1st IPA - Fermentation/bottling questions

I'm doing my first IPA following John Palmer's recipe for Victory & Chaos IPA. I think I've followed the recipe very closely. After one week in the primary I moved the beer to secondary and dryhopped one ounce of loose pellets. Stoppered with an airlock and back to the fermentation chamber at 65F for three weeks.

The day before yesterday I pulled the beer out of the chamber to allow it to warm to room temperature. My intention was to cold crash it today and bottle on Monday (day after tomorrow). But I have run into a couple things that have me puzzled.

The main thing is that after coming up to room temperature (78F +/-) there is some slow but steady activity in the airlock. That tells me there is still some fermentation going on and it is too early to bottle. Right? Wrong?

I have come across opinions on other threads indicating that cold crashing strips some of the flavor from the beer and is probably not a good idea for an IPA. True? Untrue?

The reason for the bubbling is simply the temperature change. If the beer is done, it's done and you can bottle.

I don't have that recipe in front of me, but three weeks is a pretty long time to dryhop. You can cold crash, or not, if the beer needs to drop some yeast to get clear. I would think that after all this time (the beer is a month old?) that the yeast would have dropped out quite a bit by now.

It does seem unusual to warm up the beer, then cold crash it, then warm it up after bottling. It probably won't harm it, but if I was cold crashing, I would have done it when it was 65 degrees and it'll take a lot longer for 78 degree beer to get to 35 degrees when cold crashing.

Airlock activity does not always mean there is fermentation going on. It means that gas is escaping from the beer. Since you raised the temperature and moved the vessel you caused the CO2 in suspension to be released causing it to off gas. If you want to really be sure what is going on then take a hydrometer reading.

There is nothing wrong with cold crashing the beer for a few days to force the beer to clear, IME/IMO it does not strip the beer of anything and helps get a nice clear beer

duboman said:

Airlock activity does not always mean there is fermentation going on. It means that gas is escaping from the beer. Since you raised the temperature and moved the vessel you caused the CO2 in suspension to be released causing it to off gas. If you want to really be sure what is going on then take a hydrometer reading.

There is nothing wrong with cold crashing the beer for a few days to force the beer to clear, IME/IMO it does not strip the beer of anything and helps get a nice clear beer

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OK, so realizing now that the warmer beer would off-gas a little makes a lot of sense. (sort of a duhhh moment ---- but thanks for pointing that out. And thanks also for the reassurance about cold crashing. Still got to figure out how to make that work in my situation.

Yooper said:

It does seem unusual to warm up the beer, then cold crash it, then warm it up after bottling. It probably won't harm it, but if I was cold crashing, I would have done it when it was 65 degrees and it'll take a lot longer for 78 degree beer to get to 35 degrees when cold crashing.

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I got that idea from reading another thread here but I guess I didn't have the correct procedure for cold-crashing really dialed in before I started.

What do you do with the other beer in production? Do you have a separate cooler for cold crashing from the one you use for fermenting?

Puddlethumper said:

I got that idea from reading another thread here but I guess I didn't have the correct procedure for cold-crashing really dialed in before I started.

What do you do with the other beer in production? Do you have a separate cooler for cold crashing from the one you use for fermenting?

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Me? No, I don't cold crash unless it's wine that needs cold stabilization for a couple of months (which is a whole different ballgame, much like lagering).

I don't cold crash beers, but that doesn't mean it doesn't work for those that do!

Yooper said:

I don't cold crash beers, but that doesn't mean it doesn't work for those that do!

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I had about decided not to try the cold crash bit so I lugged the carboy into the kitchen tonight with the idea that the beer was done and would just go ahead and bottle it up. Still have a thin krausen layer on the top and there's little flecks floating around in the beer after moving it. I'm assuming this is the krausen dropping off (?) I'm not seeing anything green on the surface of the beer so I'm guessing the hops have all precipitated to the bottom.

Would you bottle at this point?

The issue I'm running into with this whole cold-crashing bit is what to do with my other beer. I have two fermenters that are 1 week and 2 weeks respectively into production. I have only one freezer for a fermentation chamber. If I try to cold crash a beer I either need to leave the other beers in there and let them get really cold or else move them into the house where they will warm up to 78-80F. Any suggestions?

Puddlethumper said:

I had about decided not to try the cold crash bit so I lugged the carboy into the kitchen tonight with the idea that the beer was done and would just go ahead and bottle it up. Still have a thin krausen layer on the top and there's little flecks floating around in the beer after moving it. I'm assuming this is the krausen dropping off (?) I'm not seeing anything green on the surface of the beer so I'm guessing the hops have all precipitated to the bottom.

Would you bottle at this point?

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Not with a krausen! I'd first check the SG and if it was the same as the last time I checked, I'd check it tomorrow or the next day. If still the same, I'd bottle.

If the Sg changes, I'd wait it out. A krausen often is a sign of fermentation, but sometimes there are remnants of krausen that remain. Or, in some cases, some krausens never fully drop. It depends on the recipe, and the yeast strain in particular. The only thing to really consider is SG readings. If they are stable, and the beer is clear (or clearing well), then it's ready to bottle. Whether that is day 7 or 27, that's the only real way to know.

Yooper said:

The only thing to really consider is SG readings. If they are stable, and the beer is clear (or clearing well), then it's ready to bottle. Whether that is day 7 or 27, that's the only real way to know.

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That works for me. Thanks.