cold crashing - rate of temperate drop

[BroStefan]

I've seen and read in a number of places not to cold crash too rapidly. But I've never seen advise on what is the desirable rate. 1 deg C a day? 1 an hour?

At what rate should I lower the temp? How fast is too fast?

 

[orangehero]

Ale or lager?

For ales usually as fast as possible is fine, I can't break 1°C per hour with my ferm chamber, which is the typically recommended rate.

For lagers there's some debate and depends what kind of schedule you're using. With accelerated maturation you can crash as fast possible, with other schedules that start cooling prior to full attenuation you can drop the temperature gradually to allow the yeast remain active while adjusting to lower temperatures.

 

[day_trippr]

I don't think I've ever read anything that suggested there's such a thing as "too fast a crash". That said, with 10 gallons in one of my 17cf top-freezer fridges it takes a good two days to go from ~68°F clean-up temperature down to 34°F. Well under a degree F per hour...

Cheers!

 

[BroStefan]

I've heard the warning on Jamil and John Palmers show on BN, also more then once in a brewery tour.

I suppose I could email JZ. Dah!

 

[maltboy1]

Sorry to revive an ancient thread. Has anyone come across a definitive answer for cold crash rates? I want to CC an ale, but I don't want to go too fast if that's an issue. I can drop about 10F an hour. Is that too fast?

 

[Dr_Jeff]

I'd say, no, but consider a way to mitigate "suck back" as it cools off.

 

[maltboy1]

Thanks for the info. The beer temp was decreased over 12 hours just to be safe. It was fermented with a spunding valve set at 10 psi and still had plenty of pressure after crashing.