Cold crashing and bottling - when?

All,

I want to cold crash the beer that I have now in my fermenter in a couple of weeks to try to clear it up before bottling. I've read that you cold crash for 3 days. I have 2 questions:

1. Do I cold crash for 3 days and then let warm up back to room temp before bottling, or can I cold crash for 3 days and then bottle cold?

2. What temp is best to cold crash at and how will I know that it worked?

Thanks!

Cold crash and bottle cold.

Near freezing.

It will be clearer and anything that was floating should be on the bottom.

Be aware that by cold crashing it will most likely take longer to carb your beer since a lot of the suspended yeast will drop out too.

There should still be enough to carb fully though? And when you say "near freezing", do you mean 33 or closer to 40?

Watch out when mixing priming sugar syrup into your cold, uncarbonated beer. The sugar tends to sink to the bottom of the bottling bucket when the beer is that cold. Probably the reason it seems to take more time to carb up after cold crashing. Most of the priming sugar probably ended up in the bottom of the bucket.

It may make more sense to just cold crash in the bottle after it is fully carbonated.

@LAKing

That's a good point. Would I get any different results if I cold crashed in the fermentor before bottling than I would to just give fully carbed bottles out and tell people to put it in their fridge for 3 or 4 days before drinking?

I think you would get better results cold crashing in the bottle, because you are more likely to get an even distribution of your priming sugar and thus more evenly distributed carbonation. Cold crashing in the fermenter is really best for when you are kegging and force carbing.

If you put your priming solution in the bottling bucket first then rack on top of that, the swirling motion will mix the wort/beer and solution, so priming cold wont matter. Some will mix lightly too without incorporating air. I don't know that this is necessary since the solution is heavier than the beer and 5 gallons will dilute and fully incorporate that small quantity of solution. But hey, stirring is cheap insurance!

As LAKing mentioned, crashing is typically used for kegging. Often it is not done as the beer will clear upon refrigeration. Plus, the residual yeast will allow it to more readily carb. The only drawback to this method is more sediment in the bottom. But after aging/conditioning it will be hard packed (or should be) and will be of no worry.

Thanks everyone