First BIAB/No Chill Brew This Weekend

I'm the epitome of a lazy brewer. After sifting through countless threads on here for BIAB and no-chill brewing, I pieced together a plan to brew 3 gallon BIAB batches on my stovetop, no-chill overnight in my basement and pitch the next day. With a 3 year old and a 4 year old, taking 6-7 hours on a weekend day to brew isn't going to happen.

This past Saturday was my first brewday with this lazy man method. I put together a saison recipe, got my ingredients and equipment all put together and gave it a shot.

My recipe is
6# Belgian Pilsner
1.25# flaked maize
4oz white wheat
8oz Vienna
6oz Caramunich I

.1oz Magnum 60min
.2 Citra 15 min
.5oz Amarillo 5min

.25oz Amarillo dry hop

Belle Saison Yeast

Mash at 152

I had my grains double crushed at my LBHS, many thanks to the folks here. My target pre-boil gravity was 1.038, hit 1.042. I boiled for 90 minutes and got just about 3.25 gallons of wort out of it. I let the wort sit in my kettle for about 2 hours with the lid on tight and then transfered to my fermenter and closed it up to sit overnight to chill.

I checked OG and temp the next morning and was at 1.052 and 72 degrees. Pitched my yeast and tucked it away in a dark corner. My basement is a steady 68-70 degrees right now so I'll leave it down there while I get my ferm chamber setup. I tasted a sample and it was sweet nectar. I was amazed at how much more flavorful this was compared to the extract batches I've done. I'm hopeful the final product will turn out well.

Overall, it was the least stressful brew "day" I've had yet.

Interesting brew day. Double mill could be the reason for the extract efficiency being so high. What's your fermenter made of? Trying to find the right fermentor for no chill. Any idea on wort temp when you racked to fermentor? I like less stress, thanks for posting.

I just use a standard ale pail for fermenting. I'm at altitude and I boiled at 200 degrees. I didn't measure the temp when I transferred but I'm guessing it was around 170-180 degrees. It was still very hot. I was worried about the bucket deforming but from what I've read they are still stable at boiling temps since they're made of HDPE, just get a little soft.

Very cool. I remember reading a bunch about no-chill brewing a while back, but had mostly forgotten about it. Although, I've also read a lot about hop-stands at mid-level temps (below 180°F, but well above yeast pitching temps) and that has helped me relax a bit about chilling down to pitching temps.

When I first started brewing, the chilling phase was always the most stressful. I'd worry that I didn't have enough ice. I'd run to the corner store and spend as much on ice as I spent on yeast. What's up with that? These days, I don't sweat it. I put the kettle in the sink with a cold water bath and don't even add ice. By the 3rd time refilling the sink with water fresh from the tap, I let it just sit there until it is ready to be transferred.

It isn't a strict no-chill method. It is more of a 'take-a-chill-pill' method.

I was going to comment that your fermenting temp seemed a bit high, but then I realized you are doing a saison. Duh. It'll be fine, and may even do better if you move it to a warmer spot.

I too have hated the chilling portion. And I don't want another piece of equipment like a plate or immersion chiller to clean either. Like I said in my original post, I'm lazy. I've got an 8 gallon pot and it won't fit in my sink so the other option is to lug it upstairs to the bathtub. No thanks.

I think this first batch will be good but I'm expecting the hop bitterness to be off since I didn't adjust for the no-chill. I'll brew the same recipe again with some mods after I taste this one. I'm trying to minimize the variables.

I moved the beer from my basement to my term chamber which I finally cleared it and plugged in. I moved a year ago and haven't gotten around to setting it up. It's fermenting at about 75* and I'll let it raise a bit closer to 80* in the next few days. I took a hydro sample yesterday, it's down to 1.020 and it tasted awesome. I'm thinking this will be my best batch to date.

Silly no chill question since I am looking into it as a way to be able to brew in my apartment. How do you adjust your hops additions. I have read move everything back( towards 0 minute) by 20 minutes, so what about your sub 20 minute additions?

There's an image posted in post #1317 in the "Exploring no-chill brewing" thread.

BIAB AND no chill??

You can't do that!

jgarretson said:

d then transferred to my fermenter and closed it up to sit overnight to chill.

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Do you get a significant vacuum on the fermenter when the wort cools? Is the lid difficult to remove?

Usually no-chill involves a collapsible water carrier to keep out air while the water contracts. I like your way.

Link to hops addition chart

I didn't notice any issues with the bucket or getting the lid off. There was no noticeable deforming of the bucket either. I had my airlock closed up with my blow off tube inserted and about eight layers of Saran Wrap covering the end.

I've heard about the caving in of the jerry cans many use for no chill. I'm wondering if because I left it in my kettle for a couple hours and then transferred if that's the reason for no major vacuum issues? As I mentioned above, I'm guessing I transferred the wort in the 170-180 temp range. It was definitely hotter than my mash temp. I'm sure there's a formula to calculate but I really don't care that much.

Epimetheus said:

Usually no-chill involves a collapsible water carrier to keep out air while the water contracts. I like your way.

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Yes, typically the Aussies use a plastic jerry can for no chill, and achieve very sanitary wort that is shelf stable and can be stored and fermented up to a couple months out. While not as sanitary, I have had no problem no chilling overnight right in the kettle with a well fitted lid. I would suggest trying a no chill in the kettle, and pitching yeast the following day.

Now for the ultra lazy out there, myself included. Try a BIAB, no chill in the kettle, then pitch yeast in the kettle and ferment in the kettle. I wouldnt try this with beer that you are going to cellar for long term, but for fresh ales, it works fine. I move the beer to a keg after 10 days or so, then to the kegerator after another week.

