Exploring "no chill" brewing

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Reggie22 said:
If a guy wanted to use a bucket for no chill, or slow chill rather, could he rack into the bucket and then put the aeration hose through the grommet in the lid, attach the diffusion stone, put the lid on and use that for the suck back as the wort cools? HEPA filter attached and high heat hose of course. This way once the wort is cooled you can aerate, pitch and be done.
Click to expand...

Why not aerate when you are ready to pitch?

Why aerate ahead of time, other than to help any microbes introduced into the wort? The only exception would be it might hinder botulism which is anaerobic.
 
MY DUMB NO CHILL MISTAKE

Tried to "no chill" for the first time (really slow chill since I was just going to let it cool overnight in the kettle). Anyway, I made a brilliant plan to split a piece of tubing, wrap that around the lip of the rim, and use some paper clamps to make a good seal. NO I'm not a complete idiot I did realize it would contract so I left a little gap in the tubing for relief (the idea was after it cooled a little bit I would drape a star san soaked cloth over this opening to mitigate nasties entering). YES I'm enough of an idiot to not realize the tubing would expand thus making the complete seal I did not want. When I checked after an hour I found this:
View attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1429004211.079543.jpg

I needed a screw driver to pry the lid off it was sealed so tight. The next morning when I transferred to a bucket I was able to get the pot mostly back into shape (none worse for wear)
View attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1429004339.458899.jpg

But the lid will be an ever present reminder of bad ideas and the irrefutable laws of physics
View attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1429004409.179743.jpg
 
Yeah...thing is that was the inaugural run for that brew pot, fortunately it's still fine can't imagine what it would've looked like had I left it all night
 
Zibe:

Thanks for posting!

I was looking for a large gasket on top of my kettle, and I think I have found it!

I would have thought that the gap would have allowed some leakage. Especially as it cooled and shrunk, but maybe the pot cooling pressed it together more?

My application is opposite, it has to keep a seal as things heat up.

Worst case is a small leak I have to plug.

Tom
 
Cool can't claim credit I saw it on another thread where someone did that and drilled a hole in the lid for an airlock to make a cheap stainless fermenter. Depending on how hot yours will get I would switch to silicone instead of the standard vinyl tubing. I didn't leave a big gap but yeah it sealed well.
 
I want to give full credit for the tubing seal idea but I don't know how or if I can post a link from my phone but the thread name is: DIY Stainless Steel Fermenters and the author was Brewzologist
 
That be the one yeah I also plan on doing that in the future but I'll have to rework my fermentation chamber since I made it for a bucket
 
Love the link on that post on how to manufacture your own o-rings and how to splice silicone items.

Tom
 
Just brewed a no chill BIAB blond ale today. I'm always amazed how fast my brew day is using this method. I'll never brew any other way again.First time doing first wort hopping. Can't wait to see how this turns out.
 
I brewed this morning, put my pot of wort in a bathtub of cold water and then left for the evening. Came back and transferred to the fermenter and pitched at 69 degrees.
 
treacheroustexan said:
I brewed this morning, put my pot of wort in a bathtub of cold water and then left for the evening. Came back and transferred to the fermenter and pitched at 69 degrees.
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Not a bad method at all. More of a slow chill. I've mentioned it before I couldn't stand wasting all that water with my immersion chiller. The added time is just a bonus.
 
Powerturn11 said:
Not a bad method at all. More of a slow chill. I've mentioned it before I couldn't stand wasting all that water with my immersion chiller. The added time is just a bonus.
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Right, luckily I'm in an apartment and don't pay for water but no hook ups for a chiller. I see a lot of people with chillers run the water into their washer. But using this method, "slow chill" as you say, I don't waste time, and it gets down to proper pitching temp. and no infections(yet).
 
treacheroustexan said:
Right, luckily I'm in an apartment and don't pay for water but no hook ups for a chiller. I see a lot of people with chillers run the water into their washer. But using this method, "slow chill" as you say, I don't waste time, and it gets down to proper pitching temp. and no infections(yet).
Click to expand...


As long as you cover with a sanitized lid I don't think you'll have to worry about infections at all. In fact I have a buddy who just keeps his kettle on the stove overnight, covered of course, and he's never had a problem. Makes great beer too.
 
Hi,

It's my first post here and I was wondering if any of you have used the Curtec wide neck drums as a no chill cube? I have a couple of them but the manufacturer rates them only up to 70 degrees Celsius and only 30 degrees when closing the lid! They are made of HDPE and I know people use them as fermenters, just wondered what your input is on using them as a cube?

Cheers,
Alex
 
I believe the Curtec drums are HDPE, so guessing you're fine. Not sure I would lock the lid tight, the drum might buckle in, or the lid could be hard to remove.

