No Chill Experiment

I think two guys asked about clarity... I dont know that anyone is fixated on it. It was like the concern about botulism, the DMS scare... etc. Basically everything one could be concerned about, people are concerned about.

Id submit that if you really want an answer on long term stability and historically what no chill does to different beer types, you are better off on the Aussie threads. Unless someone wants to start making unsubstantiated statements (no not on HBT... never) I dont know of anyone here with that sort of experience with no chill.

I dont think anyone here has been using it more than a few months... since that is when it first hit these boards.

I can submit that I have used no chill on an APA, IPA and Blonde ale...

I am personally disgusted by dark beers, so I never brew them, someone else would have to chime in there.

I also rarely brew anything over 1.070, so again... I dont have that expeience, nor will I ever.

This being said, my beers last 3-4 months.

I did a brown ale - is good.

I did a strong saison @ 1.083. it's still in primary, but will know in several weeks.

My oldest no chill I'm still drinking is a red wheat, but it has lots of the wheat beer taste that tends to cover up some issues, so it's not a good judge.

Should I brew my haus ale and let it sit for a year or so?

The Pol said:

Should I brew my haus ale and let it sit for a year or so?

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Your haus is, what, around 1.040? I don't think that is the right beer for the job. I think you need something considerably higher gravity that will age gracefully - a barleywine, RIS, Quad, BGSA, etc.

flyangler18 said:

Your haus is, what, around 1.040? I don't think that is the right beer for the job. I think you need something considerably higher gravity that will age gracefully - a barleywine, RIS, Quad, BGSA, etc.

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Im not looking for graceful, I am looking for something that wont cover flaws with strong characteristics. If I brewed a BIG beer and let it sit a year, I can hear it now... "that is invalid because that beer has such a strong character that it could cover up changes in the stability etc..."

This is why my first no chill was my huas ale... because something simple and clean is much easier to find flaws in.

But how could you attribute any potential degradation in flavor or character simply to the no-chilling part of your process? There's too many variables unaccounted for. A year-old 1.040 ale isn't going to age well, regardless of whether you chilled or not.

The more I think about this, I'd say a lager would be the best backdrop for this kind of testing - maybe a Pilsner.

flyangler18 said:

But how could you attribute any potential degradation in flavor or character simply to the no-chilling part of your process? There's too many variables unaccounted for. A year-old 1.040 ale isn't going to age well, regardless of whether you chilled or not.

The more I think about this, I'd say a lager would be the best backdrop for this kind of testing - maybe a Pilsner.

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But wouldn't you have the same problems with a pilsner? I am under the impression that any lighter beer would not age well, Lager or Ale. Anything that is kept refrigerated is not likely to exhibit the flaws expected.

What would be nice, is a split batch, one chilled and the other not. THat way you have a direct comparison.

I think if you brewed a Pilsner to a slightly higher gravity, say 1.060 -1.070, it would have better potential to age well without severe flavor degradation, though any hop flavor and aroma would be greatly diminished as expected. A low-gravity session beer would suffer greatly from extended aging; doing a split batch would be the only way to truly test this hypothesis.

This is an interesting dilemma to try and reason through!

This defies all reason, we need experimentation... sweat equity.

How would a split batch of belgian wit work? I'm planning doing one coming up and could split it for trial. After that, I am planning a mega beer, and don't want to mess around with that. I will have my hands full taking care of that monster.

Homercidal said:

How would a split batch of belgian wit work? I'm planning doing one coming up and could split it for trial. After that, I am planning a mega beer, and don't want to mess around with that. I will have my hands full taking care of that monster.

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If you split the wort, you will have two different hop profiles, unless you have no late addition hops (under 20 min or so)

Ok, this subject is happening on two threads, so I suggest we either merge, or perform an exodus. I, for one, will be hanging out on the OTHER one. See you there.

No news yet on the split experimental batch, I'll sample them next week.

I've converted to all no-chill, and 9 days ago I brewed a batch based BierMuncher's Sterling Gold recipe. 5 gallons at 1.053 and 5 gallons at 1.037. I sampled both today, and they both are very clean with no off flavors, and both are very clear after 9 days.

I did my first no chill a week ago saturday. A friend and I did an all grain batch of Boddingotns type beer. We brewed 10.5 gallons. I put my half directly in the new 7 gal conical and chilled it with an immersion chiller. I put his in a cube (hot!) and he took it home the next day. We both used the same yeast Safeale S-04. His was bottled last night, Mine is still in the fermenter, but will be kegged before I brew on this saturday or Sunday (2 weeks total). This time I will be doing the same thing except keeping the cube for a month and using different yeast. First chilled batch will be with Wyeast 1056, second no chill will be safeale S-05 to see if I can tell how much different the yeasts are.

We are going to a party in 3 weeks and can compare the two batches of boddingtons. This is my friends first homebrew, so........

I will post the results.

David

The experimental results are in.
Drumroll please...

SWMBO and I can't tell the difference between the two beers.
Both beers are light, with the same malty quality I've found in previous Maris Otter grain bills. The bitterness balances the sweetness of the malt, with a light touch of hop flavor coming through.
Both are kegged in my lager fridge at 34F with an epoxy mixer in the tube.
I served them last night and tonight though a clean picnic tap. Both times we sampled them cold and then let them warm up in the 90F heat here.
Last night, I knew which was which, though SWMBO didn't. Tonight, I had her randomize the glasses so I didn't know which was which. As far as I can tell, they are the same beer.

I've been thinking about shipping the beers around to others to taste, and I'm hesitant to do that given the heat in our area right now.
However, I'd be happy to host some Portland OR area brewers over to do blind sampling once they are in the kegerator. Please PM me if you're interested.

Also, I plan on saving some bottles of these to evaluate the longer term flavor characteristics.

My next experiment will be with split batches of a Helles, which will be in about a month.
The Helles recipe is:
7.2# Pils malt
0.35 oz 13.4% Magnum @ 60 min (40 min for nochill)
0.30 oz 4.3% Hallertau @ 25 min (5 min for nochill)
1g starter of 2206 for both.

Good to hear! Even though, I must admit, I knew how this was going to turn out.

It's weird, on my No Chill Columbus IPA (which I'm drinking the most of right now) I'm getting lacing like I've never seen. You can count how many times I took a gulp before I reached the bottom of the glass. Like the rings on a tree.

chefchris said:

Good to hear! Even though, I must admit, I knew how this was going to turn out.

It's weird, on my No Chill Columbus IPA (which I'm drinking the most of right now) I'm getting lacing like I've never seen. You can count how many times I took a gulp before I reached the bottom of the glass. Like the rings on a tree.

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Oh crap, that is botulism....

Joking, enjoy

I'm actually not surprised either, after hearing what I hear from people both on this site and The Brewing Network. Both sites have people in OZ who have done this for a while.

I'll probably continue to use my chiller, but its' good to know that the whole DMS and Clarity thing is mostly non-existent, even in no-chill.