Cold crashing AND bottling
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Worked for my ~50 batches of bottled beer.
Lennie
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I've heard enough testimonials to think it will work. I've never understood why you'd do it in that order though. You're only going to get more yeast floating around when you carbonate, so why not do the cold crash after bottle conditioning?
I have always cold crashed for 24 hours or more before I rack to bottle bucket. This time of year with this heat wave I pack the fermenter in blocks of ice in a large tub and leave overnight. Never have an issue with carbonation (other than adding to much priming sugar and making a bomb or 2). I do get some nice clear beers ...
There's STILL plenty of yeast left to do the job.....
homebrewdad
Well-Known Member
You'd do that to reduce the amount of trub in your bottling bucket.
Backwards!
Cold crashing causes the sediment and some yeast to fall out of suspension so that you have LESS floating around in your bottles.
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basilchef
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thank you everyone. for some reason i have just never done it. should i rack to a bottling bucket first or just do it in the car boy? also whats a good temp? do i have to worry about it getting too cold and putting the yeast to sleep?
scottland
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Cold crash in your carboy. You'll drop the yeast out of suspension, and transfer clear beer to the bottling bucket. Crash it as cold as you feasibly can. If you can easily drop it to 32*, drop it to 32*.
TyTanium
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Once is fine. Just keep it cold in the carboy until you're ready to bottle, then move to bottling bucket and bottle immediately.
Any cold temp above freezing. I use 40 b/c that's where my beer fridge is set. No need to worry about sleeping yeast. Yes, it'll put them to sleep (that's the idea, to drop more out), but they'll wake back up when warmed up in the bottle.
Any cold temp above freezing. I use 40 b/c that's where my beer fridge is set. No need to worry about sleeping yeast. Yes, it'll put them to sleep (that's the idea, to drop more out), but they'll wake back up when warmed up in the bottle.
Kampo
Well-Known Member
I've done this for every batch but one so far and never had an issue with carbing. My wheat pale I didn't get to bottling before a vacation cold conditioned for 4 weeks (maybe I made a wheat pale lager? Lmao) it took 5 weeks to get good carb but still carbed
homebrewdad
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You don't cold crash in the bottling bucket. The bottling bucket is for bottling, nothing more.
Thing about it. You just added priming sugar, then siphoned your beer on top of it. Your beer is has lost its CO2 blanket, so you want to get it bottled and away from that nasty oxygen. Not to mention, you want the yeast eating priming sugar in the bottles only, so as to carbonate them.
Thing about it. You just added priming sugar, then siphoned your beer on top of it. Your beer is has lost its CO2 blanket, so you want to get it bottled and away from that nasty oxygen. Not to mention, you want the yeast eating priming sugar in the bottles only, so as to carbonate them.
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basilchef
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so far all my beers have carbed in about a week, will it take longer now that the beer was cold crashed? also i wouldnt prime the bottling bucket. it was more a question of if i would achieve a clearer beer if i crashed, racked, crashed again then bottled. From what i gather the answer is "just dont". thanks again
This has not made a difference either way in my experience.
No, no need. Bottling cold is fine.
Apart from yeast dropping out, what about chill haze. Most of my beers have chill haze (not sure why, as I use Whirlfloc and chill rapidly) - I never worry about it because after a few weeks being cold the haze drops out and the beer is crystal clear. But I've heard that if you cycle the beer cold to warm to cold the chill haze can become permanent (not sure how many cycles needed for that to happen, if it really does). But could this be a problem if you cold crash and bottle and let the bottles warm up to condition, or, in my case, if I cold crash, then transfer to keg and carbonate, then bottle from the keg and want to store the bottles warm for lack of space in the fridge?
wzup97
Well-Known Member
I have a question. If I were to do a cold crash and then immediately bottle while the beer is cold (38 - 40 F), shouldn't I adjust my priming sugar level? I ask cause the one time I did a cold crash and bottled it cold, it was way over carbed.
No. The amount of priming sugar would be the same. If it was overcarbed, either fermentation wasn't finished or the amount of priming sugar wasn't measured correctly.
I have no idea! I don't have any issues with chill haze, so that's something I never thought about. You might want to consider cold crashing until the chill haze is gone, and then bottling, and that should fix the issue.
Follow this:
You prime your beer according to the warmest temp your beer has seen after fermentation finished.
Quiz:
- You ferment to completion at 50F.
- You raise to 60F for 3 days.
- You drop the temp to 32 for 3 days.
- You bottle.
If I cold crash, at say 40, for two or three days, you are saying there will be enough yeast to carbonate (though it may take twice as long)?
When I cold crash my 1-2L yeast starter for 3 days, it looks like 95% of the yeast settle (heck it looks like 99%).
(If I cold crash an dont get carbonation, I'm gonna hunt you all down and force you to drink my beer!:fro: )
I would like to try cold crashing, because a number of my extract beers are hazy.
(I just did an All Grain with Whirlfloc, I'll see how that goes)
When I cold crash my 1-2L yeast starter for 3 days, it looks like 95% of the yeast settle (heck it looks like 99%).
(If I cold crash an dont get carbonation, I'm gonna hunt you all down and force you to drink my beer!:fro: )
I would like to try cold crashing, because a number of my extract beers are hazy.
(I just did an All Grain with Whirlfloc, I'll see how that goes)
TyTanium
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If I offered you 1% of 200-300 billion dollars, think you could live on that?
You have enough yeast.
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