First time kegging / No cold crashing

[lolcats]

There are probably 150 threads about this but couldn't find an answer.

First time kegging this weekend.

The IPA is heavily dry hopped, however most of the pellets have sunk to the bottom by now. I usually cold crash before bottling.

There's not that much left floating anymore. So if I gently rack from above the layer of hops would that work without cold crashing or will a very small amount of floaties block the keg dip tube?

Thanks and sorry for the question :rockin:

 

[kev211]

You should be fine. I never cold crash and I keg every batch. ive never had an issue. First pour or two will probably be cloudy with yeast and hops but will clear up. Only potential issue if you suck up too much is that you could clog up the poppet in the liquid QD, but Ive never had that happen. Even in beers that are heavily dry hopped like my tipa it ends up just fine. Good luck!

 

[bleme]

You could also put a paint strainer bag over the end of your racking cane to filter out as many hops as possible.

 

[Hwk-I-St8]

I use sanke kegs, but I've racked to the keg w/o cold crashing. This was a NEIPA with 7 oz of hop pellets in the fermenter. I had no issues with clogging. The first couple beers were a bit gritty, but after that....spectacular. There was quite a bit of hop matter in the bottom of the keg when I cleaned it.

I wasn't cold crashing because comments made me scared that the cooling process would pull sanitizer from the airlock into my keg and/or it would go dry and my beer would oxidize. I've since cold crashed a number of batches using vodka in the airlock. It does not appear to have pulled any into the ferm and I've had no issues with oxidation, so I just cold crash now.

 

[ndinh]

I've always used a paint strainer tied to the end of my racking cane/tube. It works great. No need to cold-crash.

 

[lolcats]

Thanks guys for your responses, I racked to my keg without cold crashing! I didnt see too many floaties making their way to the keg. I will report back if it clogs up the dip tube.

Other stuid question: Can I store my co2 in a freezer at 7 degrees Fahrenheit? Or is that too cold

 

[bleme]

Thanks guys for your responses, I racked to my keg without cold crashing! I didnt see too many floaties making their way to the keg. I will report back if it clogs up the dip tube.

Other stuid question: Can I store my co2 in a freezer at 7 degrees Fahrenheit? Or is that too cold

It will store fine, but your pressure gauge will drop down and say you are empty. When it warms back up, everything will be normal though. It doesn't spoil or go bad, so I'm not sure why you would want to store it in your freezer.