Do you Cold Crash? (everyone vote! especially if you don't)

[passedpawn]

Do you put your fermenters in a fridge/freezer/icebath/etc when fermentation is finished in order to clear the beer before racking to the bottling bucket or keg?

It seems that these polls only draw the votes of people who answer in the affirmative, so that's a flaw in the way polls work. Nothing I can do about that.

 

[bob1852]

I'm not a cold crasher.

 

[Howiedw]

Nope. I crash after bottle conditioning and carbonating. I want to make sure that there is enough viable yeast to carbonate when I bottle.

 

[lowtones84]

Not most of the time. But if it's cold enough in my garage and it's something I want very clear, I have done it.

 

[Bazaar]

It's hot as hell here, so I'll only do it if I have the space. My fridge only holds two fermentation vessels, and if I get impatient, I don't cold crash. Adding gelatin and placing the bottles in the fridge seems to work fine.

 

[LaurieGator]

I have not cold crashed on any beers I have brewed and I have not had a problem with haze.

I may try an experiment this summer (since I have a spare fridge for fermentation and lagering) just to see if it makes any difference.

 

[WDT]

Pole?

I just started doing it with mediocre results (crash for 4-7 days). I'm going to try gelatin for the first time next batch.

 

[terrapinj]

every batch

less junk in the keg

 

[UnDeadPresident]

Not yet, since I'm not equipped to do so. Once I have the ability to (lagering fridge or fermentation chamber), I'll give it a shot and if it works I'll stick with it.

 

[Echoloc8]

Would love to, but I don't have a freezer/fridge big enough. Will, eventually.

-Rich

 

[acidrain]

Yes, every time.

 

[davekippen]

Most of the time. Some styles dont benefit like a Hefe or something super dark. But any IPA or Pale or something like that gets crashed.

 

[Randy_Bugger]

I always CC the primary for 2-3 days.

If I dry hop in the secondary, I'll CC again for 1-2 days.

The beer pours clear and I fart less.

Don't have carb problems.

 

[winterc]

I transfer to keg, wait 6 days with the keg in the fridge, under pressure, then pour the yeast out before drawing a cup to drink.

 

[Keith66]

This is not meant to be sarcastic, but why would I? I have made ales and cider, and stove-top pasteurized the cider. Why cold crash? Trying to learn here. Thanks!

 

[philber]

The beer pours clear and I fart less.

Two good reasons...But I have never done it. I do move all fermentation to a colder room every week, nice clear beer too. Final stage is 55-59*F.

 

[chynes077]

Nope. I crash after bottle conditioning and carbonating. I want to make sure that there is enough viable yeast to carbonate when I bottle.

Same.

 

[bigbeergeek]

I cold crash occasionally. If I'm rinsing/saving yeast from an ale that has only been in the primary for 10 days I'll cold crash for a few days to ensure I get the fully attenuating yeast to drop out. I'll cold crash green beer before it goes into kegs. Of course I old crash before I hit the beer with gelatin if it's going to be show-off beer in a traveling keg.

 

[terrapinj]

This is not meant to be sarcastic, but why would I? I have made ales and cider, and stove-top pasteurized the cider. Why cold crash? Trying to learn here. Thanks!

it's a means of getting yeast and anything else is suspension (proteins, dry hops etc) to drop out of suspension quickly

it's particularly helpful for low flocculating yeast strains or getting pellet hops to sink before racking

 

[demuzik]

I cold crash only when one of the two conditions apply:
1) Brewing lighter beers that I want to clear out quickly
2) Need to speed up primary process to free up a carboy, and want to make sure everything is nice and settled before racking.

 

[rgarry]

Yep

 

[IPA-Hole]

Mostly not but sometimes I do - depends on the style and/or yeast I'm using.
So there! HA!

 

[brewkinger]

I did on my last two batches because I could easily do it in northern Vermont.
I am not sure that I will continue because I do not have a temp control setup yet.

I coincidentally have had issues with one of the batches. Some carbed perfectly, others not much and the last several overcarbed.

So to answer, I have but probably will not continue until I have a better grasp of the effects and have temp control or winter comes around again and I can do it cheaply.

 

[shelly_belly]

I do after I rack to the keg so I'm confused by your poll.

 

[passedpawn]

I do after I rack to the keg so I'm confused by your poll.

