Should I cold crash my first beer?

[Ariel]

I am making my first 1-gallon beer. Its been fermented for 2 weeks. (I didn't take any readings and relying on a video I watched that said 2 weeks is good enough to make this beer ready to bottle) I bought an auto-siphon and flip-top bottles to bottle them. Before I bottle them should I cold crash the beer and how do I do that? Could I put it with the airlock in the fridge for a day and then pull it out to siphon or is there an easier way without special equipment?

Ingredients:

• 1lb Munich malt
• 1lb Rye Malt
• 0.5oz Tettnang hops
• WLP351 (Frozen and defrosted)
• Water

This is how I sanitized my carboy:
I filled up a bucket with 1 tbsp of bleach to a gallon of water. Soaked the glass carboy and funnel in it for a few minutes, maybe even 20 minutes. Emptied them out and let them airdry for an hour or so. For the airlock I poured in boiling water, spilled it out, and then poured in more boiling water to use.

This is how I sanitized my glass and siphon:
Same thing with the bleach solution. Air-dried them overnight. Boiled water till it had rapid bubbling and filled each bottle up and closed them. I am leaving them closed with the water till I am ready to bottle. The autosiphon i am not sure how I will sanitize it right before I use it. I don't have starsan and don't want to buy it.

 

[Konadog]

Well, two weeks should be plenty, but something stand out that may change that. You say your yeast was FROZEN? This may vary well killed off your yeast, so your beer may not have fermented at all. Without any gravity readings taken before you added your yeast, you really don't know. Did you see any active fermentation?
The second thing is using bleach to sanitize things. While it will work, there are much better options, like startsan, to sanitize your equipment. I don't think you want to drink bleach.

 

[Ariel]

Well, two weeks should be plenty, but something stand out that may change that. You say your yeast was FROZEN? This may vary well killed off your yeast, so your beer may not have fermented at all. Without any gravity readings taken before you added your yeast, you really don't know. Did you see any active fermentation?
The second thing is using bleach to sanitize things. While it will work, there are much better options, like startsan, to sanitize your equipment. I don't think you want to drink bleach.

It has fermented. I was afraid of it not working but it ended up not being an issue. At some point the airlock was bubbling every 3-5 seconds the first day.

I don't want to drink bleach but it was the easiest method and saw several people say they have done it with no issues.

 

[Konadog]

OK, well, to answer your question on cold crashing, you could just stick it in the fridge for a day or two with an air lock, then siphon off.

BTW, Vodka would be better in your airlock than water. Water can contaminate and breed bacteria, vodka won't.

 

[apache_brew]

I wouldn't bother cold crashing. Cold crashing is a technique that requires you're able to cool down your fermenter vessel and account for vacuum due to a change in temperature. If you just stick your airlock on you jug and stick it in the fridge, you'll suck in the water that's in your air lock, followed by the air (oxygen) in your fridge. Simplest ways to combat this are to collect CO2 via some sort of balloon like a mylar one during the end of fermentation, and then cold crash so the CO2 produced is re-introduced into the fermenter. More sophisticated ways include using CO2 regulators to maintain a constant pressure in your vessel, or even simply using a vessel rated to withstand the slight vacuum build up (think corny keg).

Keep the bleach for cleaning the toilet. Starsan and PBW are home brewing products that never go out of style. Just adopt them if you plan to keep brewing.

 

[jtratcliff]

You can make a no rinse sanitizer by diluting bleach and vinegar in water... DO NOT mix bleach and vinegar together!

Add 1 oz vinegar to 5 gal of water... thoroughly mix, then add 1 oz bleach. I think it needs a 2 minute contact time...
you can soak the siphon and tubing...

Look for the Basic Brewing podcast with Charlie Talley where he discusses it...

 

[NGD]

+1 to what @apache_brew said. Since this is your first beer, I would skip the cold crash. I know you’ve seen it mentioned on here several times but it does add a small chance of oxidation unless you have a way to backfill your fermenter with CO2 as Apache said.

Just do your best to avoid sucking up trub from the fermenter while bottling and get those bottles primed. You can “cold crash” them in the bottle after a few weeks of carbonating with less hassle and less risk.

 

[Ariel]

OK, well, to answer your question on cold crashing, you could just stick it in the fridge for a day or two with an air lock, then siphon off.

BTW, Vodka would be better in your airlock than water. Water can contaminate and breed bacteria, vodka won't.

