Crash cool before secondary?

DuckiesRevenge · Sep 13, 2012

So my general fermentation process has been 7-14 days in primary, 2 weeks secondary for your regular old run of the mill beers. Following secondary I crash cool for 2-6 days before kegging.

So my question is, would there be a benefit to crash cool before secondary and again before kegging? Or is that kinda overkill.

NordeastBrewer77 · Sep 13, 2012

For most beers there's no need for a secondary, so after FG is stable, you can go straight to a keg if you want. Crash cooling may help you get clearer beer into the keg, but it's not necessary either. Both things are just a matter of personal preference, really.

BryceL · Sep 13, 2012

I usually just do primary and then cold crash a couple days before kegging. If I do secondary, I move the cold crash until after that. Like you hinted at, I think cold crashing twice would be overkill. I also wouldn't like the idea of all the temperature fluctuation from cold crashing twice.

DuckiesRevenge · Sep 13, 2012

I think the temperature variation makes sense in not crashing twice. I generally do a secondary because of the number of primary fermenters I have. Gets beer into something else so I can brew more!

helibrewer · Sep 13, 2012

The only brewing reason to do a secondary is if you need the yeast to keep doing something for you....so cold crashing prior to secondary defeats that.
If you secondary for logistics purposes you still should only crash once because once you crash, the yeast will prepare for dormancy and their work is done for all practical purposes.

tc33133 · Sep 13, 2012

Some people will crash cool to drop yeast out before they dry hop in secondary. Some yeasts will drop out quicker than others. I think WLP001/1056/US05 starts dropping out around 50F.

DuckiesRevenge · Sep 13, 2012

Sounds good, thanks for the information all.

Crash cool before secondary?

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