Grainfather pump fail - forced no-chill

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benoj

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Hey,

Yesterday I was making a west coast IPA and my Grainfather pump decided at the very last minute to stop working... The Grainfather has a counter flow chiller which is linked to this pump - so it meant that I was stuck with beer at 80c (after my whirlpool) and no way to cool it!

My only course of action (that i could see at that time - I was also drinking my old batch) was to do a no-chill approach. So i covered the top with foil and put the lid on top. I allowed this to cool to about 50c and then used a sanitised racking cane to transfer to my fermenter kind jr (which is rated for < 55c).

I sealed and moved to my fermentation chamber to cool to fermentation temps. I'm just about to throw in the yeast and tilt (around 16 hours later). Should I be worried about off flavours from this experience? I've seen some stuff online about DMS/Oxidation but can't really seem to find a clear answer.

Thanks,

Ben
 
It should be fine, the DMS problem is only at temperatures above the whirlpool temperature you used. As far as oxidation is concerned, there might be some, but it tends to manifest less as off flavours and more as muted hop flavours. The increased duration at hot temperatures might also have increased bitterness as more alpha acids from the hops would have isomerized.
 
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