Cold Crashing
It’s the time of year where many brewers are planning crisp and refreshing brews to tackle the summer heat. And while everyone has their favorite styles, most folks equate crisp and refreshing with light-colored and crystal clear pints of beer.
Clarity is not a priority for every brewer or brew, and many beers will turn out fairly clear without any help. But those lawnmower beers don’t look quite as refreshing if they’re hazy. Even without kegging systems or filtering equipment, there are some techniques that can help. One of those is cold crashing.
Cold crashing is performed when the beer is fully fermented and ready to be packaged. The process involves lowering the temperature of the beer very quickly to near-freezing and holding it for about 24 hours. Once the beer has cleared, it is packaged. This process does require a fridge large enough to hold your fermenter or some other method of rapid cooling.
The goal is to force the remaining yeast to flocculate (clump together and fall out of suspension). This can be especially helpful when using a strain with low to medium flocculation performance during fermentation.
