cold crashing

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triplehops

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Can someone explain why one would cold crash your beer and when.
Thanks!
 
If you have a lot of yeast still in suspension, clouding up your beer. Some yeasts don't flocculate out that well and need encouragement.

To cold crash, place your beer in a fridge or drop freezer with an external temperature controller and drop the temperature down to 40 degrees for a few days prior to when you plan to bottle the beer. This encourages yeast to go dormant, floc out of solution and settle to the bottom of the fermenter onto the trub. It's not always necessary to do this but some yeasts seem to require a little wrangling to get the beer to clear up.
 
I'm cold crashing an ipa right now to get the dry hops to sink to the bottom of the fermenter before i bottle. Cold crashing also helps compact the yeast cake and trub which helps keep them out of your bottles.

I'm cold crashing in my swamp cooler with 1gal blocks of ice.
 
I have a beer c/c now too, any ill effects if it happen to freeze? ( not freeze solid, but slushy/frozen)?
 
A week before kegging, I move the carboy into my fridge. 2 days later, I hit it with a 1/2 tablespoon of gelatin dissolved in a cup of 150° F water. 5 days later, I rack into a keg and begin carbing.
 
I have a converted freezer I use as a chamber, and I drop my temp down to ~30. With the added alcohol in there, no fear of freezing. Beware of suckback and prepare for it. Takes about 2-3 days and that trub in the bottom is rock solid. Added benefit is the beer is already cold so that is a head start on force carbing.
 
Can i prime and bottle while still cold, or do i need to let the beer get to room temp?
 
I experimented with cold crashing and found that 1/4tsp per gallon in ~150F water works well (a bit hotter than the hottest tap water). It is critical that you 1) get the beer cold for >24hrs before adding the gelatin, and 2) actually get the gelatin to dissolve before adding it to the beer. This latter bit can be harder than it seems because the gelatin turns translucent once it is wet.

If you cold crash and are relying on bottle conditioning, the longer you cold crash, the longer it will take for your beer to carb. Without cold crashing, it usually takes me 2 weeks for beers to be fully carbed. With cold crashing, it takes 3 to even 4 weeks for beers to be fully carbed. So, just be patient.

That said, if you are bottle conditioning, I suggest skipping the cold crashing step and using whirlfloc in every boil instead. Roughly the same thing (cold crash) happens when you store your carbed bottles in the fridge and because you are bottle conditioning, there is no way to avoid having crud in the bottom of bottles anyway. IMHO...
 
Thanks for all the info. I did buy some Irish moss for my next batch, is that just as good as whirlflock? What about combining that with a cold crash? Doubly clear? And of course, thanks again for the great info and speedy replies, much appreciated!
 
I think whirlfloc is just a finely ground and pelleted form of irish moss. Actually, all the gelatin/cold crash treatments I did were also whirlfloc'd in the boil. My impression was that the double treatments were crystal clear sooner than the ones only treated with whirlfloc, but after about a month in the fridge, the whirlfloc-only beers were just as clear as the ones I treated with gelatin. I guess how useful that is might depend on how much fridge space you have.
 
Ok, right on. Thanks. One more question... Is cold crashing effective without using gelatin?
 
This forum rocks!
This random thread that i read because I thought it was one I had posted to earlier about cold crashing.
Turns out that I learned more about cold crashing AND answered my question about why my cold crashed and gelatin we ag Irish red ale was so long in carbonating.
 
Here is my question, which I asked in the other thread.

Is it because the cc and gelatin force most of the yeast out too?
So the lucky remaining ones have the work to do?
 
I am referring to in the bottle.

And as I speak, I am enjoying one of my reds that was much more carbed as it had a audible hiss upon opening. Others were much less pressurized.
But it poured so nice! Big thick head that lingered for a few minutes and just tastes awesome!
 
When you do the boil there is a 'hot break' of proteins and other stuff that wind up as part of that gunk in the bottom of your kettle and carboy. When you cold crash you get yet another 'cold break' and that will happen whether you include gelatin or not. The gelatin just helps the 'cold break' proteins and other stuff settle out of solution quicker. Cold crashing/gelatin also pulls a lot of yeast down so that it takes longer for the remaining yeast to consume the priming sugar when bottle conditioning.
 
