1st AG - No-Chill advice

[squirt in the turns]

I'm attempting my first AG this weekend (so excited ), which will be drsmurto's Golden Ale. I'm boiling in a 40 L electric urn, and no-chilling in a 20 L cube.
Anyone here no-chilled this recipe? What do I need to watch out for? Should I make allowances for with the hop schedule? Reduce the bittering addition? Maybe cube hop for flavour and French press later on for aroma? I'm totally overcomplicating my frst AG attempt, aren't I?

I understand it's ideal to get the wort into the cube while it's as hot as possibe, so I'm assuming whirlpooling and leaving everything to settle after turning off the heat is not the best way to go. So I'm thinking I will:
1) Filter the wort on its way out of the kettle with a stainless steel scouring pad stuffed partially into the hole (hope it stays there for the whole boil).
2) Use a muslin hop bag. Hoping this will also help to prevent extra bitterness developing in the cube as few/no hop bits will make it in.
3) Add Kopperfloc as per the instructions 10 mins before "flameout".
Your thoughts/feedback will be much appreciated.

Thanks in advance!

[drsmurto]

If i was no chilling this recipe i would do a 60 and 20 min addition and then dry hop.

[timmy]

Those scouring pads (or anything you use to partially plug the hole) can clog up quickly so you're better off whirlpooling for a while to get all the gunk in the middle of the pot before drawing off the wort.

[timmy]

Those scouring pads (or anything you use to partially plug the hole) can clog up quickly so you're better off whirlpooling for a while to get all the gunk in the middle of the pot before drawing off the wort.

[speedie]

A word of advise on your first attempt at all grain brewing would be to read as much as you can on the subject then approach a club join it and look and learn as it is an area that we never stop learning about
Secondly I am not sure what you mean by no chilling
If you don’t cool the wort as quickly as possible after your whirl pooling has taken place generally this will be around 20 minutes so that the trub has had time to settle in the middle of your vessel assuming of course that it is an urn or something similar
The wort will undergo stalling and it must always be cooled as near as possible to the temperature that suits the yeast you plan to use
Good luck with your brew
Speedie

[Bum]

Secondly I am not sure what you mean by no chilling

Then why do you presume to advise against it?

[speedie]

to presume or not presume
fact is fact and thats a fact

[bullfrog]

No Chilling is a widely-used technique, Speedie, so it would be wise to not tout things as 'fact' simply because John Palmer wrote it in a book or because it's just the way you've always done it. There's many ways to make beer, and I've found that most ways work. Perhaps refrain from commenting on things that you've no experience in.

[SuperBroo]

Is 'no chill' mainly for HB shops so they can put the wort into the container hot, to lower the chance of contamination ?

I always use a chiller, because that seems to be the norm for achieving a cold break and getting the yeast into the wort as fast as possible.

I would be keen to hear of reasons to do a no chill, (other than obviously not having a wort chiller).



Cheers to All,
Chris

[bullfrog]

Reasons for no-chilling -- it's easy! Simple as that. Just rack/siphon from kettle to cube, post boil, and let the hot wort sterilise the cube. Then you can leave the cube for as long as you like, some people have reported successfully leaving cubes for up to a year without issue, before transferring to your fermenter and pitching yeast.

It's good for those that want to brew a lot in a quick time, but then ferment at their leisure.

The only real drawbacks to no chilling are loss of aroma and not precipitating the cold break, but these can be easily overcome with hop teas and polyclaring.

[SuperBroo]

Thanks Bullfrog, I had'nt really heard of doing that.

Must say i do like the idea of being able to mash, boil, then store until the next fermenter is ready.
That would be a good way to get 2 fermenters going at the same time for a few lagers I want to do.

This would also be a simple way of doing 2 AG brews, storing one until the second is boiled, then using a larger fermenter to brew 2 kegs at a time.

thanks again for your reply, its got me thinking ...

cheers,
chris

[hirns]

If you do decide to no-chill, adding to Bullfrog's informative post I would also suggest gently squeezing the cube to remove most of if not all of the air before tightening the lid. Put the cube on its side so the the top is also in contact with the boiling wort as well. Additionally, make sure you have put a lot of boiling water through the cube as I have experienced plastic flavours leeching from good quality food grade willow cubes on their first use.

Cheers

Hirns

[SuperBroo]

MANY thanks lads...

[squirt in the turns]

Yes, thanks all for your replies. I brewed on Sunday arvo/evening (it was a lengthy endevour as you can imagine). drsmurto's JSGA clone, as planned. I'll post all the gory details and some pics in a new thread for those that are interested.

Took the doc's advice re the hopping (will dry hop in secondary), and didn't bother with the stainless steel scourer as per Timmy's suggestion.

My reason for no-chilling is because I don't have a chiller at this stage, and if I can turn out a few good batches using the NC method, I'll probably never get/make one. That, and the water consumption. I got hold of a pool pump/filter that I planned to use to recirculate coolant water through a chiller, using a watering can rose as an evaporative heat exchanger, but the pump is one of those jobbies made for an inflatable paddling pool and probably won't provide the flow required.

While shopping at Craftbrewer I was advised against Polyclar unless filtering (which I won't be because I don't have a filter yet either). Apparantly you can end up with "gritty" bits of plastic in the final product.