I bought a HDPE plastic container something like two years ago and it got lost in the morass of material that is my brewing collection. It recently surfaced and since I wanted to brew a Southern brown I figured this would be a great time to try it out. Brewed as usual, let it cool down to about 170F because I was worried how much temp the container could take, and racked to the container. After squeezing out the bubbles I put it downstairs to cool, this morning it was just a bit warmer than ambient. Plan to transfer to fermentor tonight. All in all this is a nifty little way to go for the nonhoppy beers. Nice not having to drag out the IC or put the kettle in the sink.
I’ve never been interested in it. It just seems overly lazy to me. I don’t really have a good way to do it anyway, unless I use my racking cane and hose to siphon it into my keg fermenters. Not really wanting to do that.
I’ve been doing some reading up on no chill as well. Not so much as being lazy, but as a means of time optimization.
I’m a Dad first and a homebrewer somewhere between breadwinner and garbage man. I have 2 young kids that compete for all the spare time I may have! Not complainng in any way. Its great to be in this demand!
I dont have a chiller either currently unless filling up my wheelbarrel a couple times to cool the wort down falls into that category so no chill has looked pretty appealing in those times a full brew day cant be done with minimal/no distractions.
I’ve been wondering if I can just put the wort into a fermenting bucket to cool overnight in my basement. Anyone know the temp limit on those?
[quote=“Kgetch”]I’ve been wondering if I can just put the wort into a fermenting bucket to cool overnight in my basement. Anyone know the temp limit on those?[/quote]I’ve seen pictures of people boiling wort in an HDPE bucket using an electric element, so they can withstand the heat. I would check the bucket for a reinforced bottom, though, just to add a little more security.
+1 I’m all for things to shorten the brew day but I can’t imagine the no chill will really save time. Plus it is too risky. Only batch I lost was the time I didn’t cool enough and let it cool by itself…
[quote=“zwiller”]I’m all for things to shorten the brew day but I can’t imagine the no chill will really save time. Plus it is too risky. Only batch I lost was the time I didn’t cool enough and let it cool by itself…[/quote]I can see how going directly from a boil into sanitized kegs and then into the walk-in to chill overnight would save time both on chilling and cleaning equipment and would actually eliminate a possible source of contamination since I brew outside and anything can blow (or fly) into the kettle until the wort is chilled enough to remove the IC and close the lid. Could do a single bittering addition and then add the whirlpool hops to the kegs instead of the kettle to make a hoppy beer.
I think I am missing something here on the issue of brewing hop-forward beers without rapid chilling.
If you are adding flameout hops, is the issue with no-chill simply that the hops are going to have a longer contact time with hotter beer and will thus lose more volatile acids/aroma compounds? Ie, its sitting around overnight at temps approaching boiling?
Hopefully not a thread hijack, just a question as to one of the finer points in it! It would be a good experiment to rack half your batch (of a hoppy beer) to do a no-chill, then chill the rest as normal, and see if you can perceive differences in the hop character.
[quote=“Pietro”]If you are adding flameout hops, is the issue with no-chill simply that the hops are going to have a longer contact time with hotter beer and will thus lose more volatile acids/aroma compounds? Ie, its sitting around overnight at temps approaching boiling?[/quote]From experimenting with whirlpool additions (and before I bought a pump, with hopstands), I found that hops actually boiled in the wort for more than a couple of minutes were pretty much converted to bittering additions by a long steep at 180+F. So I would skip late additions entirely but maybe do a FWH in addition to the bittering plus flameout.
So in that case, whether its a 5 or 10 or 20 minute addition, it actually becomes a bittering addition if you don’t chill quickly?
Two other possible workarounds:
-If you use whole leaf, you could have them in muslin bags (which I do for any whole leaf) and remove them prior to ‘no-chilling’
-You could do a ‘partial chill’ in an icebath, or with the IC just to get it to below 180, as IME the first 100 degrees drops off a heck of a lot quicker than the last 60!
Why didn’t you just put it into the fermentor right away? I’m not seeing the value of putting it in another container.
I do this type of cool down all the time and no, it’s not lazy IMO. What I do though is mainly due to winter and not wanting to use the IC here in MN. I shove it in the snow and do a 20 minute whirlpool of the zero minute hops and I get it down to 100 or so…I then drop it into the carboy and put it in the basement overnight and pitch in the morning. I recently made a simcoe only IPA this way and it was my best beer yet. Even with an IC here I never get it to 65 or 70 in 15-20 so it sits in the basement a few hours even in the summer.
