Cold break question

So I have been mulling over the overall quality of my brews (still very new, only fully finished 5-6 1 gallon batches) and one minor negative is the fairly common cloudiness of my beer. I have gotten 1 or 2 to clear pretty nicely, but most are cloudy.

In various literature I've read that getting a fast cold break is most important, and so I cool as fast as I can in an ice bath in the sink. I always get right to 70* and go to the fermenter. However, I got distracted a most recent (and clear) batch, and let the cool go on another 45 minutes or so. The trub "cone" had fallen out completely, and the trub was noticeably more coagulated at the bottom of the kettle.

So, before I keep going on and on, is the key to a cold break not only fast, but more complete? Should that trub "cone" drop out entirely for a clearer beer?

I believe the general technique for a cold crash is to refrigerate your beer, as close to freezing temperature without actually freezing your beer, as possible for at least a couple of days. This is done after fermentation is complete and right before bottling
Some brewers hydrate and heat (~170 f) plain knox gelatin, add it to the secondary and refrigerate.
I did this with my pale ale that I bottled last Saturday and the results appear to be very impressive. I admit it is difficult to tell through a brown bottle, but I don't see anything in suspension.

^^^he's talking cold break not cold crash iirc.

I think that you may be more tidy by doing that. I may try it as well as I would like to minimize trub so that I can fit more beer in and not have to dump so much beer when I dump the trub through the picnic valve of my keg before transferring to the serving keg.

One issue I can assume is the higher chance of infection by letting it sit longer. I am curious what others have to say as well about how long is too long in the kettle after cold break.

Yea, the trub was a lot thicker and I ended up with more wort than I have in the past.

Infection is definitely a worry, knock on wood, it hasn't been an issue so far. I sanitize my pot's lid and put it on once the steam has died down, and thinking about it the extra time would have only been about 25 minutes, not 45.

I understand the use of finings, and I do use Irish Moss on all boils; I just feel that you should be able to achieve clear beer without too many extra steps.

If you are stirring and creating a whirlpool whole cooling, then your trub will certainly gather in the center, creating your cone. If you can pull the wort from the side of the pot, leaving that cone behind, you should get some pretty decent clarity. Its important to cool it as fast as possible, but if you're relying on the whirlpool to build a good cone, thats where the extended time would help.
I am also a big advocate of cold crashing. I crash/lager all of my beers for about 1-2 weeks, and I get magnificent clarity from it. Give that a shot of you're still having issues.

badbrew said:

^^^he's talking cold break not cold crash iirc.

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Sorry OP. I misunderstood.

It has been my experience that even if you pour your cold break into your fermenter it will settle out given time. Cloudiness in my understanding may come from not getting the cold break to occur as opposed to having it in your fermenter.

I've come to associate a fast chill to well below my fermentation temperature with clearer beer. I chill my wort to about 60F, preferably lower, in about 15-20 minutes. I never separate out the trub - everything goes in the fermenter. After it's all done and bottled I may have some chill haze, but that drops out after a week or so in the fridge, and my beers are beautifully clear.

Oh, and I just pitch my yeast at my chill temperature - 60F or lower. The beer warms up to fermentation tp naturally. Supposedly helps reduce off-flavors.

Thanks all.

Captain, I think your method is best, with the ambient air temperature rising here in NYC, the beer comes up to temp (and a couple times already well beyond what it should be) easily.