Preventing suckback when cold crashing

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cyanmonkey

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Anyone have any great ideas? Been busy and just crashed last night to end up with 1/2" starsan floating in my brew.
 
I use a S type airlock and haven't had issues. Just make sure not to overfill. Im sure there are better ways others combat the issue
 
I left the blowoff on it, which I'm guessing was my biggest mistake. I knew it would happen somewhat, I just thought perhaps I could drain it down after I woke up, but noooooooope.
 
When I cold-crash in a carboy, I just replace the airlock with a piece of sanitized foil held on tightly with elastic bands. Lately, however, for beers I'm intending for competition, I rack the beer into a keg and cold crash in the keg, under 10 psi of CO2 pressure. This ensures no air gets sucked in with the beer, with the idea of minimizing/preventing oxidation. But it means an extra keg to clean.
 
Like Semo, I use an S type airlock during cold crashing. As long as it's filled properly there shouldn't be any issues with suckback.


Is an s-lock advantageous over a three piece? I would have put a 3 piece on, but just didn't have the time to sanitize and replace.
 
Is an s-lock advantageous over a three piece?

Yes. An S-lock will let air flow in both directions, whereas a 3-piece airlock only lets air out. When negative pressure exists inside the vessel (such as during cooling), the 3-piece will suck back the liquid it contains, until it drops below the level of the "spout," then will let air in.
 
Having a blow off still on is probably the worst thing for cold crashing, it will suck all the liquid in from the vessel that the hose is in.

An S type is probably the best, but I just spray a ziploc bag with Starsan and put it over the mouth of the carboy, securing it with a rubber band.
 
Having a blow off still on is probably the worst thing for cold crashing, it will suck all the liquid in from the vessel that the hose is in.

An S type is probably the best, but I just spray a ziploc bag with Starsan and put it over the mouth of the carboy, securing it with a rubber band.


Yep. Like I said I was in a rush.
 
Is an s-lock advantageous over a three piece? I would have put a 3 piece on, but just didn't have the time to sanitize and replace.

The change would have taken only a minute really. But I use foil with a rubber band as well. I forgot the rubber band last time and didn't really have any issues though. I don't do it in the keg as it is faster for me to throw the carboy in my fridge.
 
The change would have taken only a minute really. But I use foil with a rubber band as well. I forgot the rubber band last time and didn't really have any issues though. I don't do it in the keg as it is faster for me to throw the carboy in my fridge.


When you have a 5 month old, 3 year, and 4 year old wanting dinner, a bath and bed time it's not as easy to proportion time.
 
When you have a 5 month old, 3 year, and 4 year old wanting dinner, a bath and bed time it's not as easy to proportion time.


In retrospect, of course, I should have just left it alone, but hindsight is 20/20.
 
An S-lock solves the Star-san problem but doesn't address oxygen being sucked back into the carboy. I've heard about inflating a balloon with co2 and putting it over the mouth before cold crashing to solve the O2 problem.
 
An S-lock solves the Star-san problem but doesn't address oxygen being sucked back into the carboy. I've heard about inflating a balloon with co2 and putting it over the mouth before cold crashing to solve the O2 problem.


Don't have CO2, unfortunately.
 
FWIW, I consider foil and plastic wrap reasonably sanitary when new off the roll and don't bother to sanitize it w/ star san. I am also not overly concerned about the small portion of air that will enter the fermenter during a cold crash.... I choose to RDWHAHB and have not experienced issues doing this....
 
When I cold-crash in a carboy, I just replace the airlock with a piece of sanitized foil held on tightly with elastic bands. Lately, however, for beers I'm intending for competition, I rack the beer into a keg and cold crash in the keg, under 10 psi of CO2 pressure. This ensures no air gets sucked in with the beer, with the idea of minimizing/preventing oxidation. But it means an extra keg to clean.

When you say an extra keg, I assume you're racking out of your cold-crash keg into a serving keg. Have you shortened the dip tube of the cold-crash keg to avoid the sediment that accumulates during the cold crash?
 
When you say an extra keg, I assume you're racking out of your cold-crash keg into a serving keg. Have you shortened the dip tube of the cold-crash keg to avoid the sediment that accumulates during the cold crash?

Yes, I replace the standard dip tube with an extra one I bought and shortened. I lose a little beer in the process, but I end up with clear beer in the serving keg, and avoid exposing my beer to oxygen at any stage of the process.
 
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