Cold Crash Before Kegging

[bw447]

If I’m going to be kegging a beer and my recipe says to transfer the beer to a second fermentor, should I transfer the beer and then cold crash in my frig before I transfer to the keg? From reading other posts the main reason you transfer to a second fermentor is to clear the beer up or to let it age. The beer I made is a cream ale. I figure cold crash to get the yeast to drop out (I’m going to force carb) and then transfer to the keg. With that being said how long should I cold crash for. The frig is set at 38 to 40 F.

Thanks for the help!

[revleonidas]

…if you can wait, lager it (a.k.a., cold-crash it for a while). What you have going sounds fantastic! Be patient, give it time to “brew” you won’t be sorry!

…If you fermented 7 days in the primary, give it at least 14 days in the secondary; if it’s cool, like less than 68F, try for 21 days; by doing so, you will allow more of the dying yeast to fall out of suspension; thus, only the strong yeast will be available for carbonation.

Looks really good, stick with it!

[cheshire_cat]

I usually transfer to my keg and cold crash in the keg. I also lager in the keg as well.

[positive_voodoo]

I will transfer to a secondary like you have suggested, and drop the temp down into the mid 30s and let it chill for a while. Once I have beer in this phase, I’ve let it sit for weeks until I have room in the kegs, or until it clears.

If you transfer cold beer into the kegs, it’s ready to carbonate right away instead of waiting for it to cool.

[s_scoggin]

you can cold crash it in the primary, then transfer it into the keg for extended cold conditioning (lagering).

it will clear in the primary, AND in the keg - just as clear as it would in a secondary. You could also use some fining agent (biofine, or geletin) to get it crystal clear sooner.

[goldenchild]

I would never waste my time with secondary unless it was in a keg. I cold crash all of my beers in primary then keg them. Skip the secondary just a waste of time. I have some where around a hundred brews and it took about 15 to realize that secondary for the most part was a waste of time.

[panduji68]

@GoldenChild

I would never waste my time with secondary unless it was in a keg. I cold crash all of my beers in primary then keg them. Skip the secondary just a waste of time. I have some where around a hundred brews and it took about 15 to realize that secondary for the most part was a waste of time.

Agreed… If you’re kegging, the keg IS the secondary… It’s just somewhere to sit after getting it off of the yeast cake to clear up. A keg is the perfect place unless you are bottling your beer, which you are not. The keg is perfect for a secondary and you will have nice clear beer unless you didn’t get a nice hot/cold break after the boil. In that case you can add gelatin to your keg after it’s chilled down and achieve perfectly clear beer.

[bw447]

Thanks for all the great info!

So if you transfer to the keg for secondary, do you lose a little bit of beer right at first because the dip tube will be sitting in the yeast that snuck in during the transfer?

If I do use my keg as a secondary do I need to buy a lid that can hold an air lock for any co2 that is created or does the cold crashing pretty much stop the yeast in their tracks and just fall out?

I made 6 gallons this time instead of 5 so I’m hoping to stay away from the yeast cake during the transfer.

Thanks again!

[old_dawg]

With 6 gallons, you could let the beer sit in the primary until it clears, cold crash, then transfer carefully to your keg. If you want to do a secondary, let your beer sit in the primary until it has finished fermenting - meaning the gravity doesn’t change for 3 or 4 days; do not assume that no air lock activity equals no more fermentation. After fermentation has stopped, give the yeast 2 or three days to eat up some of the nasties it produced early in fermentation, then cold crash and keg. You won’t need an air lock on your keg.

When you tap your first pint of beer, you’ll get some yeast sediment brought over during the transfer and from what settled out during secondary, but it will clear after a couple of pints. If you use an extended primary, you’ll pick up much less sediment in the first couple of pints.

Browse through this forum for lots of discussion (and some arguments) about the advantages and disadvantages of a secondary fermentation.

[mattbrew83]

I think best bet is primary as usual then cold crash in primary then rack to keg