To cold crash or not?

[craigpollard]

Hey all, wondering whether there is any advantage or disadvantage to cold crashing a porter before bottling? I know it won't make much difference in appearance but is there something else I'm missing?

 

[Upthewazzu]

Good question, I'd like to hear some opinions as well.

 

[RM-MN]

Depending on how long the beer has been in a fermenter there may be a lot of yeast that hasn't settled out and would end up settling in your bottles. If you cold crash that yeast will be in your fermenter instead of the bottles. I've been leaving mine in primary for 3 to 4 weeks and there is little yeast that ends up in my bottles.

 

[Nightshade]

Once fermentation and diacetyl rest is complete, cold crashing will allow the yeast to drop out better.

With highly flocculent yeast this may be a non-issue but if you use a lower flocculating yeast but want clearer beer it helps a lot.