on doing the sanitized cottonball in the airlock hole. Seems some people have had good success with it.
 
Saccharomyces said:
Kegged my first no-chill/no-sparge brew yesterday. Gravity sample was great. Couldn't tell the difference in taste vs my chilled house ale since I adjusted the hop schedule.
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You and the Pol have completely changed my brewing setup. I've done 2 no sparge and probably around 10 no chill beers. Haven't kegged any of the no sparge beers yet, but I'm really looking forward to it. The samples taste great.
 
chefchris said:
You and the Pol have completely changed my brewing setup. I've done 2 no sparge and probably around 10 no chill beers. Haven't kegged any of the no sparge beers yet, but I'm really looking forward to it. The samples taste great.
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Yeah, I haven't done the no sparge (still need a pump) but the no-chill was great. I only have one and it's still in the bucket doing it's think but I can tell that I'm going to be doing this from now on. I bought two of the winpak's so I can have two going at once and if I want to secondary, I will have a bucket to use.
 
I've now completed and tasted 5 no-chill brews.
English Pale Ale;
American Amber Ale;
Pumpkin Ale based on same Pale Ale above;
American Light Ale;
Outback Honey Ale (honey-centric pale ale);
and a Robust Porter;

Each brew has its merits. The first two were cloudy, but I used NO FININGS in the boil. The others are respectably clear after judicious use of irish moss and/or whirfloc.

None have given me botchulism, though some have given me a hangover.

I've got a kolsch coming up. No-chill has really made my brewing time a lot more manageable.
 
So basically what you are doing is making a watery hopped extract(wort). Storing it in a sealed container. Then opening the container at a later date and adding yeast.

Sounds like a case of old extract verses fresh to me, with a chance of getting violently ill.

Wonder what a side by side blind tasting of a fresh batch (identical recipe/yeast) and the month or two old "no chill", fermented at the same time as the fresh wort batch, and bottled or kegged the same would compare to one another. You would want certified beer judges doing the evaluations.

My money would be on the fresh wort chilled quickly, then fermented right away winning
 
OLDBREW said:
...
Sounds like a case of old extract verses fresh to me, with a chance of getting violently ill.
...
My money would be on the fresh wort chilled quickly, then fermented right away winning
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Read the thread. Read some of the Aussie forums. No one has had that experience.
 
OLDBREW said:
So basically what you are doing is making a watery hopped extract(wort). Storing it in a sealed container. Then opening the container at a later date and adding yeast.

Sounds like a case of old extract verses fresh to me, with a chance of getting violently ill.

Wonder what a side by side blind tasting of a fresh batch (identical recipe/yeast) and the month or two old "no chill", fermented at the same time as the fresh wort batch, and bottled or kegged the same would compare to one another. You would want certified beer judges doing the evaluations.

My money would be on the fresh wort chilled quickly, then fermented right away winning
Click to expand...

It is amazing how the detractors of no chill haven't actually made a no chill beer. How fresh do you want your beer? The very same beer you happily let ferment in primary or secondary for 4 weeks to 9 months? Then wait patiently for it to carb for another month. Then bottle condition. Is it old? Is it stale? Is it bad because it is less fresh than the BMC you can pick up in the supermarket? Will certified beer judges ask for a born on date?

Some people brew no chill. It's an easier process. It takes less equipment. It uses less water. If you want to chill, go for it, your beer will be ready one day before mine is. I don't believe you will find any other difference.

Come on in, the beer is fine.
 
People ignorant of a method, often dont sound awfully intelligent when discussing it. This has been going on for almost a year here on HBT

I love no chill brewing, and I also use a closed system wort cooling process sometimes, I see no difference.
 
Is anyone here actually storing wort long term before pitching? I'm curious as to why people may want to do that. I'm not saying there's not a good reason. I just haven't thought of it. And if it's a good reason, I may want to try it :)
 
chucke said:
I've stored one for just under a month.

There are reports of 6-9 months with no problems.
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I completely believe that you can with no problems provided you sanitize the container and pour the wort in while still at or near boiling temps. I just don't know what advantage long term storage provides.
 
hal2814 said:
I completely believe that you can with no problems provided you sanitize the container and pour the wort in while still at or near boiling temps. I just don't know what advantage long term storage provides.
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Maybe a guy doesnt want to brew outdoors in the winter when temps are in the 20's. SO, he creates his wort in November, 15 gallons maybe. Then as the winter progresses, pitches to ferment them and have fresh beer.
 
FYI, I bought a 5 gal Culligan cube from Walmart yesterday full of water for about $10. It actually holds about 5 3/4 gallons.
 
15532.jpg
 
Bullbythehorns said:
That is the same cube I have been using for No-Chill on 3 batches and I've been pleased with it and the results. With the o-ring seal in the lid it seals tight and really contracts as it cools. I also take it back to Wal-Mart and refill it at their RO water station:mug:
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Are you fermenting in the cube? If so how big is your batch?
 
smiths9312 said:
Are you fermenting in the cube? If so how big is your batch?
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I'm not fermenting in my cubes anymore. I got tired of trying to syphon out of there without the hops and other **** clogging things up so I've started letting it cool/storing int he cube and then pouring through a sieve into a bucket to ferment and have been very happy with this process so far.

