Hey all. The two things I have considered a drag in home brewing are - 1) bottling, and 2) cooling down the wort. With kegging, the first item has been solved. The other, not so much.
I currently use an immersion chiller and it seems to be the one part of the brew day where something goes awry and I just find it to be a lousy experience overall.
So I’m thinking about trying no-chill. If I were to buy a viable container, I’m still uneasy about pouring hot liquid into any type of plastic container. I wanted to see if anyone has any suggestions on the use of plastic containers for no-chill and where you buy them from and what specific characteristics they have to have. My other thought was to get an extra corny keg, transfer it there, and then transfer to a bucket; In that case, I’m not keen on transferring the beer again. Thanks.
You could just leave it in your kettle to chill. Heck I’ve boiled chilled and fermented in the same kettle. Another option and I do it often is chil down to 90 or so dump it in a bucket pitch next day.
Thanks brewcat. Any issues with the last approach you mention? I’ve done it a few times myself but tend to be stuck on the conventional wisdom that it’s critical to cool it down quickly.
Didn’t brew-losophy do a few tests on no chill? Would I be as worried pre-yeast pitch? Maybe not about O2 ingress as the yeast should (?) take care of it… BUT, when the wort chills, along with O2 how about a wild bug getting in? Then there are cool-ships…
Sneezles61
I used to use an immersion chiller, pumping ice water through a counterflow chiller that was also getting ice water, into the IC, and the return on top of the original ice water. It still took forever!
I bought a plate chiller and it has made all the difference in the world. I can get 5 gallons from boil to pitch temperature in about 15 total minutes, if not faster. Best investment I’ve made in a long time.
Definitely stirring. It’s Florida so the ground water isn’t very cold and I dont want to bother buying a bunch of ice. So it’s mostly laziness perhaps.
The worry about the chill quick and pitch is about infection. But like everything people take it to the extreme. And then there is marketing. Spend your worrying on sanitation and you will be fine.
I see. Another idea to consider may be chilling down to around 90 degrees and then pitching Kveik yeast. I also like @brew_cat 's idea of doing the no-chill directly in the kettle.
The cover for my kettle has a hole in it in which I can drop a thermometer in or probe. Then I’ll put the airlock in it and wrap the rim with electric tape
I agree with @brewcat. Don’t buy another container. Just turn off the heat and let it chill. One thing you may want to read about is how no chill may affect your hops and bittering. You may want to consider moving any late addition hops later in the ‘chill’ cycle as you’ll get continued isomerization.
