Cold Crashing

[Otto Von Blotto]

6 hours ago, Journeyman said:

You could try using the method I use for gelatin. I have a jar with metal lid. The lid has multiple nail holes in it on one half and a larger hole in the other half. So I get a watering can effect across the entire top of the brew and have no need to stir anything. 

That wouldn't work as well for a priming solution though. It has to be mixed evenly throughout the beer as opposed to gelatine which is given days to make its way down to the bottom. 

[Otto Von Blotto]

4 hours ago, iBooz2 said:

+ 1

I do not use gelatin any more and have not use isinglass for nearly 40 years.  I find a proper cold crash is all my beers need to clear up beautifully.  I CC for min 7 days as that's the timetable that suits me, I am patient.  I can drink my first pour from any of my kegs and there would not be a tablespoon of trub left in the kegs when emptied and cleaning routine started.

Yeah mine get a week minimum as well, I'll usually chuck the first 50-100mL of a keg to pull up any loose sediment around the dip tube but after that it's all good. I never found cold crashing alone helped clarity in regards to chill haze, but certainly it reduces the amount of sediment considerably. The chill haze issue is probably brew process related, I know others have seen much better results than I with just the cold crash. 

[Journeyman]

13 hours ago, iBooz2 said:

I did not want to say, but you have now let the devil outta the bag - OLD BOY.

You youngsters... always on about age. Some of us were leaving high school when you were born. (or before @iBooz2- seeing you're calling him old,  )

13 hours ago, iBooz2 said:

I have had one of these beer filtering systems for months and still have not used it.  Maybe next pressure ferment will give it a go and see what the difference is.

I've got a similar one with disconnects at both ends. I got it as my first step to combat atomic farts. Worked great for clear beer, had only a slight effect on the noxious effluvia. Low carb enzyme fixed that issue. I've been meaning to get the gilter back into use and was planning to use it with the fermentasaurus - which I STILL haven't gotten into use. Gotta spend some time in the brew room to make it easier to use...

Edited July 6, 2021 by Journeyman

[Journeyman]

10 hours ago, Otto Von Blotto said:

That wouldn't work as well for a priming solution though. It has to be mixed evenly throughout the beer as opposed to gelatine which is given days to make its way down to the bottom. 

I had that thought after I posted - in CC temps the yeast wouldn't get to it so, being warmer than the CC it would probably float at the top.

[Beerb Alley]

I have just started brewing  my first stout, the Chocolate Eggstravaganza Stout  by Coopers. I have only brewed Pale Ales and Lagers so far and I have cold crashed most of those and I was wondering if the stout would benefit from cold crashing as well.

[Graculus]

6 minutes ago, Beerb Alley said:

I have just started brewing  my first stout, the Chocolate Eggstravaganza Stout  by Coopers. I have only brewed Pale Ales and Lagers so far and I have cold crashed most of those and I was wondering if the stout would benefit from cold crashing as well.

Personally the only reason I cold crash my darker beers is that I find it easier to bottle.
It doesn't foam up as much.

[Classic Brewing Co]

1 hour ago, Beerb Alley said:

I have just started brewing  my first stout, the Chocolate Eggstravaganza Stout  by Coopers. I have only brewed Pale Ales and Lagers so far and I have cold crashed most of those and I was wondering if the stout would benefit from cold crashing as well.

You can CC Stout, I have never bothered personally. It does improve the clarity & make the beer more stable especially if you are bottling.

The payoff is that you drop the yeast out of suspension. It's not just a cosmetic thing, you can taste the yeast if there's enough of it.

I keg everything these days, so I don't see any point.

[Shamus O'Sean]

10 hours ago, Beerb Alley said:

I have just started brewing  my first stout, the Chocolate Eggstravaganza Stout  by Coopers. I have only brewed Pale Ales and Lagers so far and I have cold crashed most of those and I was wondering if the stout would benefit from cold crashing as well.

I cold crash everything these days.  More handy for bottling.  Minimises yeast into the bottles, but still more than enough for bottle conditioning.  Also good to get a beer into a keg cold and ready to carbonate.

I also add finings to my clearer beers, but would not bother with a Stout or something intentionally hazy.

[Aussiekraut]

19 hours ago, Classic Brewing Co said:

You can CC Stout, I have never bothered personally. It does improve the clarity & make the beer more stable especially if you are bottling.

The payoff is that you drop the yeast out of suspension. It's not just a cosmetic thing, you can taste the yeast if there's enough of it.

