Is dry hopping and cold crashing question

[pdickerson]

I have a Black IPA that I would like to dry hop, then cold crash but it's being bottled on Sunday. I've never cold crashed a beer before so I'm not sure how many days I need to do that. Should I just skip dry hoping this one? I would add dry hops tonight, Tuesday, and probably start dropping temps Thursday night. One other question. Does my beer need to be back up to room temp before I bottle?

 

[MagicMatt]

If you dry hop starting tonight, I wouldn't cold crash it until Friday night to give it the most contact time. Cold crashing should last anywhere from 1-3 days for maximum effectiveness, so this will give you 2 days if you wait until Sunday night to bottle.

Another option is push back your bottling date if possible. Dry hop tonight for 5 days, then cold crash starting Sunday night for another 3 days.

And yes you can bottle your beer cold, and then just let it naturally rise to room temps to age/carb it.

 

[jtdrowns]

The longer you cold crash, the clearer the beer will be. I typically cold crash at around 38 degrees for 4-5 days. If dry hopping the same beer, I cold crash first then bring the temp back up to dry hop. I believe dry hopping is more effective at higher temps; the low temps may make it harder for the hop oils to dissolve into the beer. Also, I dry hop for a maximum of 3 days. Anything over and I start to get grassy notes in the aroma.

That being said, with a black IPA, not sure if you will see a big difference from cold crashing as it is a dark beer.

 

[Jayhem]

Why are you wanting to cold crash this?

Dark beers don't' really benefit from it as it's meant to help clear up a beer and in IPA's cold crashing actually causes a loss of hop aroma.

 

[Howhownow]

All of the aforementioned info is correct, but I think the most applicable is the note about cold crashing a black IPA. You should be fine just dry hopping, try out cold crashing on something light.

 

[pmoneyismyfriend]

according to Vinnie Cilurzo, from russian river, for his pliney the elder, his final dry hop is 5-6 days before kegging and with 2 days left before kegging he crashes to 32 degrees. So if you dry hop tonight, crash it friday and bottle on sunday.

 

[pdickerson]

Thanks for all the great advice today. I thought cold crashing helped drop any yeast and hops that may be floating, as well as clear up the beer. I understand that it can't really clear up since it's black, but still thought it would be helpful dropping yeast and hop sediment. This would be my first time I've used this cold crashing method. I wasn't aware there was mixed reviews on dry hopping pre crash vs post crash. Learn something new every day!