Refrigerate ferment keg before moving beer?

[Doug Bogg]

I am ready to move beer from the ferment keg that has the shortened tube to the keg connected to the tap but I heard something about cooling down new beer will make it to get more clear? Should I put new kegs of new beer into the kegerator to cool down for a couple of day couple of day before transferring it to the tap keg? Is that called cold crash and makes beer clearer? Thanks!

 

[VikeMan]

Yes, that is called cold crashing and it does make the beer clearer.

 

[jdauria]

I find it better to cold crash in the fermenter first, if you are going to have a fermenter keg, you would want to cut a few inches off the bottom of the liquid dip tube, because if you don't cut the tube, you will suck up the trub that crashed out.

 

[VikeMan]

I find it better to cold crash in the fermenter first, if you are going to have a fermenter keg, you would want to cut a few inches off the bottom of the liquid dip tube, because if you don't cut the tube, you will suck up the trub that crashed out.

I am ready to move beer from the ferment keg that has the shortened tube

 

[Doug Bogg]

Yes, that is called cold crashing and it does make the beer clearer.

Thanks for the answer. So if a beer is finished fermenting in about a couple of weeks then how long would you keep it cold crashed for? Would two or three days do it or is longer better?

 

[VikeMan]

Thanks for the answer. So if a beer is finished fermenting in about a couple of weeks then how long would you keep it cold crashed for? Would two or three days do it or is longer better?

There's no standard answer to this. It depends on your beer and how clear you want it to be. A day or two might do it. If you are not in a hurry, maybe give it a week to be sure. The longer the crash, the less particulate matter you'll be moving to your serving keg.

 

[Doug Bogg]

Ok thanks.

I did came across some other cold crashing posts and there was the question could cold crashing be done after transferring, but because the idea is to get everything to settel to the bottom isn't the only place to do that in the keg with the short tube?

I was thinking of starting another post but would welcome a little more info.

How long do you typically keep basic beer fermenting at room temperature? 1 week? 3 weeks? Seems like it stopped bubbling in about a week, so then if keeping it in the fermenter longer does that make it taste better? Does cold crashing kill the yeast? What if I cold crash beer too soon and want to make the yeast start working again can you go from cold crash back to room tempearure to have the yeast continue conditioning?

I guess you already answered this a million thmes - thanks for any thoughts

 

[VikeMan]

I did came across some other cold crashing posts and there was the question could cold crashing be done after transferring, but because the idea is to get everything to settel to the bottom isn't the only place to do that in the keg with the short tube?

You can cold crash in a serving keg. But you're likely to pick up a wad of yeast etc. in your first pint or two.

How long do you typically keep basic beer fermenting at room temperature? 1 week? 3 weeks?

It depends on the particular batch of yeast fermenting that particular wort. And it depends on the temperature. Higher temps are faster, but may also cause off flavors. It's done whenever the final gravity is in the range expected, hasn't moved between two measurements made 2-3 days apart, and there are no off flavors. If you don't have a hydrometer (or a refractometer), you should think about getting one.

Seems like it stopped bubbling in about a week, so then if keeping it in the fermenter longer does that make it taste better?

Bubbles are not a good quantitative indicator of fermentation. It can be humming right along without any airlock bubbling, due to leaky seals. Or you can have bubbles for quite a while after fermentation, due to off gassing. Keeping beer in the fermenter for a while after fermentation has finished can help the yeast clean up certain off flavors, because you're maintaining a temperature for the yeast to remain active (as compared with cold crash/kegerator/fridge temps).

Does cold crashing kill the yeast?

No.

What if I cold crash beer too soon and want to make the yeast start working again can you go from cold crash back to room tempearure to have the yeast continue conditioning?

If fermentation was not previously finished, yes, it will resume. But it's not a best practice.

 

[Doug Bogg]

Thanks for the answers