Avoiding oxidation due to "suck back" when cold crashing

Imho, just ferment a little longer than normal (~3 weeks) and then rack to kegs for lagering.

 

I never understood cold crashing carboys. Why not just leave carboy at room temp a little longer and cold crash in bottles? Or better yet, keg. Your beer will still clear, given enough time.

 

Yep. I stopped cold crashing in the fermenter all together. I transfer to the keg and just start carbonating while simultaneously cold crashing. I never like watching the bubbler sucking in while it was chilling.

 

I use a "S" bubbler for my airlock filled with starsan and always cold crash my beers, especially IPA's in which I have immense amounts of dry hops to crash out. I never had any issue with oxidation so far that I have noticed. I crash it slowly, say 4-5 degrees at a time every 12 hours or so , and while it will suck some air back in, eventually the beer degassing will eventually start purging out again before the next temp crash.I don't worry if a few drops of starsan make it back into the beer.

I have a spigot on my fermenter, so when I rack to the keg there is little to no agitation when I transfer into the CO2 purged keg. I got far more agitation/aeration when I used a racking cane, no matter how careful I was. But now with the spigot on my bucket, so much easier and far less agitation or exposure to oxygen to the finished beer.

My IPA's hold intense aromas for months with no signs of oxidation scrubbing any of that away long term. I have IPA's three months old that still taste and smell incredible with hardly any loss. I don't dry hop in the keg, either. It has been no-issue for me what-so-ever, so I don't worry much about it. For lagering I do transfer to a keg though before lagering... Only my ales that need to cold crash will get 3-5 days down to 35F before kegging.

 

I found that cold crashing (+ geletin) in the fermenter as apposed to crashing in the bottles results in almost no sediment, making them more enjoyable when transporting to gatherings.

 

I connect CO2 while I cold crash.

 

I replace my airlock with a solid stopper when I cold crash my fermenter. I figure the airlock is designed for letting gas out and if anything the fermenter is sucking gas in during cold crashing so I just plug it up.

 

I encase my fermentors in a lead-lined concrete vault purged with the purest argon Cold War-era Rubles can buy before *I* cold crash...

(by which I mean lowering the temp a couple degrees per day is hardly "crashing" and the miniscule bit of star san one *might* 'suck' into a fermentor will have no impact on the outcome of the finished product whatsoever. As for oxygen? I don't know about you, but I generally start lowering the temp soon after a diacetyl rest (if needed for a particular strain) or just as fermentation is winding down. Either way, there's still some positive pressure inside from venting CO2.

I can't say I've *exhaustively* studied headspace dynamics during the gradual lowering of temperature, but... I've brewed a lot of lagers and can say that oxidation has never been an issue.)

In summary? I'd argue "yes. you're overthinking it."

cheers.

 

Supposedly, these things work. https://www.morebeer.com/products/bottle-12-dry-tap-airlock-reusable-closure.html

 

Do you have Better Bottle Carboys?

Cheers!

 

I do not. However, I have seen videos on YouTube where people are using them while cold crashing. The better bottle will crinkle due to the fact that it cannot suck air in.

 

So, those Better Bottle dry traps will fit in non-Better Bottle carboys?

Cheers!

 

I would assume so, yes. However, I'm not sure of the repercussions of using it on glass. The better bottles begin to collapse on themselves due to the pressure. For obvious reason, glass can't do that. Although, I'm not sure if it'd be too safe to try with the glass carboys.

 

Me neither.

Maybe some other BA can share their experience using a Better Bottle dry trap with a glass carboy.

Cheers!

 

I use a 3ft long 1" tube stuck in a gallon container of star San for fermentation. During crash it sucks star San a bit up the tube, but no where near getting in the carboy. I figure it's just sucking back co2 that was in the tube and seems to work for me.