How Many Days Do You Cold Crash?

[Scturo]

Just checking opinions. I do 4 days at 41f. Discuss,

 

[Pkrd]

1 day at 36F (2°C), add gelatine, wait another day then keg.

 

[BrewMehr]

2 days at 34° usually does it for 5 gallons

 

[kh54s10]

I put it in the keg, put on the co2 and wait a couple of weeks.

 

[Scturo]

I actually had a talk with a local brewer from a well known brewery. And he told me that they don't go below 40f, but we were discussing hazy brews. So I have to clarify with him next time. (Ha, that actually wasn't a joke)

 

[JimRausch]

I get her down as close to 32*f as I can, wait 24 hours and hit her with gelatin. Usually leave it a couple days before bottling.

 

[day_trippr]

I do 11 gallon batches and it takes almost two full days for my 17cf top-freezer fridge to drop that much beer from dry-hop temperature ~68°F down to 34°F.
So, I'll go as short as two days in a pinch, but I usually go 4 days before kegging...

Cheers!

 

[brick_haus]

I get it down to about 34* then keg it whenever I get a chance. 3-5 days usually.

 

[PADave]

Zero, never felt the need to cold crash. My beers come out plenty clear.

 

[DeadReckoningBrewing]

For those of you who use gelatin and keg, do you always transfer to a clean keg after the gelatin has done its thing? I’m thinking of eliminating a step by simply adding the gelatin to my serving keg… accepting that my first few pints from that keg might be cloudy.

 

[eric19312]

For those of you who use gelatin and keg, do you always transfer to a clean keg after the gelatin has done its thing? I’m thinking of eliminating a step by simply adding the gelatin to my serving keg… accepting that my first few pints from that keg might be cloudy.

I have no issues using gelatin in my serving kegs. Maybe toss first half pint of beer but usually less than that.

 

[HopWolf]

If I have a three day dry hop I'll put it in the fridge after two days figuring that it'll take a day to drop the temp to about 43 degrees then two days in the fridge at that temp, remove it to the work bench carefully and let it sit for a few hours before bottling.

 

[TheBrewBrotha]

I've always cold crash at 40-41F for 3-4 days. Have yet to need gelatin but am also curious that if I do so in a keg, does one transfer to another keg to leave the gelatin behind?

 

[nygel74]

I am lazy, and I usually cold crash and fine with gelatin right in the primary at about 32. Let it sit for about 4 days and then Keg. Crystal clear lagers once they are on gas.

 

[mongoose33]

I cold crash at 32 degrees. Usually takes about 24 hours to get there, maybe a bit more. Then I'll rack it to keg as soon as I have time, force-carb it and good to go.

 

[Doed]

Couple of days around 33°. I don't use gelatin. Never seen the need for it.

 

[maxxxx]

48 hrs @ 32*

 

[BaldApe]

How I use gelatin depends on a couple of things. If I plan to save the yeast, I keg first then use gelatin in the keg. I'm not certain this is necessary, but I don't think the gelatin is doing the saved yeast any good. Once the kegs are at 32 F I add the gelatin.
Otherwise I lower the fermenter (11 gallon batches) to 32 F, wait a day, and add gelatin to the keg. Then I rack the clear beer off of the sediment.
If I'm going to take the keg somewhere I also transfer one more time to be sure there's no sediment at all to be stirred up in transport.

 

[SplitHops]

For those of you who use gelatin and keg, do you always transfer to a clean keg after the gelatin has done its thing? I’m thinking of eliminating a step by simply adding the gelatin to my serving keg… accepting that my first few pints from that keg might be cloudy.

I always gel my ales and lagers, never dark beers unless they are amber or like a dopplebock. As far as temperature goes with lagers I always ramp it up to 76-80 deg. F. for a day to allow the yeast to clean up, then crash it hard to 33 deg. F for at least 5 days. Right before crashing I do two things, remove the trub and yeast for harvesting, then remove the air lock or at least make sure to remove it from my sanitizer solution as it will suck it up with the change in temperature.

I always clean and sanitze a corny for transfer, for gelling, then I shake it good, let it sit for two days, pump out the gel which usually results in about 1 quart of product to get it all out. I shake it one more time hard for 1 minute, allow to rest again for one day, then pump out 1 pint of beer to remove any gel that stuck to the bottom of the keg. Ready to drink or bottle.

