No chill - throwing flameout hops in cube

[CyberFox]

I was thinking of trying no chill brewing, but heard that it might not be great for hoppy beer. Has anyone tried throwing flameout hops into the cube while doing no chill? If so, what was the result? My best guess is that it would be like an extended hop stand, but I'm all ears (or eyes in this case).


Thanks

 

[lumpher]

I usually do no-chill, due to an extended bout of laziness. Yes, adding it in during the slow cooldown phase will work as a hopstand.

 

[CyberFox]

Thanks for the input. I figured that it could cut some time off of my brew day while still allowing me to do a long hop stand. I've read that the longer the hop stand, the better, and you can't get a much longer hop stand than that. My tap water is also pretty hot during the summer and I'd rather not use too much water to chill. On top of that, I like to keep things as simple as possible. I guess you can call it lazy, if you want.

 

[DBhomebrew]

There's a chart somewhere that shows how to adjust recipes for no chill. In essence, the no chill adds 20m to the boil.

A 60m addition recipe addition would be moved to a 40m no chill, but calc'd as a 60. 30m would be moved to 10m. A flameout recipe addition ends up as a dry hop.

ETA: The yellow, green, and chart halfway down this link...

https://brulosophy.com/2015/02/09/a-year-of-no-chill-lessons-from-a-secret-xbmt/

 

[CyberFox]

So you're saying that a flameout addition with no chill would be equivalent to a cool-side dry hop even though it's exposed to high temperatures for an extended period of time? Interesting. I can understand that the extra time the wort stays at a high temperature would lead to 20 extra minutes worth of bitterness, but I figured that adding flameout hops with the no chill method would just act like an extended hop stand. Either way, I'm more than willing to admit that there's always more for me to learn and that's exactly why I asked my original question. Thanks for the input!

 

[DBhomebrew]

Other way around. If a standard recipe calls for a 0m flameout, a no chill brewer might move that to a dry hop.

As I understand it*, a typical no chill brewer transfers the very hot wort to the cube which is rated for it. The very hot wort sealed into the cube is what keeps it sanitary until transfer to the FV.

For what you're talking about, you'd bring the wort down to <170F for an indefinite hops stand. <170 is good for hop flavor/aroma, but also microorganisms.

*I don't no chill, but I looked into this stuff while troubleshooting my long, drawn out water bath cooling.

 

[CyberFox]

Ah, I see. By hop stand, I meant throwing hops in at flameout and doing a steep, but maybe there's a better term for that. I usually just throw flavor hops in at flameout, let them sit for 30 minutes, then chill to pitching temperature. I wasn't sure if I could get the same, if not more exaggerated, effect by throwing them into the cube right after the boil and calling it good.

 

[DBhomebrew]

Brew something you've brewed before. Your *house* beer if you've got one. You'll know for sure what your new process does and from there how to get back to what you want.

My hunch is you'll find your favorite brew is rather bitter and missing hop flavor.

 

[Spivey24]

I’ve done several no chill like brews. All IPAs. I didn’t use a cube, just left it in the kettle overnight, sometimes with a fan blowing on it. I scaled back the bitter hops to 30 minutes and the late hops later. Also I held back some water and added it at the end to make up volume to cool it down to 180 or so, then threw in the flameout hops, put the lid on, wrapped the edge in Saran Wrap and called it. The brews all came out good. Just be careful the next day transferring because you are now cold side and star San as necessary. It’s just a little less predictable this way.

 

[CyberFox]

I've actually given some thought to leaving it in the kettle overnight. I guess there could be some risk for infection compared to transferring it to a cube, but who knows? It's definitely easy and practical. Good to know that your IPAs turned out well from that process.

 

[Spivey24]

There is definitely a risk which is probably why they generally use cubes. A bug or something else could get in there I guess. So maybe not the recommended approach but I have gotten lucky so far.

 

[mscroggi]

There is definitely a risk which is probably why they generally use cubes. A bug or something else could get in there I guess. So maybe not the recommended approach but I have gotten lucky so far.

I believe this is the reason.. I moved to "hot cubing" when I discovered my chiller was lousy.. I have to say.. It improved my beer day by a ton since it shortened up the session time. When I was researching the process, one of the points made was to fill the cube completely to the rim in order to get all the air out to prevent infection.. If there is dead space in the cube, I believe most of the time the cube is squeezed to force the air out before putting on the cap.

 

[mscroggi]

FWIW - Another nice element of doing the cubing is splitting up the tasks and time. I had a hot-cubing brew session last night. I haven't brewed in quite a while, and I bought a new EBIAB setup, so it was almost like learning it all again.. I found my old notes and remembered I found a 30 minute hop addition shift to work out really well when cubing.

For me the nice thing is I can take two of my cubes in the car when I go to work, pick up water on the way home, fire up the rig, and brew everything down to the hot-cube step in an evening with plenty of time to spare. The next day its transferring from the cube to the fermenter. pitching yeast and cleaning the equipment for storage.

Just a note.