No chill containers..

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Clint

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Hello all,
To save further hijacking of the hosepipe thread just wondering on containers suitable for no chill...
Tonight in work I managed to scrounge two 25 litre Jerry cans marked HDPE with a 2 in a triangle. They came filled with deionised water,been emptied and were due for the skip...are they suitable?
 
Found something even scarier...

plasticcne-flase11.jpg
 
Well Clint
lets see what this upsurge in no-chill may bring to the table as some may be forced to use it
 
Anyone do no chill by leaving it in the boiler? I know the cubes have an advantage in that they are completely sealed but I've also heard a few reports where people say they ended up with a plastic taste from the cubes. Maybe they weren't using the correct grade plastics?
 
Just been doing a bit of research and as I'm worried about using plastic and won't be able to get one in time for next brew in any case, I'm going to no chill in a spare corny keg.

There are a few posts about saying it's a bad idea for various reasons but seems everyone who's tried it likes it.
 
I use these Clint. I don't put boiling wort in them though although other people do. Did a beer the other day and put it in at 75c. No plastic taste. I had some of those containers and as far as i remember were suitable.
Thats exactly what I do beercat I let it cool in the boiler for 1/2 hour or so then put it in a sterilised FV or Cube I never put iot in when it is near boiling temp although I believe this is ok with the correct plastic cubes
 
About these cans....
Yeah, HDPE is fine. It does go pretty soft when it's boiling but it's fine. I used a pressure barrel (they're HDPE) as a no chill cube and because it buckles in thought I'd pressurise it a bit with co2 and the dimple/punt/moat bit at the bottom bulged out and I had to let the pressure out and stand on it. It was fine.
 
fwiw ive used hdpe jerrycans for nochill and stored 1 batch before adding yeast 6 weeks
And i did decant off the boil wort into the cans, before 'rolling' They will soften significantly with hot wort , and balloon out with steam pressure too.. _ no plasticy taste whatsoever either..

for batch #2 i cracked the lid sprinkeld in a pack of s-04 iirc and stood it in the brew fridge with tha cap 1/2 on @19c.. rather than completeing within 4-5days as a straight out of the kettle and eatated brew might do, it took closer to a full week to hit FG.. and was a slow/quiet start to fermentation as planned
(i purposefully didnt aerate as the headroom was limited and i wanted to keep the brew in the jerrycan.)
sediment build up was the biggest clue to yeast activity ..
 
After switch-off I add the 0 minute hops and let it stand in the boiler for 30 minutes, then transfer straight to the FV. So it's cooler than boiling but still hot enough to sanitise the FV.
No plastic flavours.
Then leave it alone til bed time (I always finish brewing by 2.00pm at the latest) and add the yeast. Seems to me the less you muck your wort about the less likely you'll get an infection.
 
Thanks for the replies....so...my cans are ok..?

I think we'd need to see a decent picture of them to truly assess, but based on your profile pic you seem to be doing ok. Or just put a pic on ratemyrack.com ;)
 
I used to use hdpe ones. I used to leave the wort in the boiler until it got down below 90c, I didn't like to leave it longer as I wanted it all in the cube before it got below 65c. The handles get quite flexy when hot so I didn't move it too far until it was cool, luckily I had room to leave them overnight in the kitchen.
The only trouble is, in this weather it will take a long time to cool and probably won't go below 25c; unless you put it in a bath of cold water which sort of defeats the object.
My neighbours can't see into my kitchen, so I'm going to keep using the counterflow. ;)
Although no ban here yet (unusually).
 
I have a steel fermenter. Just dump the boiled wort into it, typically leave overnight and pitch the next morning. Working well so far (6 brews + counting).
 

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