Crashing your Fementation before Kegging

[Big Tex]

It seems that many pro-brewers crash their ales to near freezing for a couple of days before racking. Who out there that have the capability mess with doing this? And for those that do, have you found that it makes enough of difference in the beer to be worth the time and effort?

[roger456]

I make a concerted effort to do this for all of my brews-- the benefit is that you get clearer beer and a tightly compacted yeast cake that is less likely to get stirred back into suspension by your racking cane.

edit: I ferment inside of a temp controlled fridge, so there is no effort required. I dial the temp down from ferm temp to 40F.

[Mylo]

Yep. +1. Me too. What he said ^^^^


Mylo

[Big Tex]

How long do you guys leave it at near freezing temps? I've talked to a few brewers that leave their beers at this temp for up to 7-8 days.

[roger456]

Not necessary to leave it that long. One or two days should be sufficient at 35-40F.

[UhrigBrauer]

Just remember that the air inside the brewing vessel of choice will create a vacuum when you drop the temperature to freezing..i.e. if you have a blow-off hose replace with an airlock or a tube/syringe deal that has some air filtering material in it. Don't put too much solution/water in the airlock as it could pull some of that in as well if its full enough. You could also transfer it to a corny key as a conditioning vessel then drop the temps.

nothing like opening your brew-fridge to find that the brown-puddle your blow off was sittin in just "disappeared"!!!

peace out,
JC

[roger456]

Good point. I am generally fermenting in corny kegs, so by the time I cold crash, the fermenter is all sealed up and has been hit with CO2.

BTW: You should be dryhopping before you cold crash. You will get better extraction of the hop aromatics.

[hotrod38]

One, to two, days for me, seems to do the trick.