Question about cold-crashing

[bigtreydaddy]

I've got an Oktoberfest in the fermenter. After five days of primary I raised the temp over about 36 hours to 65°. I had planned to leave it for three days but I just pulled a sample, and it was a bit lower (1.011) than my est FG. I don't want it to go any lower than that (I've had that issue lately) so would it be ok to go ahead and start crashing to ~30°? I don't really see why not but I thought I'd see what more experienced lager-brewers thought.


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[Yooper]

I've got an Oktoberfest in the fermenter. After five days of primary I raised the temp over about 36 hours to 65°. I had planned to leave it for three days but I just pulled a sample, and it was a bit lower (1.011) than my est FG. I don't want it to go any lower than that (I've had that issue lately) so would it be ok to go ahead and start crashing to ~30°? I don't really see why not but I thought I'd see what more experienced lager-brewers thought.


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No.

You want the beer to finish, and it shouldn't go much lower anyway. Stalling the beer on purpose can mean stressed yeast, diacetyl, and later bottle bombs. Let it finish, and then it can be lagered. (Although, at three days at 65, after a week, it's more than likely done anyway).

 

[peterj]

I'm not an experienced lager brewer, but I feel like you should let the yeast attenuate as much as it possibly can. You should control the attenuation on the front end with mash temperature, grain bill, and yeast choice not by chilling it before fermentation has finished. If there are still fermentable sugars left then I would imagine there are other things like esters and fermentation by products that haven't been cleaned up yet either.

 

[bigtreydaddy]

Cool thanks guys. I'll just leave it then (but I think I can get away with shaving off that third 24 hours). Sample tasted like an okfest so I'm already pretty pleased with it.


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