cold crashing questions

[joshesmusica]

I know this is silly of me, but I just realized today that my 30L fermenter will actually fit in my refrigerator if I just shuffle some things around. Not sure why I never measured it before, but at least I know now.
I'm wondering though:
1) How long is ideal time for cold crashing if I'm not using gelatin?
2) How much will 25L of 20C beer affect the temp in my fridge? Should I just crank up the thermostat a bit to make up for the temp drop?
3) Should my dry hop time take into consideration the cold crash days as well?

 

[C-Rider]

1--4-5 days
2--??--You want to be down around 33*F
3--Dry hop 1 week before cold crash.

 

[joshesmusica]

2 - i was meaning that i'm putting it in my fridge along with all of my other food stuffs. the fridge is already nice and cold. putting 25L of 20C beer will likely warm up the fridge a bit (at least that was my assumption). so i was just wondering if anybody's had experience with this way of cold crashing and could comment on how much i should expect the temp of the fridge to go up.

3 - i normally only dry hop for five days. the question wasn't necessarily about dry hop schedule times or process, i've got that down pretty well for my liking. my question was more along the lines of if i should take the cold crash days into account when deciding how long to dry hop.

 

[AnOldUR]

The ambient temperature in my fridge does go up a few degrees at the start of cold crashing, but it has enough capacity to keep it within food safe temperatures. That's something that will depend on the cooling capability of your refrigerator. The factory default on many refrigerators is 37°. I have mine set at 34°. (Be careful that stuff in the back doesn't freeze.)

Cold crashing slows, but doesn't stop the dry hopping process. Ideally, I'll dry hop for a week with the last three days in the fridge.

 

[dhelegda]

The ambient temperature in my fridge does go up a few degrees at the start of cold crashing, but it has enough capacity to keep it within food safe temperatures. That's something that will depend on the cooling capability of your refrigerator. The factory default on many refrigerators is 37°. I have mine set at 34°. (Be careful that stuff in the back doesn't freeze.)



Cold crashing slows, but doesn't stop the dry hopping process. Ideally, I'll dry hop for a week with the last three days in the fridge.

Do you dry hop in the primary, or transfer it to a secondary? When dry hopping and using gelatin finings when do you add gelatin?

 

[AnOldUR]

Do you dry hop in the primary, or transfer it to a secondary? When dry hopping and using gelatin finings when do you add gelatin?

I always dry hop in a secondary vessel, and don't see a need to fine because cold crashing leaves me with clear beer.

 

[joshesmusica]

Nice thanks!

 

[kanzimonson]

Do you keg? If not, then you'd probably want to crash for 3-7 days to really let stuff settle out.

If you do keg, then it's really all about how much sediment you're willing to tolerate in the keg. I used to crash for a long time but I rarely move my kegs so being an impatient homebrewer I'd rather get the beer in the keg earlier. So these days I'll go about 36 hours.