What if I don't cold crash a lager?

[fuggled]

Hi all, thanks for the responses. So I went for it and cold crashed the FV down to 3C for about 36 hours. I’ve now just brought it back in the house. My additional question is do I need to wait until it gets back up to room temp (20C ish) to bottle, or is it ok to bottled while still cold and then bottle condition (doing 3 weeks warm, and then 4 weeks+ cold)?

 

[Maxonian]

https://www.brewersfriend.com/beer-priming-calculator/

 

[Maxonian]

I use this and it’s never let me down.

 

[fuggled]

I use this and it’s never let me down.

Thank you. Is that the temperature that you prime and bottle at, or the temperature you intend to bottle condition at? The beer is currently about 5c so do I use that or the temp I’m going to warm condition at prior to lagering for a month or two?

 

[RichardM]

Thank you. Is that the temperature that you prime and bottle at, or the temperature you intend to bottle condition at? The beer is currently about 5c so do I use that or the temp I’m going to warm condition at prior to lagering for a month or two?

As it says at the bottom of the calculator page

* Temperature of Beer used for computing dissolved CO2:
The beer you are about to package already contains some CO2 since it is a naturally occurring byproduct of fermentation. The amount is temperature dependent. The temperature to enter is usually the fermentation temperature of the beer, but might also be the current temperature of the beer. If the fermentation temperature and the current beer temperature are the same life is simple.

However, if the beer was cold crashed, or put through a diacetyl rest, or the temperature changed for some other reason... you will need to use your judgment to decide which temperature is most representative. During cold crashing, some of the CO2 in the head space will go back into the beer. If you cold crashed for a very long time this may represent a significant increase in dissolved CO2. There is a lot of online debate about this and the internet is thin on concrete answers backed by research. We are open to improving the calculator so please let us know of any sources that clarify this point.

 

[fuggled]

As it says at the bottom of the calculator page

Thanks! It sounds like we’re at the cutting edge here... I think I’ll bottle tomorrow and it’ll be closer to room temp, and then just use the calculator to prime it

 

[Scrattajack]

As it says at the bottom of the calculator page

That's all a bit vague to me, really. It's saying that if you cold crash ( i.e. whack it in a fridge for 24 hours) then you have to choose whether to carbonate using cold crash or fermentation temperature as input to the calculator. You choose. Then it goes on to say that they've no idea if it's accurate because evidence based on research is thin on the ground.

Forgive me if I've missed something but it just seems to muddy the waters.

 

[RichardM]

That's all a bit vague to me, really. It's saying that if you cold crash ( i.e. whack it in a fridge for 24 hours) then you have to choose whether to carbonate using cold crash or fermentation temperature as input to the calculator. You choose. Then it goes on to say that they've no idea if it's accurate because evidence based on research is thin on the ground.

Forgive me if I've missed something but it just seems to muddy the waters.

That was the point I was making. No one really knows the answer about which temperature you should use.

 

[Maxonian]

I agree that their advice does seem a tad unhelpful. When using this calculator I always input the current temperature of the beer, regardless of how long it’s been cold crashing for, and I’ve never had a batch that was massively over or under carbonated for their style.

 

[Drunkula]

Use the temperature you fermented at for the calculator. Basically the highest temperature when there was still active fermentation.