Whos on team #NOCHILL

Kenny.brews

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So ive just got into all grain and am finding that chillers seem overpriced for what they are. So im just doing no chill, i find the results very good and i dont think its worth it to start with at least. my hop flavor is all still there, and not overly bitter. I just adjust my additions a little and dont do a 60 min, Anyone in aussie will be down with this due to water restrictions
 
I do the odd batch this way. Generally the ones with very little late boil hops. I don't find I use less water than with the counterflow chiller, but it breaks up the day and makes the overall brew session a bit shorter.
 
I live on the northern USA and I see no reason to do a “no chill”. My water is 48-52F from the ground, it actually adds time to the brew day with no chill. I know a lot of people do this method, but unless you have to, I see no advantage.

It if I lived in Australia, I would do no chill too.
 
Yeah for sure in summer i do as per reasons above ground water is 30+ deg anyways haa
But now kviek is an option i can drop my wort to 40c pretty easily and i collect my hot chiller water first for cleaning and then into buckets to decant around the garden.
 
I'm a wannabe member....
Once I am up and running again, I'll have to give it a try in summertime.
We should be heading into winter, but day temperature is 42+ oC these last couple of days.
I hope I can find the right jerrycans though
 
I'm a wannabe member....
Once I am up and running again, I'll have to give it a try in summertime.
We should be heading into winter, but day temperature is 42+ oC these last couple of days.
I hope I can find the right jerrycans though
I just use a food grade HDPE bucket with a lid that seals up, works good and takes the heat ok. i usually dump it at around 80C
 
I've stopped using the plate chiller. I'm brewing 75-80lt batches and was finding myself wasting anwhere from 50 to 100lt of water to get down to pitching temp and couldn't see a way of storing and re-using that water. I try quite hard to be as sustainable as possible so all that waste water just cut right across any banging on about sustainability.

I do still have some questions around the impact of not cooling on my beers but fully intend to make it a permanent change if possible.
 
I am definitely #NOCHILL, but only because I have shied away from buying a chiller. I would really like to have one, but I am afraid that the cost, extra time on brew day and potential that my beer wouldn't turn our significantly better than it is now would make me ultimately regret the purchase.
 
No chill brewer here. I have an plate chiller, but the simplicity of no chill as well as the time savings on brew day make it where I rarely ever use it. In some ways my IPA's have even improved because I have developed my own system for what I like.
 
I'm interested in this method as I live on a well and as the child of 2 depression era parents, waste usually warranted a whack on the head!

So how did the old timers do it before the days of Ice Baths, Immersion Coils and Chill Plates?

I would imagine it was something like no chill but perhaps along the lines of moving the hot wort to a different vessel a small amount at a time. Science says less volume would hold less heat so would a siphon and dropping the wort into a fermentation tank drip by drip accomplish 2 things, cooling and wort oxygenation?
 
I'm interested in this method as I live on a well and as the child of 2 depression era parents, waste usually warranted a whack on the head!

So how did the old timers do it before the days of Ice Baths, Immersion Coils and Chill Plates?

I would imagine it was something like no chill but perhaps along the lines of moving the hot wort to a different vessel a small amount at a time. Science says less volume would hold less heat so would a siphon and dropping the wort into a fermentation tank drip by drip accomplish 2 things, cooling and wort oxygenation?
Likely right, if you want to go back farther than coolships. Increasing the surface area is likely the method they used to cool their wort. I'd love to find out how medieval brewers cooled their wort, some variation of coolship is likely the method used - spread it out in a shallow vessel.
 
When I first started using an immersion chiller, the amount of water wasted was ginormous. So I still use the immersion chiller but I run it through a cooler of ice with a small pump. It's a return system so everything stays in the cooler. The cost of the ice is a small price to pay versus wasting gallons of water.
 
Likely right, if you want to go back farther than coolships. Increasing the surface area is likely the method they used to cool their wort. I'd love to find out how medieval brewers cooled their wort, some variation of coolship is likely the method used - spread it out in a shallow vessel.

I'm fairly convinced that some commercial brewers don't chill either, particularly the older mid-sized traditional type brewers. Kettles as big as houses would take some cooling and replacing the old kit would cost zillions.
 
When I first started using an immersion chiller, the amount of water wasted was ginormous. So I still use the immersion chiller but I run it through a cooler of ice with a small pump. It's a return system so everything stays in the cooler. The cost of the ice is a small price to pay versus wasting gallons of water.

Yeah, that's how I am doing it and most recently, I have been using some of the "flush water" from my RV filter's first few gallons to cool things down BEFORE using any ice.....when that has lost its chilling ability somewhere around 120° F I run that off and reuse to make ice or for cleaning THEN I add the ice and I am getting my wort down to the 60° F level using less ice!

While this seems like a good level of water use efficiency to me, I'm still gonna pay attention to Team NoChill.
 
I like the no chill idea. I might try it this weekend. Brewing my Black IPA on Saturday and I could do other things instead of waiting for cool down.
 
I'd love to find out how medieval brewers cooled their wort, some variation of coolship is likely the method used - spread it out in a shallow vessel.

My understanding of medieval brewing is that they poured their wort into open vats for fermentation. The wild yeasts fell into the vats from the air. When the temperature was low enough, the yeast propagated and turned the wort into beer.

I suspect that medieval brews were not as consistent as modern brews. They also had no thermometers for mashing and no chilling systems for temperature control.

But since life in those times was hard, I suspect they just drank whatever the brewer had, even if it did taste a little funky.
 
I just use a food grade HDPE bucket with a lid that seals up, works good and takes the heat ok. i usually dump it at around 80C
This is what ive been toying with hoppy beer transfering to cube at 80c (still way above quick pasturisation temps) and adding my whilspool hops here at an extended hop stand.
 
I have a ridiculously complex chilling system that works well for me, but you also have my attention on the idea of using some HDPE buckets with a lid and then transferring to my stainless fermenters after they cool off.

Or just dump straight into my fermenters as they are stainless... I could do a nice SMaSH to test this too.
 
It's going to be in the 40's F, here this weekend so I am going to let try this and do my Whirlpool hop additions at the chosen temp once it gets there. After all, we are "knights of the brewtable"
 

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