Cold Crashing too high maintenence...

Unless I buy a temp controlled fridge/freezer with temp set at 32....doing this in a swamp cooler is just not worth my time, effort, and money. It requires WAY too much ice to be continuously added (which adds to the cost....a bag is roughly $2 and if ur gonna crash for over 48hrs, this is about 4 bags/day at least to keep the water down towards low-mid 30's). Honestly, I tried this for first time and got fed up with adding tons of ice so I think the temp only stayed at around 40deg's for most part. I really don't think the beer looked all that much clearer either, am I missing something here? I think I will either t-fer to secondary for clearing vs not do it at all from now on and just have more junk at the bottom of the bottle.

 

What I do (and I get pretty good clarity) is invest in a immersion chiller with a pre-chiller. This lets me crash the hot wort quick, then pitch the yeast. I wait for the fermentation to settle in the primary, then rack to secondary, where I leave it for 2-4 weeks (depending on style) to clear up. Then keg it!

 

I use ICE to top off and chill, my stuff is CLEAR!

I don't like the idea of cold crashing.

 

I secondary for 2 months usually but only cold crash when the weather lets me do it in the garage.

 

I think the OP is talking about cold-crashing well after fermentation has completed, but a couple of responses appear to describe chilling the wort post-boil, before pitching the yeast.

Also, racking to secondary will not help clarity. In fact, it will mix already-precipitating sediment back into uniform solution, resulting in cloudier beer, not clearer beer.

That said, I agree with the OP. If the only method you have to cold-crash is swapping ice in a water bath, I can see how that would be a huge hassle, and of limited effectiveness. I cold-crash in a refrigerator, and it makes a big difference. I put the carboy in the fridge, give it a day to cool down, then hit it with a gelatin solution and give that 3-4 more days to work.

 

Can you elaborate on your process and sanitation procedures? Been thinking about using ice to top off but I'm not sure how do it. Thanks!

 

I put my Mr. Beer LBK in the fridge for 4 days this last batch to see what'll happen. It'll be the first time I cold crash. I figure I ought to try everything at least once.

Cold Crashing sure seems like too high maintenance to *me* and I haven't read enough to convince me of its necessity.

I

 

I now use Kroger (supermarket) ice since it is advertised to be pure as hell and has done fine for my last 5 brews.

I get my boil down to well....low enough for the 21lb ice bag to top it up to 5 gallons.

This isn't OT because it eliminates the need to cold crash post fermentation.

 

IMO if you don't plan on entering it in a competition, why fret about how clear the beer is? Don't get me wrong, I too want to give cold crashing a go but Im going to wait until I can get a seperate fridge/ freezer for that, because you're right an ice bath for cold crashing would suck to maintain. For now I just rack to the keg set that baby to 12 psi and chill for a week at around 40 degrees or so.

I say wait until that free/cheap fridge/freezer pops up on CL and then give it a go. Thats my plan

 

Thanks for feedback. I do 5gal batches so tossing in a normal fridge (like Mr Beer kits) is not option. Maybe someday I will find a separate Keezer with temp control, but I am still new to brewing so that would be overkill. I was thinking it would lead to less crap at bottom of bottle as the benefit after beer which have been dry hopped, etc...adding to junk in the ferment bucket. Then again I could stop siphoning a little earlier I guess too so as to get less of that bottom crap.

 

Sounds scary from a sanitation point of view.

 

I feel ya there, I'm new too I only have about six batches under my belt but I do happen to have my old side by side fridge in the garage. And it does fit at least one 5 or 6.5 gal carboy in it (probably more if I built a shelf) but i use it for my keg instead. I would think most fridge styles would fit at least one carboy.

Another route could be to use a cool brewing bag and 2 liter ice bottles.

 

I used to host a monthly poker game at my place and I usually had a couple beers on tap. I can tell you that almost everyone tastes a scary homebrew for the first time with their eyes before it ever hits their lips. Once I started producing very clear beers I overheard comments like "I can't believe you can make beer like this at home." and the guy said that before even taking a sip. Needless to say he enjoyed the beer. Back when my beers were pretty cloudy I regularly collected half-full glasses from around my basement. Not so much once my beers were clear. It's annoying that it makes such a big difference to so many people, but it does.

 

I agree, thats dumb. Clarity is definitely a bonus. But half empty glasses of a good tasting beer is just plain alcohol abuse. I guess for me, I am just focusing on great taste now being a noob. Clarity will come later.

 

Umm untrue, Mine are always crystal clear after 3 weeks in a secondary

 

I never bothered with cold crashing until a year ago I gifted a friend with a bottle of Irish Red I was really proud of, and later he mentioned that "the beer was great but it was kind of cloudy".
So, I cold crash everything now. When the environmental conditions are right, I do it out in my 'cold garage'. Otherwise I do it in a swamp cooler with frozen soda bottles. My last attempt was during the 90* heat wave and I was able to get the temp down to 50*. I usually try to shoot for 40-45 for 24 hours, then i add gelatin. So, I wonder, what temp. do you have to get down to to get a good precipitation? Anyone out there know?