When/if I do it again I would use vodka or starsans mixture in the airlock.

I wouldn't bother cold crashing. Cold crashing is a technique that requires you're able to cool down your fermenter vessel and account for vacuum due to a change in temperature. If you just stick your airlock on you jug and stick it in the fridge, you'll suck in the water that's in your air lock, followed by the air (oxygen) in your fridge. Simplest ways to combat this are to collect CO2 via some sort of balloon like a mylar one during the end of fermentation, and then cold crash so the CO2 produced is re-introduced into the fermenter. More sophisticated ways include using CO2 regulators to maintain a constant pressure in your vessel, or even simply using a vessel rated to withstand the slight vacuum build up (think corny keg).

Keep the bleach for cleaning the toilet. Starsan and PBW are home brewing products that never go out of style. Just adopt them if you plan to keep brewing.

Thanks. I am going to skip the cold crash till a few days before I want to open a bottle to drink. When/if I brew again I would invest in starsans. It will make my life easier. I was trying to do this on a budget with the least extra items.

You can make a no rinse sanitizer by diluting bleach and vinegar in water... DO NOT mix bleach and vinegar together!

Add 1 oz vinegar to 5 gal of water... thoroughly mix, then add 1 oz bleach. I think it needs a 2 minute contact time...
you can soak the siphon and tubing...

Look for the Basic Brewing podcast with Charlie Talley where he discusses it...

I saw a bunch of people mentioning that to mix the bleach in water and then add the vinegar for a no rinse alternative to starsans. I will do that this time for the siphon and then do starsans if there is a next time.

Thank you for everyone's input!

 

[Pappers_]

I cold crash every beer, its easy peasy no fuss and helps with both your beers appearance and flavor. If its hard, if you don't have the equipment, etc., then its not necessary, but if its as simple as putting it in the fridge, go for it.

You can avoid the suck back pretty easily, its never been an issue for my beers.

As you can see, there are as many ways to make beer as there are brewers! LOL

 

[Ariel]

I am assuming that if I put in 1 cube of sugar or 3/4 tsp of sugar in my 16 oz bottles its enough priming sugar

 

[ArizonaGoalie]

I am assuming that if I put in 1 cube of sugar or 3/4 tsp of sugar in my 16 oz bottles its enough priming sugar

Use the easy, free priming calculator here: Beer Priming Calculator | Brewer's Friend

 

[ArizonaGoalie]

And I vote no cold crash before bottling.

 

[Jim R]

I would only cold crash if you have a specific plan for controlling suck back. If you drop the temperature from room air to serving temperatures quickly, there will be a significant drop in pressure in the fermenter. It is going to suck in either oxygen or sanitizer if you don't control it. I remember my first brewing attempt ending up with a half quart of Star San in my beer through my blow off tube. I would have never imagined that the pressure drop could have done that.

 

[Ariel]

I didn't end up cold crashing the carboy. Didn't want to risk the airlock water and oxygen being sucked in. I did a poor job bottling and have a very thick trub on the bottom of most of the bottles. Hoping its not an issue and it will taste fine by next week. I will put the bottles in the fridge a day or two before opening them

 

[NGD]

It will likely be fine. Just pour slowly as suggested previously. Since you brewed a small batch, I would advise only testing one bottle prior to refrigerating the rest to make sure you have achieved your desired carbonation level. If not then let the rest sit for another week.

Your beer may be cloudy, but time and patience in the refrigerator will fix that. If you notice the beer appears clear, but becomes cloudy after 12-24 hrs of refrigeration then you likely have chill haze. It won’t affect the flavor and it should clear as the beer warms up but without further fining or filtration (not worth it at this point) there is nothing you can do except enjoy your slightly hazy beer.

 

[JDOrganic]

I cold crash every beer, its easy peasy no fuss and helps with both your beers appearance and flavor. If its hard, if you don't have the equipment, etc., then its not necessary, but if its as simple as putting it in the fridge, go for it.

You can avoid the suck back pretty easily, its never been an issue for my beers.

As you can see, there are as many ways to make beer as there are brewers! LOL

Yea i have Cold Crashed one batch in Ice Chest for 1 day and one in Fridge without the airlock it turned out just fine a bit oxygen It’s okay just put some filter to not get anything else inside the fermenter

 

[Where's my beer?]

A small bottle of star san will last you forever.