Post boil - to cool rapidly or not ?

[bobtheUKbrewer2]

My last 2 brews I had to let them cool naturally over night, and now I am drinking them I believe they are no better or worse than similar brews where I cooled to fermentation temperature in about 40 minutes. I have read that a cold break is a good thing - any opinions, folks ?

 

[STMF]

Search for "No Chill". It is definatly a thing.

 

[bobtheUKbrewer2]

OK I read a selection of old posts on no chill - this raises another issue - there are references to impact on hop schedule but this is not elaborated on. I would guess you need to reduce aroma hop levels, is this correct ?

 

[RM-MN]

OK I read a selection of old posts on no chill - this raises another issue - there are references to impact on hop schedule but this is not elaborated on. I would guess you need to reduce aroma hop levels, is this correct ?

Hop oils isomerize to give beer the bitterness we want to counteract the sweetness. Those oils isomerize during the boil and as the wort cools if not all completed during the boil When you add hops after the 15 minutes or so in the boil schedule only part of the oils get isomerized and you are left with some flavor (aroma mostly) without adding a lot of bitterness. That isomerization continues until the wort cools below about 170F. so any beer recipe that has late addition hops need to be chilled quickly or your flavor hops become more biittering hops without the flavor wanted. With that in mind, you choose to chill or do no-chill based on the inclusion of late additions or not.

 

[BigJoeBrew]

Hop oils isomerize to give beer the bitterness we want to counteract the sweetness. Those oils isomerize during the boil and as the wort cools if not all completed during the boil When you add hops after the 15 minutes or so in the boil schedule only part of the oils get isomerized and you are left with some flavor (aroma mostly) without adding a lot of bitterness. That isomerization continues until the wort cools below about 170F. so any beer recipe that has late addition hops need to be chilled quickly or your flavor hops become more biittering hops without the flavor wanted. With that in mind, you choose to chill or do no-chill based on the inclusion of late additions or not.

Is there literature out there on how to adjust a hop schedule for hoppy beers for no-chill? Or is it just that it needs to be cooled quickly?

 

[RM-MN]

Is there literature out there on how to adjust a hop schedule for hoppy beers for no-chill? Or is it just that it needs to be cooled quickly?

Note that the hops add bittering until the wort gets below 170. Any time after this will be for flavor and aroma. Some aromatic oils are more volatile and will be driven off in the boil for late addition hops and this is partially true for those added after the wort cools below 170 but that temp may not drive off the same oils so your flavor profile may not be exactly the same. I don't know that anyone has developed a schedule for the hoppy no-chill beers as it would take a lot of experimentation and probaby lead to drunkeness with less than scientific results.

 

[LarMoeCur]

The thing to remember is that S-Methyl Methionine (SMM) is converted into Dimethyl Sulfide (DMS) at 140F and above. DMS can be tasted at very low flavor thresholds (of 10-150 parts per billion). I've read an article that said "For every hour you have hot wort sitting around, you will produce approximately a 30% increase in DMS.". So 15 minutes about >140F is 7.5% increase in DMS. I highly recommend cooling relatively quickly.

Most homebrewers do not have giant plate chillers with below freezing glycol running through them. Professional brewers do hop stands because they can chill large amounts of wort down into the 40s in a matter of minutes. Like I said most homebrewer do not have that capability so, if you whirlpool for 20 minutes and it takes you another 30 to 40 minutes to chill your wort. You have potentially added a lot of DMS to your beer.

I whirlpool and chill at the same time. My ground water is 70-80F depending on the time of year. So by the time I get the wort down to 75F I've been whirlpooling hops for at least 30 minutes most of the time longer. Now did I get a lot of time in the sweet spot of 160-170F? No but I did get some time in the sweet spot I also got some time at higher and lower temperatures.

I think protecting your beer from off flavors is more important then the hop flavors that come from prolonged whirlpooling hot.