Cold Crashing

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C-Rider

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Lots of topics on how but what about this question?

When should I see the clearing of the beer?
1-going into the bottole
2-after it's conditioned for 3 weeks

I ask because the last two brews I bottled and cold crashed did not look any clearer than older brews. Both were held at about 38* for a week.
 
Do you use any finings like Irish moss? Some beer styles are cloudy, what style is this?
 
The crashing for a week should significantly clear the beer. As wilsojos brought up, do you use irish moss? Are you getting a good cold break? There's always gelatin if crashing alone isn't clearing it enough
 
The crashing for a week should significantly clear the beer. As wilsojos brought up, do you use irish moss? Are you getting a good cold break? There's always gelatin if crashing alone isn't clearing it enough

These were IPA's and yes I do use Irish Moss. What is cold break?
 
These were IPA's and yes I do use Irish Moss. What is cold break?

cooling the wort post boil quickly enough that proteins and such precipitate out of solution and drop out. these proteins can cause haze in a finished beer. It kinda looks like hot break but finer
 
cooling the wort post boil quickly enough that proteins and such precipitate out of solution and drop out. these proteins can cause haze in a finished beer. It kinda looks like hot break but finer

I'll have to pay attention next brew. I cool w/an ice bath as I do small 1.75 gallon batches in a 4 gallon pot. Done indoors and can't connect any kind of hose to the kitchen sink for a wort chiller.
 
I'll have to pay attention next brew. I cool w/an ice bath as I do small 1.75 gallon batches in a 4 gallon pot. Done indoors and can't connect any kind of hose to the kitchen sink for a wort chiller.

That should be more than adequate.
 
How long do you guys cold crash? Doing an ale, bottling soon, gonna give it a shot. thanks
 
Still no answer as to weather the clearing is pre or post bottling. Mine have gotten nice looking after 2 weeks in bottles.
 
Still no answer as to weather the clearing is pre or post bottling. Mine have gotten nice looking after 2 weeks in bottles.

Pre. Crash in primary as to drop out as much as you can before racking to your bottling bucket
 
The nice thing about cold crashing is it clears the beer in your fermenter and leaves a nice, compact yeast cake which makes racking easier and yields more beer in the bottling bucket. It should be pretty clear going to bottling.
 
Reached FG 1.010. Cold crash today, 48 hours, bottle on Monday. This has been a great experiment each step, for the first time.
 
Its nice to cold crash if you dry-hop loose pellots. And besides that and the fact Im getting a 3 gallon keg, those are the only reasons I would cold crash myself.Otherwise sometimes just waiting another week of primary may clear it more.
I also think it would take longer to bottle prime by doing a cold crash thats another reason I dont do it most of the time. MIne tend to clear most of the time in a week or two after bottleing. It all eventually ends up at the bottom of the bottle with time anyway.
 
Its all part of the experiment, playing with the recipe that came with the kit, I'll do a few things different next time, soon.
 
Pulled the carboy out of the fridge, 3 days at 36 degrees, or so. This is what I found on the bottom.

coldcrash.jpg
 
I was reading Brew Like a Monk and most belgian beers are cold crashed for 3-6 weeks at 32 degrees. Some longer, some shorter but they all do it. If its good enough for the Belgians it's good enough for me.
 
Other than clearing of beer, is there any other advantages to cold crashing? Are there less off flavors or does the beer taste more crisp?
 
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