Cold Crashing????

I am a new brewer...and have read a few threads that included COLD CRASH in it...what exactly is that?...I have a Cream Ale 1 week) and a Dark Brown Ale (1 day) in the fermenters...

When you have reached your desired FG you can place the fermenter in a fridge or something around fridge temps for about 2 days. This will help the yeast flocculate and clear the beer sooner than just extended primary.

^^ what he said. Cooling just makes all the larger particles in suspension fall out so you can rack less of the junk in the bottom. Cold crashing is just another method to clarify beer. I like to cold crash right after I add gelatin to get crystal clear beer.

overnight lows are in the high 30's low 40's and highs in the 50's...would putting it in the garage for a couple of days work?..or would the flucuation in temps do something bad?

On a separate note, heard recently that bottle conditioning is more difficult after cold crashing-- true?

DrifterFred said:

overnight lows are in the high 30's low 40's and highs in the 50's...would putting it in the garage for a couple of days work?..or would the flucuation in temps do something bad?

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it should assuming you garage gets as cold as it does outside. I know mine doesnt, not alot maybe 5-10 degrees warmer but that might be too warm for the cold crash to work, I've never tried it so I couldn't say for sure.

mattfmoore said:

On a separate note, heard recently that bottle conditioning is more difficult after cold crashing-- true?

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I haven't experienced it.

at what temp does the COLD CRASH happen?..and does it need to be for 2 days will say 12 hours do any good?

I've always wondered....after cold crashing, do you need to let it come back up to room temp before bottling? Or just pull it out of the fridge and go to town?

matt

The whole idea with cold crashing is to make yeast inactive so the clear out of the beer and drop. Since you use those yeast to carb your beer in the bottle, there wont be as many around. I have never had a problem with it not working I would say it might add a week to your timeline. I just make sure after I bottle I store them in somewhere in the 70's, the temperture change and new sugar gets the yeast going again.

You mean, patience with bottle conditioning. (pulls hair out.)

I dont have a big fridge or garage but I want to cold crash. Could I just put it outside for the last two days? My temp is around 37f outside. Maybe put a tarp over it to block the sun?

mattymc said:

I dont have a big fridge or garage but I want to cold crash. Could I just put it outside for the last two days? My temp is around 37f outside. Maybe put a tarp over it to block the sun?

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Sure, just tell me where you live and what color tarp you are using. Seriously, just use some gelatin if what you want is clarity. Leaving it outside introduces too many other variables. Just an opinion. If you do, make sure you don't go below freezing.

I thought that you only cold crash Lagers? After I rack to secondary, I let it sit for one month before bottling. Then after two weeks of conditioning I let it sit for another month. I do this for all my ales. It may seem a bit much to some people but I'm in no hurry. The clarity is pretty good. I plan on doing my first lager the first of the year so any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Cold crashing (also known as lagering) improves any beer. I personally like to coldcrash beers to 32 f for at least a week in my primary, then transfer to keg and keep at same temp until I serve them(sometimes its only after a day or two unfortunately)

The only difference between an ale and a lager is the fermentation temp. Ales are 65-68, lagers are like 48-52.
After fermentation is almost done, both improve from a diateyl rest(increasing temp for last 20% of fermentation to maximize attenuation and allow the yeast to eat all the byproducts and clean up the beer) then coldcrashing to the colder the better without freezing and the longer the better up til like say 6 months.

I only keg, i dont bottle condition. I have a friend that bottle conditions and he swears by using secondaries. To each their own i guess.

Once I started kegging, I put the secondary in the cooler and cool it down to 37. I let it stay at that temp for a week. Then keg. It comes out as clear as commercial beer.