 

[docdonnyb]

I consistently chill for 24 hrs at 34 degrees (Chilling for longer won't hurt - but it won't provide any benefit.) add 1 tsp gelatin proofed and dissolved in +/- 2/3 cup of water at around 155 degrees and back in for another 24 hrs then keg that day or the next. The gelatin works best once the beer is good and cold. I don't wait more than 2 days for fear of the beer oxidizing after the gel addition - in spite of every effort to minimize splashing. I also don't like to add gel to the keg - the slop belongs in the fermenter not the bottom of the keg.
After carbing, I usually dump around 6 oz of cruddy beer out of the tap with the remaining 5 gallons crystal clear.

 

[kh54s10]

I used gelatin once so far. I didn't see any difference. Most of my beers clear without any cold crashing or gelatin. The ones that don't? I don't care if they are not perfectly clear.

 

[3puttpete]

My brew day is 2- 10 gallon batches (so 20 gallons). After fermentation (and dry hop if applicable) I crash cool to 35 or so. Then I use one pack of gelatin in about 1 1/2 cup of water and divide equally between the fermenters and leave 2 days.

I started with one pack in 5 gallons. Then tried one pack in 10 gallons. Now, one pack in 20 gallons.

Beers are always crystal clear. Point being, a little gelatin goes a long way

 

[DeadReckoningBrewing]

A single day @ 36-38 degrees, but I'm putting pretty clear beer into my keg to begin with.

 

[motosapiens]

for dry-hopped beers, I cool overnight before bottling or kegging, because when the sun comes up it gets warm again. 8 months of the year it's in the 40's either outside or in the garage, and overnight at that temp is enough to get the dry hops to drop out.

 

[GmanNJ]

I usually do most of my brew work on week ends so I brew and put in primary weekend#1 then after a hydrometer check to ensure fermentation is complete I put in secondary weekend#2 and cold crash for 2 weeks. I get a second cake that is decent because the beer does fall clear. I dont use any finings. Weekend #4 I rack to a bottling bucket and then keg it (to remove the trub) and have it sit on gas for a week. Weekend #5 I am pulling a pint.

I know this may be longer than necessary but since I pull the beer off the cake there is no harm and its easy to remember what to do when. With my work schedule this works best for me as as long as it makes good beer I am fine with it

 

[kh54s10]

I usually do most of my brew work on week ends so I brew and put in primary weekend#1 then after a hydrometer check to ensure fermentation is complete I put in secondary weekend#2 and cold crash for 2 weeks. I get a second cake that is decent because the beer does fall clear. I dont use any finings. Weekend #4 I rack to a bottling bucket and then keg it (to remove the trub) and have it sit on gas for a week. Weekend #5 I am pulling a pint.

I know this may be longer than necessary but since I pull the beer off the cake there is no harm and its easy to remember what to do when. With my work schedule this works best for me as as long as it makes good beer I am fine with it

Just my opinion, but all that racking!!! A risk for oxygenating your beer.

My schedule is to ferment for 2 weeks, keg, let it carbonate, time depending on pressure, the drink. If I keg at 2 weeks the longest to a glass is 4 weeks if I set and forget at serving pressure. 2 weeks and a couple of days if I burst carbonate. ONE rack. A few days longer if I dry hop, in primary, still just ONE rack.

Why is there any trub left when you are putting it in the bottling bucket?

 

[bleme]

I cold crash with an ice bath so it gets to 32F pretty fast, then keg or bottle it the next day.

 

[jeagle1957]

My crashing takes about 72 hours due to a ****ty fridge.

 

[Horseflesh]

The last time I used gelatin I got beer Jell-O in the bottom of my keg. I must have mixed it too concentrated, but it made me gunshy.

 

[wilserbrewer]

I just started cold crashing again after a few years of not bothering to do so.

1st batch was chilled for a day or two, second batch was chilled for 4 days. The yeast trub cake was much more compact in the second batch yielding significantly more beer

The first keg kicked and had significantly more yeast trub than my previous batches that were not cold crashing.

My conclusion is that cold crashing for longer periods is beneficial, and the reduced keg debris is worth the effort of cold crashing.

Like some I thought cold crashing in the keg was easy and effective, but I now feel the step of cold crashing is worth the effort, benefits being less fermenter losses and cleaner kegs.

 

[GmanNJ]

"Why is there any trub left when you are putting it in the bottling bucket?"

After primary fermentation what falls is a yeast cake which can be reused. After cold crashing what falls is all the precipitate that can make your beer cloudy. Hence the reason to cold crash.

