To cold crash or not to cold crash??

Hello,

I'm brewing my first batch and I think I've just about made every mistake possible. I boiled the wort with the lid on my pot (wife was complaining about the smell), I poured the entire pot into the fermenter, I got into too big of a hurry and hydrated my yeast 30 min before i needed it, and finally I let my fermenter sit on the floor in my living room at 73 degrees which I now know is too warm and didnt cover it (do i need to with a bucket?).

I transferred to a secondary on friday as the beer had reached its final gravity, my question is should I and how do I cold crash my beer? The beer is still very cloudy, but I will be bottling so will the bottles still carbonate if I cold crash?

I am brewing midwest's autumn amber ale withthe munton's dry yeast if it matters. Thanks for any help!

It will clear in the bottle. I`d save the cold crashing for later on after you get the basics down and have a few batches under your belt. A guy cant learn everything at once. In the beginning its best to keep the process simple. Next time skip the secondary its unnecessary unless you are doing a secondary fermentation eg. with fruit. If it were me I`d cover the bucket for sure. Also take the lid off the pot and try to pitch the yeast right at fermentation temps or a few degrees lower. The wife not liking the smell is something I dont have an answer for.

You didn't say when you brewed it, but i'm going to assume it is ola bout 10 days old.

My advice is don't do anything. Leave it for a couple of weeks and watch it slowly clear up. Cold crashing stops the yeast working and drops it out of suspension. They may not have finished working yet.

Calder said:

You didn't say when you brewed it, but i'm going to assume it is ola bout 10 days old.

My advice is don't do anything. Leave it for a couple of weeks and watch it slowly clear up. Cold crashing stops the yeast working and drops it out of suspension. They may not have finished working yet.

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+1. As far as the wife, she needs to get used to it if you're going to brew in the house. My wife used to complain about it but now it doesn't bother her.

I second not needing secondaries. I've always wondered about cold crashing and bottling. Will there be enough yeast left to carb up in the bottle?
Oh, and my wife loves the smell of brew days!