Yes, just make sure to turn it upside down for a few minutes to sanitize the airspace with hot liquid. As to squeezing it, you will be amazed at how soft the plastic gets when you fill it with hot wort.SubjectB wrote:If the near boiling wort is hot enough to sanitize the inner surfaces of the cube, shouldn't the hot vapor trapped in it be hot enough to sanitize the air in the headspace?
Lots of things to say on this...Contrarian wrote:There is no way to remove all air from any no chill cube so it is just a matter of how much. If the cube is cleaned and sanitised there shouldn't be an issue. As others have said, squeeze as much air as possible out and roll the cube around every 10 minutes to get contact with every surface.
A mate had a no chill cube that wasn't full stored for over a year and it was fine. If you plan on pitching within a few days there shouldn't be any issues at all!
The other option is to brew slightly bigger batches and bottle whatever doesn't fit in a keg. I quite enjoy having a few bottles to take on the road as well as having kegs and bottling a gallon won't take long!
.You are dead right on that one Goodtime.Goodtime wrote:I had the unfortunate issue last night at the completion of a brew where the cube would not seal.
.I'm always learning something on this forum, and boy do I have a lot to learn. SP, if your system of letting the wort cool as you describe has been working for you, why switch? Covering the boiled wort with a sanitized towel and transferring to a FV when cooled makes so much sense. I'm doing this my next batch. I can see using the cubes in the summer maybe, although I'm not sure it's much better than using a copper immersion chiller - depending on where you live.ShorePoints wrote:SubjectB, I must get a no-chill cube in spite of added equipment and storage factors. Until then, I move my still hot kettle from the burner to a safe place and cover it with a sanitized cloth (overnight) until pitching temperature is reached, then transfer to a fermenter/aerate and pitch. I see headspace concern in your cube as different only if you plan to keep it there for some time longer than a day before pitching. Remember that more transfers come with costs. Will the trapped hot air be detrimental? Not if the cube was sanitized and hot liquid touched all inside surfaces, including the cap. Once sealed, contraction will reduce pressure in the headspace. If you believe that that quantity of air is bad for storage in the cube, then changes should be made - more liquid/smaller cube. How about a heat tolerant bladder keeping a second liquid (or even isolated air) separate from the hot wort and occupying the extra volume in the cube? Just a crazy idea?
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