Cold secondary for German Ale

Let me know if this is a good idea: Wyeast German ale 1007(I think), went 2 weeks in primary, now in secondary. Beer was still very cloudy, so I put it into my new beer fridge along with my lager ( I did a side by side experiment) to chill a bit. The ale seems to have cleared even after 12 hours.

My thought is that it was still fermenting a little (SG was at 1.012 from 1.060, so not much fermenting was going on) and that I'd let it settle in cold temps for a while, raise the temp to 70F, stir up a little sediment as I prime it and then bottle.

Basic question is: can I hurt/kill the ale yeast with 40F prior to bottling? and is this a good idea to get clearer ale beer?

Beerdoc said:

Basic question is: can I hurt/kill the ale yeast with 40F prior to bottling? and is this a good idea to get clearer ale beer?

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your yeast was refrigerated when you got it, right?
won't hurt it...just bring it back up to 70 when it's in the bottles...

Never tried that. I normally cool condition the bottles once I am assured that I have carbonation. I bring them to the coldest part of the basement (low 50s) and take them out of the bottle box, and stand them right on the concrete floor for a couple weeks. This seems to help them clear up nice. Not sure what I am going to do in the spring-might be time to invest in a beer fridge.

Thanks dudes. The more I think about it, I'll pull it back into room temp and let it go another week in secondary, then prime and condition like usual. My thought is that I just made the yeast go to sleep for a while. Meanwhile "there's beer to be made!".

If it was done fermenting and you have the means, I'd recommend cold secondary fermentation for a German Ale. That's how it is done for Koelsch and Alt: primary fermentation on the coder side for ale yeast and cold lagering around freezing for 3+ weeks.

Kai

OK, now I'll keep it cold. Thanks, Kai.

Apparently Wyeast 1007 is one of the most difficult yeasts to clear. It doesn't flocculate well.

I've read somewhere that the only sure-fire way to clear a 1007 beer perfectly is to filter it. However I would have thought that cold conditioning it in a fridge close to freezing would do a decent job. This is how commercial alt and kolsch is treated.

I generally use Wyeast 1338 for my alt and kolsch style beers and cold condition in a keg for about 3 weeks and my beer is really clear.

JEM

JEM Australia said:

I generally use Wyeast 1338 for my alt and kolsch style beers and cold condition in a keg for about 3 weeks and my beer is really clear.

JEM

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I have used Wyeast Kolsch 2565 a couple of times. The first batch was really cloudy. I made it in December and it didn't start to get good until about 2 months later. It finally got clear now after sitting in bottles for 4 1/2 months. Good beer, though, one of my best ever.