when should I cold crash my homebrew

There isn't an exact right answer, because there is a trade off between the increased risk of oxidation transferring cold beer as opposed to room temperature beer with the added clarity and lack of sedimentation from cold crashing. Best practice would be to cold crash your fermenter for a week, allow to come back to room temperature over night, and then transfer to the bottling bucket at room temperature. The bottles will of course need to be kept warm to carbonate.

I would add the additional step of stirring some gelatin into your primary two days into your cold crash.

 

If the hops have settled to the bottom on their own, I'd recommend not cold crashing at all. All bottle conditioned beers will have some sediment anyway, so there isn't much benefit to reducing it prior to bottling.

 

I'm not saying there is a problem with this approach. But...if you want a beer that is clearer quicker and with less sediment, I would go with the above approach...cold crash, gelatin, back to room temp and then bottle.

Yes, all beers have some sediment, but I'm sure we've all had some beers with a lot more sediment in the bottle than we would prefer, especially if it's a not very flocculent yeast strain or there is heavy dry hopping.

 

With bottle conditioned beer you simply decant the beer off the sediment. Does it really matter if you decant off 1/32nd inch vs. 1/16th inch of sediment?

Cheers!

 

Besides having less beer in the glass? I've had some beers over the years with more like 1/4 inch or 1/2 inch of sediment. Plus some yeast strains seem to stick to the bottom of the bottle better than others. It seems with less sediment it's easier to get a clearer pour from the bottle with less beer waste. When there is a lot of sediment you have two choices to make, either a very clear pour and leave a lot of beer behind, or allow some of the sediment in the glass and leave behind only the very firm bottom layer of sediment.

But as I said, nothing wrong with the non-cold crash approach. Just be prepared to either be very patient, be ok with cloudy beer, and/or don't mind leaving a good amount behind in the bottle to get a clear pour.

 

Sedimentation will happen faster in the bottle, although it requires more care in presentation. Some people don't like having the sediments in the bottle, but they don't have to end up in the glass. Best to use a continuous careful pour

 

Wow! I bottle condition my beers and I have never experienced anything like that. I recently measured the amount of sediment in my homebrewed ale and it was just under 1/16th inch of sediment. I do not cold crash my beers.

I personally have never experienced any issues with non-flocculent sediment but maybe I am just a careful pourer?

Cheers!

 

Amen brother!!

Cheers!

 

The two that jump to mind are hefeweizen strains and German ale. Obviously not an issue for the hefeweizen. For both I'll notice a sticky bottom layer of sediment with a much looser top layer that is much harder to not pour in the glass. Years ago I noticed this issue with some UK strains (windsor especially was problematic if I recall correctly), but it was not a problem with the more flocculent UK strains.

 

I use Wyeast 1007 when I homebrew my Altbiers. I have never noticed any issues when decanting these beers. I have a batch right now that is in bottles cool conditioning. In another week or so I will 'road test' this batch. I will have to take another look-see on this batch and whether the sediment is an issue while decanting.

Cheers!

 

I have a Robust Porter that I brewed a few months ago using Windsor and that beer pours just fine from a sediment perspective.

I have brewed a number (10ish) batches of Bitter Ale using Windsor. I never experienced any pouring issues with those multiple batches.

Cheers!

 

I guessing our observations are probably based on our personal tolerance levels for the amount of sedimentation in a pour. I'm not a cloudy beer hater by any definition but I love a crystal clear pour with most beer styles.

 

Or equivalently it could be a variable of pouring skill.

Cheers!

 

Some swear must cold crash.
Others meh, why bother, eh?
Both produce clear beer.

-HoMeBRew HiaKu

 

Cold crash in the fermenter at least 24 hours before bottling and don't worry about using gelatin.

 

Wouldnt stirring in gelatin increase your exposure to oxygen? I would think this would be a big concern with a hop forward beer

 

It does increase the risk. But only a quick gentle stir is needed. You probably get just as much agitation moving the fermenter around.

 

Would you be able to point me in the direction of some sort of article or documentation regarding the increased risk of oxidation transferring cold beer? Haven't heard this before and would like to read more. I've been cold crashing and transferring immediately without returning to room temp. Never saw any impact compared to beers where I skipped the cold crash step.