Cold Crashing My First Brew

[tkellanc]

OK so this is my first post on here and as I write this I'm 36 hours removed from pitching the yeast on my very first batch. I've been wanting to brew for a long time and I jumped in with both feet with an AG Irish Ale.

So far, so good. Though it was a BIG learning experience on brew day. (One of them being that the smak packs take three hours to activate, so I was up until 2a waiting to pitch.) Signs of fermentation began about 8 hours after brew (using a 7.5g speidel fermenter with the float air lock) however in the excitement of finally getting started I didn't remember to put in a whirlfloc tablet or irish moss. I'd like to cold crash this in my secondary, but I have a few questions prior to doing so:

1. Should I add gelatin to the secondary prior to crashing to help clear the batch?
2. How long should I expect to keep the batch in the primary? (The post-boil OG was 1.051 and I'm wanting to get down below 1.012 for a FG) Knowing that the gravity will continue to fall in the secondary and once I add my sugar, what gravity reading would suggest its time to move it to the secondary?
3. How long should I cold crash prior to bottling?
4. If cold crashing extends the conditioning time, what kind of time frame will I be looking at for the beer's completion in the bottle?

Thank in advance!

 

[JLeuck64]

Keep it simple:
for a beer of that O.G. just leave it be in the primary for 3 weeks and then check gravity. It will most likely be finished by then so go ahead and bottle it. Leave it be for as long as you can leave it alone... 3 weeks or more then throw a few in the fridge for several days and try.

So jealous ( ;

 

[tkellanc]

So no secondary, that's fine with me. I still want to clear up the beer as best I can. Can I still add the gelatin? Would straining the beer from primary to the bottle help with clarity?

 

[MagicMatt]

Straining the beer will only introduce oxygen, and that's no good.

I'd wait until you read FG in primary, however long that takes (1 week or 3 weeks), and then begin your cold crash. Once the beer is below 40°F, add the gelatin and continue to crash to the low 30's for at least 24 hours. Then you can bottle as usual.

As for conditioning, you should still be conditioning the bottles at cellar temps (or room temp). So cold crashing should not impact the time it takes to condition, however the temperature at which you condition most certainly will.

 

[tkellanc]

Good deal. Thanks for the advice guys. Hopefully she clears up because upon early inspection it smells awesome.

 

[seabrew8]

Cold crash the beer for a day or so before you rack it into the secondary with gelatin.

Whoops already suggested!

 

[MagicMatt]

Though it was a BIG learning experience on brew day. (One of them being that the smak packs take three hours to activate, so I was up until 2a waiting to pitch.)

Also forgot to mention that it's not necessary to wait until the pack is fully activated. You do want to allow it to come to ambient temps so as not to shock the yeast by pitching them directly from fridge into 65°F wort, but there's no need to wait until it is fully expanded or anything. Take it out the fridge, smack it, and let it rest for 30-60 minutes and you should be good to go.

 

[andy6026]

1. For clearest results add the gelatin at the same time that you rack it to secondary. While many will tell you not to bother using a secondary, I use one and I like it. I recommend that over the course of your next few batches you try both ways and see what works for you better.

2. You can keep it in primary until it's done fermenting, or you can leave it longer. 3 weeks will help clear it up nicely, but you can do it as soon as 7-10 days (take gravity readings if you're going to bottle that soon). I don't usually bother with gravity readings if it's been in primary for 3 weeks, except if I want to know exactly how much alcohol it has in it. With experience, you'll come to have a good idea just by looking at the recipe.

3. I'd give it 48 hrs or more for cold-crashing, depending on when it's convenient for you. The longer you give it, the clearer the beer will be.

4. Conditioning time is usually 2-3 weeks. Cold crashing will not extend this time as there will still be ample yeast in suspension.

Last, you needn't wait that long to pitch the smack pack, nor do you need to worry about 'shocking the yeast' as an above poster wrongly suggested. You only need to worry about shocking yeast that is going into wort that is colder than the yeast... warmer won't hurt it.

 

[The_Bishop]

I disagree with andy. Every time you move your beer you risk infection and introduce oxygen. For 90% of the brews out there, it's not necessary.

Leave it in primary until it's done. When your gravity is stable over two days, it's done. Cold crash in the primary. When the beer is below 40 degrees Fahrenheit, you're going to add a gelatin solution. The solution is 1/2 a pack of knox unflavored gelatin added to 1/3 cup of water, then heat it to 150-155. Pour it right into the fermenter, no stirring needed. Continue crashing for at *least* two days, a few more will help.

