To chill or nor to chill

The Homebrew Forum

Help Support The Homebrew Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

Budgie

Regular.
Joined
Mar 3, 2015
Messages
399
Reaction score
137
Location
Durham
I've just read an article about the concept of no chill. Very interesting. At the moment I've done a 5L and 2x10L AG batches, just dumping the stock pot in a sink of cold water.

I'm going to invest in some new gear to start making 23L batches and I'm not overly keen on dumping gallons of water from a chiller down the drain every time I make a brew. We're not on a meter, but jt does seem like a terrible waste :???:

So this no chill thing - basically dump the hot wort in an airtight sealed (sterilised of course) container and leave it for 24hrs or so to cool naturally. Which if you guys do this? Are there any glaring flaws to this method?
One thing I have read is the idea of putting the wort in a 'cube' so the excess air can be squeezed out. Makes sense, but would there be any issue with putting it in a standard fermenting bucket and sloshing everything round so that the hot wort comes into contact with the lid and further sterilises everything?

One more thing, the article I read this morning talked about adding hops slightly later to make up for the extra contact time with the hot wort. Now, I think I'm missing something here. Why not just drain the hot wort from the boiler leaving the hops behind?

Wow! My posts are getting longer! My apologies :-P
Cheers.
 
If its just wasting water you are worrying about it doesn't waste that much maybe 30-50l per 23l batch when using my immersion chiller. I assume you are suggesting adding the wort still close to boiling straight into the fermenter and relying on its heat to sterilise it and the fact its sealed to keep it sterile. I would sterilise the fermenter anyway just to be on the safe side but other than that it would be no different to using a chill cube except any air in the top could contain bacteria that could go mouldy before the yeast takes over (this could be a problem even with a chill but the yeast is added earlier so can take over before anything else). You obviously don't get a cold break with any no chill any many people don't find it a problem while others are against it. The other issue is there is very little oxygen left in the hot wort which the yeast needs to divide, if using dried yeast this is less of a problem and you could add 2 packs to compensate. This is all from what I have read not experience as I always use an immersion chiller (£34 on ebay) which I would recommend.
 
Cheers Simon. If I do go this way I would certainly sterilise everything and not just rely on the hot wort for this. My thinking was that once cooled, I could pour it from its vessel into another sterilised FV from a height to aerate it. It may not be the way to go, but definitely an option I think.
 
I don't chill my wort - after the last hop addition I let the boiler stand for 20-30mins then drain from a height into a fermentation bin which I've previously `sanitised' by sloshing some boiling water round. If I finish the boil by mid afternoon then it's cool enough to pitch the yeast by bed time but occasionally I forget and pitch next morning. Never had a problem with the fermentation so I assume the draining into the FV gives enough aeration. I've read that the long time before pitching gives a higher risk of infection but I've never had one so I reckon that's just a myth - surely the hours the FV stands above pasteurisation temps. is enough to eliminate that risk?
 
I'm a big fan of no chill and have been doing it for a few months now. There are a few thing to consider if you want to try it out.

First off you don't need to bother with a cube unless you want to store your wort for weeks or months. I just chuck my boiling wort into the FV. I do actually sanitise my FV with starsan prior to chucking in the wort but it's probably not necessary as the near boiling wort and steam will sanitise the FV - I'm just OCD about cleaning and sanitising when it comes to brewing

When you no chill he FV may not be air tight. When the wort cools it contracts drawing in air and microbes with it, so you need to take precautions against this. Cover your FV with cling film (I also use a big elastic band, this help the cling film to become air tight) but star san the cling film first as the steam from the wort condenses onto the cling film and drips back into the wort.

As mentioned due to the long cool IBU's will be increased becuase of the long time the hops stay in near boiling wort so I always strain my hop debris out with a seive as I transfer the wort from my pot to the FV. Also the volatile hop oils evaporate and lead to the aroma and flavour additions becoming almost non existant. You can do two things to counter this:
1) Hop stand - Put your late additions later into the boil at flame out. This is something I've yet to try. I've read adding an addition at flame out is equivalent to a 15 min addition
2) The following day when your wort is cool and just before pitching/aeration take 3L out and boil for 15 or 20 mins (depending on you additions) and add your late additions at the appropriate times.

