rtstrider
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I was wanting to get some advice from those that cold crash. I have tried cold crashing both a lager (well I guess the technical term is I "lagered" a lager) and a blonde ale. The lager used Saflager w34/70 and the blonde was us-05. I racked these brews over to a sterilized carboy before cold crashing and used a three piece airlock in a carboy stopper covered with sanitized foil until the temps stabilized to keep the amount of sanitizer sucked down to a minimum. I cold crashed at 32F for 3 weeks both times after adding gelatin. There's something in my process that ends up with VERY cloudy wort. I BIAB and do not whirlpool but I use Whirlfloc at the 10 minute mark each brew with both a good hot and cold break. I dump all the trub in the fermenter. Anywho back on topic. I taste tested both of these brews before and after cold crashing and they both tasted just fine without any off flavors. The off flavors came AFTER bottling. I kept my process the same as I have before and after these brews (boil the priming solution, etc). So I'm thinking this may be a stressed yeast issue or maybe oxidation? Anywho (I'm not TOO familiar with oxidation or stressed yeast so forgive me lol) the lager has a very strong fruit ester while the blonde is much more subtle fruit. The best way to explain it is a weird pear/bubblegum ester in both. The guys at the homebrew shop say that typically happens when there's not enough yeast but I wanted to see if anyone else had run into this? Btw I have saved some brews prior to these batches and have brewed a few batches after these. Neither have this off flavor so it's something to do with the cold crashing effect.
My other question is I would like to brew another lager (warm ferment w34/70) but instead of bulk lagering would it be possible to bottle after fermentation and just lager in the bottles?
Edit: Also wanted to mention on the lager batch I bottled while the beer was cold right out of the cold crash. I racked the blonde over to the bottling bucket and let it warm up for a day or so (with a lid and airlock on the bucket) until it was around 70F just to rule out yeast shock due to temp changes
My other question is I would like to brew another lager (warm ferment w34/70) but instead of bulk lagering would it be possible to bottle after fermentation and just lager in the bottles?
Edit: Also wanted to mention on the lager batch I bottled while the beer was cold right out of the cold crash. I racked the blonde over to the bottling bucket and let it warm up for a day or so (with a lid and airlock on the bucket) until it was around 70F just to rule out yeast shock due to temp changes
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