Beer Forum

Another aussie chiming in here, I nochill exclusively since I'm too cheap to buy a chiller and were in the middle of a drought when I started brewing, and I've never had an issue with DMS or have heard anyone having an issue with DMS in nochill. It's one of those things that goes against a lot of homebrew conjecture, but in reality doesn't actually happen.

The beer is brewed as usual except for a short rest after flame-out to kill any convection currents, then whirlpool +30min rest and racked straight into a freshly starsan'd cube (HDPE jerry can).

My process for bittering is similar to TB's, I cut out all the middle hop additions and only add cube and bittering additions (and possibly FWH), this works for a large majority of styles. I work out how much hop aroma/flavour I want in my beer from the cube addition, and calculate it as a 15min boil time in my brewing software, and then backtrack and up the bitterness to the desired level with my bittering addition.

The only issue's I've had, and one that's pretty important for US brewers I'm sure, is super hoppy beers. If you're using a large amount of high alpha hops you can easily overdo the bitterness if you aren't careful with where and when you add them. That is probably nochills only real downfall, but there are ways around it (won't always be the same as using a chiller) such as the mini hop boil and using hop tea's and dry hopping.

But for me the pro's definitely outweigh the con's.

Aren't brewers concerned with chemicals leaching into their beer? HDPE shouldn't be used with liquids over 160 °F.

Waylit wrote:Aren't brewers concerned with chemicals leaching into their beer? HDPE shouldn't be used with liquids over 160 °F.

Please explain.

Which chemicals?
Do these chemicals affect my health, beer flavour, neither or both?
Your source?

whoateallthepies wrote:

Waylit wrote:Aren't brewers concerned with chemicals leaching into their beer? HDPE shouldn't be used with liquids over 160 °F.

Please explain.

Which chemicals?
Do these chemicals affect my health, beer flavour, neither or both?
Your source?

In recent years, there have been concerns over plastics such as HDPE leaching a chemical called bisphenol A. It is harmful and you should know about the side effects. In general HDPE is a very safe plastic, in fact it's the #1 choice for food safe containers like water bottles, milk containers, etc. But polyethylene is not intended for hot liquids. HDPE is safe for cold and warm liquids, but it should not be heated, and who knows what is leached out at temperatures above 200 °F. I personally would not take the risk.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plastic_bottle

It's my understanding that there's no BPA in HDPE (There might be some in some HDPE product somewhere in the world, but there is definitely no BPA in these specific jerry cans).

HDPE can withstand 120c (248F) for short periods and 110c (230F) indefinitely. So sub boiling wort isn't an issue.

I know the HPDE cubes I use have a big "NO BPA" sticker on them. Not to say that's the only threat of HDPE, but I think it is pretty safe.

I tried it and it worked well until the boiling wort deteriorated the cube and the beer tasted of burnt plastic. I don't think it's worth the risk.

beltbuckle wrote:I know the HPDE cubes I use have a big "NO BPA" sticker on them. Not to say that's the only threat of HDPE, but I think it is pretty safe.

Who did you buy your cube from?

Eamonn wrote:I tried it and it worked well until the boiling wort deteriorated the cube and the beer tasted of burnt plastic. I don't think it's worth the risk.

Are you sure you were using HDPE?