No chill question

[TheBigDebowski]

Hi everyone,

So I finally pulled the trigger and bought an ss brewtech 7 gallon stainless steel bucket fermenter. I was thinking (which may be my first problem lol) could I just dump my hot boiled wort straight into the fermenter, seal it, and come back to it later when it’s reached pitching temp? This would also allow me to keep a small enough amount of the wort for a yeast starter to get going while it’s cooling in the fermenter.. thoughts? I’m using the same philosophy as the Aussie method but haven’t done it myself. Thanks in advance for input.

 

[tgolanos]

No-chill is great, but you have to take several precautions. Firstly, never put boiling wort into any fermenter, glass or plastic. The glass could shatter and your could warp the plastic. I allow my wort to cool for a few hours, covered, in the brew kettle before it goes into the fermenter. Secondly, sanitize (starsan is my go-to) everything and seal it to limit the chance of any bugs taking hold before you innoculate with yeast. If it all goes according to plan, no-chill will treat you well.

 

[RPh_Guy]

Leaving to cool in the kettle is your best bet.
Less hot aeration.
Less risk of contamination.
Less stress on your fermenter.
Less risk of burns.

Why spend $$$ on a fermenter and not on a chilling device?

 

[TheBigDebowski]

Thanks for the replies! I own a couple wort chillers and do use them, I was just thinking I could potentially remove the chill step and also save a little water. And as a bonus I could possibly use the time the wort is chilling on its own to let the yeast starter do its thing.

 

[Konadog]

I can only chill my wort to around 90 deg. with our warm ground water. After that, I dump it into my fermenter and put it into my chest freezer to finish cooling to pitching temps.

 

[MultumInParvo]

I say do it.

Hop profile might change slightly depending on the beer, but other than that I don't see a downside (even that change in hop profile might be a pro).

There are brew days I like to take the long complicated way (today was a 11 hours marathon) but most brew days I like to keep it simple.

Sanitize the stainless bucket. Grab some for a yeast starter, cool that and throw in yeast. Throw bucket wherever you'll ferment. Pitch start a day later once the bucket has cooled.

I highly doubt you'll get a worse beer!

 

[RM-MN]

The timing of your hop additions determine if you can "no-chill" or not. Any hop added in the last 30 minutes will continue to add bitterness until the wort cools below about 170F. The hops also will lose quite a bit of flavor during the slow cooling.