Are there noticeable differences for cold crashing longer?

[jakehoodlum]

Cold crashing a beer right now at 34-35F and have read that 24hrs should be good, but some have said they prefer a week or longer. Is there a noticeable difference or is it diminishing returns after 24hrs? Couldn't you just achieve the same effect by keeping COLD in the corny keg and just drawing off excess trub when you tap it?

 

[ThomasPaine]

Yes same effect when in the keg. The more flocculation characteristics of the yeast combined with good hot and cold breaks will effect the time it takes to clarify too.

 

[peterj]

Couldn't you just achieve the same effect by keeping COLD in the corny keg and just drawing off excess trub when you tap it?

Yes, I never cold crash anything I'm going to keg. When you put the keg in the fridge you're basically doing an extended cold crash for the rest of the life of the beer. You'll pull out some trub on the first pour and after that you're good.

Sorry I don't really have much experience with cold crashing for different lengths of time, so I can't really help you there.

 

[BigFloyd]

I prefer to do a 5-7 day cold crash at 35*F. For the less flocculent strains and lager yeast, 24 hours is probably going to not be nearly enough time to realize the full benefit of the process. In addition to getting the excess yeast to fully drop out, the longer crash firms up the yeast cake better so that it's harder to suck up into the siphon.

I crash every primary whether it's going to the keg (most often) or to bottles. I'd rather not have extra yeast trub settling in the keg and flowing into my posts/lines/taps.