Results for one of the most commonly requested xBmts are in-- No Chill vs. Quick Chill! With recent water shortages, homebrewers around the world are considering more efficient methods for chilling their wort, though many are hesitant due to concerns it may have an impact on the quality of their beer. Does it? Read to find out!
Grand! I appreciate it you get up so early to inform your European audience asap!
How is it a helles when its brewed with a kolsch yeast?
I guess you’d have to try it out for yourself to see 
No need as its not a helles. It would be a Kolsch, that isn’t within Kolsch specs. Go ask the people who made the style, if it would be a helles with that yeast. I have no problems if “for you” it brews a clean lager like beer. But its doesn’t make it a lager, let alone a Helles.
Not to question your palate, but I’d bet you wouldn’t be able to tell which was which either:
Its not about a palate, Let me put it this way… you do an exbeeriment where you blind triangle your “helles” with good fresh examples of the style from Germany. When people can’t tell a difference there, I will then be “sold”. Still won’t call it a lager or a helles though.
Also use a real yeast with character, 833/838/2206/etc. You are comparing the “US05” of lager yeasts.
WLP029 is so clean even I’d be tempted to think it was a lager strain. Not sure what this has to do with the xBeerment though.
I’ve been doing no chill on my last 3 batches because I don’t have the fittings I need to connect my chiller. I’m disappointed that there was a difference in this xBeerment, but hopefully I can get my fittings this week so I can go back to chilling quickly.
Oh, Bryan, just let it be.
I always thought that maybe the Aussies just had terrible palates… I guess this sort of confirms that, while this method doesn’t produce bad beer, it doesn’t produce the best possible beer.
I mean… compare your homemade Helles with a traditional example sent over from Germany, I bet people could tell them apart. Now, compare your homemade example using traditional lager yeast with my homemade example using WLP029 and there’s a good chance, assuming our recipe and process were the same otherwise, people would have a much more difficult time distinguishing them.
It’s hard to let it be, when he’s now partnered with a homebrew supply company & will be pawning his nonsense off as beer kits that are sold as ‘Munich Helles’.
That, to me, is bothersome.
It’s not a Munich Helles…
It’s a light ale.
I guess I was thinking more of the exbeeriment at hand, not the kit being sold. If anything, it should probably be changed to Munich-style light ale or something to that effect.
Either way, thanks for posting the results, Marshall! Always love reading these articles.
Real Kolsch is only made in Koln. It is an appellation.
If your palate can’t tell the difference, a helles is a helles.
Hell hath no fury like German beer zealots scorned…
But…Not a ‘Munich Helles’.
Good job Marshall.
I collect all of my chill water and reuse it in the washing machine. This obviously only works for top load machines, but at least feel like I’m not wasting. I do end up dumping my oxiclean solution and of course I go through 5-10 gallons cleaning up and rinsing my kettle and tun.
I’ve been meaning to try chilling 100% with a sump pump. Sure it won’t be as fast as ground water, but with recirculation in the kettle and recirculation of the chill water, I think I can do it with 12 gallons of water plus some ice water.
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And how dare you force carbonate Marshall. Jeez [emoji6]
I have recently seen somewhere that if you drop quickly the temps to 80ºC (I think it was that) before your “no chill” you can leave the rest of the job to the no chill method so that you don’t have to deal with isomerization problems. I don’t know if there is any truth to that, but may be worth a shot.
I found the solution… Rename to “helle-ish”
Exactly.
This xbmt makes me wonder what impact my chilling technique has on beer quality. For the past 12 or 13 years, I have done immersion cooling in a tub sink with cold water. With cold Wisconsin ground water, this gets down to pitching temperature within about an hour, or less for smaller batches (yay again!). I do not own a typical chiller, nor will I ever unless it is gifted to me and then I might not use it. But… if I found out this was hurting my beer, maybe I’d change. Maybe. But I think no one will ever run this xbmt including myself.