Priming sugar before cold crash?

[Gerrit Wessels]

Hi guys,

So I am planning to add dextrose in my fermenter (I've done drops to the bottle in the past). I want to cold crash which I've previously done which seems to work quite well. Can I add my priming sugar before I cold crash or will the lower temp have some affect? If I add the sugar post cold crashing I feel like I'll just stirr up all the sediment and the cold crashing would be for nothing?

Also, I see there are calculators for amount of Co2 which is based on temp. Is that the temperature you fermented at, or when you are bottling? I suppose a third option is the temp you are conditioning at?

Any thoughts on this? Thanks

 

[Coastalbrew]

Hi guys,

So I am planning to add dextrose in my fermenter (I've done drops to the bottle in the past). I want to cold crash which I've previously done which seems to work quite well. Can I add my priming sugar before I cold crash or will the lower temp have some affect? If I add the sugar post cold crashing I feel like I'll just stirr up all the sediment and the cold crashing would be for nothing?

Also, I see there are calculators for amount of Co2 which is based on temp. Is that the temperature you fermented at, or when you are bottling? I suppose a third option is the temp you are conditioning at?

Any thoughts on this? Thanks

The priming sugar should be added immediately prior to packaging. If you add the sugar and then cold crash the beer, the yeast will consume the sugar and then when you package the beer it will not carbonate. So if you're going to cold crash do that first, then transfer the beer off the yeast cake, add your priming sugar and package.

As for the temp to put in the priming calculator, it is usually the warmest temp achieved during fermentation. But cold crashing changes that. There is an article about this question on the Brewers friend priming calculator here: Beer Priming Sugar Calculator | Brewer's Friend.

Others may also have more info on that.

Cheers!

 

[bruce_the_loon]

I don't think this is recommended, as soon as the priming sugar is added, the yeast will start eating it. The cold crash will slow the yeast down, but you have the unknown effect how much sugar has been eaten prior to bottling, so your carbonation will be less than expected and unpredictable.

If you are going to bottle from the fermenter and not rack the cold-crashed beer off the trub into a bottling bucket, I'd recommend bottle priming. You can dissolve the dextrose calculated in a suitable volume of boiled water to get 10ml per bottle and dose each bottle with a syringe prior to filling. Personally I rack to a bottling bucket.

The temperature is normally the highest temperature towards the end of fermentation. CO2 is more soluble at lower temperatures and the higher the beer has been, the less residual CO2 is dissolved and more priming sugar is needed to reach the same volume. If you are fermenting under airlock conditions, the amount of CO2 still in the headspace when you cold crash is pretty negligible and won't increase the CO2 dissolved significantly. If you are fermenting under pressure with a spunding valve, then the calculation becomes a whole lot different.

 

[Gerrit Wessels]

Thanks for the responses. I think it is pretty clear that I should carbonate after cold crashing. Is seems cold crashing makes life hard a bit harder though wrt sugar calcs... Do you think letting it get up to fermentation temp again will make any difference? And then I use that for the calcs?

 

[madscientist451]

I usually let it warm back up, not sure if it really makes that much of a difference. I don't bottle that much any more, and usually just bottle prime.

 

[hotbeer]

Cold crashing hasn't made any of my beers cleaner than what 4 to 7 more days in the fermenter will do after it reaches it's FG.

Though admittedly I've only cold crashed twice. For me, more bother for the little if any gain.

 

[Falstaff]

I have a soda I made in the fridge that continued to ferment slowly at fridge temps. I didn't enjoy the type I had made and it had been in the back of the fridge for a month. Felt like it was ready to explode. I think the yeast would still eat some of the sugar and throw off your priming.

 

[Jag75]

If your not set up properly for cold crashing I'd skip it.

 

[Falstaff]

If your not set up properly for cold crashing I'd skip it.

Yes. I feel like cold crashing is a myth. Brulosophy did a experiment on it, but I just did a shot of jack honey, a dirty martini, and a shot of gin, so godspeed.

 

[jerrylotto]

The calculators for carbon dioxide vs temp are usually solubility charts to help figure out pressure to use if you force carbonate with cylinder gas. If you use priming sugar, the calculation has to do acheiving the desired volume of carbon dioxide in a closed space at serving temperature taking into account what has already been dissolved. I always keg (or bottle) without cold crashing and (if keg) pressurize with gas first so I won't pull air in. And if I add priming sugar for bottling, I cap them and wait for the yeast to eat it all BEFORE chilling the bottles. Any time you cold crash, you are going to pull air in unless you have a way to seal and pressurize the container.

 

[Merz69]

Not sure I understand this Brewfather carbonation page ??