Here's discussion between myself and another forumite about it, starts about at the top of the page at post 21:

http://www.thehomebrewforum.co.uk/showthread.php?t=54351&page=3

This adjusting for late additions is something I've only just found out about and tried No.2 on my last brew which is still in the FV. It seems to work well and the late addition taste is really coming through ( I added a 10 min EKG addition), although I wont know for sure until a little conditioning time has passed.
 
I left the lid on my boil pot star san'd clingfilm wrapped around it. Poured wort into a star san'd fv the following day. if it turns out ok, i'll be sticking to this method as its more suitable for me for a number of reasons.
 
I left the lid on my boil pot star san'd clingfilm wrapped around it. Poured wort into a star san'd fv the following day. if it turns out ok, i'll be sticking to this method as its more suitable for me for a number of reasons.

Think we discussed, adjusting for late additions didn't we? :thumb:
 
I use an immersion chiller, but run the used water out of the kitchen window and into a water butt outside for the plants, like you I didn't want to waste all of that water. I may have an issue come winter time though!
 
I listened to the Beersmith Podcast today and had similar thoughts. Although they mainly talked about chilling the wort with wort chillers etc, one thing intrigued me was the addition of ice to cool quickly. Ice is pretty pure anyway but shop bought ice would have very little impurities. I think I'll try that in my next brew as I don't yet own a wort chiller.

Have you a link to the article Budgie?
 
I've not sink-chilled my last few ten litre ag batches as it adds too much time to the process. No ill effects so far from sealing up tight, then pitching the yeast the next morning.
 
I listened to the Beersmith Podcast today and had similar thoughts. Although they mainly talked about chilling the wort with wort chillers etc, one thing intrigued me was the addition of ice to cool quickly. Ice is pretty pure anyway but shop bought ice would have very little impurities. I think I'll try that in my next brew as I don't yet own a wort chiller.

Have you a link to the article Budgie?

Not tried ice myself, but I've read on this forum to beware of using shop bought ice as it is not sterile.
 
Just used my immersion chiller for the first time. Didn't seem to use that much water. Got half a sinkfull of water hot enough to do some washing up and cooled my wort super fast.
4 hours or so from starting the mash to pitching the yeast seemed like a result to me.
 
Just used my immersion chiller for the first time. Didn't seem to use that much water. Got half a sinkfull of water hot enough to do some washing up and cooled my wort super fast.
4 hours or so from starting the mash to pitching the yeast seemed like a result to me.

tbh, I think I could find a use for the water from an immersion chiller, as you say doing the washing up, use it for a bath later on, etc. But one of the main things I like about no-chill is breaking the brew day up into managable chunks. I actually have the time to do a brew day from start to finish but I really liking splitting it over two, and now, three, days and doing a bit each day.
 
tbh, I think I could find a use for the water from an immersion chiller, as you say doing the washing up, use it for a bath later on, etc. But one of the main things I like about no-chill is breaking the brew day up into managable chunks. I actually have the time to do a brew day from start to finish but I really liking splitting it over two, and now, three, days and doing a bit each day.

I kind of agree with this, I definitely have to plan it for when SWMBO is at work and when I don't really have anything else on as it does wipe out half a day.

Having said that, looking forward to tomorrow's brew day, aforementioned lady leaves for work at 8ish, intend on getting a mash on asap to hopefully be done by lunchtime and partaking of some sun/beer in the afternoon.
 
I've not sink-chilled my last few ten litre ag batches as it adds too much time to the process. No ill effects so far from sealing up tight, then pitching the yeast the next morning.

I think doing a no-chill with a 10ltr batch will cool down relatively quicker than a 20 ltr batch too. I think it took about 18 hours for my 12lts to cool down. my house is well insulated before you ask :D so good for stable fermenting temps but less so for no-chill.
 
I listened to the Beersmith Podcast today and had similar thoughts. Although they mainly talked about chilling the wort with wort chillers etc, one thing intrigued me was the addition of ice to cool quickly. Ice is pretty pure anyway but shop bought ice would have very little impurities. I think I'll try that in my next brew as I don't yet own a wort chiller.

Have you a link to the article Budgie?

Sorry for the delay in response. Working away this weekend. I'll dig out the article and post the link. The guy who wrote it tried no chill for 12 months to see what the positives and negatives were. Well worth a read.
 
Back
Top