Tommy1858

Recipes 

When i cold crash does it kill the yeast or just make it sleep till it warms back up?The reason im asking is if i bottle from my keg and then those bottles warm up will i make bottle bombs?

Antler

Recipes 

You shouldn't have a problem if you cold crash for a few days and then toss out the first pint from the keg. You cold crash when all the "fermentable" sugars have been fermented. The cold crash drops them out of suspension and clears the beer faster than at room temp. If you warm the beer back up you won't have bottle bombs because the yeast came out in the first pint you'll toss out. Even if the yeast went into your bottles you should be ok because the fermentation is completed.

Tommy1858

Recipes 

im not positive the fermentation has finished? im kegging at 14 days on a couple of recipies and didnt take sg readings prior to cold crashing. so if there is fermentables left the yeast will start again?

ResumeMan

Recipes 

Yes, if there is still fermentable sugars in the beer, the yeast will likely ferment those sugars in addition to your priming sugar when you put it in the bottles - and therefore are likely to create gushers and/or bottle bombs.

You can take a SG reading of the cold beer and temperature-correct it. If it is at or below what you were expecting you are probably ok.

But for future batches, definitely make certain you are done before you drop the temperature.

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Antler

Recipes 

If its not done fermenting and you cold crash it your not gonna get good beer. Your going stop fermentation which will change the outcome, and not in a good way.
I just started taking gravity readings lately, I'd primary for two weeks and secondary for 3. It might be done fermenting and it might not, depending on the yeast, but if your going through the trouble to make beer you need to be patient.

Tommy1858

Recipes 

the last beer i made was the cream of three crops from here and it says primary 14 days and keg.if there is still fermentable sugars there and i cold crash will it just not leave a sweeter beer?and be ok as long as i keep the temps low?

jtakacs

Recipes 

ferment it until it's done, regardless of what the thread says - sometimes it takes longer

if there are fermentable sugars in there, it will keep fermenting - albeit slower at lower temps. cold crashing will not remove all the yeast.

TarheelBrew13

Recipes 

If you cold crash an ale you will most likely halt fermentation and retain any unfermented sugars resulting in a sweeter beer. If you warm the beer back up, the yeast will likely begin to ferment the remaining sugars and result in over carbonation if there's only a small amount of residual sugars, gushers if there's a little more sugars and bottle bombs if you have a lot.

I'm not gonna tell you that stopping fermentation early is a bad thing; some of my local breweries do it. However, I will say that it's a more advanced technique that requires some knowledge of the beer making process in order to control.

If I were you and I wanted to bottle some of my keg, I'd just make sure to keep them cold. If you want to cellar the beer or send it to a friend, I'd take a gravity reading and make sure I wasn't going to send him a six pack of explosives.

Tommy1858

Recipes 

lol thanks for the input. alltho bottle bombs would be funny sent to the right friends who would never drink them anyway. More like garage bombs for them