Cold crash? Yes or no?

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GibbyGibson

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Im doing my first bottling session this weekend. I've heard a lot of people discuss cold crashing before transferring to the bottling bucket.

Do you recommend it? I know it clarifies the beer but I already messed up on the cold break when chilling. Another thought I had was, do you cold break every beer? What about dark stouts/porters/etc. is it necessary aside from brung cosmetic? Thanks.
 
I have cold crashed and I have bottled without cold crashing. I have produced crystal clear beer doing both (using Whirlfloc). I do not believe cold crashing accomplishes anything other than clarifying the beer. Maybe someone else will point out why I am mistaken.
 
I think there's a difference in yeast flavors based on the clarity of the beer (as a hefe drinker might tell you) but I think as long as your bottling practices are good and you cold condition the bottles, pour your glasses well, etc., the differences aren't so big.

Given that it's winter, I cold condition everything. Otherwise I uh, "cool" condition. Gotta get another fridge.
 
I like cold crashing. I've done it maybe handful of times. Stuff will cold crash in the bottle too though so it's not like your missing out. Cold crashing in a fermenter can be tricky while trying to avoid oxidation. You want either a tight seal or minimal headspace.
 
I cold crash almost everything, it just makes it easier to get clear beer into your bottles or kegs.
 
harry_the_face said:
Have any of had a problem carbing your bottles after cold crash becuase of to little yeast?

Sent from my SPH-L710 using Home Brew mobile app
Click to expand...

No. Although I keg now, I never had an issue when bottling. There is still enough yeast to carb after cold crashing for a few days, I've crashed about two weeks without issue.
 
harry_the_face said:
Have any of had a problem carbing your bottles after cold crash becuase of to little yeast?
Click to expand...

Not at all. I cold crash the primary every batch at 35-36*F for 5-7 days and bottle it cold. Bottled beers carb up just fine.

The advantages of cold crashing that I've observed:

1) better clarity

2) firmer yeast cake so that it's less prone to being sucked up into the siphon

3) less yeast trub in the bottom of each bottle.

There is an earlier mention of some concern about oxidation when crashing the primary. I'm not sure where that idea comes from, but it makes no sense to me at all. The tiny amount of air that may be drawn back into the primary (through the airlock) due to the temp drop decreasing the volume inside the fermenter isn't going to have any ill effect on the beer which is covered by a fog of CO2.
 
harry_the_face said:
Have any of had a problem carbing your bottles after cold crash becuase of to little yeast?
Click to expand...

I cold crash/gelatin almost all of my beers and they came out great, It will maybe take a few days or a week longer to carb, but the clearer and the cleaner flavor makes it worth it IMO
 
I crash for most beers - gives you a more finished product , and crap (technical term) won't get kicked up if you bring the bottles to a friends.

I went 9 years without crashing - I just like the professional look of crashes beers more.
 
Little confused. By dropping yeast out of suspension when cold crashing, does this negatively affect the aging process in the bottle/keg. My beers always taste better after 2 or 3 weeks and I always thought this was the yeast still doing their job. I understand the clearer beer but isn't the yeast still important. I have never cold crashed before ( still a newbie), but was considering for my next beers. Want to understand the pros and cons.
 
fearwig said:
I think there's a difference in yeast flavors based on the clarity of the beer (as a hefe drinker might tell you) but I think as long as your bottling practices are good and you cold condition the bottles, pour your glasses well, etc., the differences aren't so big. Given that it's winter, I cold condition everything. Otherwise I uh, "cool" condition. Gotta get another fridge.
Click to expand...
I have no idea how good my bottling practices are. I'm guessing somewhere between Not Good to Really Not Good.
 
brewmathew said:
Little confused. By dropping yeast out of suspension when cold crashing, does this negatively affect the aging process in the bottle/keg. My beers always taste better after 2 or 3 weeks and I always thought this was the yeast still doing their job. I understand the clearer beer but isn't the yeast still important. I have never cold crashed before ( still a newbie), but was considering for my next beers. Want to understand the pros and cons.
Click to expand...

A lot of that is from natural chemical reactions in the beer an not just the yeast. Also, If there's enough to carb, there is enough to clean up. When you crash you're dropping a lot of other dissolved solids out of solution - not just yeast.
 
brewmathew said:
I have never cold crashed before ( still a newbie), but was considering for my next beers. Want to understand the pros and cons.
Click to expand...

The only con is that you have to wait a little bit longer.

If you have the equipment to do so, IMO it's a no-brainer.
 
I've cold crashed the last 7 beers I've brewed. Added geletin after the beer got down to 34.

All I can say is.... before doing this I always had cloudy beer. All 7 of these turned out to be as clear as any commercial, filtered beer.
 
GibbyGibson said:
I have no idea how good my bottling practices are. I'm guessing somewhere between Not Good to Really Not Good.
Click to expand...

Mostly I mean trub. I accidentally dumped a bit of my cake into my bottling bucket a few brews ago, and I wasn't able to cold crash. I got a lot more sediment in my bottles than usual. As it was a high-carbed beer, the bombers and 750s really stirred up the sediment when they were opened before you could pour it all, so a lot of that wound up in the glass, flavors and all--cold conditioning the bottles didn't really help at that point. Along with bulk cold conditioning keeping trub out of the bottling bucket is one of my big focuses when I'm bottling now, and it's definitely improved the beer.

I bottled a blonde saison last night after leaving it outside for about 24 hours. It's 25-30 here right now at night, but it's higher ABV so it won't freeze over ~20. I used a little gelatin, and it looked sparkling, almost like a lager. The cake was pretty firm, so it was easy.
 

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