Cold Crashing - any risk of skunking?

[Oaky]

Recently I haven't been taking an FG reading for my brews, combined with erring on the side of more sugar in priming (usually 3/4 cup for 5G) - I've had a few beers go boom as the basement warms up.

Consequently two questions:
1) I've started placing the affected batches in a fridge. My assumption is that the cold will lead to the Co2 getting absorbed in the liquid reducing bottle bombs. Once I do this, if bottles get back to room temp - does more co2 indeed remain in the liquid?
2) With Cold crashing - how can I bring bottles back up to room temp. Should I concerned about skunkage?

Ant1

 

[Hammy71]

You really need to take Fg readings. That being said, putting the bottles in the fridge should stop your bottle explosions...but once you return them to room temps the yeast will become active again and make more CO2 and the pressure in the bottles will grow until....boom. Cold crashing the bottles will have no effect on "skunkage". Exposure to light will cause this, not cold temps.

 

[gallagherman]

...but once you return them to room temps the yeast will become active again and make more CO2 and the pressure in the bottles will grow until....boom...

Just raising the temp alone would be enough to make them explode - don't even need yeast. Less CO2 is dissolved in liquids at higher temps. Ever leave a can of soda in a hot car?? That equals a very messy, sticky car.

Also just a drop in pressure can explode bottles. A couple of summers ago my friends and I made a white ale that was probably over carbonated. My friend kept some bottles on the floor of his bedroom. One hot summer night a crazy thunderstorm moved in and the barometric pressure dropped really quickly. He and his girlfriend awoke to a barrage of glass and beer! Shards made it across the room and he found pieces of glass in his bed! So lesson learned.

Keep them cold to prevent bottle bombs.

 

[Oaky]

So - once the Co2 disolves in the beer - doesn't it reduce the overall pressure and also leave head space for co2 to build up again in the remaining head space? It would seem from beers that i've seen that pressure build up in the neck vs carbonation in beer can be quite independent?

For example, I have some beer bulk aging in 5G carboys and if I drop something in there, or transfer it I can see all the carbonation quickly climb but there is no pressure based on the airlock. I guess my question is whether all things equal a beer that has been cold crashed has less chance of a bottle bomb.

Hammy - thanks for thr reminder re skunkin' I had forgotten it was UV light that led to the taste - not as much hot/cold.

 

[Yooper]

So - once the Co2 disolves in the beer - doesn't it reduce the overall pressure and also leave head space for co2 to build up again in the remaining head space? It would seem from beers that i've seen that pressure build up in the neck vs carbonation in beer can be quite independent?

For example, I have some beer bulk aging in 5G carboys and if I drop something in there, or transfer it I can see all the carbonation quickly climb but there is no pressure based on the airlock. I guess my question is whether all things equal a beer that has been cold crashed has less chance of a bottle bomb.

I don't understand that reasoning. Bottle bombs happen when too much co2 builds up inside a bottle, regardless of headspace. Chilling them will simply stop the yeast from continuing to eat available sugars.

Adding something to the carboy simply creates nucleation points, and doesn't reflect the FG or the yeast activity.

A beer that is not finished fermentation and has too much priming sugar is a possible bottle bomb, cold crashed before bottling or not.

 

[Oaky]

A good example of that observation is a beer which is opened too early - all the co2 seems to be in neck (ie big pop) and possibly gushing. With some time however, that same beer which has rested behaves more normally (ie no pop yet plenty of liquid carbonation.)
So it seems that liquid dissolved CO2 no longer contributes to bottle pressure - unlike when it first built it in the headspace and then gradually got into the liquid.

The assumption I have - correct or incorrect - is that there may a range of possible liquid Co2 which could therefore buy you a little bit of extra safety on the co2 side as it relates to pressure. Since cold helps the co2 intake in liquid, I'm wondering if cold crashing can decrease "neck pressure".
No doubt that the better solution is a good FG but even that may be misleading with higher gravity stuff.

 

[Yooper]

Since cold helps the co2 intake in liquid, I'm wondering if cold crashing can decrease "neck pressure".
No doubt that the better solution is a good FG but even that may be misleading with higher gravity stuff.

But, when you cold crash, there shouldn't be "neck pressure". One, fermentation is finished. Two, you're using an airlock. Any co2 pushed out from a temperature change, fermentation restarting, etc will just bubble out.

I'm just not understanding what you're trying to say, I guess.

 

[Oaky]

But, when you cold crash, there shouldn't be "neck pressure". One, fermentation is finished. Two, you're using an airlock. Any co2 pushed out from a temperature change, fermentation restarting, etc will just bubble out.

I'm just not understanding what you're trying to say, I guess.

It's more based on the circumstance where I have 2 batches who have had at least one bottle blow up. At this point, all I'm trying to do is mitigate the bottle bombs! So, I still have co2 in the neck - and I figured the cold could increase the rate of liquid absorbtion. From there, the hope is that it will be more stable when it comes out of the cold crash. That's the assumption part of it where I simply don't know.