I keg everything these days, so I don't see any point.

It's not just about clarity, it is about dropping out heaps of sediment before it gets into the bottle/keg. 

I recently made a beer I couldn't cold crash as I had no room. What I did was transfer it into a keg, add the finings and then basically CC it in the keg. I intend to xfer it into a different keg in a few days. I poured a test cup yesterday to see and all I got was an entire cup of sludge. Sludge I don't get into a keg when I CC beforehand.

[Aussiekraut]

10 hours ago, Shamus O'Sean said:

I cold crash everything these days.  More handy for bottling.  Minimises yeast into the bottles, but still more than enough for bottle conditioning.  Also good to get a beer into a keg cold and ready to carbonate.

I also add finings to my clearer beers, but would not bother with a Stout or something intentionally hazy.

Yep. Everything gets cold crashed but only lighter coloured beers get finings. 

[Classic Brewing Co]

27 minutes ago, Aussiekraut said:

It's not just about clarity, it is about dropping out heaps of sediment before it gets into the bottle/keg. 

I recently made a beer I couldn't cold crash as I had no room. What I did was transfer it into a keg, add the finings and then basically CC it in the keg. I intend to xfer it into a different keg in a few days. I poured a test cup yesterday to see and all I got was an entire cup of sludge. Sludge I don't get into a keg when I CC beforehand.

TBH, I don't have any problems & I only CC occasionally, like you I usually want the ferment fridge for a new batch.

[Back Brewing]

2 hours ago, Aussiekraut said:

It's not just about clarity, it is about dropping out heaps of sediment before it gets into the bottle/keg. 

I recently made a beer I couldn't cold crash as I had no room. What I did was transfer it into a keg, add the finings and then basically CC it in the keg. I intend to xfer it into a different keg in a few days. I poured a test cup yesterday to see and all I got was an entire cup of sludge. Sludge I don't get into a keg when I CC beforehand.

^^^ this I've definitely noticed the huge difference when I started cold crashing so I cold crash everything now as well I look at it this way if I've spent all that time putting together the brew why not do all the extras to improve the finished product

[Back Brewing]

2 hours ago, Aussiekraut said:

Yep. Everything gets cold crashed but only lighter coloured beers get finings. 

How did you go with the biofine AK? And what are your thoughts?

[kmar92]

I cold crash every brew with the main reason being that I like to be able to keg cold beer that is ready for carbonation immediately. The ferment fridge also has a larger compressor etc for chilling big volumes compared to my kegerator, so cold crashing also takes a bit of load off the kegerator.

Of course the secondary benefit comes from the cold conditioning aspect resulting in better beer clarity and I guess a more stable beer with more of the yeast and other stuff settled out in the FV before being transferred to kegs.

[Triple B Brewing]

47 minutes ago, kmar92 said:

I cold crash every brew with the main reason being that I like to be able to keg cold beer that is ready for carbonation immediately. The ferment fridge also has a larger compressor etc for chilling big volumes compared to my kegerator, so cold crashing also takes a bit of load off the kegerator.

Of course the secondary benefit comes from the cold conditioning aspect resulting in better beer clarity and I guess a more stable beer with more of the yeast and other stuff settled out in the FV before being transferred to kegs.

Agreed @kmar92 - while I have a Keezer (so no issues chilling large volumes) I do the same for the same reasons

[Aussiekraut]

4 hours ago, Back Brewing said:

How did you go with the biofine AK? And what are your thoughts?

I'm quite happy with it. I changed the fining regime a little and am now using PVPP as a kettle fining with 10 minutes to go, then add the usual whirlfloc tablet at 1 minute and then use BioFine during cold crash. I must say, I have never made clearer beers. 

[Back Brewing]

1 hour ago, Aussiekraut said:

I'm quite happy with it. I changed the fining regime a little and am now using PVPP as a kettle fining with 10 minutes to go, then add the usual whirlfloc tablet at 1 minute and then use BioFine during cold crash. I must say, I have never made clearer beers. 

 also @Aussiekraut what dosage rate do you use 0.5ml per litre? So for a 23l batch you would use 11ml?

Edited April 9 by Back Brewing

[BlackSands]

Personally, unless you're vegan or vegetarian I see no good reason not to use gelatine.  A cold-crash plus gelatin is unbeatable, as has been clearly demonstrated in various comparisons.  Other than just relying on time to do the job, gelatine is by far the cheapest option and, it also has an unlimited shelf-life.  It has also been shown to be the fastest acting clarifier.   

