No Chill

Why did you choose not to aerate?

Yes, I had a Bruheat brew bucket for years that boiled wort and it was a plastic bucket. Worked great for indoor brewing in the winter when it was just too crappy outside to brew.

Since then I have replaced the element but kept the controller and moved it all to a converted keg for more volume.

This is an interesting topic. Even after a hot summer so far our ground water can take wort down into the mid to upper 70s with a CF chiller. Yesterday it took a couple of hours for 20 gal though. I try to use the water coming out for clean up or something but never use it all and it seems like a waste.

One downside I can see is the extra time involved. I try t set up everything one day ahead to take some off brew day. This time of year it also preheats the water. Got up to 80 in the MT before starting. With no chill it would make this a three day affair plus more vessels to clean.

This is an interesting discussion, but I don’t see myself doing this unless forced by circumstances beyond my control… Just my 2 cents.

Why did you choose not to aerate?[/quote]

I chose not to aerate because, i’ve read that dry yeast really doesn’t need the aeration to get going like liquid does. And this was basically the laziest brew day i’ve had.

The no chill, lazy, really non routine brew day was fun. I knew i would be drinking too much and relaxing too much with an old pal to be as anal as i normally am. I most likely won’t be doing it any time soon again, simlpy because my mind doesn’t work that way. However, if i see no ill effects from the no chill, this may be employed more often than not, especially in this drought and heat we’ve been having.

Other than the no chill, my process was all the same. Tight sanitation practices, hit all temps, all of these things were still up to par.

All in all, it was more or less an “oh well, let’s see if this works” type of day, and so far beer is being made, and from the smell and sample taste of things, pretty darn good beer.

[quote=“segroves”]I chose not to aerate because, i’ve read that dry yeast really doesn’t need the aeration to get going like liquid does. And this was basically the laziest brew day i’ve had.[/quote]You are correct, and doing a lazy brew is a great reason to use dry yeast, just sprinkle and forget about it for two weeks.

FWIW i’ve got a simcoe pale ale made 2 weeks ago, that only got dip tube to bucket for aeration. Kicked off within about 8hrs and it’s already attenuated to 77% with US05. I don’t really even see why people bother with 1056 or White Labs equiv. Dry Safale has never ever let me down on brews that need a simple fully attentive clean fermentation.

Different strokes for different folks! :wink:

Just to keep this going, i’m brewing up an african amber clone this week. I will be no chilling out of my keggle. Not even going to change my hop additions, simply turn off burner, stick my lid on and drain when it’s below about 140F. Let it sit in my sanitized bucket over night and pitch US04 in the am. Let ya know how it goes.

Now that I spent ~$70 on copper/fittings to build an IC a few years back, AND now bought a Shirron about a year ago, I have tried partial-chill brewing.

Last Saturday, took a steam from 212 to 100 in about 15 minutes with my IC, poured into an Ale Pail, stuck in my fermentation fridge, insulated probe taped to it, set the controller to 62 degrees. Had my starter in the fridge next to it. In about 5 hours, the temp strip read 63 (ish), so I dumped the wort (all splashy-like) into a clean sanitized ale pail, leaving some trub behind. This step allows you to filter out some cold-break (which I didn’t do for 50+ brews).

I am all about de-gearing at this point. Pay attention to my processes, sanitation, and simple recipes. Going to try brew in a bag next (with partial-chill!)

Partial chill may be my happy medium, sounds like getting it under about 140F quickly is key to keep hop additions pretty equal to a normal chilled batch. SO as stated above in my previous post, i may change the absolute no chill to a partial chill, down to that 140F instead of it getting there on its own. Still letting it get down to pitch temps in the bucket tho.

Just to update in case anyone really cares. Brewed up my African Amber clone and did a partial chill. chilled down to 140F, put the lid on my keggle and let it sit for roughly 6 hours. Ran it into my ale pale @ 85F put the lid on with an airlock and let it sit on my 50F porch all night long. Pitched the next am when the wort was in the 60’s and had visible signs of fermentation within 6hrs using US04 (OG 1.055). It’s going gangbusters now roughly 17hrs later. I’ll report taste tests back from it and the imperial porter i made as i get around to them.

Any report?