cold-crashing in secondary vs chilling the bottle conditioned beer.

I use whirlfloc tablets and have been blessed with respectably clear bottle-conditioned beers.

I also noticed that my beer seemed a bit more clear after sitting in the fridge for 3-4 days. (as long as I could wait!)

So I am wondering if cold crashing in secondary would give better clearing results than just plain sitting my beer in the fridge for say a week after it is fully carbed/conditioned??

Yep, I know I could try it both ways to see which works best, but I figure someone else out there has already done so and has a reccomendation.

Just looking for an easy, uncomplicated way to further clear up my beer.

Pez.

Cold crashing after the primary or secondary will speed the clarification of your beer.

Conditioning in the bottle at refrigerated temps will further clear the beer after it has carbonated.

BargainFittings said:

Cold crashing after the primary or secondary will speed the clarification of your beer.

Conditioning in the bottle at refrigerated temps will further clear the beer after it has carbonated.

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Yes but if the beer warms it is possible for haze causing proteins to redistribute in the beer. It is best to cold crash before you rack the beer into the bottling bucket.

+1 on JVD_X. Cold-crash the fermenter, then rack immediately to keg or bottling bucket, and then bottle all while it's still cold. Cap and begin conditioning. It'll be much clearer than if you wait to cool until it's already bottled.

khiddy said:

+1 on JVD_X. Cold-crash the fermenter, then rack immediately to keg or bottling bucket, and then bottle all while it's still cold. Cap and begin conditioning. It'll be much clearer than if you wait to cool until it's already bottled.

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That's what I figured, but I was looking for the easy way out to further clear my beer.....


I am leery of the priming sugar amounts in cold-crashed fully fermented beer debates I have read, and was hoping to avoid this all together. So easy just to dump the whole packet of priming sugar in with no worries or measuring....


Like I said, my beers have always been pretty clear, so I might just not cold crash just to avoid the extra step.
Thanks for the replies! Pez.

+1 for cold crashing in the primary fermenter.

JVD_X said:

Yes but if the beer warms it is possible for haze causing proteins to redistribute in the beer. It is best to cold crash before you rack the beer into the bottling bucket.

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How long do you cold crash for? And at what temperatures?

My beer always seems to come out a bit hazy, even with Irish Moss and a 2-4 week secondary period. I think I'm going to give the cold crashing a try next time around.

Will the cold crashing affect the beer carbonation? Doesn't yeast die in cold conditions?

I cold crash the primary or secondary (if I'm using one) for 3 days. I rack the cold beer on top of a warm gelatin solution at the bottom of my keg, force carb, & let sit overnight. CRYSTAL CLEAR.

If you are bottling, you would add the gelatin to the fermenter after the batch has stabilized at the cold crash temperature. Then let the gelatin do its thing for a couple days.

JVD_X said:

Yes but if the beer warms it is possible for haze causing proteins to redistribute in the beer. It is best to cold crash before you rack the beer into the bottling bucket.

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I thought thats what I said.

I crash the primary and go to a keg. I don't typically secondary.

CenturyStanding said:

How long do you cold crash for? And at what temperatures?

My beer always seems to come out a bit hazy, even with Irish Moss and a 2-4 week secondary period. I think I'm going to give the cold crashing a try next time around.

Will the cold crashing affect the beer carbonation? Doesn't yeast die in cold conditions?

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A few days at ~34-36* F is what I shoot for. Full carbonation might take just a few days longer, cooling the beer causes a lot more yeast to fall out of suspension. There is still plenty of yeast in the beer to provide for carbonation, it just takes a little longer. The cold temps will not kill the yeast, it just makes it go dormant, and as soon as your beer warms back up to RT they will wake up and get back to work on the priming sugar.

Jersh said:

A few days at ~34-36* F is what I shoot for. Full carbonation might take just a few days longer, cooling the beer causes a lot more yeast to fall out of suspension. There is still plenty of yeast in the beer to provide for carbonation, it just takes a little longer. The cold temps will not kill the yeast, it just makes it go dormant, and as soon as your beer warms back up to RT they will wake up and get back to work on the priming sugar.

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Awesome. That's exactly what I wanted to know. Thanks.

Do you then prime and bottle while cold? Or do you rack it off of the dormant yeast, let it warm, let the yeast come out of it's dormant state, then bottle?

Sorry if these are noob questions. Been brewing for a few years but I don't enter competitions or anything, so I've always been way more concerned with end taste than appearance or bottle sediment or anything.

Keep it cold when priming and bottling; that will help the precipitated yeast & proteins stay at the bottom of your fermenter when you rack the beer into the bottling bucket. Then, after you've bottled, store them at 70F for three weeks to allow the yeasties to wake up and consume the priming sugar to carbonate your bottles.