Cold Crashing and Bottling

[VincentK]

I plan to cold crash my current pale ale before bottling. My question is; what is the ideal time and temp for cold crashing. How will this affect the time of bottling?

 

[BrewerinBR]

If you can get the contents of the fermenter below 49F for 24 hours that would be good. If you can get it to say 45 and keep it there for 48 even better.
This time of year my brew room holds a steady temp of 48F so I leave my fermenter there for 5 days. I can get some pretty clear beer. The temp of the beer does not impact how long it takes to bottle it but it slows the carbonation process down some as the beer needs to get back up to 70 so maybe a day or two. In the summer I will pack the fermenter in ice in a big tub or sink for 3 or 4 days changing out the ice blocks every day.

 

[VincentK]

Ok great, but I should of asked the second question better... I meant that how long before bottling should I cold crash it?

 

[nelven34]

If you can get the contents of the fermenter below 49F for 24 hours that would be good. If you can get it to say 45 and keep it there for 48 even better.
This time of year my brew room holds a steady temp of 48F so I leave my fermenter there for 5 days. I can get some pretty clear beer. The temp of the beer does not impact how long it takes to bottle it but it slows the carbonation process down some as the beer needs to get back up to 70 so maybe a day or two. In the summer I will pack the fermenter in ice in a big tub or sink for 3 or 4 days changing out the ice blocks every day.

He says cold crashing for a day or two is sufficient, but sometimes he does longer. Then wait a day or two to let it return to room temp to help with carbonation. So 2-4 days from start to finish of pre bottling activity.

My question/point would be: assuming you can get your corn sugar to fully and evenly dissolve while cold, wouldn't your bottles return to room temp significantly faster than your fermenter, leading to a technically slower carbonation process, but gets your beer drinkable at least a day earlier due to the head start?

 

[Yooper]

You don't have to warm it back up after a cold crash! Just crash it until it's clear, then bottle. It might take 2 days or 5 days, depending on the yeast strain (some strains flocculate faster than others) and if you've got chill haze.

Even dropping the temperature 10 degrees is usually enough to drop out much of the suspended "stuff" in the beer.