cold crashing with ice bath

[beerhound28]

Hello everyone
I have a belgian finishing up..im using wy1388... very low flocculation with this yeast..I want to cold crash it in a ice bath to help clear it out..my question is can the carboy handle and ice bath without cracking? I wish i had a extra fridge but my only option is a ice bath...Anybody have any suggestions..Also i know that cold crashing creates a suction and can pull the solution out of the airlock and into the brew..so would using foil over the carboy mouth be good? or a balloon..whats best? cheers

 

[dbreienrk1]

Carboy will be fine in an ice bath. I have done this several times. You are correct that suck-back is an issue. I physically remove the airlock, but leave the carboy bung in and cover it with tin-foil. After the beer is cold (~24 hours), I replace the foil with a freshly sanitized airlock. Probably no need to do this, but I'm always paranoid about contamination....

 

[beerhound28]

Carboy will be fine in an ice bath. I have done this several times. You are correct that suck-back is an issue. I physically remove the airlock, but leave the carboy bung in and cover it with tin-foil. After the beer is cold (~24 hours), I replace the foil with a freshly sanitized airlock. Probably no need to do this, but I'm always paranoid about contamination....

pretty much use the foil until the temp regulates correct? once regulated the vaccum will no longer be an issue is that right?..thank you cheers btw how effective is the ice bath method?

 

[dbreienrk1]

You are correct on the temp regulation. It works fairly well. I think the last time I did it I had a 10lb bag of ice. I used my brew kettle as the outer tub and just put my 5gal carboy in it and filled the gaps with ice. Did it for 48 hours and replaced ice before work and before bed.

It is a pain to get out of the brew kettle so the brew hauler came in handy...

 

[beerhound28]

You are correct on the temp regulation. It works fairly well. I think the last time I did it I had a 10lb bag of ice. I used my brew kettle as the outer tub and just put my 5gal carboy in it and filled the gaps with ice. Did it for 48 hours and replaced ice before work and before bed.

It is a pain to get out of the brew kettle so the brew hauler came in handy...

awesome..glad i have a brew hauler as well..i think im gonna use my cooler mash tun as the outer tub..so the ice does not melt as fast...thanks again cheers