Simonh82
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Dec 4, 2015
- Messages
- 85
- Reaction score
- 10
Wasn't sure whether to add this to the equipment forum or fermentation/yeast but I guess it's primarily about my equipment so hopefully that's OK.
After reading this article I've become concerned about the potential for oxygen pick up during cold crashing and wanted to get people's opinion's on a possible means to prevent it. I ferment in a 35L stainless steel fermentation vessel and at the end of fermentation I cold crash to drop the yeast/dry hops out of suspension.
Until recently, I've simply removed the top part of my airlock and covered it with sanitised foil, replacing the airlock when the temperature of the beer has stabilised. Because I'm often fairly busy, I regularly leave beers for a week or two at cold temperatures until I've got an evening free to keg. I now realise I've left them in contact with potentially a significant amount of oxygen for that time and I'd like to avoid this.
I can't remember where but I read recently about someone fermenting in kegs and simply sealing the keg when it came to cold crashing so that no oxygen could get in. Kegs are clearly not going to be troubled by the slight vacuum created inside. I wondered if you thought the type of SS fermenter I use would also be OK to do this with too. I don't want to go down this route if I end up with a fermentor with a caved in base for instance. It feels pretty robust. The lid is really solid and the walls and base are 0.6mm, which isn't super thick but doesn't feel flimsy. I guess that if I bunged the fermentor before cold crashing, the dissolved CO2 in solution would just be sucked out of the liquid to fill the vacuum in the head space, hopefully meaning that there wasn't a huge pressure created by the vacuum. I'd need to account for the reduction in CO2 this when kegging/bottling but I'm hoping that there wouldn't be any other issues.
After reading this article I've become concerned about the potential for oxygen pick up during cold crashing and wanted to get people's opinion's on a possible means to prevent it. I ferment in a 35L stainless steel fermentation vessel and at the end of fermentation I cold crash to drop the yeast/dry hops out of suspension.
Until recently, I've simply removed the top part of my airlock and covered it with sanitised foil, replacing the airlock when the temperature of the beer has stabilised. Because I'm often fairly busy, I regularly leave beers for a week or two at cold temperatures until I've got an evening free to keg. I now realise I've left them in contact with potentially a significant amount of oxygen for that time and I'd like to avoid this.
I can't remember where but I read recently about someone fermenting in kegs and simply sealing the keg when it came to cold crashing so that no oxygen could get in. Kegs are clearly not going to be troubled by the slight vacuum created inside. I wondered if you thought the type of SS fermenter I use would also be OK to do this with too. I don't want to go down this route if I end up with a fermentor with a caved in base for instance. It feels pretty robust. The lid is really solid and the walls and base are 0.6mm, which isn't super thick but doesn't feel flimsy. I guess that if I bunged the fermentor before cold crashing, the dissolved CO2 in solution would just be sucked out of the liquid to fill the vacuum in the head space, hopefully meaning that there wasn't a huge pressure created by the vacuum. I'd need to account for the reduction in CO2 this when kegging/bottling but I'm hoping that there wouldn't be any other issues.