Cold crashing fermentation

[unclevername]

I took a tour of Orlando Brewery this week and learned some interesting things. Orlando brewery is a micro brewery that makes organic beer and some of the best I have tasted. Those guys are really good.

One thing I found particularly interesting is at the end of fermentation they drop the temperature 10 degrees a day until they get to 38 degrees. They believe that slowly dropping the temp to 38 will encourage flocculation and clear the beer up quicker. Anyone else use a technique? I am about to bottle an IPA and am going to give it a try.

 

[Demus]

I've done it, careful tho, as it cools negative pressure will build and suck either air or worse, whatever liquid you have in your airlock/blowoff into your beer. In my opinion, this practice doesn't help much on the Homebrew level. Unless you have a way to make sure air or liquid doesn't get sucked into your brew, you could do way more harm than good...

I've been to Orlando brewing as well, nice folks and decent brew...

 

[unclevername]

Great point, I had not even considered creating a vacuum in the chamber. I will take care not to allow contamination.

 

[Cposten]

I actually just did this with a cider I made. First time I've ever done it but the cider is clear as heck (normally really Hazey for a couple weeks) I only did 5F a day and down to 35F. "Lagering" it around there for a couple weeks now. Long story short, worked great for cider.

 

[unclevername]

Okay, I did this to my IPA that has been on the secondary and I noticed a significant difference. The beer was very clear. And when I moved it from the fermentation chamber to the table I put it on for bottling, it got "stir'd up" a little as it always does, but it settled out quickly. When I siphoned it off into my bottling bucket and got down to the bottom, I was able to set the siphon right down on the yeast cake and it hardly moved. This was a significant improvement for me.

 

[cosmo]

I've done it, careful tho, as it cools negative pressure will build and suck either air or worse, whatever liquid you have in your airlock/blowoff into your beer. In my opinion, this practice doesn't help much on the Homebrew level. Unless you have a way to make sure air or liquid doesn't get sucked into your brew, you could do way more harm than good...

I've been to Orlando brewing as well, nice folks and decent brew...

You're absolutely right. It's best to transfer to a keg or secondary (with little headspace) before cold crashing. Otherwise you could pull in a lot of air and oxidise your beer. Sanitizer I'm not quite as woried about. I sometimes cold crash in a keg, then transfer directly to another keg that's flushed with CO2.

 

[PistolaPete]

It sounds like they are just cold crashing, right?

Next time you're in O-town check out http://www.urbansunshine.com. They sell gardening and homebrewing supplies and give out samples of their homebrew at some of their locations. The Altamonte location has more brewing stuff than the other locations.

 

[BigFloyd]

I cold crash my beers in the primary bucket as fast as it takes for the 5.2-ish gallons of liquid to hit 35*F after I put it in my cold crash freezer (with STC-1000 set at that temp). I leave them there 4-6 days before kegging/bottling.

There's StarSan in my s-airlocks, but haven't ever had any get sucked back hard enough to make it go into the bucket.

It works quite well. I don't secondary yet my beers come out nice and clear. Cold crashing also helps to compact and firm up the yeast trub so that it has less of a tendency to get drawn into the autosiphon.

 

[Gameface]

Cold crashing is pretty standard practice, even among homebrewers.

I have the ability to completely seal my fermentor before cold crashing so I don't worry too much about suckback or O2.

 

[phuff7129]

Aren't you cold crashing when you put your bottles in the fridge?

 

[BigFloyd]

Aren't you cold crashing when you put your bottles in the fridge?

If you leave them in there for 3+ days before drinking, that serves as a cold crash of the yeast that has been there carbonating the brew.

The nice thing about doing it in the fermenter is that you gain an opportunity to leave more of the initial trub behind so that it never makes it into the bottles or keg.

 

[unclevername]

If you leave them in there for 3+ days before drinking, that serves as a cold crash of the yeast that has been there carbonating the brew.

The nice thing about doing it in the fermenter is that you gain an opportunity to leave more of the initial trub behind so that it never makes it into the bottles or keg.

Exactly what I found to be true. I found it much easier to transfer the wort and leave the trub behind. The trub was just heavier, for lack of a better way to explain it. The wort was cleaner as such I expect there to be less sentiment in the bottles.

 

[tpitman]

It sounds like they are just cold crashing, right?

Next time you're in O-town check out http://www.urbansunshine.com. They sell gardening and homebrewing supplies and give out samples of their homebrew at some of their locations. The Altamonte location has more brewing stuff than the other locations.

Didn't know there was anyone else in Orlando besides Hearts. Thanks for the info.

 

[Demus]

Didn't know there was anyone else in Orlando besides Hearts. Thanks for the info.

There's also the home brew store on the Narcoossee St. Cloud line just north of 17/192. Waaaaay friendlier than Heart's, not that that's saying much!!! Where are you located?

 

[tpitman]

College Park, off Princeton and I-4

Heart's is convenient to me, to say the least, and for their size they've got a lot of stuff, but I'll admit they're not falling all over themselves to make you feel at home.

 

[Hopper5000]

I have cold crashed before but don't do it consistently. It for sure helps get the yeast out of suspension. As for the vaccume problem I did have some issues with that but then I went to my LHBS and got a stopper without a hole in it and problem solved. It does vaccume but the stopper prevents anything from getting in.

 

[PistolaPete]

There's also the home brew store on the Narcoossee St. Cloud line just north of 17/192. Waaaaay friendlier than Heart's, not that that's saying much!!! Where are you located?

Demus, If you are referring to Urban Sunshine there are 4 locations, although the Altamonte Springs location has the most brewing supplies. They can usually get whatever you need to any location quickly.

http://www.urbansunshine.com/content/index.php?page=hydroponics-store-locations