TasunkaWitko
Well-Known Member
Hi -
I honestly should know this, but evidently, I need a refresher course, so please bear with these rookie questions.
The first few beers that I made, I did cold crash for a couple of days before bottling. The beers really didn't seem to clear all that much, and the moment I lifted them out of the fridge and carried them to the table, trub was swirling around on the bottom anyway To make matters worse, it seemed that every beer that I cold-crashed was dreadfully over-carbed.
Because of this, I stopped cold-crashing, and the beers since then seemed to clear very well on their own after a little time in the bottle - however, there was also quite a bit of sediment (much more than normal) on the bottom of the bottles, and when I opened the beers, they tended to "cloud up" as the carbonation rose throughout the bottle and stirred up the sediment. They tasted great, but it got me to wondering if I could be doing something a little better.
So, my questions are -
a) how long to cold-crash a 1-gallon batch? I had thought that 2 or 3 days should be appropriate, but perhaps not. if longer would be better, please let me know.
b) should I allow the beer to come up to room temperature before bottling? If not, are any adjustments to be made regarding priming sugars?
Any guidance would be appreciated - I am not obsessed over little details such as clarity or sediment, as long as the taste is good (which it has been), but it seems to me that I am missing out on a key detail or two where cold-crashing is concerned.
Thanks in advance -
Ron
I honestly should know this, but evidently, I need a refresher course, so please bear with these rookie questions.
The first few beers that I made, I did cold crash for a couple of days before bottling. The beers really didn't seem to clear all that much, and the moment I lifted them out of the fridge and carried them to the table, trub was swirling around on the bottom anyway To make matters worse, it seemed that every beer that I cold-crashed was dreadfully over-carbed.
Because of this, I stopped cold-crashing, and the beers since then seemed to clear very well on their own after a little time in the bottle - however, there was also quite a bit of sediment (much more than normal) on the bottom of the bottles, and when I opened the beers, they tended to "cloud up" as the carbonation rose throughout the bottle and stirred up the sediment. They tasted great, but it got me to wondering if I could be doing something a little better.
So, my questions are -
a) how long to cold-crash a 1-gallon batch? I had thought that 2 or 3 days should be appropriate, but perhaps not. if longer would be better, please let me know.
b) should I allow the beer to come up to room temperature before bottling? If not, are any adjustments to be made regarding priming sugars?
Any guidance would be appreciated - I am not obsessed over little details such as clarity or sediment, as long as the taste is good (which it has been), but it seems to me that I am missing out on a key detail or two where cold-crashing is concerned.
Thanks in advance -
Ron