Note to noobs....CHILLING IS KEY!!

[seatazzz]

Some background: my lighter beers had been finishing with a horrible off flavor, like bandaids but more astringent. I got some great advice here about water chemistry, but that wasn't it. I made some terrific light IPAs last year with plain tap water that had no issues. So I scoured the Internet for more answers, as well as my notes. Like many of us, I can get in a hurry on brew days with other things needing to be done. I'd been chilling my wort (with an IC) down to what only FELT like the right temp, literally testing it only by feel. Yeah, I know, stupid mistake. My last batch (10 gallon amber), I made sure it got down to 72 before transferring, and didn't pitch until it was at 68. I just kegged it this morning and it's fantastic.

So, moral of the story: DON'T SKIMP ON CHILLING. EVER. It may not seem as important as, say, sanitation or fermentation temperature, but pitching yeast too hot WILL affect your final product, often negatively.

 

[Cyclman]

+1

 

[ChelisHubby]

It is not the chilling but rather the pitching temp!

 

[Yesfan]

It is not the chilling but rather the pitching temp!

100%. Just ask the Aussie brewers (no chill method). It's a matter of how quick you want to get to pitching temps.

I use an IC in my brewery and am seriously thinking about a CFC after the last brew session with my cousin. I usually get to within 10 degrees on my set up, rack to a carboy, let it set in my ferm chamber til it drops to pitching temps. Sometimes that's a few hours or overnight depending on what time of day I brew. My cousin recently bought a CFC and I was just speechless at how fast he got to pitching temps. His last brew session was just a matter of minutes!

I may have to upgrade.

 

[mongoose33]

100%. Just ask the Aussie brewers (no chill method). It's a matter of how quick you want to get to pitching temps.

I use an IC in my brewery and am seriously thinking about a CFC after the last brew session with my cousin. I usually get to within 10 degrees on my set up, rack to a carboy, let it set in my ferm chamber til it drops to pitching temps. Sometimes that's a few hours or overnight depending on what time of day I brew. My cousin recently bought a CFC and I was just speechless at how fast he got to pitching temps. His last brew session was just a matter of minutes!

I may have to upgrade.

If you're doing relatively smaller batches (5-10 gallons) take a look at the Jaded Hydra.

I do 5-gallon batches; two weeks ago, last time I brewed, I brought a 5.5-gallon wort from boiling to 70 degrees in 4 minutes.

I'm not kidding.

Among the advantages to the Hydra is it's an immersion chiller--just spray it off, and you're ready for the next time. No internal cleaning, just rinse and go.

It has a huge amount of surface area with which it can cool and with water at full blast, well, it's fast. I use a long-handled spoon to stir and agitate the wort so warm wort is constantly being brought in contact w/ the cooling coils.

It's not cheap, but as far as I can determine, it's the Cadillac of chillers.

 

[seatazzz]

I'm saving up for a plate chiller; until then, here's how I use my IC: I bought a small fountain pump ($30 at Home Depot), I put it in my big cooler which gets 2 bags of ice and water. It takes less time than using the hose by itself and uses less water. Still takes about 30 minutes to get down to 70 but it works.

 

[olotti]

Nice but also note band aid flavor is also caused by something other than not chilling the wort cool enough. To high pitching temps could be it but also cleaning methods could be a result to, I think bleach causes a band aid plasticy flavor but whatever it was looks like you got it solved and in your case was pitching yeast at to high a temp. Cheers.

 

[seatazzz]

I never use bleach. Fermenters get a good soak with iodophor on brew day, rinsed well, then sprayed with starsan. Spigots are in a jar with starsan when not in use. I got the same off flavor in a batch that used RO water, so narrowed it down to pitching temp.

 

[bigplunkett]

When im in a hurry i rack it and let it cool the rest of the way over night and pitch in the morning. Never had any problems doing it. Ive even racked it at 100* before in the summer then pitched in the morning.

 

[seatazzz]

^+1 to that. When I went back over my notes, the batches I had let chill overnight were fine. Lately I've been trying to get everything cleaned and put away at the end of the brew day so that's why I was impatient with chilling.

 

[MrBJones]

If you're doing relatively smaller batches (5-10 gallons) take a look at the Jaded Hydra.

I do 5-gallon batches; two weeks ago, last time I brewed, I brought a 5.5-gallon wort from boiling to 70 degrees in 4 minutes.

I'm not kidding.

Among the advantages to the Hydra is it's an immersion chiller--just spray it off, and you're ready for the next time. No internal cleaning, just rinse and go.

It has a huge amount of surface area with which it can cool and with water at full blast, well, it's fast. I use a long-handled spoon to stir and agitate the wort so warm wort is constantly being brought in contact w/ the cooling coils.

It's not cheap, but as far as I can determine, it's the Cadillac of chillers.