 

I too am a new brewer...
I too have been brewing 5 gal batches.
I bought a used freezer local to me for under $40, and spent $22 on a STC-1000.

It may be overkill at my current partial mash 5 gal brew level.. but cold crashing my second batch was a interesting experiment.. and batch 5 & 6 fermenting at a stable temp in that same fridge is a plus.

Honestly, my first two batches of ale used irish moss in the boil, wort cool down (pre chiller in ice water.. boiling to under 70f in less then 18 min), topped off with filtered ice water, transferred to secondary, used a gel fining agent then, and came out crystal clear in the bottle.. NO sediment at all, no haze... NO post ferm cold crash.

All needed? no idea... but the freezer and temp control for me is not a waste, even if I dont cold crash after ferm

 

If I let my beer ferment for 10 days then give it another 3 weeks it comes out crystal clear too, even though it spends all that time in the primary.

What is it about having a yeast cake at the bottom that prevents the solids from falling out, in your opinion?

 

Temp controlled fermentation is the very only thing I would absolutely refuse to do without. With it I feel like I could make great beer with a basic starter equipment kit and recipe kits. Without it I don't think anything else matters, the beer will suffer.

 

I make my beer for me. I don't really care if people are scared of cloudy beer. I'll start crashing if I enter some into a competition. For now I'm completely happy with a little chill haze.

 

+1 on precise temp control. It's right up there with good sanitization and pitching enough yeast.

I cold crash all of my beers after ferment is complete. 5-7 days at 35-36*F (in the same upright freezer where I lager and store harvested/rinsed yeast) is the norm. I also use whirlfloc and give the wort 15-20 minutes to settle after chilling and before it goes to the bucket. I don't typically use a secondary.

I noticed some marked improvements when I began cold-crashing. The beer going into the keg or bottling bucket is more clear. The yeast/trub layer is more firm and compact, making it harder to disturb and suck up with the siphon. When I bottle, the yeast layer in the bottom of the bottle is thinner than before. There's still enough yeast left to carbonate, but not a bunch of extra to deal with.

Gameface has it right. When you offer a homebrew to a friend, especially one trying it for the first time, they'll look at it and gain an impression. Although there may be little to no flavor difference, in their minds, cloudy=questionable unless it's supposed to be that way.

Cold-crashing is never "high maintenance" if all you have to do is press a few buttons on the STC-1000 or move the bucket from the fridge to the freezer right next to it.

 

I cold crashed for the first time on my last batch. It had nothing to do with my friends not wanting to try it, comps or anything like that. I got tired of having cloudy beers. I put a lot of time and invest money to make a beer. And, I want to simply make the best beer I can make with what I have. I am not sure about the rest of you but I have left a beer in the fridge for months ( supposedly a few weeks in the fridge will get rid of haze) but this didn't do anything. The haze wouldn't clear until the beer came to room temp. I usually use Irish moss not sure if whirlfloc is more efficient but I am excited to see how my first cold crashed beer turns out.

I did notice a difference when transferring to the bottling bucket and in the bottles it looks really clear. I have another two weeks till its carbed but I am really hoping I have a clear beer. If not, I'll go with whirlfloc and try finnings.

 

Ballsy, try this.

if you want to try the swamp cooler thing again, try getting either Blocks of ice or fill some empty 2 liter soda bottles with Ice and freeze them (You could substitute the one gallon freezer bags if you don't have bottles laying around).

Speaking from personal experience, The larger blocks of ice the bottles(or bags) provide will melt slower than a bag of ice chunks and you shouldn't have to switch them out as much.

have a few bags/bottles on hand for when you do need to switch them out.

 

It doesn't eliminate the need. All it does it get your wort down to pitching temp quicker. If you do partial boils this method works great. If you do a full 5 or 10 gallon boil then you need a different way to cool the wort (as you can't top off a full 5 gallons of wort with ice to make 5 gallons).

There's debate about whether or not cold crashing is needed. I've been lucky so far and the beer I've done have come out good with out cold crashing. I leave in primary at least two weeks then it sits in the bottle for another two.

The Amber Ale I did as my first one the color and clarity was spot on, the stout was too.

If you pitch at the right temps and ferment at the right temps (which is more important than cold crashing) and give the yeasties time to do their work and then drop out on their own, your beer will turn out fine. (I've found sticking the better bottle in a dark corner of the basement no one ever goes to works well)

Edited to add I've also become more careful with my hop additions. Instead of just pouring the hop pellets in to the boil, I've begun using a bag (usually just a tied off section pantyhose) and keeping most of the gunk out has helped a lot as well.

