There are many articles online that stress the importance of chilling quickly.
However, there are also many articles online about no chill.
Which way is it ?
Does this fall into the same realm as re-hydrating dry yeast ?
Cheers
Quick chill is a myth spread by Big Wort Chiller.
Seriously, they both work. I usually chill quickly but have covered the wort and pitched yeast the next morning with good results. I think some would argue that it is best to chill and pitch right away so that the yeast starts scavenging oxygen sooner. they may be right in many cases. Infection is another concern but I think if you cover the hot wort tightly it’s not really an issue.
It’s the Wort Chiller Producing and Exporting Corporations (WCPEC). Those guys are a copper and stainless steel tubing cabal. There are rumors about them also conducting research to control the minds of homebrewers.
Be careful out there.
It’s whichever one best suits your situation.
We used to drive a horse and buggy. Then people figured out a different way to do things. Same with quick chill/no chill. I suspect the advice to chill quickly was based on commercial practices. As we’ve seen many times, those often do not necessarily translate to homebrewing.
The Aussies did a good job of dispelling the quick chill myth for homebrewers. Another one bites the dust!
For sure, the Aussies have been ahead of the curve on the Brew in a Bag, squeezing the bag, chilling overnight in the cube - what will they think of next?
Cheers!
And after the recent article in Zymurgy magazine along with the email from Lallemand shared by Denny here recently: https://www.homebrewersassociation.org/forum/index.php?topic=39649.0
The myth of rehydrating yeas should also be busted.
I’ve played around with both ways plenty of times.
No Chill works perfectly fine for most styles, but I will say it makes hoppy beers a little different. just by force of habit I still prefer doing Pales and IPAs with chilling.
I have heard of some homebrewers doing a kind of half-step on this, too – chilling down from boil to below 100F (or a bit lower even) and then transferring for overnight cooling further in the cube to pitching temp the next morning.
I think the idea is to interrupt any high temp processes that are happening and might affect the beer ultimately, but to avoid the full time it takes on brewday to chill to pitching temperature (especially with a lager). I am blessed with very cold (54F) well water at my house, so I fully chill my beer right after completing the boil. The Jaded and CuSS immersion chillers make pretty quick work of the cool down process, even with a ten gallon batch.
i like the control of it vs. being a no-chill brewer or at least no WC, just keeping it in baths of icewater during my first many years of homebrewing.
i currently dont have the greatest wort chiller so i chill it to about 120F, cool enough to go in the carboy and let it sit for several hours in a cold garage or even in a small cold water bath there. that way its nice and sealed up too.
also yeah it has its purposes in terms of hitting that 160f to 180f hop steeping addition.
i really likw the time qnd effort saving of chilling my beer and always do it now.
When I button up the fermenter I like to have the yeast pitched and ready to go. I’m not in a hurry on brewday so for the extra few minutes it takes to chill to pitch temp is no big deal to me.
Very true. But a lot of people who do no chill (thinking Australians) don’t have the option to chill. It’s good to know it works if that’s what you need/want to do.
If you have the means to chill then do so. For example, whirlpooling for an IPA, I plate chill quickly to 160* add hops then slowly over 30 mins chill to 140*
then start transfer to FV whilst chilling quickly.
I know one overnight no-chill brewer who told me the only trick is rethinking your hops additions. Bitterness from late additions that remain at elevated temps has its way of showing up in the finished beer. At least that’s what I understood from the conversation. Otherwise, no issues with pitching the next day.
I believe this is what ynotbrusum was alluding to.
Tried no chill once, and didn’t care for what I perceived as an inferior taste/flavor.
I’m not in this hobby for the process, but for great tasting brews, if not, I’m out.
Cheers
Yeah, that’s about the only issue. We covered ways to deal with it on the podcast.