Can I wait overnight to pitch the yeast?

[Blacksheep1313]

I know rapidly cooling and pitching the yeast is ideal, but when I made my first batch of home brew, I swear it took me an hour or so to get my wort down to pitching temp. My sink is really shallow, which makes submerging my kettle a pain. Would there be any real nasty side effects if I transferred my wort into my clean and sanitized glass carboy and sealed it until it cooled down enough to pitch my yeast?

 

[NeoBrew]

You might want to look up "no-chill". There is a whole movement out there now advocating for doing just that. I've not done it myself, but they use a plastic "cube" to put the hot wort in, press out all the air, then let it sit a day or two until cool. I'm not sure what the danger of the air above the wort is when it is hot. There is a minor chance of allowing an infection to take root in that first day, but in my humble opinion, if you have good sanitation regimes, the danger is minimal.

 

[Tinpanharry]

^^^^ What he said.

This is the no-chill method. I haven't done it, but many have.

 

[Blacksheep1313]

Thank you guys so much for the prompt response! I'll look more into the no chill mehtod.

 

[djonesax]

I used to do this before I got my chiller. I would knock as much temp down as I could quickly with an ice bath with the lid on the fermenter and then leave it over night. As long as the fermenter is clean and sanitized you'll be fine. I would keep the fermenter covered while its cooling though to keep any nasties out of it while its in the dangerous temperature ranges. The advantage to chilling fast other than preventing growth of bacteria, is it helps coagulate and drop out proteins that would otherwise make your beer hazy when chilled. Since you dont have a chiller that's not an option for you so don't even sweat it.

David

 

[LLBeanJ]

You can't really do "no chill" with a glass carboy. The wort needs to be near boiling when transferred to the ferm vessel in order to sanitize it, but you don't want to be putting boiling hot wort into a glass carboy. You can partially chill it to a safe temp for the carboy, sanitize the carboy, and then transfer the wort, though. It would be fine if left overnight. I wouldn't seal it up tight, though. Instead, just cover the opening with foil while it cools.

 

[andy6026]

I brewed yesterday, left my kettle outside covered with the lid for a few hours, then brought it inside. I'm about to transfer to the fermenter and pitch now as soon as my yeast is re-hydrated. I did it once before like this and it worked out fine.

 

[gbx]

If your sanitization is good it will be fine overnight. If you end up brewing lagers it will be standard practice as you probably won't be able to chill to pitching temp and will need to leave it overnight in the fridge.

 

[241]

Not sure if what I do will help you at all, but I'm in CA and because of the drought I tend to chill to somewhere around 90F and just let the fermentation chamber bring it down to pitching temps. Usually a couple of hours after brewing is complete. I would think overnight, if your sanitation is good, should be fine.

 

[RM-MN]

I've done several no-chill batches. You can do them with a bucket (easiest) or carboy. If you have a bucket, those are safe to well above the boiling point so dump your boiling wort right into it, put the lid on and put just enough liquid into the airlock to make a seal. If you put in too much liquid it will be sucked into the fermenter until it is the right level anyway so use a liquid that would be OK in your beer. The steam rising from the boiling hot wort will pasteurize the rest of the bucket including the lid but I usually sanitize the lid anyway, just because.

If you have a carboy, just put the lid on the pot and let the wort cool there, then transfer to the carboy.

For either method you open the fermenter when the wort is at pitching temperature and pitch the yeast. I've had to wait as long as 36 hours for my bucket to get to pitching temperature with no infections.

 

[jmorris62]

Not sure if what I do will help you at all, but I'm in CA and because of the drought I tend to chill to somewhere around 90F and just let the fermentation chamber bring it down to pitching temps. Usually a couple of hours after brewing is complete. I would think overnight, if your sanitation is good, should be fine.

I also use this method exclusively in the summer months in CA. Ground water temps are too high to get to pitching and I don't have a pre-chiller setup. I have yet to encounter any problems.

