cold crashing on cold new england days...

Discussion in 'Homebrewing' started by mountsnow1010, Nov 27, 2012.

Thread Status:
Not open for further replies.
  1. mountsnow1010

    mountsnow1010 Initiate (0) Jan 23, 2009 Vermont

    I should have a beer ready to cold crash and bottle in a month or so. I won't have fridge space to do a lengthy cold crash, so I was considering trying a day long cold-crash on my screened-in porch - it will probably be significantly below freezing. I was thinking I would put it outside on a table in the morning and then bottle in the evening (in the cold!), so it would be an 8-10h cold crash. Is this reasonable? Do I have any reason to expect this to work?
     
    #1 mountsnow1010, Nov 27, 2012
  2. VikeMan

    VikeMan Grand Pooh-Bah (3,067) Jul 12, 2009 Pennsylvania
    Pooh-Bah

    How cold will it be? Assuming you don't freeze your beer (which will freeze at something below 32F), it should work fine. I will say though that 8-10 hours might not do much more than settle out whatever you stir up by moving the fermenter to the porch.
     
    #2 VikeMan, Nov 27, 2012
  3. mountsnow1010

    mountsnow1010 Initiate (0) Jan 23, 2009 Vermont

    I would estimate it would be ~25F during the day. My logic for the short crash is really just to try and get a crash without getting a frozen beer. It might just be too cold, though. Maybe I will just have to pour my beers gently and live with a little haze until I can get a dedicated brewing fridge :wink:
     
    #3 mountsnow1010, Nov 27, 2012
  4. inchrisin

    inchrisin Pooh-Bah (2,013) Sep 25, 2008 Indiana
    Pooh-Bah

    There used to be a calculator for freezing temp based on ABV. What happened to that site?
     
    #4 inchrisin, Nov 27, 2012
  5. mountsnow1010

    mountsnow1010 Initiate (0) Jan 23, 2009 Vermont

    #5 mountsnow1010, Nov 27, 2012
  6. jbakajust1

    jbakajust1 Pooh-Bah (2,552) Aug 25, 2009 Oregon
    Pooh-Bah

    What about the garage?
     
    #6 jbakajust1, Nov 27, 2012
  7. yinzer

    yinzer Initiate (0) Nov 24, 2006 Pennsylvania

    If you want something to buffer (lessen the mental stress) then use a big pail of water. Lowes might have something.

    But I'm on board w/VikeMan. You might not accomplish what you you think that you will.

    Or... I'm not sure that something that is ready to bottle is/or needs to be cold crashed. Unless it's a BW that you want to keep for years then you can cold the bottles after it's carbonated. Is your beer cloudy? Are you worried that you'll but your yeast to sleep and then they might not carbonate the bottles?

    I'm mean normally when I cold crash a beer I really want to lager it. And that takes weeks to drop out particulates.
     
    #7 yinzer, Nov 27, 2012
  8. BumpkinBrewer

    BumpkinBrewer Pundit (993) Jan 6, 2010 Massachusetts

    I once lagered a kolsch in the outdoor entrance stairwell of my basement during the winter months. I placed a saucer of water next to it. If that didn't freeze solid then I didn't worry about the beer.
     
    #8 BumpkinBrewer, Nov 27, 2012
  9. mountsnow1010

    mountsnow1010 Initiate (0) Jan 23, 2009 Vermont

    I rent a house but not the garage :/

    It's unattached from the house, so I imagine it is close to or at environmental temp anyway. I'll take some measurements though and ask my landlord. Thanks for the suggestion!

    Hmm. I am not planning on racking to secondary which is why I thought it may benefit from a cold crash. It's a single-hop DIPA and I am trying to crash as much of the yeast out of solution as possible to clarify the beer before bottling, but also to cut down on yeasty flavors so the flavor is clean as possible.
    Unfortunately I'm pretty sure it would be cold enough to freeze a saucer of water solid....so I guess this means I probably shouldn't try the beer!
     
    #9 mountsnow1010, Nov 27, 2012
  10. mountsnow1010

    mountsnow1010 Initiate (0) Jan 23, 2009 Vermont

    Thanks for the help everyone! I will probably just avoid the cold crash and hope that conditioning in primary while dry hopping will clarify the beer enough.
     
    #10 mountsnow1010, Nov 27, 2012
  11. VikeMan

    VikeMan Grand Pooh-Bah (3,067) Jul 12, 2009 Pennsylvania
    Pooh-Bah

    Is there some reason you think there is excessive yeast still in suspension? With most yeast strains, a month in the fermenter and gravity are going to produce a pretty clear beer.
     
    #11 VikeMan, Nov 27, 2012
  12. mountsnow1010

    mountsnow1010 Initiate (0) Jan 23, 2009 Vermont

    No particular reason, other than foregoing secondary
     
    #12 mountsnow1010, Nov 27, 2012
  13. VikeMan

    VikeMan Grand Pooh-Bah (3,067) Jul 12, 2009 Pennsylvania
    Pooh-Bah

    Ah. Time and gravity work the same way in primary as in secondary. The only slight (and possibly unmeasurable in a homebrew setting) advantage to a secondary in this regard would be less stuff in suspension due to a smaller pile of stuff to be stirred up by Brownian motion. Or bad racking technique.
     
    #13 VikeMan, Nov 27, 2012
  14. mountsnow1010

    mountsnow1010 Initiate (0) Jan 23, 2009 Vermont

    In that case, I'll just let it sit in primary for a couple weeks after fermenting, and then dry hop for the final week. On a related note, do you think that I should dry hop mid conditioning or near the end?

    Thanks for all the help. Also, I presume that the effects of gravity would be magnitudes greater than Brownian motion...or, I hope so, at least.
     
    #14 mountsnow1010, Nov 27, 2012
  15. VikeMan

    VikeMan Grand Pooh-Bah (3,067) Jul 12, 2009 Pennsylvania
    Pooh-Bah

    In general, I'd say later is better for dry hopping, just because that's less time between dry hopping and consuming, thus less fade. But some have found that dry hopping starting just before the end of primary fermentation results in a different (not just weaker) flavor/aroma.

    I think you're on solid ground there.
     
    #15 VikeMan, Nov 27, 2012
  16. mountsnow1010

    mountsnow1010 Initiate (0) Jan 23, 2009 Vermont

    Thanks for the help! I'll probably do a later dry-hopping, then.

    Cheers!
     
    #16 mountsnow1010, Nov 27, 2012
  17. GreenKrusty101

    GreenKrusty101 Initiate (0) Dec 4, 2008 Nevada

    I think I just saw some Brownian motion in the toilet or was it the Weiner process? : )
     
    #17 GreenKrusty101, Nov 27, 2012
  18. VikeMan

    VikeMan Grand Pooh-Bah (3,067) Jul 12, 2009 Pennsylvania
    Pooh-Bah

    I'm pretty sure I don't want to know.
     
    #18 VikeMan, Nov 27, 2012
    mountsnow1010 likes this.
Thread Status:
Not open for further replies.