Wish I had bought the smaller/cheaper cubes now instead of the winpaks though. Oh well
 
McCuckerson said:
Pol, I am experiencing slow starts, how do you aerate in the cube?
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Same way I aerated in the carboy.

Close the top and shake the heck out of it for 5o minutes.

I have excellent starts on my no chills, actually some of my most violent ferments.
 
The Pol said:
50 minutes isnt that hard, wussies.
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That's why he looks so jacked in his videos, lol.... Seriously, I just sample my Nugget American Amber no-chill. This beer is very smooth and very clear! (kegged) The spicy nugget hops are showing through and chocolate malt is detectable. OBTW, this beer was brewed on 10/23/09!!!!! For anyone that is watching this thread and not tried a no-chill yet rest assured it works! Have you guys noted any effect on beer becoming mature quicker with the no chill method? This beer should not be this good this soon.
 
Glad to hear about the success... yes, it works, it is awesome... but, you cannot convince those that KNOW EVERYTHING ;)
 
OK, Pol and Sacc: You guys have both convinced me.

I have some leftover 2-row and some other stuff, so I'm going to do a highly experimental beer this afternoon. Cream ale with precooked polenta and minute rice for adjuncts, Sorachi Ace and Tett for hops, no-sparge, and no-chill.

Looking forward to it!


<time passes...>

Added: Wow. That was a short and easy brew day. Are you sure this isn't cheating? I'll update with some data - efficiency numbers and such - once I get a final gravity reading. Based on Kaiser's chart, my conversion efficiency at 3 qts / lb mash thickness was in the mid - to - upper 90's Edited: 75% or so -- I misread the charts. I keep forgetting Kai's a metric guy. Given how well the mash seemed to drain, I think I'm still looking at decent brewhouse efficiency numbers. My US Plastics order didn't arrive on Friday, so my wort is sealed up in a spare Corny keg, and there's an extra 1/2 gallon of wort chilling in the sink to start my yeast.

My only hitch was that (like around 50% of the time), I forgot to toss a whirlfloc in the boil with the last hops addition. Guess I'll have to settle for gelatin fining when I crash cool. Time to get the Pacman real wort starter whirling.
 
jds said:
my wort is sealed up in a spare Corny keg
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So it's cool to do No Chill in a corny keg? That's great, as most brewers probably have a keg already. I already bought my plastic vessel, but the keg would work just as good I bet.
 
ghpeel said:
So it's cool to do No Chill in a corny keg? That's great, as most brewers probably have a keg already. I already bought my plastic vessel, but the keg would work just as good I bet.
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Well, we'll see about that, won't we? :)

I figure by draining into a corny, and hitting the headspace with some gas to seat the lid, I can get it sealed up tight without collapsing the keg, since it won't pull a vacuum as the wort cools if there's enough gas in the headspace. So far, it looks pretty good.

Of course, my winpak arrived today. Guess I'd better brew something to fill THAT up too. I've been thinking about Orfy's Boddington's Bitter clone.
 
Did another nochill this weekend (Cream of 3 Crops Ale)

Here is the cube sitting around, doing nothing, jus chillin (bad pun)
cube2.jpg


And here i've chucked it into a slightly cooler vessel (around 16 degrees C) just before transferring to a fermenter. I like to raise the temperature of my yeast so leaving it in here (and putting ice in every few hours) drops the temp just enough so I can pitch at a cooler temp and let it raise by itself.
cubecoolingmore.jpg
 
Follow-up:

My "Use a Corny Keg as a No-Chill Container" idea worked out fine, inasmuch as it held pressure and smelled exactly like wort when I opened it up last night. Due to trub losses both in the no-chill (I used pellets at the end of the boil and chose to discard the green trub), and the fermenter, I'll probably on realize 4 gallons in the keg. So that's one small disadvantage, but one that's easily offset by the convienence of (a) having corny kegs available and not having to buy more gear, and (2) being able to transfer from keg to fermenter using gas and a picnic tap. Easy Peasy.

I brewed on Sunday and started my yeast, cold crashed the yeast on tuesday, and pitched last night. When I got home from work today, I was greeted by a lovely krausen in the fermenter. The next step will be to see how well the beer clears.

So, on to the next brew! My winpak's just waiting to be filled with something tasty, and I kicked not one, but two kegs this week. Time to refill that pipeline for the holidays!
 
Has anyone found the Culligan cubes in places other than Wal-Mart? I was hoping to no-chill a beer this weekend, but my wally world is still using the old carboy looking bottles at their Culligan station.
 
When creating a real wort starter for a beer in the range of 1.055 or less are most people building up the starter before addng to the rws or does just the vial/ smack pack added to the rws create enough cells in 24 hours to adequately ferment the wort?
 

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