Cold Crashing 101??

[Donutz]

I brewed as Stone Ruination Clone Extract with some grains a few weeks ago and I dry hopped it on Monday. This weekend I wanted to try cold crashing it and then keg it... OR... keg it and then cold crash it. I asked a similar question a few weeks ago but I am still fairly confused. When do I cold Crash? How Long do I cold crash? Best temperature to cold Crash??

I have a deep freezer than I can put the 5 gallon bucket into if need be. I also have my kegerator that I'm still having trouble getting the temperature to stay steady at 34 degrees (even after I hooked up an external Johnson Controller)....
So, that being said, where should I put it and how long should I put it there for?

 

[Saiko]

I cold crash at 33, but you don't need to go that cold. I think if ya get it down to 40 for a couple of days then keg it. You can cold crash in the keg also and then just the first pint or two will be cloudy unless you move the keg.

 

[Donutz]

I cold crash at 33, but you don't need to go that cold. I think if ya get it down to 40 for a couple of days then keg it. You can cold crash in the keg also and then just the first pint or two will be cloudy unless you move the keg.

Would it be ok to cold crash in the primary and then keg the beer and then put back into the kegerator? Would I still be cold crashing it if I put CO2 on it?

 

[revelation]

The whole idea of chilling the beer down is to get particles to drop out of suspension. You want that in a fermentor not in the keg. If you keg it and then chill it, you are going to end up with a bunch of trub at the bottom of the keg.

 

[Saiko]

Cold crash the fermentor. you will end up with a pretty dense cake of yeast and trub with clear beer that is easy to rack off.

 

[Donutz]

Sounds great! How long and at what temps should the cold crashing be?

 

[phyllobeddo]

I cold crashed a batch last Sunday and then kegged it the next Saturday. I put it in the wine fridge at about 39 degrees. Seemed to work fine. That's the first time I have cold crashed a batch.