Question about cold crashing

[mindiB]

Well more like an idea ... I have no fridge space for a carboy but I do have a cooler was thinkin on put carboy in cooler top with ice for 4 hours then rack and bottle then pasturize ... any thoughts?

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[Rhu]

Hey, I'm pretty new to this and like you have no access to a fridge. My impression from all of the lurking about on this forum is that 4 hrs won't be enough time to cold crash.

I've got an old cooler (doesn't even have a lid!!) that I'm planning on filling with ice (and cider bottles), piling towels and bed sheets etc. on top of for insulation and then cold crashing for as long as I can manage. I think I should get about 18hrs before all of the ice melts. My understanding is that the longer you cold crash for, the clearer your cider will be. Also, the less yeast you will have in suspension so that when the cider warms up the less active it will be -or it will take longer for the yeast to reproduce enough to get the appearance of activity anyway.

As I said, no experience yet, but that's my understanding.

Hopefully, somebody with more experience can pitch in and let us both know how it should go!

R

 

[mindiB]

Right I just want it to make the yeast drop out as much as possible then rack, bottle then pasturize to kill off yeast and have natural bubbles

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[Greenbasterd]

4 hours will not do anything, i don't know where you are in the world but most places in North America are cold enough to cold crash outside right now, unless of course you're way down south in Texas or something.
why not use some sparkloid or other means of clearing?

can i ask how you are going to pasteurize?

 

[fartinmartin]

Been doing this for over thirty years, the only cold crash facility I have is weather dependant, seldom have my beers gone below 10c LOL.
Just take extra time to let them really drop out at whatever temperature you can manage, at the worst you will get more sediment in the bottles.
Cloudy beer has character !

 

[Rhu]

Yeah, but I'm in southern Mexico, where it's 80 in the shade and I have no air con or fridge...for me, sticking the carboy in a fridge full of ice is the way to go to reduce the amount of yeast before I bottle.

I want to carbonate, but can't pasteurise so I'm encouraging yeast growth anyway, when I prime I don't want massive quantities of yeast initially.

Also I'm going to be storaging at relatively high temps, so if I can limit the amount of yeast that I can put into the bottle to start with its all to the good I reckon.

 

[Rhu]

Right I just want it to make the yeast drop out as much as possible then rack, bottle then pasturize to kill off yeast and have natural bubbles

Sounds like you're onto a winner with the cold crashing then, I think more than 4 hours is the way to go however. As I said, I'm planning on leaving it until the ice melts, or 18 hrs..whichever comes first.

 

[OrganicBrews]

So Mindi, your cider already has the amount of carbonation you want in it?

 

[mindiB]

Haven't made my cider yet just trying to pick everybody's brain before I started I'm in so cal so my house has tile and stays at 68 f its about 85f outside I've never cold crashed so that's why I ask I will be using an ice chest and ice to cold crash then stovetop pasturize in swing top bottles no way I'm chancing bottle bombs

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[mindiB]

Thanks for the imput got to make HWIMP happy with my brew

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[OrganicBrews]

Are you planning on adding priming sugar? I guess it depends on what yeast you use, but I was under the impression that the cider will be flat after fermentation. If you pasteurize it too soon, you'll just have flat apple wine.

This is just my understanding though. I'm still a rookie myself...

 

[OrganicBrews]

Also, I was just reading that swing top bottles create problems with the heat pasteurizing process. I don't know if this is true or not. I hope it's not true, but I wanted to pass that one, since you mentioned the swing tops. Someone in another post suggested that they won't hold the carbonation when heated up...

 

[mindiB]

Swing tops are great haven't had a problem with them I'm making a 5 day sweet country cider and usin 1/2 lb of sugar per gal so no need for priming sugars the recipie is in the cider recipe data base here and I'm going to stovetop pasturize to kill the yeast

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[dallas996]

I do have a fridge that is dedicated to my alcoholic experiments and at a constant 40 degrees F it takes 2-3 days for me to sufficiently cold crash my cider (using Notty ale yeast); I imagine the ice chest experiment would take your temps lower than that, but I have no idea how much the time frame would be diminished by.