Cold conditiong before bottling

[DavidP17]

hey all i have a TC pilsener kit fermenting at the moment

700g light dry malt

500g dextrose

10g saaz @ 15 min

S23 yeast

 

Its been fermenting at 13 degrees for a few days now and ill leave it at that for a few weeks

but just wondering when fermentation is finished, is there any benefit of dropping the temp down to 1 degrees for a few days before bottling?

 

And should you raise it back up to 13 before bottling or bottle at 1 degrees?

 

I have read that it works best for kegs as you force carbonate them so theres no need for the yeast to do a secondary ferment.

 

Any links/advice would be greatly appreciated!

[Guest]

the advantage of CC beer is that it clears the beer, drops the yeast out (not all).

 

CC for at least 4 days for best results. No need to raise temps but you can do if the process is easire for you to do so.. do you bulk prime?

 

Kegs or bottle oyu will find a clearer beer for this process and I personally swear by it and all of my beers are CC'd generally from a monday arvo to a friday arvo when I bottle, I simply turn the fridge off on a friday and by the time I get home from work it's about 10'c so perhaps this method would suit?

 

I would be tempted to lager it for a bit longer than 4 days being a pilsner.

 

Yob

[DavidP17]

I havent Bulk primed before but i was thinking of making this brew my first attempt i just need to pick up another fermenter and some food grade hose, I just wanted to make sure that it wouldnt drop too much yeast out so that it wouldnt carbonate.

 

Im also tempted to put the bottles in the fridge and set it to 18 for 2 weeks to carbonate and then let them condition in my garage for the rest of the time, correct thing to do?

[Muddy Waters]

Hi David - You'll still have plenty of yeast to carbonate your beer. I reckon I'd just put the bottles straight in the garage as the temps should be fine in Brissy at this time of year. Having said that you will have no ill effects using the method you mentioned.

[DavidP17]

Cheers Muddy,

 

Ill wait to reach FG, then raise temp to 15 for 2 days, CC @ 1 degrees for 4 -5 days then switch the fridge off for a while as yob mentioned then bottle and leave in the garage,

cheers guys.

 

Now i just have to look into getting bulk priming setup and researched

[PB2]

...or you could leave the brew to ferment at 13C until FG is reached, give it a couple more days at that temp then raise it to 18C and bottle. The extra days in FV will help to clear the beer and the secondary fermentation at 18C will mop up any Diacetyl while minmising the risk of oxidation [biggrin]

 

This is my KISS method and it works [whistling

[BakersAle]

question if you raise the temperature will it change the taste of the beer with hops in the fermentor as it been fermenting at a lower temp for so many weeks

[Guest]

simple answer is no, most if not all of the flavour compounds are produced (and precursors)are formed in the very early stages of fermentation. Raising temps toward the end of a ferment can greatly help the yeast stay active end mop up after their feast.

 

PB/others.. Ive found that a good stretch of CC'ing the brew makes for a much finer and compact sediment in the bottle and I can pretty much pour to the last drop without a 'sediment' burst toward the end of the bottle which would not happen prior to me using the CC method, this is my prime reason for doing so... I dont believe with a tap to tap method of transfer there is much risk of oxidisation. Sure I wouldnt dump it into another FV without a hose transfer.

 

Yob

[Muddy Waters]

I'm a recent convert to the CC'ing for a few days before bottling method for the same reasons mentioned by Yob.

 

As for the tap to tap method I gently let it fill to it is above tap level before increasing the flow which IMO reduces the risk of oxidisation - But yeah I can uderstand the fear but [biggrin]

[Guest]

I have CCd, for at least a few days, almost all my brews and swear by it.

 

Also if you have the time to place your bottles in the fridge a few days before you drink them then this is of course a form of Cold Conditioning, just not a lot of people think of it that way.

 

 

[Guest]

Also if you have the time to place your bottles in the fridge a few days before you drink them then this is of course a form of Cold Conditioning,

 

I used to only do this (fridge the bottles) but found that the sediment collected was much greater. The (one of) great things about CC'ing in the primary is that you are leaving alot of that yeast behind before you rack/bottle/keg.

 

as an experiment fellas, when the brew is finished and you are ready to CC the primary, mark the level of settled yeast/trub on the FV then CC for 5 days and then have a look and see how much "extra" has dropped out of solution... all of this naturally would have made it to the bottle/keg if not for the CC'ing in primary.

 

I think you will be surprised.

 

Yob

 

[Hoptimus Maximus]

I would be interested to see a side by side comparison of 2 bottles. One from CC in primary then bottled and the other just CC in the fridge for same time before uncapping (obviously after bottle conditioning at 18\xb0C+ for 2 weeks). I have no doubt there would be less sediment in the bottle CC in primary but I wonder if they would present noticably different after pouring carefully?