Ok, right on. Thanks. One more question... Is cold crashing effective without using gelatin?

Yes. But gelatin makes it even better.

For my brews, I throw in 1/2 tsp of Irish moss with 10 mins left in the boil. Then 1 week before kegging, I move the carboy into a fridge at 32° F. 2 days later, I add 1/2 tbsp of gelatin dissolved in 1 cup of 150° F water. Then 5 days later I keg, and 2 weeks later, I have perfectly carbed, crystal-clear beer, every time (though admittedly, some IPAs have given me stress).
 
brewkinger said:
this forum rocks!
This random thread that i read because i thought it was one i had posted to earlier about cold crashing.
Turns out that i learned more about cold crashing and answered my question about why my cold crashed and gelatin we ag irish red ale was so long in carbonating.

+1
 
I have a pale ale in primary being dry hopped. I want to cold crash this beer in two more days(weds). Does is matter If
 
Edit( sent to early )

Does it matter if any hop material gets into the secondary? Will it sink if it does? This is my first time dry hopping an 2nd time cold crashing. Is there a good/easy way to do this?
 
So to clarify... You have already added dry hops in primary?
You are going to rack to secondary and THEN cold crash?

If some of the hop material makes it into secondary, that is ok. It will eventually drop to bottom of fermenter.
 
Edit( sent to early )

Does it matter if any hop material gets into the secondary? Will it sink if it does? This is my first time dry hopping an 2nd time cold crashing. Is there a good/easy way to do this?

Cold crash in the primary.
 
brewkinger said:
So to clarify... You have already added dry hops in primary?
You are going to rack to secondary and THEN cold crash?

If some of the hop material makes it into secondary, that is ok. It will eventually drop to bottom of fermenter.

Yes.

So rack it as usual and whatever makes it into secondary (hop material) should sink after a few days?
 
Paulgs3 said:
Cold crash in the primary.

And I just saw this ^^

My primary is a bucket, that shouldn't matter though, right? My secondary would be a plastic bottle. Why cold crash in the primary vs. secondary? Isn't better to get the beer off of the trub for cold crashing? And if I cold crash in the primary, should I just start to cold crash during my dry hop period to save some time?
 
And I just saw this ^^

My primary is a bucket, that shouldn't matter though, right? My secondary would be a plastic bottle. Why cold crash in the primary vs. secondary? Isn't better to get the beer off of the trub for cold crashing? And if I cold crash in the primary, should I just start to cold crash during my dry hop period to save some time?

Doesn't matter. I dryhop and cold crash in the same carboy/bucket all the time. I do it for simplicity, ease, less work, and less chance of something going wrong like oxidation/contamination. Besides cold crashing as you already know, will pack that trub down nicely.

To me, its an extra step that isn't needed. And I'm lazy.

As far as dry hopping and cold crashing at the same time, I have also done this and it works. However I have noticed better results with dry hopping at warmer temperatures as it resulted in better aroma.
 
I haven't used the gelatin trick but I do use whirfloc and cold crash then keg my beers. I get remarkable clarity but never quite 'crystal' clear.

How much mixing do y'all gelatinizers do after the addition?
 
None.

I just remove the foil cap from the refrigerated carboy, pour in the measuring cup of gelatin solution, and put the foil cap back on.

So how does that work if you don't mix? Gelatin, as a macro-molecule, diffuses slowly, and at the cold crash stage of the game, convection currents won't be relevant for mixing. I'd guess that much of your beer wouldn't be exposed to the gelatin.

I bring this up out of general curiosity and interest and because my kegged beers clear very nicely with just whirfloc and cold crashing.

Anyone split a batch into gelatin and non-gelatin for comparison?
 
If it matters, the gelatin solution is still piping hot when I pour it in. Maybe that generates some convection? I keg-carbonate, so I don't care about killing yeast at that stage of the game.

At any rate, my beers come out super-clear. Maybe the gelatin makes a difference, maybe it doesn't, but it's cheap and easy, so I'm going to keep doing it. :)
 
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