So I've recently transitioned into all grain brewing via 3 gallon BIAB and I'm really enjoying the higher quality beers I'm getting with more overall complexity/body. My first batch was an American amber ale and it's very drinkable at only 1 week old ( im impatient and wanted to taste my first AG beer) but It looks rather hazy as I can barely see my fingers on the other side of the glass and the beer isnt that dark at an est. 14 srm. I've got several upcoming BIAB recipes to do and a pale ale in primary now... I'm thinking about cold crashing my next beers to try to clear them up and get a more professional result.... How many hours at around 35-40 F is necessary to help settle everything out?? Can I get straight to bottling after the beer settles or should I let it warm up?? is Irish moss a better option for me?? I know transferring to secondary would probably help a lot too but I'm wary of doing it since these are 3 gallon batches and I have 5 gallon carboys so I fear oxidization. Any input is greatly appreciated.... Cheers!
I usually cold crash for a few days. 2 to 3. Also how fast are you getting your wort chilled, I noticed when it took me longer my beers had a hazier look to them.
Try whirlfloc in the boil, cold crash for a few days, and consider building a mash tun which will allow you to vorlauf and remove more particulate matter from the wort. Personally I would not secondary 3 gallons of beer in a 5 gallon carboy, your concerns are legitimate in my opinion, there are 3 gallon carboys available however
Yea my 3 gallon BIAB adventures are only gonna last till December when I get my 10 gallon mash Tun from my wife for Christmas... I'll give whirlfloc a try as I suspect my haze is from the grain particle escaping my fine mesh bag.... I'm excited to see if cold crashing helps.... I have high hopes considering how well my 1272 harvest sePerated in the fridge
“I'll give whirlfloc a try as I suspect my haze is from the grain particle escaping my fine mesh bag....” Whirlfloc ‘works’ by precipitating out proteins. I doubt that it will do anything to grain particles. As Homenrew42 made mention of, conducting a vorlauf through a lauter tun will help remove grain partiles. A simple way you could do this would be to place your grain bag in something like a colander and recirculate your wort through the grain bed; the grain bed acts like a filter to collect the grain particles. A simple and concise discussion of vorlauf I here: http://www.brew-dudes.com/vorlauf/681 “I'm excited to see if cold crashing helps..” That should be helpful as well since the cold crashing should ‘encourage’ particulate matter to settle out. Cheers!
Just a thought, since you are bottling and not kegging, you may want to introduce more yeast at bottling. Maybe just rehydrate a packet of dry yeast and add to the bottling bucket. I have not crashed and bottled, but I would think the temp would not only settle out more yeast but perhaps make any left in suspension dormant. And without the ability to force carbonate you'll need those guys to condition in the bottle for you.
Generally speaking, there's enough yeast left in suspension to do the job. And although they go dormant while the beer is cold, they wake up again when they warm up. It doesn't hurt to add a small amount of yeast as insurance, but a whole packet would be overkill.
I cold crash and bottle and have no issues, it takes a few days for the yeast to wake back up but they get the job done.
