Winter brewing, no running water

[wilserbrewer]

I brew in my basement and usually "slow chill" in my kettle and have never had a problem. No way in hell I would use a chiller outside in the South Dakota winter!

If you no chill in a winpak HDPE container, people claim you can keep the wort for months without pitching. If you "no chill" in the kettle, I would pitch ASAP, likely within 12 hours.

In SD, I would be concerned about my wort getting too cold if left outside, rather than not chilling quickly enough...I've been doing this a long time and am getting good at RDWHAHBing.

IMHO, it's just not worth it, Leave the kettle open and add a hop addition at 160 degrees, put the lid on the kettle and go inside the warm house!

 

[trussell]

Don't fear no chilling, I just finished doing a no chill "test":

- At kill boil I transferred from kettle to a sanitized bucket. Since the wort was near boiling it also sanitized things.
- I put sanitized paper towel over the vent hole and let it sit in the basement till the next day when it was down to pitch temp.
- I then pitched my starter which I had made from chilled diluted wort from that batch.

The rest of the fermentation was normal and I kegged the beer last night. Tasted fine, looked nice and clear. It also started at 1.075 OG and ended up at 1.011

This was also my first BIAB where I normally use 3 kettles. I let the bag hang and did a sparge over the bag to get boil volume. Way shorter day and quicker cleanup. :rockin:

Edit: Yes I realize that is not the traditional "no chill" to a sealed container but the plan was not to store the wort just to let it cool naturally.

 

[spbrhs07]

Thats the same setup I use and it works fine. You may have to add some ice to the water initially to get the wort to chill but other than that you'll be fine.

Just gave this a test run with boiling water. Temp dropped from boiling to 150 in about 5min, maybe less! But then the cold water bucket started to warm up! I guess I was expecting this, but didn't think it would happen that fast. After 30 minutes the temperature of the pot and the bucket had equalized at about 100 in each. I think this should work fine. I usually start my boil with 4 gallons and then after cooling i top off to 5 gallons with cold water.

 

[z-bob]

Put the hot kettle (lid on) on top of some hard snow, so there's ice on the bottom and the sides are exposed to the wind. It will cool however fast it will cool; everything is sanitary. Don't top up until after it's chilled because there's a higher temperature difference and less mass that way.

I've done this before in Minnesota. I don't remember how long it take cuz it was a long time ago. Do not cover the top or the sides with snow, just the bottom.

 

[balrog]

Just gave this a test run with boiling water. Temp dropped from boiling to 150 in about 5min, maybe less! But then the cold water bucket started to warm up! I guess I was expecting this, but didn't think it would happen that fast. After 30 minutes the temperature of the pot and the bucket had equalized at about 100 in each. I think this should work fine. I usually start my boil with 4 gallons and then after cooling i top off to 5 gallons with cold water.

Two buckets, start pump and outflow in one, 5-10m, switch pump & outflow to other which is only half water, half snow/ice/whatever, another 5/10m you'll be done.

 

[spbrhs07]

Two buckets, start pump and outflow in one, 5-10m, switch pump & outflow to other which is only half water, half snow/ice/whatever, another 5/10m you'll be done.

Thanks balrog! I just finished my first batch using this idea and got the wort to 90 in about 20min!

 

[balrog]

I can't take credit, I covet the Jaded's "warm ground water" package and mimic it (http://jadedbrewing.com/collections...eral-lee-kit-complete-hot-groundwater-package)