Should I cold crash this APA?

who regularly cold crashes their beers when they are done fermenting?
Down to what, like 45?? its an APA, but im thinking baout trying it out for the heck of it.
What would i gain?
Why would this be useless for this beer?
What would i lose?
i'm going to keg it afterwards.

Cold crash, no secondary.

I place my better bottle in the fridge for a couple of days.

Yeast drops like a rock. I then rack directly to keg.

I force carb, and a couple of days later I'm drinkin!

Very clear drinkin at that.

I cold crash right to 33-37°F for a couple days before bottling. Your yeast at the bottom will be super tight too so it's easy to rack off it.

You can still naturally carb too which is cool. It may need a couple extra days before further conditioning, but there will be yeast remaining.

I always cold crash my beers, I crank my fermenter from 62 or whatever ferm temp was down to max cold, this bottoms out for my system at 37 degrees, I leave it sit for 3-4 days, then rack cold into a keg, purge and carb at serving temps, always get crystal clear pales and the hefes are still cloudy after cold crashing so no worries there either!

Ya I dont use cold crashing. I could, because i have a converted chest freezer, but I have the feeling that better beer comes from aging in a secondary at room temp for a week or two makes the beer taste better. could just be my imagination though.

Ever experience any change in flavor "hopwise?" (later addition IPA's, dyhopping effects.. etc) i guess that may be taking it a bit to the extreme, but i was just curious what a cold crash is capable of doing from brewers that have tried it. Thanks!

Cold crash is simply an easy way to clarify your ales. After fermentation has stopped I let the beer sit for 2-5 days (depending on my schedule) and then I move the beer to a converted chest freezer @35F or in a tub with icewater (or outside if the weather permits). After another 2-3 days the beer is super clear and ready to rack to a serving keg or secondary for dry hops.


I've not noticed any degradation of hop aroma from the cold crash. (To be fair, I'm constantly dry hoping a 5gal keg with 3-5oz total)

Best of luck!

i ended up not cold crashing. I racked it into a corny, so anything i was worried about loosing (hoppiness..) can settle once i drop it to serving temps. it can settle and hang out in there.
thanks

Tmeister said:

Ya I dont use cold crashing. I could, because i have a converted chest freezer, but I have the feeling that better beer comes from aging in a secondary at room temp for a week or two makes the beer taste better. could just be my imagination though.

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+1

I see cold crashing as slightly lagering the beer.

I like the healthful (if hazy) things left in unlagered ales.

I don't give a damn about clarifying.

Get an opaque beer stein.