No Chill Cube- wort transfer question

[Hengoedbrewer]

Hi all

I'm considering investing in a 10L jerry can to try proper no chill brewing. A suggestion has been made that with one of these, I can put the cube in my brew fridge to try and get a good cold break and hopefully lead to clearer beer. My brew kettle is a 15L stockpot- no tap. So it may be a daft question, but what is the best way to transfer hot wort to the no chill cube in the absence of a tap on your kettle- could I sit a plastic funnel on top of the cube and pour wort into the cube this way, or, could I tip the hot wort into my bottling bucket- which DOES have a tap- and then transfer the wort into the cube from there? Would this cause any oxygenation issues or anything else?

Thanks in advance!

 

[JonBrew]

To my mind anything that involved pouring or tipping the contents of the kettle into another vessel while the wort is hot should be avoided. As well as being potentially dangerous, I believe this would be a vector for oxidation. If your syphon is heat rated, and you could do it safely, I'd say syphoning from the kettle to your no chill cube would be the best bet.

In terms of your goal being clearer beer, is that just in general or as an addition to wanting to do no-chill brewing for, say, time saving reasons?

 

[Hengoedbrewer]

Hiya

Thanks for the response. I thought after I posted that I also have an auto syphon so could go direct from kettle to cube- not sure if this is suitable when the wort is that hot though?

In terms of reason for no chill- yes; a little bit of both-time saving and clearer beer at the end. I don't have much time to devote to brewing as I have a toddler daughter and the quicker I can get done with a brew day the quicker I can help out with her-and the last brew I did was fine taste wise but was very cloudy when chilled to drink. I'd like to let people try what I make when it is decent and a nice looking clear beer would be good if I can do it.

Thanks again!

 

[foxy]

Hi all

I'm considering investing in a 10L jerry can to try proper no chill brewing. A suggestion has been made that with one of these, I can put the cube in my brew fridge to try and get a good cold break and hopefully lead to clearer beer. My brew kettle is a 15L stockpot- no tap. So it may be a daft question, but what is the best way to transfer hot wort to the no chill cube in the absence of a tap on your kettle- could I sit a plastic funnel on top of the cube and pour wort into the cube this way, or, could I tip the hot wort into my bottling bucket- which DOES have a tap- and then transfer the wort into the cube from there? Would this cause any oxygenation issues or anything else?

Thanks in advance!

Why not leave it in the stockpot until the following day? Keep it covered, after the boil the pot and the wort is free of any bacteria, siphon off in the morning leaving all the break and trub in the pot getting a clear wort into your fermenter. Forget the 'no chill'

 

[Hengoedbrewer]

Re

Why not leave it in the stockpot until the following day? Keep it covered, after the boil the pot and the wort is free of any bacteria, siphon off in the morning leaving all the break and trub in the pot getting a clear wort into your fermenter. Forget the 'no chill'

I hadn't considered this mainly as I am usually paranoid about infection... and, would this actually lead to clearer beer as I wouldn't be giving it a cold break? Would covering the pot with the lid be sufficient or would you need to wrap it also?

 

[foxy]

Re


I hadn't considered this mainly as I am usually paranoid about infection... and, would this actually lead to clearer beer as I wouldn't be giving it a cold break? Would covering the pot with the lid be sufficient or would you need to wrap it also?

Just covering with the lid is fine, if you are a bit paranoid wrap some cling wrap around it. I have done double brew days and often have left the wort of the second brew in the kettle until the next day. Some cold break is good for yeast, even though you can't see it there will be cold break in there and you will get a clear wort in your fermenter with your siphon.

 

[nixhaz]

I ruined an auto syphon using hot wort once. It wasn't even that hot, maybe 60-70?

 

[foxy]

I ruined an auto syphon using hot wort once. It wasn't even that hot, maybe 60-70?

My tube bent slightly just resting over the top of a bowl with 60 C water in it.

 

[Hengoedbrewer]

Just covering with the lid is fine, if you are a bit paranoid wrap some cling wrap around it. I have done double brew days and often have left the wort of the second brew in the kettle until the next day. Some cold break is good for yeast, even though you can't see it there will be cold break in there and you will get a clear wort in your fermenter with your siphon.

