Giving up cold crashing

[kombat]

I've brewed over 100 batches of beer, and for most of them, I followed a pretty standard routine:

• Ferment 21 days
• Move fermenter into fridge
• 1 day later, add gelatin solution
• 3-5 days later, rack to keg, put in fridge on 12 psi CO2
• 14 days later, enjoy

The procedure was modified a bit for IPAs, but in general, that's the protocol I followed for virtually all of my beers. However, for the past 10 batches or so, I've stopped bothering with the cold crash and gelatin. I'm finding that a couple of weeks in the keg at refrigeration temperatures (such as while it's carbing up anyway) are usually enough to clarify the beer anyway.

For beers that are stubbornly hazy even after a couple of weeks of chilling in the keg, I might pop the lid and dump in 1/4 cup of gelatin solution to prompt it to clear up a little more, but I'm not finding I have to do that very often.

My reasons for eschewing cold-crashing in the fermenter are:

• Concern about oxidation when air is "sucked back" into the fermenter as it cools
• The time it takes (only a few extra days, but still)
• Needing to keep a carboy-sized slot open in my refrigerator
• The hassle of preparing the gelatin (sanitizing all the gear, making sure temperature gets up to 150° but not more, etc.)

The only downside I've experienced so far is when an IPA remains somewhat hazy, I'm hesitant to hit it with gelatin and risk stripping away hop aroma. But a little haze is to style anyway.

Anyone else moving away from cold-crashing and gelatin?

 

[Ozarks Mountain Brewery]

basically cold crashing is just accelerating the dropping of solids but still using gravity, the colder the liquid the less resistance to drop and both cold crashing and gelatin is mostly used for a quick clear beer, so if you have the time and it sounds like you do than yes you don't need it because gravity will still do the work, just takes a little longer

 

[PlexVector]

I tried gelatin once, and not sure if it helped or not. Probably do it on case by case basis moving forward, but unlikely. Will continue to cold crash, since I don't have to move the fermenter. It helps drop what's floating on top so less gets jarred loose when I move it to a higher location to siphon it to the keg.

 

[bobeer]

I hate gelatin, lol. Jell-o grosses me out and I could never dream of putting it in my beer. Plus I want my vegan friends to be able to enjoy my beer too.
As for cold crashing I really only cold crash so the c02 absorbs into solution quicker. I burst carb most of my beer so I can drink it because I'm usually all out of brew by the time it's time to keg a new beer. I do find that beer clears in the keg as it conditions anyway so I never got the point of cold crashing for more than a day, or less, and I've never bothered with gelatin for the same reason; even past the fact that I think it's gross. Haha.

 

[brewprint]

This is interesting. I always found cold crashing in the fermenter to be a waste of time also...although I've never done it.

If it's going into the keg it's getting cold crashed anyway from what I understand.

Gelatin I've never used and it would truly suck to lose hoppy goodness from doing it.

 

[Kee]

Cold crashing is optional, but easy if you already have your carboy in a fermentation chamber that you just dial down. Seems to help with some of the Belgian yeast that are slow to floc. But when I need space I will skip it.

Does not work too well with a blow off tube attached (I did catch it in time but just barely).

 

[beersk]

I cold crash sporadically. I also use gelatin occasionally, although I'm thinking of doing away with that as well. I do brew mostly lagers and find it takes at least 4 weeks for them to clear and even then they aren't brilliantly clear. But I don't think that matters a super ton. But I do enjoy a really nice crystal clear beer... I don't think cold crashing makes all that much difference, unless you cold crash for like a week or more. I guess I don't crash my beer at 32F either...more like 36-38F. Maybe it makes more of a difference when it's closer to freezing.

 

[stpug]

I've brewed over 100 batches of beer, and for most of them, I followed a pretty standard routine:

• Ferment 21 days
• Move fermenter into fridge
• 1 day later, add gelatin solution
• 3-5 days later, rack to keg, put in fridge on 12 psi CO2
• 14 days later, enjoy

I cold crash and may fine with something if I'm using a low flocculating yeast, but our process differs considerably on the step in bold. I ferment for 8-10 days only, and cold crash for 3 days before racking to a keg. That's about 13 days from grain to keg versus your ~24 days. The cold crashing in my schedule is very helpful in dropping out most of the yeast - the alternative for me would be to wait the extra 11 days like you do (probably achieves about the same). After that, it's two days at 24psi (cold) then reduce to serving pressure, and I am serving 80-90% carbed beer. At about 2 weeks under normal serving pressures is when the beer hits is perfect stride. I seems that no matter how I dice it, those 14 days under pressure are necessary to really gain full carbonic balance between the acid, foam stability, and body character.

