Flooding and the art of no chill

[brewingmeister]

So I brewed yesterday. Outside on the 2nd shortest day of the year so there could have been better conditions but that wasn't the problem. Everything was going just fine and had just dumped the grains in the garden so I go to hook up the hose to rinse the tun. The wife turns on the water and I have a really low flow. She says it's on all the way so I figure when I put the hose up some water was left in it and froze, no big deal the water will dissolve it in a minute. She goes inside to check on something and comes right back out saying 'there's two inches of water on the floor!' and goes to turn the water off.
Well, it wasn't 2 inches but at least 1/2 in of water on the floor, all over the counter, cabinets (inside and out), and the ceiling. Pipe burst in the only outside faucet so I have no way to chill or wash up outside. Not the normal equipment failure. So I was left with a boil already started with hop additions, massive water cleanup in the kitchen as well as all equipment cleanup inside, and a crash course in no chill.
Just thought I would share the fun, fun, fun.

 

[BargainFittings]

Happy brewing to you and yours. I predict it will be beer!

Post back how it turns out.

 

[helibrewer]

Hell if it's that cold, leave it outside to chill!!

 

[brewingmeister]

I had no choice but to let it sit outside. The temp was above freezing though, it was starting to rain when it was left to sit/chill.
Anyone have an easy to adjustment formula for hop additions when doing no chill so I can see if my off the cuff adjustments came close?

 

[wilserbrewer]

Sounds to me as if you had a outside spigot freeze w/ a hose connected. The all weather spigots must be allowed to drain or they will freeze and crack just inside the house...a replacement spigot is about 13 bucks at HD, or a hundred from the neighborhood plumber.

 

[brewingmeister]

Yep, guess I need to call the landlord before the next brew session.

 

[robtotten]

I like that you're upset about the beer not chilling fast enough but not really concerned about the property damage. A true brewer!

 

[wilserbrewer]

Yep, guess I need to call the landlord before the next brew session.


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So he can arrange a plumber to bill against your security? J/K around...but in the future you must disconnect hoses during cold weather, or at least loosen the hose connection so that the water drains from the outdoor spigot.

 

[brewingmeister]

No hose was connected and she never said anything about treating that faucet any different when we moved in, had no idea that valve was inset and needed special treatment. If I'm renting a place it typically gets turned over in better and cleaner shape than when it was before I lived there. It helped that the flood area was the kitchen which is tile. I did break out the shop vac between monitoring the boil.

 

[brewingmeister]

Update.

Since the original flooding brew I brewed a second no chill since I already had ingredients for another brew. So that's two brews via no chill and I just don't care for it. I actually waste more water cleaning up using no chill than using a chiller. I catch the runoff from my chiller in the mash tun to use for cleanup. There's also the pain of dragging equipment into the kitchen to clean up. Then there's the hop adjustment juggling.

As for the beers, they turned out decent. They have both come and gone. Even after a full ferment and cold crashing they never really became totally clear. They were also both dry hopped and still missed some hop flavor.

Just the other day my outside faucet finally got fixed. Only been waiting for over 3 months... Could spray off items with the hose and actually use my chiller,underpowered as it may be.

All in all no chill isn't for me. It is a fine technique but with my process and equipment it doesn't save me any water or time. I wouldn't completely rule it out so it may get used in the future who knows.