NEIPA....cold crash? Clarify?

[ZmannR2]

Kinda weird to simply not cold crash or clarify so I just wanted to make sure.....my NEIPA that is fermenting as I type this, should I simply rack it straight into the keg after fermentation given that the "style" is to be hazy? Or should I still clarify or at least cold crash?

 

[friarsmith]

For this style, my vote is 'yes' for the cold crash and 'no' for gelatin or other clarifying agents. The cold crash will give you less fermenter 'gunk' in the keg and shouldn't reduce the haze too much if you've used the typical murk-producing ingredients common in this style.

Gelatin seems counter-intuitive for a beer purposely brewed to be murky. My $0.02

 

[TravelingLight]

I agree. I brew a lot of NEIPAs and I cold crash all of them. I do not, however, fin with gelatin or otherwise. But I absolutely cold crash because I don't want trub and yeast particulate in suspension in the beer. If your grain bill is right, and you hopped early, it'll still be plenty hazy.

 

[jjw5015]

I've made dozens of batches of this, and used whirlfloc and cold crashed for the first time with my last batch. It's still plenty hazy, without the murkiness. I like that I don't get any of the settled yeast and hop junk with the first pour out of the keg each day. This has been clean from the beginning and I'm very happy that I did it. No yeast burn at all. I will probably continue to do this.

 

[ZmannR2]

Hmmm awesome thanks guys!!

Btw, if anyone is interested here is my recipe I made via beer smith:

http://beersmithrecipes.com/viewrecipe/1755949/tims-neipa

 

[jpakstis]

Kinda weird to simply not cold crash or clarify so I just wanted to make sure.....my NEIPA that is fermenting as I type this, should I simply rack it straight into the keg after fermentation given that the "style" is to be hazy? Or should I still clarify or at least cold crash?

Nah, rack without cold crashing or clarifying! Leave it as hazy as possible. To be honest, I have no idea how much you'll drop out with cold crashing, but I figure that cold crashing adds an extra step; why not just get to the deliciousness earlier! FYI that's a good looking recipe there.

 

[TravelingLight]

Nah, rack without cold crashing or clarifying! Leave it as hazy as possible. To be honest, I have no idea how much you'll drop out with cold crashing, but I figure that cold crashing adds an extra step; why not just get to the deliciousness earlier! FYI that's a good looking recipe there.

I have to respectfully disagree. A beer, any beer not just a NEIPA, can get super astringent and/or bitter with a bunch of hops and/or yeast in suspension. I call these beers "chewy," and it ain't good. Bottom line, the haze should come from proteins and polyphenols, not yeast/trub/hops in suspension.

 

[jpakstis]

I have to respectfully disagree. A beer, any beer not just a NEIPA, can get super astringent and/or bitter with a bunch of hops and/or yeast in suspension. I call these beers "chewy," and it ain't good. Bottom line, the haze should come from proteins and polyphenols, not yeast/trub/hops in suspension.

I haven't cold crashed with my most successful NEIPA recipes and I've found that when I dry hop in the keg (with one of these) I get the best overall aroma, flavor, and mouthfeel. Then again the ones I have cold-crashed haven't been too shabby either. I haven't found them to get very astringent or even bitter (bad bitter, not IBU-driven bitterness). Then again (again) I haven't brewed the exact same recipes and done comparison testing. I guess what I'm trying to say is that with a big, bold, and out-of-balance beer like an NEIPA I think its less integral to me than if I was making a summer wheat or pilsner. Also, since NEIPA hop profiles tend to the juicy, not resiny or vegetative, I feel more confident leaving all that stuff in. But this is what home brewing is all about, experimenting!

 

[Cevan65]

I cold crashed my last two IPAs. They were still hazy but there was no sediment at the bottom of the empty kegs so I presume the cold-crashing did it's thing.

 

[philly224]

How do you guys cold crash without introducing oxygen into your fermenter? I have a SS brew bucket and always just rack straight into the keg because of this reason.

I always just figured if I dump the first 8-16 ounces out of the keg after its been cold for a few days that was good enough.

 

[TravelingLight]

How do you guys cold crash without introducing oxygen into your fermenter? I have a SS brew bucket and always just rack straight into the keg because of this reason.

I always just figured if I dump the first 8-16 ounces out of the keg after its been cold for a few days that was good enough.

I usually just plug it. But I'm usually fermenting in sanke kegs, so I don't have to worry about the pressure collapsing the FV. Either way, the pressure usually equalizes in a day or so.

 

[Cevan65]

I also plug it. Then, when I keg it, I replace it with a blow off tube connected to the gas out on my keg. Closed transfer.

 

[day_trippr]

fwiw, I cold-crash everything but my stouts/porters.
This Julius clone was brewed then crashed in early September and still has all the juicy haze intact...

Cheers!

 

[Turfgrass]

fwiw, I cold-crash everything but my stouts/porters.
This Julius clone was brewed then crashed in early September and still has all the juicy haze intact...

View attachment 550600

Cheers!

How did your Julius come out. That beer is my favorite by TH and I’d like to clone to avoid the drive and wait.

 

[day_trippr]

Everyone loves it - it quickly became the hands-down favorite here.
I brewed 20 gallons of it since July and will be doing more soon.
Can't stress the importance of avoiding O2 takeup at every step to have this style last this long...

Cheers!

