is this "cold crashing"

so my beer has been fermenting for 2 weeks as of today. I have it fermenting in my dads wine cellar which has a thermostat. It is currently set at 62, will bringing it down to 55 until i bottle it on saturday do anything?

it will help clear it a little, but IMO it's more like a lagering step down, which is not a bad thing. What's the recipe and style?

Generally when I think of a "cold crash" for rapid yeast/trub settlement. I think 34-36df within 24 hours...

GreenwoodRover said:

it will help clear it a little, but IMO it's more like a lagering step down, which is not a bad thing. What's the recipe and style?

Generally when I think of a "cold crash" for rapid yeast/trub settlement. I think 34-36df within 24 hours...

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its an IPA

That doesn't look like a very big temperature change. I do a real cold crash by clearing out the fridge so that I can stick my 5 gallon carboy in. Everything is settled and compacted on the bottom, and the beer is then already chilled for kegging. But I really got into cold crashing when I had already gotten into kegging. I'm not sure if too much yeast settles out if you're naturally carbonating in bottles...

FWIW, I find cold crashing really makes light colored ales crystal clear.

That style (especially if dry hopped) does not need to be crystal clear, meaning the BJCP and competitions don't dock for a slight cloudiness.

It can't hurt, but the effects of a >10dF drop seem negligible to me. If I were you I'd save the space in that wine cooler for some lagering, of styles that need/benefit from it, maybe an oktoberfest, or duseldorf alt, or even (on the higher temp end) a Kolsch...

Give the beer more time. even though it may be done fermenting, there is a lot more going on and the yeasties need to clean up after themselves. See if you can hold off another 2 weeks and then get it into a fridge 35F or so for 24-48 hours and then rack to your bottling bucket and bottle or keg from there.

You will be rewarded with your patience.

is the only point of cold crashing to clear up the beer?

cheschire said:

is the only point of cold crashing to clear up the beer?

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Yes
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chemman14 said:

so my beer has been fermenting for 2 weeks as of today. I have it fermenting in my dads wine cellar which has a thermostat. It is currently set at 62, will bringing it down to 55 until i bottle it on saturday do anything?

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It'll jack up your dad's electricity bill.

Won't do much for an IPA. Dry hop it and let it sit for another week or two.

Perhaps this has been answered elsewhere in which case I apologize...but if you cold crash a beer will there still be enough viable yeast left to bottle condition? If so will it take longer due to all the 'crashed' yeast being left behind?

Chips said:

Perhaps this has been answered elsewhere in which case I apologize...but if you cold crash a beer will there still be enough viable yeast left to bottle condition? If so will it take longer due to all the 'crashed' yeast being left behind?

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yes, there will be enough yeast but it may be a tad bit slower to carb up. I've even had crystal clear lagers that were at 34 degrees for 6-8 weeks carb up just fine after bottling. Even though you can't see the yeast, and the beer appears very clear, unless you've filtered with a very small micron filter, there are still plenty of yeast cells in suspension.

beerkrump said:

It'll jack up your dad's electricity bill.

Won't do much for an IPA. Dry hop it and let it sit for another week or two.

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it normally runs at 55, I had to beg him to let me bring it up to 62