This would be my list:

• Ferment 10 days
• Move fermenter into fridge at 30-31°F
• 3 days later, rack to keg
• Put in fridge on 24 psi for 48 hours then reduce to 10 psi
• 30 minutes later, enjoy 80-90% carbed beer
• 14 days later, enjoy perfectly carbed beer

 

[iijakii]

Screw gelatin, but my beers stay pretty cloudy even after a month if I don't coldcrash. But since you keg, who cares? Just pour our a gunky first pint once you crack that bad boy open.

 

[chickypad]

I stopped doing as separate cold crash a while back also, now I just rack to keg and do the "crash" there. Similar reasons as you - paranoid about oxidation. I never did use gelatin, but I find my beers get pretty clear after a week or two in the keg. The main problem I have now is clogging on my dry hopped beers since I also am not using a bag - I tend to dry hop about day 7, in the keg by day 12-14. They do seem to be tasting better and lasting longer. The only time I cold crash now is when I do larger batches in a conical as I can do that under CO2.

 

[NoahBeach]

I gelatin every beer except for really dark beers and hefe's, sure you can replace it with time, but for pale ales or other hoppy styles (most of what I drink) the fresher the better (once it gets about 2 weeks of aging on it, but that's what serving pressure carbing is for). I like brilliantly clear beer, so I'll continue to use it. I added gelatin to a cold crashed beer last night, the whole process took less than 5 minutes.

Thoughhhhhh I did make a blonde ale with Clarity Ferm, it was crystal clear after cold crashing for 24 hours (no gelatin), and coming out of the tap was amazingly clear. So if you want clear beers faster, don't want to slave away over the microwave heating your gelatin, and don't mind spending an extra ~$4.99 per batch, that's the way to go.

 

[Kwitty]

I just got my keezer up and going recently. On advice from a friend I rack to the keg and carbonate right away at serving pressure. 14 days later its cleared! Pour the he first pint out to get rid of the sediment, and drink the next!

 

[naturebrew]

I have never cold crashed but do keg so I guess it clears eventually anyway. I personally prefer the look of a cloudy beer over the clear version, can't taste a difference either way.

 

[ArcLight]

If you bottle (like I do), you had better cold crash, unless you don't mind a thick layer of yeast at the bottom of your bottles, that gets churned up when the bottle is opened.

 

[MindenMan]

Just like ArcLight, I bottle all my beers. I also cold crash my fermenters to clear my beer as I don't like to serve hazy beer. The last batch I bottled I had my fridge set too high, (first time in a couple of years) and there was a layer of trub in the bottom of my bottles. I did notice something important, the first bottles tasted as expected but as time went on the flavor of the bottled beer did change; not to my liking to be honest. So I am back to the old method, crash, wait, and drink predictable tasting beer. A couple of extra days waiting to drink better tasting beer is a no-brainer in my book.

 

[chawn]

I find it beneficial to cold crash and fine with gelatin. Even my wheat beer is quite clear. There's no chance of oxidation while cold crashing using a SS brew bucket and 2 psi of CO2.

 

[Clonefan94]

The only time I bother to cold crash anymore is after a dry hop, before I transfer to the keg. I find it really does a nice job of dropping all the hop particles to the bottom and that saves a ton of hassle keeping my little paint strainer screen I put around the tip of the autosiphon clean. Other than that, I've never really noticed enough of a difference to really bother with it.

 

[day_trippr]

Pull the s-locks, clamp on the caps, crack open the regulator, drop the temp and sit back for a few days.



If anything goes pear-shaped a balloon will blow instead of the carboy.


Followed by a CO2 push to a purged keg...



...and oxygen never makes it to the party.

Then I do the slow-carb thing which takes a good two weeks to be perfect, which provides plenty of time for the beer to fully clear. With most of the debris left behind in the fermenter I barely need to dump more than a couple of ounces when a new keg comes on line, and when they kick there's rarely more than a coating of yeast/trub on the bottom. No magic, no animal byproducts, just the rewards of a few weeks of cold time...

Cheers!

 

[Natdavis777]

I quit gelatin-ing my hop-forward beers because I felt it stripped some aroma. The end result was still clear beer after 2 weeks in the keg. I was surprised. Hell, even hefe is turning into a krystalweizen so I have to give the keg a good shake every couple of days.

I agree, some time in the keg and all beer will clear. The only beer I gelatin is my Cream Ale. My process has always been to mix gelatin/water in a pyrex dish and microwave for 1-1.5 min (until clear) stir and dump into keg. Never had an infection, but finding the process less needed as I only drink on the weekends (giving the beer ample time to clear during the week)

 

[iijakii]

Man, that's a nice setup day tripper. Makes me want to start kegging again.