Cold Crashing and Bottle Carbonation

[Sudz]

I've been cold crashing my brews for a while now. I do this in conjunction with using gelatin and have been tweaking the process to maximize the clearing effect. My recent beers have been exceptionally clear and it is obvious the routine is doing what it's supposed to.

I've not been concerned with this process removing too much of the yeast to prohibit good bottle carbonation. It's simply hasn't been an issue until recently. It appears my latest tweaking did make a difference in toward improved clarity and also may have limited my bottle carbonation.

My previous brew was a English Mild so I didn't think too much about the low carb because this style was supposed to have low carbonation. I just finished my Oktoberfest and it's thin on carbonation after three weeks in the bottle. Something is amiss....

My process is as follows: I cold crash the brew after three weeks in the primary fermenter (carboy). I don't secondary since most of my brews are not that heavy. After four days at 35 degrees I hit the brew with my gelatin after it's cooled to about room temp (brew is still at 35). Three days later I allow the brew to warm to room temp then rack and bottle using typically 5 oz of corn sugar in the bottling bucket.

Question for you guys. Has anyone ever experienced bottle carbonation issues with clarifying efforts? Can you actually reduce the yeast count to unacceptable levels using these common routines?

Thanks,

 

[Bensiff]

Good question that I can't answer other than gelatin will drop yeast so I see how it could. You could add a little Safale 05 when bottling and see if that eliminates the problem.

 

[jprank2]

I'm thinking about cold crashing my American Pale Ale this week and I bottle condition. I'm wondering if you still get good results with the method you outlined above? I'm not sure about cold crashing because I've had brews with zero carbonation before for other reasons and it's no fun drinking 50 bottles of flat beer... If you've changed the way you cold crash and add finings, could you outline it here?

 

[beersk]

Interested to know how much sediment you get on the bottom of your bottles as well...

 

[progmac]

more than 2 or 3 days and i add yeast. i started doing this after i had an gel'd octoberfest take 12+ weeks to carb up. i had that in the cold with gelatin for two weeks.

i now rehydrate 1/2 teaspoon of t-58 and put that in the bottling bucket. i end up with very little sediment and carbed beer in like a week.

 

[BigFloyd]

I cold crash (5-7 days at 35-36*F) with no gel if I'm bottling. I prime/bottle the beer cold and use the highest temp the beer saw prior to crashing if using a calculator. I've had no issues with the bottle-conditioned beers carbing to the desired level. I get a thin layer of yeast trub in the bottom of each bottle.

I'll sometimes use gel if kegging and want it super-clear, but not if I'm bottle carbing.

 

[DurtyChemist]

The easiest way to clear in a bottle is to let t sit a few months. I had one batch crystal clear and you could see the sediment on the bottom. It wasn't even a problem when I poured as you could see the change when you were almost done.


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