Cold crashing with no fridge?

So question on cold crashing my lastest batch. I don't have a fridge that I can put the entire 6gal bucket into, I was curious if there's a way to cold crash it by filling my brew kettle with ice water and just letting the bucket sit in it for a while, topping up the ice as necessary?

Would this give satisfactory results or are there any other techniques people have that may work better?

I usually cold crash for 48+ hours, so I think filling your brew kettle with ice for a while isn't going to do it.

I'd just let it sit in the coldest part of your house for a week or two.

jmhart said:

I usually cold crash for 48+ hours, so I think filling your brew kettle with ice for a while isn't going to do it.

I'd just let it sit in the coldest part of your house for a week or two.

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I think the coldest we're getting here in the summer is about 55 degrees. Is that going to be enough to cold crash? Seems like it just wouldn't make much difference.

I don't see why it wouldn't work. It all comes down to how much space three is for ice and how on top of keeping ice in there you can be. Seems like it could be a PITA,

TheDom said:

I don't see why it wouldn't work. It all comes down to how much space three is for ice and how on top of keeping ice in there you can be. Seems like it could be a PITA,

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That's sort of how I figured it would be too, but if I can't get anywhere in the house less than 55 degrees, I'm not sure I have a lot of choice.

I cold crash in my backup kettle.. I use ice and frozen water bottles. It works pretty well for me.

thebeers54 said:

I cold crash in my backup kettle.. I use ice and frozen water bottles. It works pretty well for me.

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How long do you hold the batch for?

I'm assuming you just put your secondary into the kettle with ice and bottles?

I'm going to attempt it as well. I also use my kettle surrounded by insulation filled with water and bags of ice. I figure if I can maintain ferm temp at 60 pretty easily in an ice bath, It's just going to take more ice more often. I've been using saltwater ice in quart ziplock bags. I'll see how it works for 48 hours straight in another week. I'm aiming for around 45F for the cold crash. Is that cold enough?

When I cold crash, I have a supply of 1 gallon jugs of water that are frozen. I add half of the frozen jugs...like 4 of them....in the morning, and when I get back from work, I take them out and replace them with 4 more fresh ones and take the ones that have now thawed and put them back in the freezer. Repeat this process for however long you want to cold crash. Any rubbermaid container will do as long as it is watertight and big enough to hold your jugs and the bucket/carboy.

robdamanii said:

I think the coldest we're getting here in the summer is about 55 degrees. Is that going to be enough to cold crash? Seems like it just wouldn't make much difference.

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I think 55 for an ale yeast would definitely make a difference while conditioning. If I had a section of my house that was 55 degrees in the summer, I'd definitely be excited.

TheDom said:

I don't see why it wouldn't work. It all comes down to how much space three is for ice and how on top of keeping ice in there you can be. Seems like it could be a PITA,

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This is actually what I meant. It really depends on how labor intensive you want it to be. In my basement, it's be a real PITA to keep changing out ice, but in a 55 deg basement it might not be that bad.

I agree, this would be a PITA and I can't see any benifit. If you are going to bottle the yeast will reactivate and carb the bottles and have to floculate, cold crash them before you drink them. If you keg just go ahead and keg it and cold crash before drinking.