How Cold Is "Cold Crash"?

chuck_n · September 28, 2013, 3:07pm

I don’t have a refrigerator to cold crash my five gallon bucket fermenter. So what I did was build a Styrofoam box that fits over the bucket with enough room to put several of those plastic, re-seal-able food containers filled with water and then frozen, in stacks with the bucket. (If you read it enough it will make sense. :? ) I can do a real good job of controlling my fermenting temps using this.

But now I’m trying to do a cold crash. So far I’ve got the temp - according to the thermometer stuck to the side of the bucket - down to 56°. How cold do I have to get to achieve a good cold crash?

chad041 · September 28, 2013, 7:56pm

You want the beer to be close to freezing to get a good cold crash. I crash mine around 33. You will get a good clear beer if you can leave it like that for awhile.

itspossible · September 28, 2013, 8:38pm

I also go down around 30f, but any temp around/under 50f will help the yeast to flocculate to the bottom of the vessel.

canukian · September 30, 2013, 3:14am

Those temps are good to know. Fridge my first Altbier, trying to hit 40, was only getting like 36 or 44… Those posts made me decide to stick with 36. Thank you!

chris_p · October 1, 2013, 11:27pm

Close to 32F for a week or so.

the_professor · October 2, 2013, 1:02am

Same here…I crash in the carboy. I get it down to 33°F first (2 days) then add gelatin and leave it be (3-4 days or until I have time to rack it to the keg).