Is it possible to Cold Crash and Bottle Condition?

I am looking to really clean up my beers and I was wondering if I cold crashed could I still bottle condition? I have a spare fridge to cold crash, If I cold Crash would I bottle and put back in the fridge to carbonate, or put it back in my closet in the house that stays at 68?

don't carbonate in the fridge. cold crash, bottle after it's carbonated you can cold condition the beer.

Of course you can. Otherwise lagering wouldn't work. However, if you do this for more than a couple weeks you may want to consider rehydrating a little dry yeast at bottling time to ensure prompt carbonation.

Never mind that one

Wait... Somehow in your short post I missed the part where you asked about letting the beer carb up while refrigerating. No, that won't work. The yeast need to be in their temp range to produce CO2

He means don't bottle condition in the fridge. If it's the same temp as cold crashing, it won't carbonate.

So do I cold Crash in the bottle or in the carboy?

Rau71 said:

So do I cold Crash in the bottle or in the carboy?

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You could technically do either. The nice thing about doing it in the carboy (which is how it's typically done) is that you leave behind all the stuff that drops out. I will usually fridge the carboy for a week, then siphon to my bucket.

Rau71 said:

So do I cold Crash in the bottle or in the carboy?

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Cold crash in your fermenter, bottle, let them condition at 70F for 3 weeks, move to fridge... voila!!!

Thanks BrightSpot!

Rau71 said:

So do I cold Crash in the bottle or in the carboy?

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Carboy. What kind of beer? When ur ready to bottle you will have to ensure you have it at the correct temp for your beer in order to carbonate. After you give it time to carbonate you may once again place it in fridge and condition longer. Some of mine are best after 4-6 months. I bottle some and keg some from each batch.

so let's say for instance, i bottled (IPA) then put them straight into the fridge? if i forgot to let them rest at room temp for a week or 2, the yeast will go dormant right away and i get no carbonation (which i proved after opening one a week after bottling). can i remove them from the fridge and bring them back to room temp to restart/re-stimulate carbonation? should i shake them a bit?

thx,
T

tominator said:

so let's say for instance, i bottled (IPA) then put them straight into the fridge? if i forgot to let them rest at room temp for a week or 2, the yeast will go dormant right away and i get no carbonation (which i proved after opening one a week after bottling). can i remove them from the fridge and bring them back to room temp to restart/re-stimulate carbonation? should i shake them a bit?

thx,
T

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Yes you can. As far as shaking, I would wait until they've been out of the fridge for 2 days and then give them a gently roll.

bottlebomber said:

Yes you can. As far as shaking, I would wait until they've been out of the fridge for 2 days and then give them a gently roll.

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Thx bomber, that's a relief. It wouldn't be the first batch I dumped but I thought I was getting the hang of it. I'll lyk how it turns out.

T

I'm curious about you guy's thoughts on cold crashing. I've been doing it for a while with no negative effects, but the thought has always been in the back of my head that I'm sucking in O2 while the temp drops from the 72F diacetyl rest. I figured it was just me overthinking things until I heard it mentioned on the Jamil show and he said he would never cold crash unless it was in a keg purged with co2.

So have any of you had issues with oxidation from this? My beer usually doesn't last more than a month, so it's possible I'm not giving it enough time before the O2 really messes with it.

bottlebomber said:

Yes you can. As far as shaking, I would wait until they've been out of the fridge for 2 days and then give them a gently roll.

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Just chilled a bottle and it looks like it has been saved decent carbonation, 1" head on it. a bit hazy, which i expected, but it tasted pretty good - good enough that i have about 48 bottles of homebrew to drink rather than buying commercial beers.

cheers!


T