As someone who lives in a hot climate where droughts occur regularly and where the groundwater is 80+ degrees in the summer, I’ve been doing mostly no-chill brewing (letting the hot wort passively chill in an HDPE cube overnight then pitching the next day) to reduce my brewing water usage.
I’ve been really happy with the results, and I’m finally beginning to nail hoppy styles. Anyone else have no-chill experience who’d like to compare notes?
I’ve been no chil brewing for about 5 batches now and have noticed no ill effects. In fact, I’ve made some of my best beers. The only thing I don’t like is that cleaning the cube is a bit of a pain in the ass, and I don’t have any surplus hot water to clean my pump and kettle with. I think I definitely end up using a lot less water overall though which makes me feel good. Water is cheap and plentiful where I am so that isn’t a huge deal, though I do like the saved time during brew day. I’m trying to make my IPAs more bitter anyway so that part doesn’t bother me.