Quick wort cooling always necessary?

[Gusmedic]

I decided too late to brew to give my smack pack enough time before adding. So I'm going to add the yeast in the morning. Given that, is it even necessary to cool wort quickly or just let it naturally cool overnight in sanitized fermentation bucket since I'm adding yeast in early am?

 

[Stillraining]

Lots of guys do a no chill method of brewing... As long as your sanitation was spot on and you keep it covered tight your golden.

 

[Qhrumphf]

The one thing to keep in mind with no-chill is the impact it has on hopping. Longer hotter means more isomerization (you'll continue to isomerize alpha acids and produce bitterness until I think 185°F, albeit not as rapidly as when boiling), and drive off more hop volatiles. So it may not be the best plan for a hop-forward beer, or you at least need to account for it.

 

[bionut]

That's right, i am no chilling for more than a year now, you will get higher ibu than normaly. Be sure the fermenter can handle the heat!

 

[kh54s10]

You can certainly do a no chill. IMO chilling quickly is better.

If your beer was over 1.040 to 1.050 you should be making starters when using liquid yeast.

Also be advised that a Smack Pack might not swell and the yeast could still be good. If you make starters you don't even have to smack it. Just use both the yeast and nutrient in the starter.

 

[Saboral]

Can't no chill also reintroduce DMS? I thought long period of cool down can cause DMS to come forward again.

 

[Qhrumphf]

Can't no chill also reintroduce DMS? I thought long period of cool down can cause DMS to come forward again.

That's been disputed by blind sensory analysis. As in even if no chill could increase DMS it's not a perceptible change. Impression I get is that a proper strength boil drives off far more than previously thought, and after a full length rolling boil there's likely little to no SMM left to form additional DMS.

 

[IslandLizard]

[...] If your beer was over 1.040 to 1.050 you should be making starters when using liquid yeast.

Also be advised that a Smack Pack might not swell and the yeast could still be good. If you make starters you don't even have to smack it. Just use both the yeast and nutrient in the starter.

Agreed on making yeast starters from liquid yeast. You can also overbuild that starter and save some out to make your next starter from.

Brulosophy did some yeast exbeeriments on pitch rates. The second in that lineup was about vitality starters. I've been using that method when in a time pinch and works great. 4 hours on a stir plate (or even swirling by hand a few times an hour) is all it takes.

 

[spittybug]

Since our water gets so warm out of the tap in the summertime (Houston), I often end up with my immersion chiller only getting my wort down to ~110 without taking too long. I ferment in a sanitized corny/quarter sanke however, so all I do is seal it up and let it sit and cool overnight. I prefer waiting with it sealed up to waiting too long for the kettle to drain through the inefficient chiller. Greater risk of infection in the latter.

 

[kh54s10]

In the late summer when the cold water from the tap gets really warm I have used ice with my 2 part IC. 20 ft in a bucket of ice and 20 ft in the wort. I get it as low as I can in a reasonable amount of time. I then put the fermenter in my chamber and pitched a couple hours later. Brew done late in the afternoon, pitched later in the evening.

 

[Qhrumphf]

I did the prechiller route for a while. Doesn't work well. Best thing you can do is buy a small pond pump and literally pump ice water through your chiller. With a plate or CF chiller, ice water from the start. With my immersion chiller, I run with tap water until I hit 100-110 or so, then run ice water through. I fill my sink with ice then water, and run off water into a separate vessel (something that needs rinsing or cleaning anyway) refilling the sink with tap water until the runoff from the chiller is below the incoming groundwater temp, and then at that point I'll recirculate back into the sink full of ice. Even now, with my ground water in the upper 80s, I can go from boiling to lager pitching temps (high 40s) in 15 minutes using a 50 ft chiller in a 5.5 gallon batch.

Although next bit of gear on my list is an upgrade to a counterflow chiller. So we'll see what happens.

 

[Curtis2010]

Here in the tropics, cooling water can be quite warm, Ive started splitting my brew day. I "chill" using a plate chiller (usually down to ~80F) and then move to ferm chamber and chill a little below target temp over night then pitch in the AM.