No Chill Brewing Method

[bottled_mellowgenie]

Living in Australia we often have water restrictions to prevent drought. So a homebrewer here actually created the No-Chill brewing Method to save water by forgoing the immersion chiller and cooling the wort over time in a sterile cube. I've only brewed once and it's still in the fermenter, however I was successful the first time. Any experience thoughts or opinions?

 

[DVCNick]

The issues I think that will be brought up are:

1) Timing of the hop additions... the late additions especially are timed assuming you are going to be chilling to under ~170F fairly quickly. I think there is concern that you will not get the desired flavor/aroma contributions from the late additions if you don't chill quickly.

2) The longer before you pitch your yeast, the longer other microbes have to get started and become dominant... I won't claim to understand the exact science behind it, but it makes at least some sense to me.

I usually chill to about ~120F with an immersion chiller, at which time it starts losing efficiency, so at that point to save water, I cut it off and transfer to my carboy(s) and finish chilling to pitching temp in my fermentation chamber. This will take several hours especially with a ten gallon batch but still will be much faster than waiting for it to fall there naturally at room temp.

It only takes about four minutes or less of running the immersion chiller for me to get a 5 gallon batch from flameout to ~170F... that would still help speed things along and I would think lead to better execution of the intended recipe, if you can do that. You could even save the water for other use later only running it for that amount of time, assuming you have a couple extra 5gal buckets,

 

[derekp83]

I'm a no-chill brewer myself, although I rarely use my cube. The last couple brews I made were either cooled to under 170 degrees F and dumped in the fermenter to cool overnight, or left in the kettle to do the same. There's pros and cons to both the no-chill in primary and no-chill in the kettle also. If I no-chill in the primary, I have to sanitize my fermenter/spigot/airlock/etc. on the same day, whereas with no-chill in the kettle, I deal with that the next day. Side by side, they take about the same amount of time, it's just whether you spend that time day of or day after.

There are, as the previous response stated, adjustments one has to make to the hop schedule, but I've been reading about how ineffective late addition hopping is to begin with, regardless of method, and have started to whirlpool hops below 180 degrees F.

So while I'm certainly not shutting off the heat and transferring the beer to a cube, I still consider my method no-chill or slow-chill. It still beats wasting water and getting another piece of equipment out to deal with.

Another thing, from my experience, cube-hopping, that is where you add hops to the cube and then dump the hot wort on top, is very effective from my experience from both a flavor and aroma standpoint.

Tip: don't be afraid to freeze boiled water in tupperware and dump it in your kettle or fermenter to help speed up the cooling process (I especially like it as it alleviates my worry of plastic chemicals leaching into the wort).

 

[SanPancho]

Correct me if I’m wrong but I thought no chill needed/was supposed to be racked into cube/container over 180f to avoid infection. That not a concern any longer?

 

[DVCNick]

What is a "cube"?

 

[bottled_mellowgenie]

The issues I think that will be brought up are:

1) Timing of the hop additions... the late additions especially are timed assuming you are going to be chilling to under ~170F fairly quickly. I think there is concern that you will not get the desired flavor/aroma contributions from the late additions if you don't chill quickly.

2) The longer before you pitch your yeast, the longer other microbes have to get started and become dominant... I won't claim to understand the exact science behind it, but it makes at least some sense to me.

I usually chill to about ~120F with an immersion chiller, at which time it starts losing efficiency, so at that point to save water, I cut it off and transfer to my carboy(s) and finish chilling to pitching temp in my fermentation chamber. This will take several hours especially with a ten gallon batch but still will be much faster than waiting for it to fall there naturally at room temp.

It only takes about four minutes or less of running the immersion chiller for me to get a 5 gallon batch from flameout to ~170F... that would still help speed things along and I would think lead to better execution of the intended recipe, if you can do that. You could even save the water for other use later only running it for that amount of time, assuming you have a couple extra 5gal buckets,

Awesome feed man. I really appreciate it. I have chart on how to stagger hop additions for no chill. And the way that I try (?) to prevent microbes is by pushing out the air/oxygen in the cube..but I will definitely look into immersion chiller after that feed back.

 

[bottled_mellowgenie]

Correct me if I’m wrong but I thought no chill needed/was supposed to be racked into cube/container over 180f to avoid infection. That not a concern any longer?

I do rack into a sterile cube, push all air/oxygen out cap it and let it cool to room temp before pitching my yeast. See another reply for staggered hop addition charts for no chill

 

[bottled_mellowgenie]

What is a "cube"?

A cube is a sanatized plastic square Jerry can.i cool in one because I'm able to easily push all the air out of it before capping to let cool and prevent microbes (?) I dont ferment in said cube because the square corners make it real hard to clean. I'd really love a conical fermenter..maybe when I retire

 

[bottled_mellowgenie]

I'm a no-chill brewer myself, although I rarely use my cube. The last couple brews I made were either cooled to under 170 degrees F and dumped in the fermenter to cool overnight, or left in the kettle to do the same. There's pros and cons to both the no-chill in primary and no-chill in the kettle also. If I no-chill in the primary, I have to sanitize my fermenter/spigot/airlock/etc. on the same day, whereas with no-chill in the kettle, I deal with that the next day. Side by side, they take about the same amount of time, it's just whether you spend that time day of or day after.

There are, as the previous response stated, adjustments one has to make to the hop schedule, but I've been reading about how ineffective late addition hopping is to begin with, regardless of method, and have started to whirlpool hops below 180 degrees F.

So while I'm certainly not shutting off the heat and transferring the beer to a cube, I still consider my method no-chill or slow-chill. It still beats wasting water and getting another piece of equipment out to deal with.

Another thing, from my experience, cube-hopping, that is where you add hops to the cube and then dump the hot wort on top, is very effective from my experience from both a flavor and aroma standpoint.

Tip: don't be afraid to freeze boiled water in tupperware and dump it in your kettle or fermenter to help speed up the cooling process (I especially like it as it alleviates my worry of plastic chemicals leaching into the wort).

Dang. Foodfr thought for sure!! I love the ice cube idea
I found a chart for staggering hop additions for no cool, see previous reply. Thanks Australia Hope that might come in handy for ya