Question about cold crashing

[thisgoestoeleven]

I brewed an IPA last weekend, and fermentation was all done so I got it off the yeast into a secondary this morning. My question is, since I'm not dryhopping or adding any adjuncts, and the secondary would only really be for clarity and time anyway, is there a compelling reason not to cold crash for 2 weeks and bottle instead of leaving it at room temp and THEN cold crashing?

 

[day_trippr]

Cold crashing a barely week old brew would pretty much bring its development to an immediate end. Seems way early to me. I'd at least give it a week near room temperature before chucking it in the fridge...

Cheers!

 

[Xpertskir]

Yes.

Cold conditioning, room temp conditioning, and cold crashing are all different things and have different benefits.


Leave it at room temp until a few days before bottling(or kegging) and then cold crash.

Also, it's not an IPA without dry hopping.

 

[Teromous]

I came across this when I was doing research before starting my first lager. Although it does depend a lot on the yeast strain and is mostly done for lagers, I believe it does have relevance to your topic when considering cold-crashing at such an early stage:

"Many brewers make the mistake to quickly crash the fermentation temperature following
terminal gravity. Why not? The beer is done, people are thirsty, and there is no taste of diacetyl in the
beer. Even though the diacetyl can't be tasted, however, the beer may contain high levels of the precursor,
acetolactate, which can be converted to diacetyl. Once the yeast is removed, there is no way to get rid of
the diacetyl."

-Christopher White, Ph.D.
Source

 

[thisgoestoeleven]

so I racked it to secondary, I'll leave it for 2 weeks or however long it takes to clear, cold crash a few days, and bottle?

 

[day_trippr]

^ There ya go. That also gives you a handful of days to dry hop!

Cheers!

 

[Jimbob904]

Ok, does the lack of time to clear the diacetyl and precursors hold true for ciders too?

 

[Cyclman]

Beer will always get better leaving in on the yeast in primary for 3+ weeks, it'll also clear better. I'm not a fan of secondary, unless ageing or adding something. I hate cleaning carboys.