Was reading another forum and they were discussing chilling covered vs. uncovered and the dangers of uncovered. I guess I have never really thought about it as I always cooled mine uncovered. The worry was once the wort was under 160 F, the threat of contamination rises.
What say you brewing community?
Used to leave it uncovered, but then realized that was probably not a good idea. I now have a lid that I put on (tilted) in the last 10 minutes to sanitize it.
I typically chill it uncovered. It’s not really sitting there for that long, so I’ve not worried too much about it.
Uncovered because I can’t stir it with the lid on. If I had a pump setup that recirculated the wort then the lid would be on. Cheers!!!
I’ve just put the cover on once it breaks about 150df - but i’ve forgotten to do so many a time and had no issues.
I use WIC, so stirring is no longer a necessity.
I use an immersion chiller and stir it while chilling. So far no problems chilling uncovered. I may try covered to see how that works.
I have made several beers with long steeps/whirlpools, and no problems that I have noticed. Uncovered to let the DMS escape.
You can cover when you get to about 150ish, as the DMS production is about done, and the risk of infection goes up.
That’s one of the concerns I have had - DMS. I guess I will continue my practice since I have not had any issues in 10 years.
I cover mine when it gets below 100F. My concern is the little fly nit things that could infect the wort because they carry the acetobactar bacteria that turns wort to malt vinegar.
Good to see you on the board again Jeff!
If you use an IC and it’s chilling it fast, I doubt that you’re driving off much DMS in that short period of time.
Bob, when did I leave?
Jeff Renner just posted on the Octoberfest thread, if you were thinking I was him.
I get that a lot as we are in the same club. Strangers (people new to the club) walk up to me and start asking questions about CAP or baking bread. I can answer the CAP questions, bread not so much.
Hey Bob. When we brewed, did we ever cover the boil kettle? I brew in my garage these days, so not many bugs, at least yet.
I have been lurking, just not posting much.
signed, the other, other Jeff
DMS is only a concern when mashing really pale-colored malts. Even English Pale Ale malt doesn’t have enough to worry about. And with the pale pilsner malts a good 90-120 minute boil should get rid of the majority of it.
OK. Maybe now I understand!
Isn’t the concern with DMS in the chill that it’s forming at the higher temperatures and not being volatilized off as it is in the boil? If it’s not going anywhere after it’s formed anyway then it shouldn’t matter if you cover or not, right?
Personally, I don’t cover because I stir. I’m very interested in the concept of an immersion whirlpool chiller though at some point in the future.
There is a limited amount of the DMS-precursor SMM in malt (which is really only enough of a concern in pale-colored malt like pilsner malt) so that a good boil of 90-120 minutes is enough to eliminate it. After that there isn’t enough to worry about.
I wanted to be able to keep the lid on my pot, but didn’t want to notch the lid. I also fill a cooler with ice and water and use a pond pump to circulate the water through the immersion chiller. Here is the outside of my brew kettle:
The white tubing is the out line. I just run the water into the ground until it comes out cool, then I move the tubing into the cooler and let the outlet water run into ice water. I occasionally remove the to lid to quickly stir and take temp readings with a sanitized thermometer.
Here is a view of the inside:
I have used this for about a 10 batches, and it has worked very well, and chilled my wort pretty fast.
I do this too… but without pants.
I was always paranoid about leaving the cover on to the point that I was putting foil over the space where my wort chiller was getting in the way of the lid because I didn’t want any opening at all.
But recently I also read about no cover chilling ( maybe the same place as the OP ) and have done the last 2 batches without covering and they came out fine. They definately cooled down a lot faster too. I’d probably reconsider if it was a windy day and stuff was flying through the air.
Oh, and the wife knows not to run the dryer when I’m brewing…the vent is right above where I brew.
If I was chilling outside, I’d definitely cover it the best I could.
I thought about notching my lid, but decided against it and let it lean against my IC tubes… No reason to be too anal about it. I also bring my wort inside to cool. Bugs have bitten me in the a$$ in more ways than one.