Edcculus
Well-Known Member
This thread isn't meant to be a discussion on whether the No Chill method works or doesn't. I haven't tried it, but many members and home brewers on more than on continent have proven it to work.
So why does it? Why does this method that seems to go against everything we were ever taught work so flawlessly? Why aren't all the no chill brewers drinking hazy beer that tastes like cooked corn/rotten cabbage and infected with botulism?
My guess is that most of the brewing texts older homebrewers referenced (IE Papa Charlie and JP) were written based on commercial production. On top of that, they were probably written for the commercial production of light lagers. I'm sure chilling quickly on a commercial scale is extremely important. Can you imagine how long even 20bbls of wort would maintain near boiling temperatures? I bet it would take a month for all of AB's wort to cool to pitching temperatures.
I'm willing to bet that modern chilling methods are based on the fact that commercial breweries originally wanted to reach pitching temperatures as fast as possible for quicker turnaround.
Granted this is all based on speculation. I have not done research on the history of chilling. Its kind of a chicken and egg situation. I think that commercial breweries ended up finding a benefit on larger systems (<20gallons) of fast chilling. Maybe even when lagers became commercially popular in Germany.
What are your thoughts? Am I completely off?
So why does it? Why does this method that seems to go against everything we were ever taught work so flawlessly? Why aren't all the no chill brewers drinking hazy beer that tastes like cooked corn/rotten cabbage and infected with botulism?
My guess is that most of the brewing texts older homebrewers referenced (IE Papa Charlie and JP) were written based on commercial production. On top of that, they were probably written for the commercial production of light lagers. I'm sure chilling quickly on a commercial scale is extremely important. Can you imagine how long even 20bbls of wort would maintain near boiling temperatures? I bet it would take a month for all of AB's wort to cool to pitching temperatures.
I'm willing to bet that modern chilling methods are based on the fact that commercial breweries originally wanted to reach pitching temperatures as fast as possible for quicker turnaround.
Granted this is all based on speculation. I have not done research on the history of chilling. Its kind of a chicken and egg situation. I think that commercial breweries ended up finding a benefit on larger systems (<20gallons) of fast chilling. Maybe even when lagers became commercially popular in Germany.
What are your thoughts? Am I completely off?