So by sounds of it the best time saving method which should lead to clear wort would be complete the boil, add flameout hops at less than 80c to avoid additional bittering, cover pot thoroughly and leave, then transferwort to FV next day through a sterilised drainer to catch hops, then pitch yeast? This sounds low maintenance which is ideal; although is pretty much what I did last time using an FV as no chill vessel and the beer was cloudy- that's my only concern?

 

[foxy]

So by sounds of it the best time saving method which should lead to clear wort would be complete the boil, add flameout hops at less than 80c to avoid additional bittering, cover pot thoroughly and leave, then transferwort to FV next day through a sterilised drainer to catch hops, then pitch yeast? This sounds low maintenance which is ideal; although is pretty much what I did last time using an FV as no chill vessel and the beer was cloudy- that's my only concern?

The next morning everything should have settled out, you should have clear wort sitting over a bed of trub. Careful siphoning will get the clear trub into the fermenter without using any filters.

 

[Hengoedbrewer]

Perfect; thanks everyone as ever for the massively helpful replies. I am new to the auto siphon, it does have a sediment filter, when siphoning wort to FV does the end of the siphon need to go right to the bottom of the pot-ie into the trub- or should it sit above this a little bit?

 

[MyQul]

This'll sound obvious when you read it; I use a jug to transfer my wort into my FV prior to no chilling. I pass the wort through a sieve as is it goes into the No chill FV, to remove the hops

 

[MyQul]

I ruined an auto syphon using hot wort once. It wasn't even that hot, maybe 60-70?

Me too

 

[PhilBrew]

Hi All
Full disclosure: it was me that suggested @Hengoedbrewer look into getting his wort into a no-chill cube ... he was expressing concerns about his beers suffering from chill-haze, and so in a PM conversation he described his brewday processes and I suggested that he 1) look to improving the vigour of his boil because it sounded like he wasn't getting his wort sufficiently boiled to produce a good hot-break, 2) to start using kettle-finings to further improve his hot-break and clarify his wort and 3) look to not only allowing his wort to cool to ambient temps using the no-chill method, but that he try further cooling the wort to well below pitching temp (the cooler the wort is chilled to, the more cold break that is produced) ... and since the second step would involve time (it'd take several hours to get 10-ish lts down from 18C to 3-4C ... to be left there for a few hours to get the cold-break to form and drop out) so I suggested he get his wort into a "proper" no-chill cube all tucked up and pasteurised, so he could really take his time, without stress, before getting around to transferring and pitching.

Hi @Hengoedbrewer
With the problems you've expressed above about incorporating a "proper" no-chill into your process, try 1) and 2) first ... if they don't solve your chill-haze problems, then come back to looking at how you can incorporate 3)

Cheers, PhilB

 

[Hengoedbrewer]

Hi All
Full disclosure: it was me that suggested @Hengoedbrewer look into getting his wort into a no-chill cube ... he was expressing concerns about his beers suffering from chill-haze, and so in a PM conversation he described his brewday processes and I suggested that he 1) look to improving the vigour of his boil because it sounded like he wasn't getting his wort sufficiently boiled to produce a good hot-break, 2) to start using kettle-finings to further improve his hot-break and clarify his wort and 3) look to not only allowing his wort to cool to ambient temps using the no-chill method, but that he try further cooling the wort to well below pitching temp (the cooler the wort is chilled to, the more cold break that is produced) ... and since the second step would involve time (it'd take several hours to get 10-ish lts down from 18C to 3-4C ... to be left there for a few hours to get the cold-break to form and drop out) so I suggested he get his wort into a "proper" no-chill cube all tucked up and pasteurised, so he could really take his time, without stress, before getting around to transferring and pitching.

Hi @Hengoedbrewer
With the problems you've expressed above about incorporating a "proper" no-chill into your process, try 1) and 2) first ... if they don't solve your chill-haze problems, then come back to looking at how you can incorporate 3)

Cheers, PhilB

Hi Phil

Yes mate; I really should have credited you for your help actually- thank you :) As I said in the PM I will definitely try the more vigorous boil for next time, and have used finings for the brew following on from the cloudy one- which is currently fermenting-so will see what difference that makes as well.

