How long is too long to cold crash in primary?

[Tommydee]

Short story is I brewed a batch at Amarillo hopped saison, put it in the freezer to cold crash, then totally screwed up my back. I have the 5 gallon carboy wrapped in foil, so as not to suck in a bunch of starsan. It was in primary for 14 days, now it's been at 34 degrees for 14 more, all on the yeast cake. Can I leave this another week before kegging? I bought some stuff to build a pulley, but won't have time to get a helping hand to get this out of the chamber. And I really can't lift anything more than five pounds right now. I'm also worried that I might have too much oxygenation with the foil on for two weeks, and am running down now to put an airlock on.

Short question! Will this be ok, and any harm leaving in one more week? Two weeks more?

 

[kh54s10]

I think any harm would be from having it only covered with foil. Oxidation is more likely than any problem with leaving it cold.

 

[bajaedition]

at 34 degrees?
you are fine, relax and have a beer

 

[Tommydee]

So, I rigged some hoists over my kegerator and ferm chamber. Finally wrestled this beer into a keg last week Saturday, carbed, drank today...damn amazing. Beer was 16 days free rise fermentation, then cold crashed for a total of 5 weeks on the trub. Foil only for 3 of the 5 weeks. No signs of oxidation, a great saison. Similar to Brooklyn sorachi ace, but better.

Due to a super fine grind from the LHBS, this ended up a bit strong at 7.9%, but as good as a saison I've ever drank outside of Belgium. Thanks to Drew of experimental Brewing.com for this awesome recipe. Sorry for not using the proper glass!

 

[flars]

That is a pretty glass of beer. Oxidation is more likely to happen at warm temperatures if the beer is sloshed or stirred up. A foil cap to keep bugs out is just as good as an air lock. Air locks don't keep air out. They allow for gasses to escape and keep creepy crawly things from going in. Nothing will stop molecules from seeking equilibrium in the atmosphere.

 

[day_trippr]

[...]Air locks don't keep air out. They allow for gasses to escape and keep creepy crawly things from going in. Nothing will stop molecules from seeking equilibrium in the atmosphere.

This is so true but it seems to escape many.

To the OP, that's a good looking beer, sure doesn't look like an O2 victim

Cheers!

 

[mongoose33]

I've got a SMASH brewed on 5/7/17, sitting at 32 degrees in my ferm chamber, crashed it a week ago. So it's been in the primary...23 days. I'll probably keg it in a day or two or three, but if it goes 28 days I'm not concerned.

I'd had an interesting event with a previous version (2 or 3 brews ago). I'd crashed it then kegged at 2 weeks, force carbed it, and it was still green. I was pretty disappointed in it, let it sit for a couple more weeks, then tried it again. Magic!

Someone--I think it was RM-MN--suggested just leaving it on the yeast since it clearly needed 4 weeks to be ready. I've done that a couple times, and it's fine--tastes the same as if I kegged it and then let it age and condition.

It's now standard for me to let it sit 2 weeks, 3 weeks, 4 weeks in primary, and I'm not concerned. About all that causes me to move it into a keg is if I need the ferm chamber for a new brew. Which, in about a day or two or three, I'm going to brew.

 

[billl]

That is a pretty glass of beer. Oxidation is more likely to happen at warm temperatures if the beer is sloshed or stirred up. A foil cap to keep bugs out is just as good as an air lock. Air locks don't keep air out. They allow for gasses to escape and keep creepy crawly things from going in. Nothing will stop molecules from seeking equilibrium in the atmosphere.

Airlocks dramatically slow down O2 entry into a fermenter. Comparing them to tinfoil is way off base. It's the microscopic equivalent of an open window vs an insulated wall. Heat eventually equalizes in both cases, but at very different rates.

 

[Tommydee]

It is a good point. Due to noble gas law p=nrt/v, surrounding air is coming into your carboy's headspace during cold crash one way or another unless hermetically sealed during cold crash (pressure drops from ambient, which will lower headspace pressure and pull in air from the chamber)....with airlock, you'll get some starsans as well!

It's a reason I was considering starting to ferment in kegs with spunding valves ala the LODO crowd....but this situation I created really pushed it for a long duration....5 weeks of some O2 in the headspace, albeit at 33 degF. 7 weeks of total trub exposure, but only 2 of which where at ambient temps. Friend, family, and I love this beer, but I probably need to be joining a local homebrewing club to make sure there are no flaws. If not, it's just another data point to support care and patience with fermentation, but also simplicity, and very little reason to secondary, or reason to add more complexity to eliminate O2 on my cold side, just minimize.

FWIW, I close transfer into a 3x Co2 purged keg via a siphon starter into the keg diptube, wit co2 with the gas pin engaged with a spare quick connect (too cheap for ball lock kegs!).then 3x purge at the end before carbing. I think I stole this method from Gavin's thread in the BIAB mixed in with the brulosophy method.