Cold crashing with dry ice

[CrustyBrau]

I searched and found some discussion on carbonating with dry ice, but nothing about cold crashing.

It's about impossible for me to get my conical fermenter into a fridge, so I thought maybe I could toss in some dry ice to chill it where it sits. Anybody ever do this? I'm thinking I might create a foam disaster, but thought I'd ask

 

[fallbrew]

it might blow up man and dry ice isnt safe however will it work yes will it crash yes will it be safe and have the possibility of warping the ferment er ohh id say yes i have used dry ice in chunks to force carbonate my kegs and it has no prob however i find using as little as u can is the way to go man good luck be safe this stuff can create a fog that pushes oxygen out of the way and could kill u if your trapped in it.
is it in your garage then id say go for it

 

[rocketman768]

I searched and found some discussion on carbonating with dry ice, but nothing about cold crashing.

It's about impossible for me to get my conical fermenter into a fridge, so I thought maybe I could toss in some dry ice to chill it where it sits. Anybody ever do this? I'm thinking I might create a foam disaster, but thought I'd ask

Bad idea. Yes, somebody on this forum did try to do that and it did nothing. Here's why: the dry ice is very cold, but typically only a few degrees below its sublimation point. So, when you add liquid, the liquid brings the ice up a few degrees, and then the ice turns to gas that just floats over and away from it, becoming useless. Ever notice how in those little chemistry demos where they put the dry ice in the water for the "mad scientist" effect that the water never freezes?

 

[CrustyBrau]

Interesting. CO2 (like just just about everything) has a much lower thermal mass than water. It would most likely take a heck of a lot of it to chill the beer completely. I better experiment with some plain old water to see what happens. And then experiment with some of those cute little 1 gallon batches I was reading about in the other thread

In theory I would think the gas would escape the liquid at very nearly the temperature of the liquid, but I don't know if that's true in practice.

 

[jppostKW]

DRY ICE to chill beer WILL result in a horrible horrible foam mess that you are not able to stop...........ask me how i know this!!!

 

[Justibone]

DRY ICE to chill beer WILL result in a horrible horrible foam mess that you are not able to stop...........ask me how i know this!!!

+1

I never put more than just a couple of grams (20-25) at a time into any volume of brew.

 

[JetSmooth]

DRY ICE to chill beer WILL result in a horrible horrible foam mess that you are not able to stop...........ask me how i know this!!!

I used to throw a few chunks into the bottom of a tumbler of Pepsi. it worked pretty well, but foamed up until the soda formed a crust around the dry ice. When I was done drinking it, there was like a kernel of Pepsi "Dippin' Dot"-like stuff.

That was fun. I should get some dry ice.

 

[robertbartsch]

I thought dry ice contains amonia which is toxic.

 

[HairyDogBrewing]

Dry ice is frozen carbon dioxide.
Its temperature is about minus 70 degrees Fahrenheit.