Cold crashing with toes and ice water

[igvandeventer]

It seems like my fermentation is beginning to finish out, so I'm going to watch for a couple days to make sure my gravity becomes stable then dry hop.

I would like to try cold crashing, but I have some unease about taking my beer into the garage fridge because we just had to bug bomb it.i was thinking about using a Rubbermaid tote with water and jugs of ice to drop the temp. Has anyone else tried this method or how long would you recommend crashing this way?

 

[bleme]

I cold crash in a big rope handled tub filled with ice, then cover the whole thing with a sleeping bag.

On a side note, there is no reason to wait till gravity is stable. I usually prefer to dry hop when there are still a few points left so the yeast scavenge or push out some of the O2 I let in.

 

[igvandeventer]

I cold crash in a big rope handled tub filled with ice, then cover the whole thing with a sleeping bag.

On a side note, there is no reason to wait till gravity is stable. I usually prefer to dry hop when there are still a few points left so the yeast scavenge or push out some of the O2 I let in.

How long do you usually crash for? Do you have any problems with condensation?

 

[bleme]

I crash for 2 days. The sleeping bag gets a little moist but dries out fast. We have relatively low humidity here though.

 

[IslandLizard]

If you have a large cooler your fermentor fits in, use that instead of a tote. Fill that with ice and/or frozen plastic water bottles/jugs. Your temps will stay colder longer and you'd use less ice over the 2-3 days of cold crashing. Reclaim any left over ice at the end, for next time.

Yup, cover/wrap with a sleeping bag to keep the cold inside. Keep your setup in the coolest area of your home.
If you have one of those reflective thermal blankets, cover your cooler with that first, then the sleeping bag.

If you're afraid any of the bug bombing remained in your fridge, stick your fermentor in a large clean plastic bag, tie the top.

I put a small Starsan soaked washcloth, folded over a few times, over the airlock hole after removing the airlock.
It prevents suck back while sanitizing any incoming air.

 

[GilaMinumBeer]

My wifes feet could freeze a geyser.

Not sure I'd be okay with using them in beer.

 

[IslandLizard]

My wifes feet could freeze a geyser.

Not sure I'd be okay with using them in beer.

I was wondering which toes he had in mind, now we know.
They won't be touching the beer directly, it's safe. For both the beer and toes.

 

[GilaMinumBeer]

I was wondering which toes he had in mind, now we know.
They won't be touching the beer directly, it's safe. For both the beer and toes.

I've tried to talk the wife into using other parts to show how cold a beer is.

 

[Hwk-I-St8]

When you cold crash, fill your airlock with vodka. That way if some gets sucked in, it's vodka, not starsan.

 

[igvandeventer]

My wifes feet could freeze a geyser.

Not sure I'd be okay with using them in beer.

I just now noticed the title if my post, because I was wondering why you guys were talking about feet! [emoji1]