Cold Crashing in Freezer?

[nitack]

So I'm working on my first attempt to cold crash. Right now my mead is in the refrigerator, but I don't think the temps get into the 40's that I've seen people talk about as optimal for cold crashing. Is there a downside to cold crashing in the freezer? I know that the water and alcohol will separate out as a freeze distillation, but is there anything wrong with dropping it in the fridge to melt and recombine after it has frozen?

 

[saramc]

I have cold crashed successfully using lowest setting in refrig...rack first, crash, rack, repeat as necessary...but the most important thing to know is: what is the temp range on your yeast because if you have a chill tolerant yeast, you need to be even more cognizant of temp.

I do not know that I would crash in freezer, definitely not in glass carboy. If you can ramp up the temp to above freezing...

 

[Yooper]

If your refrigerator isn't below about 40 degrees, then your food isn't safe! You definitely want to store food at 40 degrees or cooler, so that would be a big concern to me if the fridge is too warm. Unless it's a beer fridge, of course, and you like your beer closer to 50 degrees.

Either way, the fridge should be at least 10-20 degrees cooler than room temperature which would work fine for a cold crash.

Do not freeze the mead!

 

[nitack]

Correction, fridge is in the low 40s. Pulled out my infra-red sensor.

 

[springmom]

Then drop the temp in your fridge. Yooper is right. 40 is the top for food storage.