Bottle your beer. Places the bottles in an area that's in the 70 degree range. within a week you should have some carbonation, by 2 it should be fully carbonated. It'll be at it's peak in 3 weeks.

You want to avoid large and fast temperature swings with your yeast. From refrigerator into fermenter is too much of a change.

 

[AZCoolerBrewer]

So I'm new too. I'm fermenting my fourth batch right now, but something you mentioned in your post is eating at me.

You say, "Knowing that the gravity will continue to fall in the secondary and once I add my sugar,". I am wondering why you would add sugar before you move it to a secondary, is that this "alcohol boost" that I have seen people talking about lately or are you saying that you want to put your priming sugar in at that time? Because if you put the priming sugar in and then let it ferment for a while before you bottle, your beer will be flat. You put the priming sugar in right (minutes) before you bottle.

 

[Brews-Lee]

Since we are talking about cold crashing here I figured that I would ask: I don't have anything to cold-crash my fermenter with, other than perhaps a tub of ice water, or otherwise leaving the fermenter outside over night, which would be about 7hrs of mid-40F temps. Thoughts?

 

[MagicMatt]

I'd say anything will help. The longer you can keep it at a low temp, the more the beer will drop bright.

 

[aprichman]

Lots of good information can be found in this thread:

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=537400

 

[andy6026]

Since we are talking about cold crashing here I figured that I would ask: I don't have anything to cold-crash my fermenter with, other than perhaps a tub of ice water, or otherwise leaving the fermenter outside over night, which would be about 7hrs of mid-40F temps. Thoughts?

In those circumstances, I personally wouldn't bother. Put the bottles in the fridge for a few days before you drink them.

 

[tkellanc]

Such a confusing debate between whether or not to use a secondary. For a first batch I'm leaning toward keeping it in the primary for as close to 3 weeks as I can stand, then cold crashing for 48 hours (adding the gelatin after 24) and then priming and bottling after 72 hours.

I'm using a Spiedel fermenter with the spigot- anyone have experience with these that can offer some best practices or what to expect in terms of keeping the trub out of the bottles?

 

[andy6026]

Such a confusing debate between whether or not to use a secondary. For a first batch I'm leaning toward keeping it in the primary for as close to 3 weeks as I can stand, then cold crashing for 48 hours (adding the gelatin after 24) and then priming and bottling after 72 hours.

I'm using a Spiedel fermenter with the spigot- anyone have experience with these that can offer some best practices or what to expect in terms of keeping the trub out of the bottles?

Not sure if I'm reading you correctly, but add your priming sugar immediately before bottling... don't wait 72 hours.

 

[aprichman]

Such a confusing debate between whether or not to use a secondary. For a first batch I'm leaning toward keeping it in the primary for as close to 3 weeks as I can stand, then cold crashing for 48 hours (adding the gelatin after 24) and then priming and bottling after 72 hours.

I'm using a Spiedel fermenter with the spigot- anyone have experience with these that can offer some best practices or what to expect in terms of keeping the trub out of the bottles?

If you're looking for bright beer you should really be draining into a priming bucket that already has the priming liquid inside. You want to leave as much trub and yeast behind on the initial transfer to the bottling bucket. Same logic applies for the bottling process.

 

[tkellanc]

Not sure if I'm reading you correctly, but add your priming sugar immediately before bottling... don't wait 72 hours.

I wasn't very clear on this. I meant to bottle directly from the primary after 72 hours, however now I understand putting this in a priming bucket will be best to avoid the trub finding its way into the bottles.

 

[andy6026]

Hoping to be helpful here rather than pedantic, but we usually call it a 'bottling bucket.'

Most brewers have a process such as this:

1) Let the beer ferment for 2-3 weeks.

2) Optional steps: transfer to secondary, add gelatin, cold crash for a couple of days.

3) Create priming sugar mixture, add to bottling bucket, rack beer into bottling bucket

4) Bottle it

5) Wait 2-3 weeks

6) Get 'em cold and drink them.

 

[nckid4u]

I have an old coal chute in my basement that is separated from the rest of the basement and is not heated. This winter I put a thermometer in there and found that it generally stayed about 10 degrees F higher than the outdoor temperature. I cold crashed a red ale in there a couple weeks ago for 2 days (temps were around 35 degrees F) with no gelatin and when I transferred to the bottling bucket, it was amazingly clear. This was my first attempt at cold crashing and I will likely continue to do it for the winter brews. I generally don't care a great deal about the clarity of my home brew, so in the summer, I have no plans to concoct any rig to allow me to cold crash. I will say the results were impressive.