Cold crashing

[gooner1130]

Hello everyone. I'm a complete beginner with home brew (only two under my belt) and have two basic questions for y'all.

First, I was wondering if cold crashing an ale is going to help clearing the beer and, if so, for how long?

Secondly, is three weeks enough time for fermentation to complete my cream ale? I am leaving for one month so if fermentation is done before I leave, I can cold crash for one month. From what I understand, the longer, the clearer to beer.

Clear beer is my ultimate goal.
Any advice will be extremely helpful. Thanks

 

[BigFloyd]

I normally crash my primary at 35-36*F for 5-7 days. It really does help with beer clarity and to firm up the yeast cake so,that it's harder to disturb when you rack. I don't think that more that a week is going to give you any additional benefit.

 

[RM-MN]

Cold crashing is a way to make the yeast drop out of solution quicker so you can get the beer in the keg and start drinking it. With the extra month your yeast will drop out anyway without cold crashing and it gives the yeast plenty of time to complete the ferment, clean up any off flavors, go dormant and drop out. If your yeast aren't done fermenting in that 3 week period (has happened to me 3 times in the past year) and you cold crash the beer, the yeast don't die but just go dormant. If you bottle the beer when you come back and the yeast weren't really done you get overcarbonation and foaming when you open the beer or worse yet bottle bombs.

Leave the beer in the primary fermenter for that extra month, then bottle or keg. If you bottle, there will be little sediment in your bottles and by refrigerating them for a few days you will get the same cold crash but in smaller quantities.

 

[BigFloyd]

To answer the original question, your cream ale should be completed fermenting in three weeks, assuming that you pitched sufficient yeast. Grab two hydro samples 4 days apart just to be sure.

There's an additional benefit to cold crashing that I forgot to mention. I've noticed that the amount of yeast trub in the bottom of each bottle is considerably less when I cold crash the primary.

 

[gooner1130]

Alright thanks for the advice. I'll just leave it in the fermenter for the one month. Bit here's another question I can't seem to find the answer too.

If I do cold crash when I get back, do I bottle at room temp or leave it at the crashed temp? And does this change to amount of priming sugar needed?

Over carbonation over bottle bombs would be horrible

 

[BigFloyd]

Alright thanks for the advice. I'll just leave it in the fermenter for the one month. Bit here's another question I can't seem to find the answer too.

If I do cold crash when I get back, do I bottle at room temp or leave it at the crashed temp? And does this change to amount of priming sugar needed?

Over carbonation over bottle bombs would be horrible

Prime and bottle cold. If you let it warm, the yeast cake will be less firm and easier to disturb. One thing I do different when priming cold beer for bottling is to give the beer a very, very gentle swirl with a sanitized spoon to make sure that the sugar solution is evenly distributed. Once the beer warms to room temp inside the bottles, carbonation will begin.

The amount of priming sugar does not change due to the cold crash. If using a priming calculator, enter the highest temp that the beer saw in the fermenter. Do not use the crash temp.

 

[gooner1130]

Alrighty. Thanks a bunch