johnnyboy1965
Landlord.
There really is no need, in fact it will do more damage, than good. You only need to cold crash if you want a "bright" beer for putting in a Cornie.
Why Bother Cold Crashing After Fermentation?
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MyQul
Chairman of the Bored
I agree. You dont HAVE to CC. It all depends on how much value you put on clear beer. Whilst I'm more than happy to drink cloudy HB, I find a crystal clear beer in nice glassware makes a beer more appeising looking. As a chef with many years experience, Im sure I dont have to tell to you, 'the first bite is with the eye'. I think the same can apply to beer too
strange-steve
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What damage do you reckon is caused by cold crashing? It's certainly not a necessary step but to answer your question, if you want clear beer then it will certainly speed up the process.
johnnyboy1965
Landlord.
Ive never cold crashed and all of my beers are crystal clear (apart from Wheats, that are intentionally cloudy).
It goes like this:-
Your yeast is happily fermenting away a 22oC. Its done its job and consumed all the available sugar.
Then you decide to cold crash, the yeast is now cold and has nothing to eat, so will sink to the bottom (not die) just sink to the bottom.
you now have a quite clear beer, sitting on top of dormant yeast.
You transfer to bottles/kegs/whatever and give it some more food (priming sugar) and put it somewhere warm (to carbonate).
Its still going to be cloudy until the yeast has eaten all the priming sugars, its going through another fermentation stage.
As we all know yeast is a living organism...How would you like it if you were taking a nice warm bath and then some one throws a bucket of cold water on you.
Keep your beer at a constant temp ie....2 weeks fermenting....2 weeks secondary (bottles/kegs) and then crash the daylights out of it, to get the yeast cells to drop.
Your Welcome
It goes like this:-
Your yeast is happily fermenting away a 22oC. Its done its job and consumed all the available sugar.
Then you decide to cold crash, the yeast is now cold and has nothing to eat, so will sink to the bottom (not die) just sink to the bottom.
you now have a quite clear beer, sitting on top of dormant yeast.
You transfer to bottles/kegs/whatever and give it some more food (priming sugar) and put it somewhere warm (to carbonate).
Its still going to be cloudy until the yeast has eaten all the priming sugars, its going through another fermentation stage.
As we all know yeast is a living organism...How would you like it if you were taking a nice warm bath and then some one throws a bucket of cold water on you.
Keep your beer at a constant temp ie....2 weeks fermenting....2 weeks secondary (bottles/kegs) and then crash the daylights out of it, to get the yeast cells to drop.
Your Welcome
johnnyboy1965
Landlord.
No it wont. Only gravity will clear your beer
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But throwing cold water over me what really do me any harm so I fail to see how you can use that as an example of how it will do any harm.
Cold crashing also helps drop excess yeast out of the beer, resulting in clearer beer and less sediment.
Cold crashing also helps drop excess yeast out of the beer, resulting in clearer beer and less sediment.
strange-steve
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Yes it will. You said you've never done it yet you're adamant it doesn't work. And you still haven't told us what damage it does.
Some of you are missing the point. Crystal clear beer to the naked eye still has millions of yeast cells in suspension , more than enough for carbonation. CC forces the yeast into dormancy faster speeding up sedimentation depending on flocculation. When in the bottle & warmed up again the yeast will reactivate & multiply, consuming the priming sugar until equilibrium is reached once again, with carbonation.
The key is the amount of yeast cells transferered. If CC is done properly only a dusting of yeast at the bottom of the bottle should be present, not 1/4 inch you see in some bottled homebrew.
The key is the amount of yeast cells transferered. If CC is done properly only a dusting of yeast at the bottom of the bottle should be present, not 1/4 inch you see in some bottled homebrew.
Since I started cold crashing my beers are clearer, that's all the evidence I need that it works.
More importantly, I also have less **** in each bottle so it's easier to pour and I lose less.
I agree that if you cold crash too early you can increase the amount of time needed to condition the beer so it is important to time it correctly.
More importantly, I also have less **** in each bottle so it's easier to pour and I lose less.
I agree that if you cold crash too early you can increase the amount of time needed to condition the beer so it is important to time it correctly.
Cold crashing is superb when I apply a large dry hop with pellets,they float on the surface for five days then I drop temp to 3 degrees,all the pellets sink to the bottom after one day! Since doing this I don't even need to transfer to secondary,I fully support cold crashing when dry hopping :thumb:
I disagree, when my beer is finished, like after say 4 weeks in the FV, it gets crashed, if you shine a torch through the fv with the room lights out you can actually see the clear layer moving lower and lower in the FV, at 3 degrees it takes about 4 days for most beers to clear, there is still enough yeast in suspension for carbing. Cold crashing is not only about yeast but about proteins that don't come out of solution at room temp., but when you chill your beers, there they are, suddenly cloudy ! Enter chill haze. Cold crashing IMO does no harm to your beer.
BREWERS DROOP
Landlord.
Since cold crashing it's resulted in a far crisper looking beer,but it does not damage the remaining yeast,it becomes dormant until its warmed up again.Everybody choice really.
BREWERS DROOP
Landlord.
If priming for carbonation fermentation needs to be complete before cold crashing otherwise you risk over carbonation as the yeast consumes the priming sugar & the unfermented sugars in the bottled beer.
You can carbonate without adding additional sugar by using the sugar content scale on your hydrometer and cold crashing at just the right moment towards the end of fermentation.risky though if you get it wrong....exploding bottles!
I was thinking more so that if you crash after primary fermentation is complete but while the yeast is still clearing up diactyl so a day or two after fermentation finishes.
Johnny,don't you agree it helps sink the hop pellets?
I don't even care about clear beers,it just saves me from transferring to a secondary
If diacytle flavour (butterscotch) is what you want in your beer to some degree. diacytle is a by product of fermentation, some yeast produce more than others & fermentation temp has a lot to play. Its is usually undesirable, not allways though. Your rght the yeast will cleer it up.
What i like to do is transfer to a secondary fermentation & leave for 3 weeks or so CC for a few days then bottle.
