I have my batch of Ferocious in the secondary right now. After some research on the net. I decided to put the carboy in the fridge and cold crash it. I am hoping to keg Thursday evening. I noticed this morning that the bubbles in the airlock were going the wrong way. I am using the “s” style airlock with tap water in it. After doing more research, which I guess I should have done before cold crashing. I find that people are putting vodka in the airlock to try and kill off anything that may be in the air getting sucked into the carboy. I’m at the point of the ship has already sailed and there is nothing I can do, but keg on Thursday and hope for the best.
When you cold crash what do you do with the airlock? I also see where some will remove the airlock and put a piece of sanitized tinfoil over the top of the carboy. I have also seen where people will put a bung in that doesn’t have a hole to keep air out. I don’t really like this idea because then I will be putting the carboy under a negative. When I take the solid bung out I will be introducing a rush of air. Not to mention what if the bung gets sucked into the carboy?
Any advice you folks can give would be great.
I usually just put some foil over it or use a 3-piece airlock with little less sanitizer than usual.
With the foil over it, aren’t you still letting air into the carboy? Or is that not a concern at that point in the game?
You have to use top shelf vodka. Tried Smirnoff and it ruined a batch. Lately I find Tito’s to be the best. 
RDWHAH
That tiny amount of air will not funk up a beer. Don’t think vodka, star san, or plain ole tap water in the air lock really makes a difference. I am not anal about sterilizing the fridge either…
Not a big deal. It will be fine. The small amount of Star San solution that could get sucked back in won’t matter either.
Air getting in at this point isn’t really a big concern, as long as you’re not sloshing the beer around. If you move it around and slosh and swirl, then you’d have some oxidized beer.
Thank you for the replies.
[quote=“Templar”]Not a big deal. It will be fine. The small amount of Star San solution that could get sucked back in won’t matter either.
Air getting in at this point isn’t really a big concern, as long as you’re not sloshing the beer around. If you move it around and slosh and swirl, then you’d have some oxidized beer.[/quote]
I will be moving it about 20 feet across the basement back to the brewing closet. Right after that it will be going into a keg that I will purge with co2 before racking into.
+1 on all of that, though for the last 20 years or so I’ve just been using foil to cover the carboy.
However, I do leave the carboy in the fridge for three to five days, and sometimes even longer…mainly just because I’m usually not in a rush to keg it. But as a bonus, the extra time does result on cleaner brew anyway.
+1 I rush my beers, but I still cold crash a week. No need for clarifiers and the yeast is nice and compact. Less homebrew gas…
I racked to the keg this evening. It has good color and I think it tasted great for flat beer. I will give another updated in a few days when it is ready to drink.