My personal anecdotal experience is that once cold-crashed, gelatine only needs a day or two to guarantee crystal clear, bright beers at serving temperature, every time and as a bottler of beers I find only a light dusting of sediment forms in the bottle.   

For example, this brew pictured below was CC'd for one day, gelatine added and then bottled a day later.  One slight caveat, I used kveik voss which is a high-flocculating strain so this may help a little, though haze-forming compounds (polyphenols, proteins, carbs) are generally more due to other components in the beer.  Another point to note, is I've actually stopped using kettle finings.  Having on a number of occasions absent-mindedly forgotten to add whirlfloc, I quickly discovered that it appears to have no impact whatsoever on final beer clarity if it's then later CC'd with gelatine nor, to my aging taste-perception does its non-use seem to contribute to the creation of any obvious off-flavours.      

[RDT2]

2 hours ago, BlackSands said:

Personally, unless you're vegan or vegetarian I see no good reason not to use gelatine.  A cold-crash plus gelatin is unbeatable, as has been clearly demonstrated in various comparisons.  Other than just relying on time to do the job, gelatine is by far the cheapest option and, it also has an unlimited shelf-life.  It has also been shown to be the fastest acting clarifier.   

My personal anecdotal experience is that once cold-crashed, gelatine only needs a day or two to guarantee crystal clear, bright beers at serving temperature, every time and as a bottler of beers I find only a light dusting of sediment forms in the bottle.   

For example, this brew pictured below was CC'd for one day, gelatine added and then bottled a day later.  One slight caveat, I used kveik voss which is a high-flocculating strain so this may help a little, though haze-forming compounds (polyphenols, proteins, carbs) are generally more due to other components in the beer.  Another point to note, is I've actually stopped using kettle finings.  Having on a number of occasions absent-mindedly forgotten to add whirlfloc, I quickly discovered that it appears to have no impact whatsoever on final beer clarity if it's then later CC'd with gelatine nor, to my aging taste-perception does its non-use seem to contribute to the creation of any obvious off-flavours.      

Gelatin works for me as well and I forgot to put whirfloc in a couple of times and didn’t seem to effect the final outcome! 

[Graculus]

3 hours ago, BlackSands said:

Personally, unless you're vegan or vegetarian I see no good reason not to use gelatine.  A cold-crash plus gelatin is unbeatable, as has been clearly demonstrated in various comparisons.  Other than just relying on time to do the job, gelatine is by far the cheapest option and, it also has an unlimited shelf-life.  It has also been shown to be the fastest acting clarifier.   

My personal anecdotal experience is that once cold-crashed, gelatine only needs a day or two to guarantee crystal clear, bright beers at serving temperature, every time and as a bottler of beers I find only a light dusting of sediment forms in the bottle.   

For example, this brew pictured below was CC'd for one day, gelatine added and then bottled a day later.  One slight caveat, I used kveik voss which is a high-flocculating strain so this may help a little, though haze-forming compounds (polyphenols, proteins, carbs) are generally more due to other components in the beer.  Another point to note, is I've actually stopped using kettle finings.  Having on a number of occasions absent-mindedly forgotten to add whirlfloc, I quickly discovered that it appears to have no impact whatsoever on final beer clarity if it's then later CC'd with gelatine nor, to my aging taste-perception does its non-use seem to contribute to the creation of any obvious off-flavours.      

I used it a couple of times when I re-started brewing about 10 years ago.

Maybe I'll give it a try again.

[BlackSands]

Another thing maybe worth a mention is that some styles just don't need any fining at all.  Apart from obvious styles that are intentionally hazy, or wheat beers which are in inherently hazy I've found darker brews seem to clear up perfectly without any fining assistance.  My current amber ale for example is crystal clear at serving temperature and it didn't receive my usual CC+Gelatine treatment. 

As an aside, current and future brews won't be cold-crashed either, for quite some time as I've actually seconded my fermentation fridge for use as a freezer!  We planted out a large vege garden over the Spring/Summer and the 'freezer' is now subsequently packed full with the products from that effort!  I bypassed the fridges thermostat when I first acquired it, and now have my Inkbird set to -12ºC.   

So, I have an English-style IPA ready for bottling soon.  As it happens, I've gone ahead and actually added gelatin at room temperature to this brew anyway as I seem to recall that even at warmer temps it still aids a little with the clarity.  We'll see!