 

[corycorycory09]

I know rapidly cooling and pitching the yeast is ideal, but when I made my first batch of home brew, I swear it took me an hour or so to get my wort down to pitching temp. My sink is really shallow, which makes submerging my kettle a pain. Would there be any real nasty side effects if I transferred my wort into my clean and sanitized glass carboy and sealed it until it cooled down enough to pitch my yeast?

Wouldn't you risk oxidizing the beer when transferring while hot?

Also be VERY careful pouring hot wort into a glass carboy. Make sure you preheat the carboy or you risk shattering the glass / burning yourself pretty badly. Personally I would never put any near boiling liquid into a glass carboy, but maybe I'm overestimating the risk.

 

[RM-MN]

Wouldn't you risk oxidizing the beer when transferring while hot?

Also be VERY careful pouring hot wort into a glass carboy. Make sure you preheat the carboy or you risk shattering the glass / burning yourself pretty badly. Personally I would never put any near boiling liquid into a glass carboy, but maybe I'm overestimating the risk.

I had heard the controversy about hot side aeration and decided to test it for myself so I made 2 batches as identical as I could and poured one into the fermenter while it was still hot from about 3 feet above it. The other I chilled and aerated before pitching the yeast. I gave them time for effects to show, sanpling occasionally to see how they were progressing and when the last bottles were consumed at about a year later, I still couldn't tell them apart except for the labels.

Agreed! Don't pour hot wort into a carboy unless you have good insurance and don't mind losing that entire batch.

 

[deafcone]

I have poured hot wort into glass carboys and never had an issue with cracking. You do need to have a couple gallons of very cold water in the Carboy to bring down the temp of the wort as you pour it in. Never had a problem this way. I've also left overnight in Carboy to bring down to pitch temp. I also put vodka in the air lock in case some gets sucked in it won't contaminate the wort.

 

[kombat]

You can compromise/weaken the glass without it breaking, in which case the actual break can happen later on, when you're not even expecting it.

Hot liquids and glass carboys do not mix. Just don't do it. It's not worth risking your health. I've seen photos of serious, life-threatening injuries due to broken carboys that were stressed by hot liquids.

 

[Psylocide]

I do it every time. I actually just put the lid on the kettle at flame out and let it chill there until morning, transfer and pitch if it's at pitching temp. I've waited as long as 36 hrs after brewing.

 

[m00ps]

What do you guys consider "hot wort?"

During the summer, I just try to get my wort below 100F and get it into the carboy/bucket and seal it up overnight to cool. Ive never considered shocking a glass carboy enough to crack it during the transfer

 

[kombat]

What do you guys consider "hot wort?"

If it's too hot to touch, it's too hot for a carboy.

I clean my carboys with hot water, but I always rinse them with an intermediate dose of "warm" water first, especially if they just came out of a cold crash, to allow them to gently warm up. I then mix up a bucket of hot PBW/Oxyclean and fill the carboy to the brim. An overnight soak, and everything washes out the next day with a couple rinses.

 

[Brewernaut51]

Hot liquids and glass carboys do not mix. Just don't do it. It's not worth risking your health. I've seen photos of serious, life-threatening injuries due to broken carboys that were stressed by hot liquids.

Ten stitches in my index finger, three in my middle finger and four in my ring finger on my left hand. Wasn't life threatening but it was enough to make me switch to Better Bottles.

 

[gbx]

Ten stitches in my index finger, three in my middle finger and four in my ring finger on my left hand. Wasn't life threatening but it was enough to make me switch to Better Bottles.

Sooner or later you will break a glass carboy and you literally could die https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=376523 I've dropped a better bottle that was full of pbw, it put a huge crack in it but it didn't break or even leak, nobody needed to go to the hospital, the only clean up was the liquid that sloshed out the top.

 

[Mismost]

I do it every time. I actually just put the lid on the kettle at flame out and let it chill there until morning, transfer and pitch if it's at pitching temp. I've waited as long as 36 hrs after brewing.

Ditto......brew on Saturday, Sunday transfer and pitch the yeast starter, by Monday it is bubbling.

 

[chisena]

I always wait overnight to pitch. Allows me to set the fermenter fridge to the exact pitching temp I want and by sunrise the next day, ready for yeasties.