I no chill in the kettle, and pitch yeast within 12-24 hours. Ymmv
 
alx said:
Hi,

It's my first post here and I was wondering if any of you have used the Curtec wide neck drums as a no chill cube? I have a couple of them but the manufacturer rates them only up to 70 degrees Celsius and only 30 degrees when closing the lid! They are made of HDPE and I know people use them as fermenters, just wondered what your input is on using them as a cube?

Cheers,
Alex
Click to expand...

wilserbrewer said:
I believe the Curtec drums are HDPE, so guessing you're fine. Not sure I would lock the lid tight, the drum might buckle in, or the lid could be hard to remove.

I no chill in the kettle, and pitch yeast within 12-24 hours. Ymmv
Click to expand...

I never worried about my cube buckling in (Winpak). A hot water soak and a little elbow grease after racking and it was restored to its normal shape. That said, make sure that your cube is fairly thick. Also, the Winpaks are rated food safe up to 170 or 180, IIRC. If the manufacturer rates yours for 70, they could just be covering their butts, but you could certainly give it a try. Just use extra caution until you're sure they won't fail.

If you decide to go the Winpak route, tack on the drum wrench and an extra lid or two. You'll be thankful you did. Find them here.

EDIT: Sorry, I just reread. Didn't realize you were in celsius. Winpaks are rated ~76-82°C, IIRC.
 
Thanks for the input! I'll give it a try with (near) boiling water and let you know how the drums handle the vacuum build up during cooling. The drums are fairly thick walled and sturdy but I worry more about the rubber O-ring in the lid and whether it can handle the heat..
 
I read this thread a couple of months ago and learned something valuable about brewing 10 gallon batches. I now just collect about 800 ml of wort in a erlenmeyer flask and cap it off. Then I'll empty my boil kettle through a sieve to catch any hop particles that made it past my hop strainer. At a temperature slightly over 200 degrees F I collect my wort into my stainless, sanitized fermenter and cap it off with a 2" tri clamp blind with out a gasket and store it over night to cool. mean while I rehydrate my yeast if using dry yeast, and by this time my 800 ml starter is cooled enough to pitch my yeast too. The yeast goto work over night and are ready to go into the fermentor the following morning. This method works just fine for me and I hope more people give it a try.

IMG_20150822_160253849_HDR.jpg


IMG_20150823_065114906.jpg
 
How durable are the handles on the Winpacks with the frequent lifting? I am sure it is better than carboys. Presently I no chill in cornies but I am liking the idea of feremting in Winpacks as well as storing wort for an extended period of time.
 
zman said:
How durable are the handles on the Winpacks with the frequent lifting? I am sure it is better than carboys. Presently I no chill in cornies but I am liking the idea of feremting in Winpacks as well as storing wort for an extended period of time. Getting rid of most of my glass carboys.
Click to expand...

I used winpacks (started chilling, bling reasons..mainly) for a good year and those things were freakin bullet proof. Very durable even with 6gals of boiling wort in them. No issues or doubts in their structural integrity at all, even when caved in from the vacuum etc. I'd brew offsite, toss them in my car, drive home, carry them inside.
 
ericrichards420 said:
?...I rehydrate my yeast if using dry yeast, and by this time my 800 ml starter is cooled enough to pitch my yeast too. The yeast goto work over night and are ready to go into the fermentor the following morning.
Click to expand...



Love this wise use of time!

How did you decide on the 800ml?
Do you use one packet of yeast?
Do you use a stir plate?
Do you dump the whole works in or wait for the yeast to fall and separate?

Tom
 
Hi folks,
I'm sorry that I have to ask this question, as it is probably somewhere within this 143 pages thread, but I still don't really get your FWH calculations. The amount of late hops, that you move up to FWH are being recalculated to give the same IBUs as they would in the original recipe, but with a 30 minute boil. (-> 0.5oz at 10min in 1.067 EST OG becomes ~0.25oz FHW) I get that... but how could FWH possibly only account for IBUs equally to a 30min boil, when essentially these hops are being fully boiled (90min in my case).
I know, I know the perceived bitterness is less with FWH than with regular boiling hops... but by 3 times (90min boil)??? That seems way too much to me.
I have an IPA recipe (Arrogant Bastard clone) that's supposed to get 0.5oz of Chinook at 15 and 10 and 1oz FWH anyway (6G Batch size). So after adjusting for NC I would end up with around 1.55oz as FWH plus a 60 min addition (90min in recipe) of 1oz during boil. That makes for 2.55oz Chinook that are almost all being fully boiled... thats quite a hoppy beer.
Do you calculate all your FWH addition like this, as 30min boil? Even the ones the recipe calls for? Beersmith with standard settings calculates FWH IBUs as full boil time +10%. That is pretty far away from the 30m calculation...

