No Chill Brewing

[bredle]

I just read an article in this month's BYO about no chill brewing. You basically brew your beer and then let it cool (generally overnight) to ambient, and pitch your yeast. In the warm months it is difficult to get my brew close to pitching temp using my immersion chiller, so I am considering using the chiller to get it below 170 or so (to avoid prolonged hop isomerization) and then allowing to chill overnight and then pitching.

Thoughts on this?

 

[fatcop]

I think its a great ideas for beers where all your only hop edition is expected to boil for 60 minutes or so. The question is, at what temperature does the heat no longer have the changing effect to the hop flavor? You of course can dry hop as well.

 

[mkyl428]

That's what I do with no ill effects so far... I did just get a submersible pond pump to recirculate ice water through my chiller so i can chill to pitching temps year round though. So I may not be doing this anymore unless I just don't want to spend the money on ice.

 

[HopSong]

The Ozzies have been doing this for years.. reportedly with no issues. I respect them and the ideas they come up with.. I can't quite wrap my arms around the no-chill without some more thought. I guess my only concern is the continued DMS production while it's getting to the magic number where it shouldn't be an issue.

As for the expense of ice. I do have limited room in my freezer. I save the 1/2g paper milk cartons and freeze up about 3-4 gallons of water. Break that up into chunks and use a small Harbor Freight pump to circulate. I use tap water to get it down to about 120* and then recirculate the ice water. The tap water runs into a set of buckets that I bring to the laundry washing machine. Nothing wasted

 

[Krieger]

I just had to do this for my pumpkin Ale I brewed a couple weeks ago. After about 30-40 minutes I couldn't get the wort temp below 100*. So I tossed in the fermentation bucket, put the lid on, and sealed the airlock hole to prevent any nasties getting to it. I waited a couple of days(I likely could of pitched the next morning, but I was busy) and pitched the yeast. It was happily bubbling away a couple of hours later.