So I recently got a fridge, digital temp. controller(ranco single stage) and a thermowell. What I would like advise on is what temp. should I cold crash for, and for how long. Keep in mind that I bottle condition so I do want enough yeast left in suspension to get my bottles carbonated. I know that when brewing a higher gravity beer that adding yeast after a cold crash at bottling time is necessary. Right now I have a mosaic IPA in secondary with 1.5 oz of pellets floating on top and want to do a cold crash to drop them out of suspension. Furthermore, I would like to cold crash beers in the future(dry hopped or not) to clear them better but still have enough yeast to bottle condition, any advise is appreciated.
Cold crashing encourages yeast to flocculate faster. It also causes proteins to combine with polyphenols, with the complexes becoming heavy enough to fall slowly out of suspension. But it doesn't cause hops to sink any faster than they would otherwise.
Take your beer as close to freezing, without freezing it, as possible. Charlie Bamforth says that a couple days at 29degrees is more effective than 4 weeks at 35. Just know that crashing in a fermenter that starts at 48-75 degree beer will draw in oxygen (more at the higher end of temp range). Others will debate the extent of oxidation, I just like to avoid it. I transfer to purged keg before crashing and am prepared for the first glass or 2 to be a little cloudy. You could consider transferring to bottle, carbing, then crashing for a couple of days. At the end of the day, "time clears all beers"(CB). If you give them time, cold crashing is just an additional technique. I agree though, "time is an illusion, lunch time double-y so", and extended beer aging time triple-y so.
thanks for that tidbit, I wasn't aware of that. So how long can I cold crash and still have enough yeast left to bottle condition? I know that different yeasts floc at different rates so an average would be acceptable.
It depends on how many healthy live yeast you have and other factors. My advice would be crash until it looks clear enough for you. You can add insurance yeast at bottling, but it's usually not necessary. People have bottle carbonated lagers after lagering periods, which are generally much longer than a cold crash of a few days. But I have to ask. What's the reason you want to crash this beer? Is it cloudy and/or have your beers been having clarity issues? Just want to make sure this isn't a solution looking for a problem.
No issues with cloudy beer really, just trying new things and learning I guess. I've been brewing for about a year and a half and like to try different things and see what comes of it. But I don't like to just blindly do whatever, I like to learn about the how, why and when of things. I sure don't want to create issues for myself, so let me know if I'm about to do something stupid.
To clarify, replace "29degrees" with "as cold as you can take it without it freezing". There are charts online that give you the freezing point of beer by alcohol content.
From my experience: I have done extended cold-crashing (3-4 weeks) at 39F (keezer limit) and there is plenty of yeast remaining to bottle carb. My Blond after 3 weeks is crystal clear. After bottle conditioning it is as clear as any commercial beer . . . then when the bottle is tipped there are great gobs of yeast sediment floating around, much more than required to do the job. You only need 1 million cells of yeast per ml of beer, a level that is invisible to the eye. Yeasts I've used for extended cc'ing inclued 3522, DuPont, 1056, & US-05 . . . but would not be afraid to use others. The only time I re-yeasted a brew was after extended storage (3+ months). A couple of things to consider: you might want to cold crash before dh'ing. Yeast in suspension may rob you of some hop flavor as it floccs. Ideally you could cc for a week (?), then dh, then finish cc'ing, then bottle. This involves several temp swings, sounds like you have the equipment but I find follow-on brews compete for space in my ferm fridge. Racking to a keg solves some of the problems (O2, sediment). I'm a kegger so each brew on tap is continually being cc'ed. You can also cc once the beer is bottled . . . but you know where the sediment ends up. Cold crashing is just one tool to help with beer clarity. Suggest you also put emphasis on hot/cold break, proper whirlpooling/siphoning, and finings. It's taken me a while, but I've finally managed to have the majority of my beers reach commercial clarity.
I wouldn't say you're about to do something stupid. Just wanted to make sure you know why you were doing it.
http://www.engineeringtoolbox.com/ethanol-water-d_989.html for a freezing chart Also, remove your airlock and replace it with a cap of sanitized aluminum foil. The drop in temperature will create a vacuum sucking into the fermenter and I forget this EVERY TIME.
Lately I've been cold crashing at 30 F for 3-4 days with great results. I will say, counter to what Vikeman said, that hop particulate does drop out more quickly when cold crashing. If not cold crashed, a descent amount of hop matter still suspends in and on top of solution. After 3-4 days, everything falls out well & I take the carboy out of keezer and let it re-settle for about 15 mins prior to racking. If you keg and want extra clarity, you can add gelatin finings. Bertus Brewery blog has a nice article on that. I've done this plenty of times and have had beers come out as clear as glass. Once had an ESB I shared with a pro brewer said it was the clearest beer he'd ever seen home or commercial brew.
Interesting. In my experience, I have noticed no difference at all. But it would be hard to say definitively without a side by side (split batch, one in fridge, one not). In theory, crashing should actually slow down the settling of hop particles, because of the effect on viscosity, but (without doing the calculations) I think that would be small.
Yeah, that would be an interesting experiment. FWIW, I just cold crashed a 3.8 % abv session Brett pale ale at 30 F for 3 days and it dropped out nicely, no freezing.
I've been hoping to find a way to clear my beers of hop debris from heavy dry-hopping and I thought cold crashing might help. What's the consensus on this? If not cold crashing, then how?
Hop bags would be my suggestion, regardless of whether or not cold crashing accelerates hop settling.
I dry hop in a Better Bottle with no bags. I have done 4oz in a 5.5 gallon batch. Cold crash at 35 deg for 3-4 days and the hops drop out for me. I Also use a hop bag on the end of my syphon just in case. Cheers!