I know all of this involves a lot of controversy and guessing and is always only true for one guy and a single brewery, but your suggestions and the beersmith standard calculations are that far apart, that I'm totally confused...

thanks!
 
Tegra said:
Love this wise use of time!

How did you decide on the 800ml?
Do you use one packet of yeast?
Do you use a stir plate?
Do you dump the whole works in or wait for the yeast to fall and separate?

Tom
Click to expand...

I use 1 liter flasks, and 2 packs of dry yeast, I use my stir plate if using yeast culture. I add it the next morning when the wort cools down. By this time the yeast are healthy and ready to goto work. I hope this helps someone out.
 
Tegra said:
Love this wise use of time!

How did you decide on the 800ml?
Do you use one packet of yeast?
Do you use a stir plate?
Do you dump the whole works in or wait for the yeast to fall and separate?

Tom
Click to expand...

I use 1 liter flasks, and 2 packs of dry yeast, I use my stir plate if using yeast culture. I add it the next morning when the wort cools down. By this time the yeast are healthy and ready to goto work. I hope this helps someone out.
 
Interesting concept but not sure if it's worth it, as dry yeast cells come with a large nutrient resvere and by doing @ 8-12 hour starter overnight you're definitely depleting that reservoir so the yeast are actually worse off than they were originally. Moreover that period isn't large enough to reproduce much as optimal growth rate occurs with an inoculation rate betweem 35-75 (pitching two packs of dry yeast is way over this) so you're not getting any growth in cell count.


tldr you're probably better off just rehydrating and pitching.
 
I don't do this just to grow my yeast, I do this to save time and trouble, and yes over night yeast in a starter dose help. as soon as I pitch that starter I get a vigorous fermentation. Not sure why your doubting my process but I'm sure if you were to try it, you would learn.
 
Sorry if this has been asked but it's a huge thread and the search function didn't turn up anything. Would it be an option to no chill in a keg? I only have glass carboys and it's getting too cold here to run my house outside for the chiller and not cold enough that I could use my winter ice bath method. I don't like the idea of leaving it in the kettle but if I could transfer to a sanitized keg and purge with co2 until morning that would seem safe. Just not sure what kind of temps a keg can handle.
 
A keg should be fine. I let chill in the kettle with the lid on. I prefer less moves, rather than going kettle to keg to fermenter.

I chill and ferment right in the kettle, personal preference I guess, they all work with a bit of common sense IME.

If it's too cold to run your outside water, chilling right in your kettle, or keg if you prefer should work well.

Oh, not sure I would seal up a corny, the negative pressure upon cooling could suck in a sidewall "perhaps".
 
If you're talking about chilling in a corny keg, the one issue I see is if the keg has a rubber top or bottom, the heat from your wort might melt the glue that's holding them on. I've had that happen during routine cleanings of a couple minutes, so I imagine it's even more of an issue with prolonged exposure to those temperatures.
 
Quick question for the no chill people.

Is there any negative that could happen from chilling the no chill cube in a water bath to get temps down faster.

Say let the hot wort sit in the container for 10-15 minutes then put it in a water bath to drop the temps faster?

Any downside to that?
 
I understand it but I was thinking more of the ibu variance between chilling and not chilling. I have a swimming pool I could put these on the steps and they could cool off. Just getting ideas that is all
 
ericrichards420 said:
I don't do this just to grow my yeast, I do this to save time and trouble, and yes over night yeast in a starter dose help. as soon as I pitch that starter I get a vigorous fermentation. Not sure why your doubting my process but I'm sure if you were to try it, you would learn.
Click to expand...


Eric:

Found this description along the same lines...

Coors England developed an amazing method that is perfect for homebrewers to steal. Take a stir plate and make a starter. Add yeast and 10˚P [1.040 SG]. Aerate for 4 hours. At the end of 4 hours pitch into the wort. Do not aerate the batch. This maximizes “vitality.” Vitality is the most difficult to measure and important parameter in yeast. A standard starter is fermented out and then re-pitched. This [a vitality starter] uses continuous air and only allows the starter to spin for 4 hours. No alcohol is produced. The yeast respires but does not enter fermentation until after it’s pitched into the wort.


http://brulosophy.com/2015/06/29/ye...e-cell-count-vs-vitality-exbeeriment-results/

This seems to say you are on the right track!

Think I will try a combination of the two.
Pull off some hot wort and put in the fridge.
As the large batch approaches pitching temperature, I will get the vitality starter working.
Dump it in and we are to the races.

If I understand correctly, this tells us NOT to aerate the wort. This saves a step, an especially difficult one if you are also doing pressure fermenting in a keg.

Tom
 

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