+100
Got one for Christmas, am still amazed at how fast it is... gets six gallons to pitching temp (mid 60s) in less than 10 minutes. Lot of surface area... better still, it's three separate lines, so there's a lot more cold water flowing. Highly recommended.

 

[MizzouFermentationScience]

Don't waste money on CFC unless you want to (let's be honest, 50% of this hobby is justifying buying new shiny things). I swear that HSA is a thing and I've had a beer affected by it, but I decided to listen to the people on here and see how far I could push it. I regularly no chill with no ill effects. When I'm in a hurry I use an open sided CFC... e.g. an electric drill powered paint stirrer spinning like crazy inside an immersion. I do not disturb the wort until it drop below ~160 but that happens almost instantly with immersion. It's always the 160-75 that takes so long with immersion but the paint stirrer makes it less than 5 minutes. Plus at the end I really go nuts to aerate the wort and whirlpool the hops.

 

[DatsyukianDeke]

I always thought that quick chilling to pitching temp facilitated protein precipitation and helped limit infections. Is this not the case?

 

[Homercidal]

I always thought that quick chilling to pitching temp facilitated protein precipitation and helped limit infections. Is this not the case?

As far as I know they are still things. I haven't done enough No-Chill to definitively conclude for myself that it helps make clearer beer, but back when I tried it a few times, I know my beer wasn't as clear as it usually is now. Whether that was due to the No-Chill method I tried, or some other things I did back when I wasn't as experienced, I don't know.

As far as sanitation, the recommended way to No-Chill is to fill a plastic cube container with the hot wort, push the excess air out of it, and seal it up. The hot wort will sanitize everything inside the cube.

Next day it's cool enough to pour into the fermentor and pitch yeast.

That all said, I do recommend chilling if you can. And I'd be all over a Hydra if I could figure out how to get it to fit my Electric Keggle system. I'm half tempted to ditch that BK and get a straight sided kettle. Then I could get the heating element down to the bottom and still have room above it for the wort and chiller coils.

 

[Soulshine2]

I'm saving up for a plate chiller; until then, here's how I use my IC: I bought a small fountain pump ($30 at Home Depot), I put it in my big cooler which gets 2 bags of ice and water. It takes less time than using the hose by itself and uses less water. Still takes about 30 minutes to get down to 70 but it works.

I think I have the same pump. I bought it to run a similar task on a copper vessel condenser. Not a lot of head height to it but once the chiller bucket is close to a foot or two of the hot wort level it trucks right along.

 

[Dcpcooks]

I've used and own a plate and a immersion chiller. If I had to do it again I'd go counterflow. I'd love to find a stainless counterflow chiller.

 

[mongoose33]

As far as I know they are still things. I haven't done enough No-Chill to definitively conclude for myself that it helps make clearer beer, but back when I tried it a few times, I know my beer wasn't as clear as it usually is now. Whether that was due to the No-Chill method I tried, or some other things I did back when I wasn't as experienced, I don't know.

As far as sanitation, the recommended way to No-Chill is to fill a plastic cube container with the hot wort, push the excess air out of it, and seal it up. The hot wort will sanitize everything inside the cube.

Next day it's cool enough to pour into the fermentor and pitch yeast.

That all said, I do recommend chilling if you can. And I'd be all over a Hydra if I could figure out how to get it to fit my Electric Keggle system. I'm half tempted to ditch that BK and get a straight sided kettle. Then I could get the heating element down to the bottom and still have room above it for the wort and chiller coils.

I had a similar problem--I had a temperature probe sticking into the boil kettle and I wouldn't have been able to get the hydra to fit. I looked into getting JaDed to build me a custom version of the Hydra, something that would fit around the temp probe, but I wouldn't have been able to stir the wort.

So I sold my old boil kettle and bought a Spike that has the two low welded bulkheads, one for the ball valve, one for a stubby-probe thermometer.

 

[Homercidal]

I had a similar problem--I had a temperature probe sticking into the boil kettle and I wouldn't have been able to get the hydra to fit. I looked into getting JaDed to build me a custom version of the Hydra, something that would fit around the temp probe, but I wouldn't have been able to stir the wort.

So I sold my old boil kettle and bought a Spike that has the two low welded bulkheads, one for the ball valve, one for a stubby-probe thermometer.

Yeah, Jaded was working on customizing a chiller too. I never heard back after several back and forths describing and measuring, etc. I think my BK was just too messy up for that application. I didn't plan on using an IC when I put it together. Stuff was sticking out all over in there!

I don't blame them, though. I think their product looks amazing and their service seems excellent. They offered a discount for me to try it out. I'd love one, but I think I have to replace my current keggle or move a few things (Probably a good idea anyway...)

Anyway, I'm still using the first chiller I ever owned, and homemade CFC, and it's working "fine". Maybe some day I'll design a Hydra type chiller and figure out how to arrange my kettle to account for it.