 

Yeah, that's a great call. I just started with the swamp cooler for ferment temp reg...bought 8 1L bottles to freeze & switch out & found I only need 1 bottle each day to maintain 65 ambient. Will prob utilize all of them for my next cold crash attempt...or buy 2L bottles to lessen rate of xchange. Thx!

 

Also a good call...I wasn't utilizing a sac for the hops additions but might start. ..jusy dump my mini mash out of the mesh and toss hops in during the boil portion...I'm guessing a rolling boil doesn't allow the bag to stick to bottom or side.

 

Here's another question...some people use geletin...is this only for short cold crash's (48hrs) or just in addition to in order to clarify even more?

 

My experience is limited to my 6 batches..

But I have used gel fining agent in the secondary in all 6 batches,,, cold crash at 2 deg c for 4 days prior to bottling in one batch...
Going into the bottles,, honestly I see no difference.. few more weeks and I can form a short opinion on if cold crashing did more than gel at secondary transfer did.

 

I took the bottom 2 shelves out of the fridge in my garage and just cold crash in that. Easy and convenient, I wouldn't do it with ice in my swamp cooler, I'd skip the step before going through that hassle.

 

Yeah a lot of the advice here is for lowering temps Pre-Fermentation. He's asking for post.

Honestly the above poster is correct, unless ur entering it in a competition, u might as well just save the time, effort and money until u can get a freezer or fridge just for fermentation temp control purposes. Gelatin and other finings can work but everything I've read is that the temps need to be very low for them to be most effective.

Def check out Craigslist or ur local Lowes/Home Depot for open box deals. That will save u boku dollars.

 

Well said.

 

Before you brew pick up a small paint strainer bag from HD or lowes. Use that for the hops. The muslin bag that is used for the grains is too loose (the holes are too big) for the hops. The paint strainer will contain the hops but allow the water through at the same time.

 

The mesh bag I have is a much finer mesh than the "cheese cloth" style muslin bags that come with extract kits so I think it will probably contain the hops well. Will be utilizing on the Oatmeal APA I will be doing in a couple weeks....although SWMBO just said the other night (after brewing a batch and bottling a batch same day) that I "can only brew one batch per month from now on"....hahahaha....what did I get myself into!! (brewing I mean, not marriage...)

 

1 a month? Usually I brew and bottle every weekend so that's 3-5 batches in a month. Trying to stock up on ale before switching to lagers here in a month.

 

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I crash my IPA's in my swamp cooler. My goal is to drop the hop matter before racking.
I wrap/ insulate the tub with a carpet remnant.
I most recently had mine in the 95 degree garage.

Step 1: Add 10lb ice cubes, top with water to beer level, place frozen bottles on top of the fermenter lid. Cover with beach towels.
Step 2: About 4-5 hours later, siphon out some of the water, add a second bag of ice and cover. This is usually just before I go to bed.
Step 3: (Next morning), there will still be ice in the tub. Repeat step two and replace fresh frozen bottles on the lid, cover and go to work.
Step 4: (When I get home from work, 9 hrs or so), There will still be ice floating in the tub yet. Replace frozen bottles on top, which are also still mostly frozen yet.

At this point I figure my beer is down in the low 40 or upper 30's. I don't need to add any more ice, just frozen bottles on the lid.

I usually bottle about 48 hrs after Step 1. The hop matter is completely dropped, and I get very clear beer into my bottling bucket without screening it.

The finished bottles are also almost devoid of sediment.
The beer is still a little cloudy, but I actually prefer that. Craft brews should be cloudy, right?

 

Married with young kids?? If so then I have some ammunition next time I brew if she says something!! Man, you make me jealous brewing every weekend....although even if I could, I would be unable to w/ current equipment. Also means bottling weekly as the beers become ready...that's a busy schedule combined with cleaning, prepping, etc....hopefully you are kegging?!?

 

Too much work for me personally....aka high maintenance!

 

I keep a load of 1 liter bottles in the freezer. I ferment in a swamp cooler. I let it primary 3-5 weeks. When I am ready to bottle, I just load the tub with those frozen bottles and all my ice-maker ice and wrap a couple of sleeping bags around it for a day. It is amazing how much less sediment ends up in the bottle this way! Before, I alway had to leave a half inch of beer in the bottle. Now I can often pour it all as the sediment layer is so thin that it sticks to the bottom if the bottle.

The bottles are also handy when I take my beer somewhere. I can just toss a few of them in my ice chest with my beers. Pop them back in the freezer when I get home.

 

Married but no kids and my wife works every Sunday! I get an entire day alone every week. I guess I'm blessed! I still bottle but I plan to start kegging as soon as I have some extra coin.

 

I use to worry about cold crashing but I usually don't bother anymore and I don't bother with secondaries either and my beer is always clear. Letting it sit in the fridge for a few days to a week before serving seems to drop out most of the sediment just fine. If you really want to use swamp cooler to cold crash maybe you could just use those reusable frozen ice blocks or just plastic water bottles with frozen water inside.