 

[chuffer]

Last night i tried this very thing for the first time. But I just transferred from kettle to cube using a siphon tube. Very quickly I noticed the tube got very soft (doubt it was "heat rated"!) but it didn't melt and wort was successfully transferred.

Now two things concern me with the "heat rated" thing. 1) If my siphon tubing wasn't heat rated, have I just poisoned my beer with plastic? and 2) After ditching my siphon tube into the santitizing bin and forgetting about it until this morning, my siphon tubing now stinks of wort and is stained throughout - presumably this is buggered now? - am currently letting the thing soak in Oxy to see if that helps

Does anyone know where you can get some "heat rated" siphon tubing from?

 

[PhilBrew]

Hi

I wasn't looking for credit ... just trying to explain why you were suddenly heading off into a no-chill cube obsession ... hopefully, the steps you're already taking will solve your chill-haze problems ... clearly, others have chipped in and shown that they can produce beers that they're perfectly happy with, clarity wise, by no-chilling using their techniques, but they might not be chilling their beers as much as you are ... they may even prefer to drink their beer from pewter tankards ... if you still feel unhappy with the amount of chill-haze in your beer after making those changes, you may need to revisit this next possible change, but leave that bridge till you feel you've got to it

Cheers, PhilB

 

[Hengoedbrewer]

Hi

I wasn't looking for credit ... just trying to explain why you were suddenly heading off into a no-chill cube obsession ... hopefully, the steps you're already taking will solve your chill-haze problems ... clearly, others have chipped in and shown that they can produce beers that they're perfectly happy with, clarity wise, by no-chilling using their techniques, but they might not be chilling their beers as much as you are ... they may even prefer to drink their beer from pewter tankards ... if you still feel unhappy with the amount of chill-haze in your beer after making those changes, you may need to revisit this next possible change, but leave that bridge till you feel you've got to it

Cheers, PhilB

I agree. Let's eliminate the smaller things first then see how we go. It's all an excuse to brew more!! Thank you again and everyone else for your advice and patience!

 

[Gerryjo]

Hi @Hengoedbrewer,just reading through the thread and found it interesting as I never use kettle findings, seldom use my coil chiller as it makes no difference to my end product and chill overnight be it in the boiler or FV and will always get my beer to clear though some do take longer than others.
Now there is an exception and that's when I use a lot of hops be it pellets or leaf and this is 100g plus but it makes no difference to the taste just the clarity and its only eye candy as that is people's perception due too the finely filtered beer we buy commercially.
I do have a fermentation fridge which I cold crash in but hop haze is so hard to get clear especially when serving cold which mine are around 5°.
Oh and forget about hot side transfer with a syphon or tipping as this will only end up in pain as I had a real nasty burning when a hose slipped off as I was not paying attention and having a homebrew or two whilst brewing. Gravity will clear your beer eventually.
Some great advice given by brewers already though that's all we can do as it will be down to you in the end. Good luck.

 

[Hengoedbrewer]

Hi @Hengoedbrewer,just reading through the thread and found it interesting as I never use kettle findings, seldom use my coil chiller as it makes no difference to my end product and chill overnight be it in the boiler or FV and will always get my beer to clear though some do take longer than others.
Now there is an exception and that's when I use a lot of hops be it pellets or leaf and this is 100g plus but it makes no difference to the taste just the clarity and its only eye candy as that is people's perception due too the finely filtered beer we buy commercially.
I do have a fermentation fridge which I cold crash in but hop haze is so hard to get clear especially when serving cold which mine are around 5°.
Oh and forget about hot side transfer with a syphon or tipping as this will only end up in pain as I had a real nasty burning when a hose slipped off as I was not paying attention and having a homebrew or two whilst brewing. Gravity will clear your beer eventually.
Some great advice given by brewers already though that's all we can do as it will be down to you in the end. Good luck.

Cheers- as you say great advice as always here, I do really appreciate it- as Phil said I will try the easier fixes first, a good rolling boil and some finings. I will mainly be brewing hoppy IPA's as that is what I like to drink so may have to concede they'll never be clear- the Cascade Citra IPA which wasn't clear when chilled had a 60g dry hop and 110g of hops in total. I had one last night from the garage and it was tasty and a nice straw colour, really taste is the main but clarity would be a bonus.