"Just my opinion, but all that racking!!! A risk for oxygenating your beer."
I use siphonless food grade fermentors. If you use a hose long enough to reach the bottom then you get very little splashback. So I get clear beer that shows no sign of oxygenation

The sooner you get the beer off the yeast cake after fermentation the less risk of Autolysis (off flavors from the dead yeast in the cake). So 1 week in primary is more than enough time to complete fermentation then you have to get the beer off the yeast cake to reduce any risk of Autolysis. Then 2 weeks cold crash lets the beer fall clear. Then you want to get the beer off the precipitate so you rack to a bottling bucket and immediately keg or bottle.

 

[dryboroughbrewing]

I crash to 30 for 2-3 days (won't freeze), hit it with biofine, and in the worst case (2 times in 10 years) I'll even push through my plate filter.

 

[SGTSparty]

Not to hijack but related question. I just got my fermentation fridge up and running and can now cold crash, so i'll be using everyone's input but my questions is how do you transfer from your cold crash fridge? My fridge isn't tall enough to get a full pump on an auto-siphon, I have/do ferment in bottling buckets but in the fridge the spigot would be too low. Could move it from the fridge to my work table but doesn't that run the risk of mixing everything I just crashed back into solution?

 

[brewcat]

"Why is there any trub left when you are putting it in the bottling bucket?"

After primary fermentation what falls is a yeast cake which can be reused. After cold crashing what falls is all the precipitate that can make your beer cloudy. Hence the reason to cold crash.

"Just my opinion, but all that racking!!! A risk for oxygenating your beer."
I use siphonless food grade fermentors. If you use a hose long enough to reach the bottom then you get very little splashback. So I get clear beer that shows no sign of oxygenation

The sooner you get the beer off the yeast cake after fermentation the less risk of Autolysis (off flavors from the dead yeast in the cake). So 1 week in primary is more than enough time to complete fermentation then you have to get the beer off the yeast cake to reduce any risk of Autolysis. Then 2 weeks cold crash lets the beer fall clear. Then you want to get the beer off the precipitate so you rack to a bottling bucket and immediately keg or bottle.

Autolysis isn't a problem. It may be months down the line, but over a week or two or three it isn't going to happen.

Rack out of fermenter into keg. Racking after a cold crash to a bottling bucket to a keg is a complete waste of time.

 

[GmanNJ]

"Rack out of fermenter into keg. Racking after a cold crash to a bottling bucket to a keg is a complete waste of time."

I dont want to get anything that falls out of the cold crash into the final product. Although if one was careful enough I guess anything that falls from cold crashing wouldnt transfer. I guess my OCD gets the better of me

 

[3puttpete]

Most cold crash fridges or freezers are too low to siphon from anyway. Just move it slowly and gently. It won't stir up too much. I also use gelatin which compacts the yeast cake.

On my work table, I tilt the fermenter, put the autosiphon at the low point resting on the bottom, then catch the first pint or so and dump. I also purge my kegs with CO2 prior to filling.

Hope that helps

 

[SGTSparty]

Most cold crash fridges or freezers are too low to siphon from anyway. Just move it slowly and gently. It won't stir up too much. I also use gelatin which compacts the yeast cake.

On my work table, I tilt the fermenter, put the autosiphon at the low point resting on the bottom, then catch the first pint or so and dump. I also purge my kegs with CO2 prior to filling.

Hope that helps

It does thanks :rockin:

 

[Hwk-I-St8]

I'm on my second batch of beer, first cold crash. The last one I didn't do it because I was brewing a NEIPA. I realized that it's gonna get cold in the keg anyway, so why worry about it. I had some issues with my siphon getting clogged when transferring the keg so I decided to CC this batch. I dropped the temp Wed to 38 and it's still nice and hazy (another NEIPA).

This batch will be transferred with CO2 push. Gonna do that tonight.

My routine so far:
Brew on Sat or Sun. First dry hop at 72 hours. Second dry hop 3-4 days after that (take hydrometer reading, it's been done both times at that point with 1318 and a nice starter). Raise the temp to 69 the day of the second dry hop...let sit for 5 days, CC for 48 hours and keg. That puts the brew day and the kegging on a weekend and light work (dry hopping, temp adjustments) on week days.

I'm kegging tonight and it'll be ready to drink Monday. If the hydrometer sample is indicative, it's gonna be a good one.