Unless you spend a crap load on some chilling device or elaborate set up I think making beer this way works just fine.
[quote=“GarretD”]Why didn’t you just put it into the fermentor right away? I’m not seeing the value of putting it in another container.
I do this type of cool down all the time and no, it’s not lazy IMO. What I do though is mainly due to winter and not wanting to use the IC here in MN. I shove it in the snow and do a 20 minute whirlpool of the zero minute hops and I get it down to 100 or so…I then drop it into the carboy and put it in the basement overnight and pitch in the morning. I recently made a simcoe only IPA this way and it was my best beer yet. Even with an IC here I never get it to 65 or 70 in 15-20 so it sits in the basement a few hours even in the summer.
Unless you spend a crap load on some chilling device or elaborate set up I think making beer this way works just fine.[/quote]
I like this method too, but I also do a ‘decant’ step, particularly on clearer/paler beers. With your process, the next day, I will essentially vigorously dump the beer out of the carboy into a clean sanitized fermenter, and leave the 1/2 gallon or so of trub behind.
Think of it as parsimonius. You can brew and save the wort for months this way too. Can’t think when I would want to do this but maybe I’ll fill my Brewhemoth with three small batches sometime.
By the way don’t put anything over 160F in a PET bottle like a Better Bottle, they melt. HDPE is fine. Glass would work if you preheat and are very careful. And of course metal is fine.
Because this is the way the Aussies do it and I bought the container expressly to try this method.
Its funny that this method always causes some bit of consternation. I guess is just far enough outside the norm to sound whacky.
[quote=“tom sawyer”]
Its funny that this method always causes some bit of consternation. I guess is just far enough outside the norm to sound whacky.[/quote]
Tell me about it! You’ve probably seen enough of my posts to know I’m a huge no-chill advocate. I got tired to answering the “but what about infection/haze/hop utilization/etc??” posts. I try to answer these questions for people that really want to know, but I sort of gave up trying to debate brewing theory with people. I like it because it works for me, helps make better beer than I did when I chilled, and makes the beer that me and my friends like. That’s good enough for me! :cheers:
[quote=“CliffordBrewing”]
Tell me about it! You’ve probably seen enough of my posts to know I’m a huge no-chill advocate. I got tired to answering the “but what about infection/haze/hop utilization/etc??” posts. I try to answer these questions for people that really want to know, but I sort of gave up trying to debate brewing theory with people. I like it because it works for me, helps make better beer than I did when I chilled, and makes the beer that me and my friends like. That’s good enough for me! :cheers: [/quote]
I’m the same way with BIAB. Have done it on the last 15 batches, a few bigger gravity beers aside. Experienced brewers in BJCP classes, HB club meetings, etc. are in arrogant disbelief that I consistently get mash efficiency in the high 70’s, and have even gotten in the high 80’s.
People are prisoners of their own perspective.
BIAB is just another way to lauter, and n inexpensive one at that.
I’m contemplating a demo this Saturday at the LHBS for Homebrew Day, thinking a small batch BIAB with no chill in milk jugs.
[quote=“tom sawyer”]I’m contemplating a demo this Saturday at the LHBS for Homebrew Day, thinking a small batch BIAB with no chill in milk jugs.[/quote]Based on an experience making tea in a milk jug, they get really soft if you pour boiling water in them - if you have a plastic milk carton it would come in really handy for containing and moving the filled jugs.
I’ll do that, they are pretty thin. I was thinking alternatively to use some empty vinegar jugs, they are a bit more sturdy. I was worried about my 5gal container getting really limp too so I let the temp drop down under 180F before transferring. It worked out well since I had used Supermoss and it settled out pretty well in that time. I think anything over 160F should sterilize right?
IIRC, I think pasteurization requires 15 seconds at 160, so that should be fine.
Thought I’d provide an update. procrastinated on pitching yeast until this morning, so the wort stayed in the jug for four days. I poured it in a sanitized bucket and it smelled really good going in. I oxygenated then pitched some WL013 cake that was about a week old.
I really liked the malt aroma coming from this wort. I am wondering if I am somehow getting too much oxidation during my whirlpooling in my normal procedure.