I think the best way is to cold crash before the kegging. Of course we keep our kegs cold when serving (and bottles too), but that's not the "cold crashing" I'm talking about.

 

[shelly_belly]

I rack into a keg with a shortened dip tube then cold crash, carb and serve.

 

[Varmintman]

Man PD when I read the title of the thread I thought you had been talking to my wife and that little incident that happened last week. Man was that ever cold crashing for me for awhile

Nope I do not cold crash but store the bottles in my cellar for a month or more before serving them. Never had any issues with cloudy beer doing that

 

[BigFloyd]

Do you put your fermenters in a fridge/freezer/icebath/etc when fermentation is finished in order to clear the beer before racking to the bottling bucket or keg?

It seems that these polls only draw the votes of people who answer in the affirmative, so that's a flaw in the way polls work. Nothing I can do about that.

I put this over in the Beginner Brewers forum to encourage more voting.

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f39/if-you-cold-crash-please-vote-poll-protect-your-right-do-so-402662/#post5073510

Wow. So far that looks like a bit more than 10%.

 

[passedpawn]

I put this over in the Beginner Brewers forum to encourage more voting.

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f39/if-you-cold-crash-please-vote-poll-protect-your-right-do-so-402662/#post5073510

Wow. So far that looks like a bit more than 10%.

I still stick by my 10% number. The poll is flawed. This forum draws OCD enthusiasts, and polls draw them too.

There's a whole world of brewers out there, and they aren't cold crashing. Go check out the Mr. Beer forum if you don't believe me. This guy has 10,000 posts there and is considering cold crashing to clear his beer. If you are reading this post, you are infected.

 

[Braufessor]

Never.

 

[jethro55]

Nope - it's a struggle to handle it and carry it that far. Too dang old.

 

[DirtyOldDuck]

Since there was no option for "sometimes" I voted "no." I usually don't have room in the beer fridge, but I have been known to cold-crash on the back deck if the temperature is right. If I had the right equipment, I would cold-crash more often.

 

[TBaGZ]

Going to start.

 

[BigFloyd]

I still stick by my 10% number. The poll is flawed. This forum draws OCD enthusiasts, and polls draw them too.

There's a whole world of brewers out there, and they aren't cold crashing. Go check out the Mr. Beer forum if you don't believe me. This guy has 10,000 posts there and is considering cold crashing to clear his beer. If you are reading this post, you are infected.

Ah yes. My friend "The Hat" (aka Fedora Dave) is coming over to the way of wisdom. Good for him.

My guess as to why even more brewers don't - - - they aren't set up for it......yet. When someone gets rigged with a temp controller and a freezer/fridge to control their ferment temps, one day it dawns on them, "hey, I can cold crash easy with this.":rockin:

 

[BassBeer]

I've been doing it with my last 10 batches or so. It's incredibly easy as long as you have the equipment, clears the beer of all the dryhop particles, most yeast, and gives me a head start on carbing since it's already cold when it hits the keg. Love it!

Next experiment for me is to cold crash before I dry hop to see if I perceive any better flavor/aroma extraction. I've read that any yeast still in suspension will coat hop oils and take them away when they settle to the bottom. Anyone tested this? Think I'll try it with the 10gallon batch I just brewed.

 

[Yooper]

I don't think I've ever cold crashed, but I thought about doing it since I could stick a carboy/bucket in my kegerator without too much trouble. But I haven't yet.

 

[PDX_T]

I cold crash every time. I leave if there for a week, ale or lager.

I've been doing it with my last 10 batches or so. It's incredibly easy as long as you have the equipment, clears the beer of all the dryhop particles, most yeast, and gives me a head start on carbing since it's already cold when it hits the keg. Love it!

Next experiment for me is to cold crash before I dry hop to see if I perceive any better flavor/aroma extraction. I've read that any yeast still in suspension will coat hop oils and take them away when they settle to the bottom. Anyone tested this? Think I'll try it with the 10gallon batch I just brewed.

Let us know how the dry hop experiment goes. I would think that cold beer would not make a good solvent for the hops oils. It could be more subtle and spicy/woody, which could be a good thing.

 

[MoanaDrifter]

Yes if kegging/force carbing
No if bottling/bottle conditioning

 

[Zamial]

No I never have cold crashed anything. I do however filter most beers w a 5 micron filter.

 

[ron,ar]

I just started cold crashing and I think it is good for some recipes..