I am new to brewing so not too sure about cold crashing and if it is ok for all beers.
I just brewed a batch of the Caribou Slobber and the Black IPA and was wondering if it would be ok to cold crash at the end of the fermentation stage. And I let the primary get back up to room temperature before bottling?
Thanks!
Personally, since you’ve got 2 dark beers on your hands I wouldn’t worry too much about clarity. I would just leave in primary undisturbed until you’re ready to bottle. However…when you dry hop, and are ready to bottle, cold crashing will drop out all the little hop bits that will be floating around your still beer. BUT… IF you crash it for too long it will drop all the yeast out of solution, and there won’t be any left around to carbonate your bottles.
Cheers!!
[quote=“The Fhunt”]BUT… IF you crash it for too long it will drop all the yeast out of solution, and there won’t be any left around to carbonate your bottles.
[/quote]
disagree with this one. Before I started kegging, I had 2 lagers that were at 33* for 8 weeks and I still bottle-conditioned those without re-yeasting. You aren’t filtering or pasteurizing, you are simply dropping out some of the larger proteins and SOME of the yeast cells, but even after an extended cold store, you will have plenty of viable yeast dissolved for bottle conditioning.
Also to the OP, your plan is fine. Cold crash, gel and some cold storage will help precipitate out some of the odd compounds in the complex soup you made and help it taste a little cleaner. Just make sure you let it continue to ferment (at your fermentation temp or slightly higher) for a few days after your gravity is stable before cold crashing/adding gel.
[quote=“Pietro”][quote=“The Fhunt”]BUT… IF you crash it for too long it will drop all the yeast out of solution, and there won’t be any left around to carbonate your bottles.
[/quote]
disagree with this one. Before I started kegging, I had 2 lagers that were at 33* for 8 weeks and I still bottle-conditioned those without re-yeasting. You aren’t filtering or pasteurizing, you are simply dropping out some of the larger proteins and SOME of the yeast cells, but even after an extended cold store, you will have plenty of viable yeast dissolved for bottle conditioning.
Also to the OP, your plan is fine. Cold crash, gel and some cold storage will help precipitate out some of the odd compounds in the complex soup you made and help it taste a little cleaner. Just make sure you let it continue to ferment (at your fermentation temp or slightly higher) for a few days after your gravity is stable before cold crashing/adding gel.[/quote]
If I did decide to cold crash, should I bring the temperature back up before I bottle. Or is it OK to bottle direct from the refrigerator.
I would bring it back up to ambient, otherwise it may take longer to carb. And just to be clear, adding some additional yeast at bottling can’t hurt, though I just personally haven’t found it necessary.
