Cold Crash

Anybody cold crash their ales before kegging? If so, how cold and for how long? Worth it?

I have found that a longer primary is just as effective as a 5 day cold crash @ 40 degrees. I cold crashed a couple time and didn't see much benefit.

I try to hit 36 degrees before carbonation. When it reaches that temperature, usually about a day, I transfer to kegs and carbonate.

I put the carboy in the fridge for a day or two before kegging. It has to cool anyway and does seem to clear the beer a bit.

I do for about a day. I also use gelatin in the keg so having the beer cold helps it clear up better when using gelatin.

I use a chest freezer with external t-stat to ferment in and just turn down the temp 2 or 3 days prior to racking. Yeast/Hops/Trub seem to be pretty glued to the bottom when I rack to kegs. I like that it's already really cold when I rack because I like to hit it @ 32psi for 24 hours before setting and forgetting, and the cold temps help speed it along.

I'm a huge proponent of cold crashing. It helps any yeast and sediment to drop out of suspension and like someone else posted gives you a tighter yeast cake. This way, when you rack to your keg or bottling bucket, you get less sediment transferred.

Cold crashing has been the biggest reason why my beers always come out clear. I've been asked by people if I filter my beers because they come out so clear. Nope, just cold crashing.

I will cold crash around 35-37F for 2-3 days before racking.

I second the 2-3 days cold crashing, keeps trub/yeast out of your keg and you gotta chill it anyways. I never cold crashed when I bottled though and had very good beer still.

I have been cold crashing to 30-32 degrees but my ales are usually higher in alcohol. A 4% beer might freeze at those temps. But usually a day or two at that temperature gets most stuff out of suspension. I quit using gelatin since I heard it could affect hoppiness and most of my ales have been pretty hoppy lately. From what I understand the colder you can get it and the longer you let it go the better but just be careful the beer does not freeze. Though I have not had one freeze on me yet.

JohnnyO said:

I'm a huge proponent of cold crashing. It helps any yeast and sediment to drop out of suspension and like someone else posted gives you a tighter yeast cake. This way, when you rack to your keg or bottling bucket, you get less sediment transferred.

Cold crashing has been the biggest reason why my beers always come out clear. I've been asked by people if I filter my beers because they come out so clear. Nope, just cold crashing.

I will cold crash around 35-37F for 2-3 days before racking.

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I'm with you i cold crash everything because i can and all of my beers have greatly improved! Crystal clear even with terrible flucuators

3 to 4 days with the chiller set to 34°F. Drops pellet mush, trub and yeast right to the bottom, makes for clear pours, no clarifiers required...

Cheers!

Jeeez. I'm crashing an orange/mead right now. I put it in yesterday and it feels like I've been crashing it for a week. I'm so ready to try it! And it only took 2.5 days to get to 10.9% ABV too!

On topic: I make very small batches. 1 gallon at a time, so it's easy to just throw in the fridge like a gallon of milk, let it sit for a few days, then siphon off the top. This latest one I was talking about has about an inch or more of trub on the bottom; an incredible amount considering I only used 1 standard packet of yeast.

Is it harmful to cold crash for longer than 2-3 days? for example, can you leave it in the fridge for a week? I

Naaaa i usually get lazy and leave it for a couple weeks

I've only started to cold crash recently, Cause I can now. TCF. Question is, can I still wash the yeast after cold crashing, if I crashed it as low as 34*?
I personaly don't think I would go lower that that. Would 34* be to cold for the yeast?

Would 34* be to cold for the yeast?

And if you bottle , you let it back to room temp and all is well with carbonation ?

karljrberno said:

Would 34* be to cold for the yeast?

And if you bottle , you let it back to room temp and all is well with carbonation ?

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Should be fine at 34. My house is colder obv in winter but cold crashed beers have been slower to carb up. Yeah put the bottled beers in the warmest (70f) part of house and they'll carb.

Ok I got one....extreme cold crash! I brewed up a pumpkin ale and an amber just before Thanksgiving. I cold crashed them both and bottled the amber to give to my step son for Christmas. I forgot the pumpkin ale. It's been sitting in the fermentation freezer at 38 F since Dec!!!! I found it when SWMBO asked if the pumpkin ale was on tap. Duh....no, because I'm a forgetful *******! I looked at it. Airlock still sealed. It's just sitting there chillin. I'm gonna keg it and see what happens. What do y'all think?

I vote for it being absolutely delicious!!

It might taste 'crisper' than a normal pumpkin ale.

So I cold crashed and could not belive how clear the beer is, or how much yeast settled out. Thanks for all the help!

New brewer here (resurrecting an old thread). Just to clarify based on all that I have read here...

I have a 5 gallon Sierra Nevada Clone fermenting in my chest freezer. It likely has another week before it's ready to bottle. So, if I want to cold crash it, in about a week, I should drop the temperature down to 34 degrees and keep it there for 2 days. After 2 days, then turn the temperature back up (which is now set at 68 degrees) and wait a day before bottling. Will a day be enough to return the beer to 68 degrees or should I wait two days?

Nicknack said:

[...] So, if I want to cold crash it, in about a week, I should drop the temperature down to 34 degrees and keep it there for 2 days. After 2 days, then turn the temperature back up (which is now set at 68 degrees) and wait a day before bottling. Will a day be enough to return the beer to 68 degrees or should I wait two days?

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Why are you worrying about warming the beer back up before bottling?
I'd add that third day to the cold crash duration, bottle cold, and let the beer warm up on its own...

Cheers!

Yeah, like daytripper says, no need to warm the beer back up. The cold helps keep the trub compacted, so if you warm it back up, you are partially defeating the purpose of the cold-crash.



I always bottle cold beer. No worries!

Okay, then after the cold crash, is there any reason to wait before bottling? So I get it down to 34 degrees for a couple days and then bottle?

No reason to wait before bottling. Rack to your bottling bucket cold, add and stir in your sugar, and bottle cold.

Nicknack said:

So I get it down to 34 degrees for a couple days and then bottle?

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Yep!

I doubt this is an issue or people wouldn't do it but I still wonder... cooling the beer and then letting it get room temperature in bottles for a week or two and then cooling it again in the fridge for consumption - that doesn't pose any issues with flavor? The reason I ask is that last year I came across a great deal on some local IPA, so I stocked up. Since I didn't have a lot of room in my fridge, I had to store some of the beer (which I bought cold) in my cabinet at room temperature. The beers that were transferred directly to my fridge were noticeably better than the ones that went from the store (cold) to my cabinet (room temp.) and then later to my fridge (cold).