"Clear" layer in carboy after cold crash

[patchedboard]

So I cold crashed my batch yesterday in prep for kegging. I went to check on it this morning and there is an almost "clear" layer up where the hops were. What am I seeing here? I added some biofine clear before I crashed as I always do, but I've never seen this before.

Thoughts?

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[Psylocide]

That's your blow off water and sanitizer... it sucked it all back in. See how your jug is empty?

Ouch.

Do not leave a blowoff tube attached in a tub of water/sanitizer.

I used to use sanitized aluminum foil for cold crashing, now I just crash in the keg.

 

[patchedboard]

Yup, now that you say it. I'm sure that's what happened. Gunna try to save it but we'll see what happens...

 

[Gavin C]

You could try syphoning out the top layer of sanitizer. Do it without moving the carboy if you can as it will likely get even more mixed in than it already is.

 

[patchedboard]

This was a total noob mistake too, it's never happened before because I know better than to put the blowoff bottle into the fridge... Palmface headwall

 

[passedpawn]

Yep, I've seen that before (ugh). I know people will say it's OK, but it wasn't in my case. I did it to a IPA and had to dump it. Even though I tried to siphon carefully, the beer ended up with a very soapy flavor. It might have been a coincidence and have been caused by something unrelated. Anyway, I'm very careful now to get that blowoff removed before cold crashing.

 

[chickypad]

I've done it too and did not have success trying to siphon off the top layer. If you're going to do it I'd actually try siphoning the beer out from below and see how it goes.

 

[patchedboard]

That's what I'm going to try

 

[Gavin C]

Take a gravity reading of what you get when you try to separate the two (water and beer)

See how much it has dropped from your FG reading. You will be able to work out how much sanitizer (~99% water) has been added. The figure might make you hesitant to package it up. Give it a good generous tasting too.

 

[3toes]

Ohhh man... Seeing this I realize how super lucky I am that this didn't just happen to me. I set my chamber down to 34 last night to cold crash in my bucket and didn't remove the blow-off. Woke up this morning to the surface of my jug frozen over, but still with the sanitizer in it.

Definitely not going to risk this scenario again.

 

[Psylocide]

That's the thing... when you cold crash, you are effectively halting the yeast's activity for the time being.

Absolutely no need for a blow off setup after initial ferment and krausen drops, and even more so when you are putting the yeast into a dormant state.

 

[patchedboard]

I racked it from the bottom. I have a sankey coupler with a ball valve on it so I was able to stop the flow when I wanted. Drew it down until the separation line was at the 1 gallon mark on the carboy. So I got about 4.5 gal of beer out of it. Took a gravity reading was 1.010, so pretty close. Put it on gas and back in the fridge. We'll see in a few days when it's carbed. Tasted ok though, no off flavor

 

[Gavin C]

I racked it from the bottom. I have a sankey coupler with a ball valve on it so I was able to stop the flow when I wanted. Drew it down until the separation line was at the 1 gallon mark on the carboy. So I got about 4.5 gal of beer out of it. Took a gravity reading was 1.010, so pretty close. Put it on gas and back in the fridge. We'll see in a few days when it's carbed. Tasted ok though, no off flavor

Nicely done. What was the measured FG before the little mishap?

 

[djonesax]

Call me crazy or stupid I wonder if you could have put a racking cane in it and then dropped the temp to 31 degrees to freeze the sanitizer and rack the beer from under it? I leave my airlock with sanitizer on when cold-crashing and the sanitizer sometimes freezes but the beer doesn't. I'd be a little afraid it might break the carboy though if it was glass.

David

 

[patchedboard]

1.011. But I took gravity from what was left in the carboy after racking so I'm hoping there wasn't too much diffusion.

 

[patchedboard]

It did taste a little watered down. But that's flat. And you can't judge how it really turned out until it's fully carbed up.

 

[cannman]

Happened to me, its the sanitizer.

Rack under it, you'll be fine.

 

[patchedboard]

So here it is. Not bad. Very drinkable. But not quite as bold as it's supposed to be.

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