never cold crashed before bottling so I have a few questions before I try it. what is the main purpose to cold crash?
at what temp do you do it?
how many days do you do it before bottling?
is this done for all beers or just certain types?
Get it as cold as you can. I go lower 40’s. My fridge runs too much to get it lower.
I let it sit a couple days. That’s probably the minimum time. You can let it sit as long as you want.
Some people crash all beers to keep sediment out of the keg/bottle. I only crash beers that I want to be really clear. I don’t bother with really dark beers or beers I want cloudy.
When you first start crashing it, watch for your airlock liquid to get sucked in. Just pull it out quickly when it starts getting close to relieve the vacuum. No big deal if some gets sucked in though.
so how soon after I put my carboy in the fridge will the liquid get pulled out of the airlock?
The cool down will create a vacuum and draw it in. When I cold crash, I try to start it in the morning when I will be home all day. I go down every couple hours and loosen the air lock or lid to let it balance out. After 8-12 hours you should be fine.
Or, you can just replace the airlock with a solid stopper or even foil or plastic wrap.
When I cold crash I usually replace the stopper use sanitized water or mix. If get sucked in no big deal but even before I did that never had a probable.
Just preference
I cold crash in my keezer at 36 and haven’t really worried about the airlock. I use starsan in my airlock and there’s maybe a tablespoon in there at that point. If half gets sucked into 5 gallons of beer I haven’t noticed any issue with it. I’ll likely obsess over it now that you guys have brought it to my attention though. Thanks for that. :shock:
A note from experience for bottling a cold beer…
You MUST mix the priming sugar well. The cold temps makes it sink to the bottom quickly.
Mix carefully to not oxidize.
I learned this this hard way…and now some bottles are over carbed, some under, and a few perfect.
I had an issue when cold crashing in a better bottle where the bottle totally collapsed inward. Was pretty scary.
so the only benefit to cold crashing is clearer beer? wouldn’t the same thing happen in the bottle once in the fridge?
I’ve never understood the point of cold crashing if your going to bottle carb. Bottle carbing creates sediment in itself and I’ve never had an issue with trub in any of my bottles.
For kegging/forced carb then yeah, I can see it.
I like to thanks all that gave me there thoughts. I think I will pass this time trying a cold crash. If it made a difference in flavor I might try it.
And on a related note…
When you guys cold crash a beer, or when bottling a lager – do you typically bring the beer up to room temperature prior to bottling?
[quote=“builtindetroit”]And on a related note…
When you guys cold crash a beer, or when bottling a lager – do you typically bring the beer up to room temperature prior to bottling?[/quote]
It has to get to room temp to carbonate, if that is what you are asking. Does not matter if before or after capping, IMHO
I use sanitized aluminum foil over the carboy top with a rubber band around it to avoid the old airlock suckback issue. I have the benefit of having a temperature controlled chest freezer, so I cold crash right at 32 degrees for a week.
[quote=“builtindetroit”]When you guys cold crash a beer, or when bottling a lager – do you typically bring the beer up to room temperature prior to bottling?[/quote]You can bottle cold, but it makes it harder to mix the priming solution into the beer and to keep it in suspension during the bottling session. You can use a long-handled spoon and gently swirl the beer, scraping the bottom of the bucket, after every 6-12 bottles to keep the sugar well-mixed. This is a good to do with room-temp beer, too.
