Wort Chillers

[matt7215]

my batch sizes are from 3 - 5 gallons depending on the style

i get appoximatly the same amount of settling using the cube over night as i did bathtub chilling.

a few other things i like about no chill:

real wort starters. i can use my actual wort to make my starter and since i have 3 - 5 gallons of wort i can make any size starter i need.

cube hopping. i now add my flavour hop addition to the cube rather then within the last 10 minutes of the boil. since you can go right kettle to cube your hitting those hops with near boiling wort and letting them chill over 12+ hours.

to test the theory that no chill brewing produces off flavours i brewed a 2.1% american bitter.

100% maris otter, centential hops

4 gallon batch

3 #'s maris otter

1 oz centennial 7AA @ 60min
1 oz centennial 7AA cube hop

OG 1.021
FG 1.005

~ 30 ibus

its bottle conditioning right now but tasted great after primary and secondary, ill let you know in a few weeks about the finished product. any flaws should be glaringly obvious in a beer this small.

[jcc]

my batch sizes are from 3 - 5 gallons depending on the style

i get appoximatly the same amount of settling using the cube over night as i did bathtub chilling.

a few other things i like about no chill:

real wort starters. i can use my actual wort to make my starter and since i have 3 - 5 gallons of wort i can make any size starter i need.

cube hopping. i now add my flavour hop addition to the cube rather then within the last 10 minutes of the boil. since you can go right kettle to cube your hitting those hops with near boiling wort and letting them chill over 12+ hours.

Interesting.

What do you mean by real wort starters? Are you pulling some of the wort from the kettle, cooling rapidly and making your starter with that? I've not heard the term before, so am curious.

[matt7215]

my batch sizes are from 3 - 5 gallons depending on the style

i get appoximatly the same amount of settling using the cube over night as i did bathtub chilling.

a few other things i like about no chill:

real wort starters. i can use my actual wort to make my starter and since i have 3 - 5 gallons of wort i can make any size starter i need.

cube hopping. i now add my flavour hop addition to the cube rather then within the last 10 minutes of the boil. since you can go right kettle to cube your hitting those hops with near boiling wort and letting them chill over 12+ hours.

Interesting.

What do you mean by real wort starters? Are you pulling some of the wort from the kettle, cooling rapidly and making your starter with that? I've not heard the term before, so am curious.

yep thats basically it. i go kettle to cube and leave it until night. at night i pull out however much wort i need for my starter, make my starter and let it get going over night. the next day i transfer my wort from my cube to primary and pitch my starter. you could also let your starter go longer if you brewing something bigger.

ive also read that with bigger beers or larger batches you can stage ferment but i havnt tried that yet.

[jaymack]

Very interesting. Can you verify the name brand of the cube you bought at WalMart? I may give this serious thought after hearing from someone who's actually tried it.

Cheers,
J

[matt7215]

Very interesting. Can you verify the name brand of the cube you bought at WalMart? I may give this serious thought after hearing from someone who's actually tried it.

Cheers,
J

sure, ill post tonight when i get home

[cannondale]

But with an immersion chiller you can bring your 3-5 gallon batches down to pitching temp in <20 minutes, without the added risk of contamination. You could then put a small amount of that wort in a sterilized container for use in your starter for the next batch.

You may save time on brew day regardless, but are you saving time overall? Just curious about the motivation for employing this technique, because I just don't see any significant advantage, especially when you analyze it in terms of risk/reward.

[grub]

You may save time on brew day regardless, but are you saving time overall? Just curious about the motivation for employing this technique, because I just don't see any significant advantage, especially when you analyze it in terms of risk/reward.

yeah, that's pretty much my thoughts on it. you add the extra time/effort of cleaning + sanitizing the cube, the time for the extra transfer, and the hassle of having to go back to brewing mode the next day... i'd rather just relax with a beer and enjoy the few minutes of down-time while it finishes chilling, since there's always other cleanup and stuff to do through most of the chilling time anyway. i'd venture that you probably about break even on the time factor, with the extra hassle+risk making "no chill" a non-starter for me.

and i won't even get into the details of how minimal a gain you'd get out of a starter that small/short/wrong gravity/etc. everything you should know about how to do it right from an expert on the subject.

[matt7215]

But with an immersion chiller you can bring your 3-5 gallon batches down to pitching temp in <20 minutes, without the added risk of contamination. You could then put a small amount of that wort in a sterilized container for use in your starter for the next batch.

You may save time on brew day regardless, but are you saving time overall? Just curious about the motivation for employing this technique, because I just don't see any significant advantage, especially when you analyze it in terms of risk/reward.

i dont have an immersion chiller and im not confident i could build one. i did however have $20 to risk on trying this method.

my wort from batch to batch is obviously quite different. id be hesitant to save wort from an imperial stout to make a starter for a saison. by making real wort starters your telling the yeast exactly what you want them to do and allowing them to start reproducing in the same environment they are goin to be in for your fermentation.

im not sure how cleaning and santizing an immersion chiller is easier then doing the same for a 5 gallon plastic cube.

if your happy with your current setup then thats all that matters. i only brought up no chill brewing because ive had success with it recently.

[Gedge]

im not sure how cleaning and santizing an immersion chiller is easier then doing the same for a 5 gallon plastic cube.

Immersion chillers are low maintenance. Sanitization is not too much of a worry since you put it in the wort a few minutes before the boil ends.

[cannondale]

if your happy with your current setup then thats all that matters. i only brought up no chill brewing because ive had success with it recently.

And I'm glad you did because it is an interesting alternative technique. I was really just curious because when I was looking at it, I didn't see enough upside to justify that technique for me. If it's working for you, great...let us know how the American Bitter turns out.

Incidentally, should you ever decide to build an immersion chiller for any reason, I think you will find it much easier than you imagine. It took me about 15 minutes (and appx. $60) at Lowe's finding all the parts, and then less than 30 minutes to build it. I used brass compression fittings, so there was no welding involved.

If anyone is interested in a parts list or step by step I can provide it.

[mjohnston]

Dude, an immersion chiller is just a coil of soft copper tubing. I've used that a bunch of times. Hell, you can borrow mine indefinitely - I seem to suck at getting back onto the brewing bandwagon