 

[cutn'pop]

If you don't crash in the fermenter . It will for sure crash in the keg.. so I would

 

[ElChangoGuero]

Kinda weird to simply not cold crash or clarify so I just wanted to make sure.....my NEIPA that is fermenting as I type this, should I simply rack it straight into the keg after fermentation given that the "style" is to be hazy? Or should I still clarify or at least cold crash?

Definitely cold crash for 2-3 days, no clarifying agent's though, you want it to be hazy but not muddy

 

[stz]

Yes cold crash. Build it into your dry hopping routine next time out so you package as soon as possible.

 

[sjfischr]

My $0.02:
-Cold crashing does remove the fire bomb of extreme dry hopping, and natural remnants of the trub
-It also will (my experience) remove a little of the haziness (along with with this harshness)

For me, I package right away into a keg and wait for the first couple pints to settle out before giving them to friends.

 

[Gentlemans_Ale]

Kinda weird to simply not cold crash or clarify so I just wanted to make sure.....my NEIPA that is fermenting as I type this, should I simply rack it straight into the keg after fermentation given that the "style" is to be hazy? Or should I still clarify or at least cold crash?

I cold crash but don't clarify and it still ends up hazy.

 

[Hwk-I-St8]

I don't approach a NEIPA with the idea that the haze is the goal. I want great flavor, aroma and mouthfeel. If the haze comes with it, that's fine, but it's not a necessity. I suspect this is similar to the first brewers of the style...they likely didn't want haze, but couldn't get the same experience without it. I've always suspected that that's why Heady Topper says "drink from the can"...they wanted to hide the haze which was likely viewed as a defect at the time.

That being said, I cold crash mine and I have used whirlfloc once. That batch scored a 41 and won best in show. Mine still come out very hazy and, even with the cold crash, I'm usually waiting a week after kegging for the hops to settle out. A pour 3-4 days after kegging has enough hop byte that it literally burns a bit....it's spicy. Another 5 days later and it's juicy, smooth and amazing.

Edited to add:
Regarding O2 in the cold crash, I just put vodka in the airlock and let it do what it will. I see people jump through all sorts of hoops chasing LODO. I take a few easy steps (pre-purge keg, initiate siphon with CO2, post purge the keg after the siphon) but that's about it. Here's what a friend said after I shipped him a couple 6 week old bottles (bottled from the keg): "Great color! No sign of oxidation, something I struggle with."

Shrug. I don't konw why I don't have an issue, but I'm glad I don't have to go through all the hassles some people do.

 

[sjfischr]

So, cold crashing seems helpful to coagulate some proteins in a NE IPA, but no matter what, those first few pints could be hot.

A pour 3-4 days after kegging has enough hop byte that it literally burns a bit....it's spicy. Another 5 days later and it's juicy, smooth ...”

 

[Hwk-I-St8]

So, cold crashing seems helpful to coagulate some proteins in a NE IPA, but no matter what, those first few pints could be hot.

That's my experience. One could cold crash longer but I figure I can carb and get that last clearing of hops at the same time.

 

[sjfischr]

Yes indeed—and folks—let’s bear in mind that you want to serve NE IPAs as fresh as possible. A week in a chest freezer is a week you aren’t enjoying these highly volatile, delicious hop flavors.

That's my experience. One could cold crash longer but I figure I can carb and get that last clearing of hops at the same time.

 

[jlinz]

I have a neipa going right now and figure cold crashing would be a good idea since I poured the dry hops directly into the fermenter and will do more dry hopping the same way. I’ve never done this before. So, how do I cold crash? I figure I take off the cap and blowoff tube and cover with foil and turn the temp down for a day. Seem right?

 

[samandbekah]

I just threw one of my kegs of my ne IPA into my kegerator to cold crash... Going to test tomorrow evening (24 hours after) and see if I still get that dry hop burn... First time I brewed this I racked to a keg after five days and dry hopped and let it finish up... Naturally carbed wonderfully... Tossed it in the kegerator after a few days, then after about a couple to five days it was that delicious juicy hazy hoppines. Did the same with this batch however I'm going to bottle some beers off the keg and let sit at room temp for a few days and do another taste test... Hoping this will be the packaging solution I'm looking for!

 

[samandbekah]

24 hours in and still has a bit of the dry hop/yeast burn... A lot better than yesterday so making progress. Hoping it settles out in another couple days like last time...

 

[jlinz]

24 hours in and still has a bit of the dry hop/yeast burn... A lot better than yesterday so making progress. Hoping it settles out in another couple days like last time...

I have that hop burn as well. Super intense when taking a sample before kegging. I’m hoping it mellows out after sitting in the keg for a couple weeks, but it might be a lost cause. Thought I did everything right too...

 

[marjen]

I have found cold crashing a necessity in order to get the hops and yeast to fully drop. They still end up plenty hazy but lose the awful hop matter taste.

 

[marjen]

"I have that hop burn as well. Super intense when taking a sample before kegging. I’m hoping it mellows out after sitting in the keg for a couple weeks, but it might be a lost cause. Thought I did everything right too..."

This really caused me so many issues last year. When I started having this problem, I didn't know what it was. It caused me to dump several batches and to finally take a break from brewing out of frustration.

I now know it is from hop matter and now that i have ability to cold crash, I have tasted the disgusting beer several days or more into fermentation completely turn around after a couple days of crashing. Luckily I can now do it in my unitank and then transfer much better beer to the keg. I also got the clear beer drought system for all 3 kegs and think it works great. Just another step so that if any of that muck is missed during the transfer it still never hits my glass.

Prior to this when not crashing my kegs would always have a ton of gunk at the bottom when i emptied and cleaned them. Not the case anymore.