I do keep the kettle lid on during fermentation, and also fix a plastic bag tied tight around the kettle to keep the CO2 on the beer, then move to a keg once fermentation is over and the beer is relatively clear. The keg functions as a secondary, and serving vessel.

Oh and back to chilling, "coolships", worked pretty well for a hundred or so years, chilling overnight in a kettle isn't all that dangerous...cheers!

http://www.anchorbrewing.com/blog/anchor-terminology-coolship/

I do PM BIAB no chill into a plastic bucket. If you want to eliminate chill haze, check out clarity-ferm.

I'd rather spend another $2 per batch on clarity-ferm than $50+ on building/maintaining/storing/cleaning any kind of chiller device. It all but eliminates gluten from beer also, in case you have a friend with an intolerance.

wilserbrewer said:

Now for the ultra lazy out there, myself included. Try a BIAB, no chill in the kettle, then pitch yeast in the kettle and ferment in the kettle.

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This is exactly how I brew and I love it. Add in kegging and it's pure heaven.

Actually, I've even done a huge barleywine with this method. Primary was three weeks in the brew pot and then kegged with gelatin. After eight months of aging, I blew all the sediment out with the first pull and it's been great. Even the ultra lazy can brew big beers!

Nothing better than a fast, successful brew day!
But there is a nice, cheap, easy, fast chill method you can use as a fellow small batch brewer. Go spend $3 on a case of generic water bottles, freeze a bunch, and fast chill your wort by plopping the frozen bottles right into the kettle. (sanitize first by dunking into bucket of stars an solution and they don't need to air dry cuz the yeast will turn the stars an into food).

A year or so I, too, did my first BIAB, all-grain, and no-chill using a pumpkin ale recipe. See my signature.

I haven't brewed in a year. Getting settled into the new house and hoping to get the brew area set up soon.

Thanks for posting,
Keith

I've been, shall we say, heading in this direction. I have two young kids and I've recently switched to BIAB. I do mostly 2.5-3 gallon batches that I can do in the 5 gallon kettle I currently own, and also on the stove.

I like to brew in the evening during the week, which was perfectly fine for extract, but not so good for BIAB. Even with shorter "transition times" with smaller batches (waiting for strike water to heat up, waiting for boil, waiting for chill) I just can't get it all done in the evening. At least if I want to get to bed by 11pm or so.

My next brew is plan to come home, put strike water on the stove on low-ish setting, have dinner with family, help get kids to bed, then brew--> Adjust strike water temp with heat or ice, mash/no sparge, boil while cleaning up and disposing of grains/preparing fermentor/getting water bath ready, slap the lid on the kettle, clamp lid with binder clips and stick the kettle the sink with iced water bath. Then go to bed.

Next morning get up, shake the starsan in the fermentor and dump, pour in wort into through strainer/and use wife's hand blender to aerate, pitch, and put on lid & airlock on, clean kettle.

I'm planning to have more than one brew going at a time or I'd pitch right in the kettle.

I know, here come the infection risk post, but the I think the risk is relatively low.

CUrchin said:

slap the lid on the kettle, clamp lid with binder clips

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If you have a pot where you can clamp the lid on, take some plastic wrap and slap it around the lid before you clamp it on.

Since the temperature difference will cause air to be sucked into the pot, the plastic wrap creates a nice seal. Works great.

Mike37 said:

If you have a pot where you can clamp the lid on, take some plastic wrap and slap it around the lid before you clamp it on.

Since the temperature difference will cause air to be sucked into the pot, the plastic wrap creates a nice seal. Works great.

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I'll do that, maybe spray the rim with starsan also so if anything gets past the seal *hopefully* it's sanitized.

One of the best parts about homebrewing (besides the beer) is the fact that you can make it as simple or complicated as you like and still get really good beer.

I like the idea of throwing frozen water bottles in the kettle to cool it down. There hasn't been a problem with the plastic from the bottles melting has there? No plastic taste from out gassing or anything like that?

I can't put my kettle in the sink to chill since it won't fit and I'm not lugging it upstairs to the tub either. Water bottles may be the answer.

I'm dry hopping my first BIAB/no chill batch tonight. I'm planning to brew a second higher gravity dark saison to pitch right on top of the yeast cake once I rack the first beer into the keg this weekend.

Cheap, no fermenter cleaning and lazy. Love it.

CUrchin said:

clamp lid with binder clips............

I know, here come the infection risk post, but the I think the risk is relatively low.

Click to expand...

I wouldn't even bother with the clips, they most likely won't make an airtight seal. The miniscule amount of air that gets sucked into the kettle is not much of a threat if you are pitching yeast in a few hours, IMHO of course...

So batch one that I started this thread with has been dry hopped and transferred into the keg. I used the Belle saison yeast and it took my beer from 1.058 down to 1.005. I let the temp rise from 68 to about 75 over the two weeks it was in the fermenter. I brewed another batch this past weekend to pitch on the yeast cake. I brewed a dark saison with some rye and midnight wheat, cooled in the kettle overnight Saturday and on my back porch for a few hours Sunday morning. My OG was 1.064 and tonight I checked a hydro sample and it's down to 1.012 already. It's fermenting at about 76-78 degrees. I'm going to raise it into the low 80's over the next few days. t's another three gallon batch and I'm pretty surprised how fast it fermented. I'll leave it in the fermenter for another 10 days before I bottle this batch.

Next up is a Bitter and then a few more batches to pitch on that yeast.

In short, I'm sold on this BIAB no chill lazy method.