Cold crashing for bottled beer

[Ollie Beerie]

Hi, I have been having some cloudy brews recently most likely due to the decent sizes portions of hops I'm now using. A friend suggested cold crashing my brew prior to bottling to clear it up. My friend kegs his beer so I understand he is carbonating through gas, where as I am relying on my yeast for bottle carbonation.
I am concerned that cold crashing to 0 to 2 degrees Celsius for a few days that my yeast will die off and there for I will not get my bottles to carbonate appropriately.
Cheers
Ollie

 

[Milhouse]

Your yeast won't die, at worst they will go dormant.

The main concern is too much yeast dropping out of suspension and not leaving enough to carbonate your beer once in the bottles. A lot of people say it is fine as long as you give it longer to carbonate.

I have cold crashed and bottled without issue, it may take longer to carbonate but as I normally leave it for several weeks after bottling to mature a bit I haven't even noticed.

 

[fdsaasdf]

Cold crashing won't stop you having enough yeast to carbonate the bottled beer. It may slow it down but I've not noticed any beers take more than a month to carb up - even a 12% RIS still carbonated in a month after being chilled prior to bottling.

 

[wide eyed and legless]

Hi, I have been having some cloudy brews recently most likely due to the decent sizes portions of hops I'm now using. A friend suggested cold crashing my brew prior to bottling to clear it up. My friend kegs his beer so I understand he is carbonating through gas, where as I am relying on my yeast for bottle carbonation.
I am concerned that cold crashing to 0 to 2 degrees Celsius for a few days that my yeast will die off and there for I will not get my bottles to carbonate appropriately.
Cheers
Ollie

Heat kills yeast not cold, cold crash at -1 or -2 C (depending on ABV) for 2 or 3 days and any cloudiness should be settled out.

 

[Richard williamson]

Hi, I have been having some cloudy brews recently most likely due to the decent sizes portions of hops I'm now using. A friend suggested cold crashing my brew prior to bottling to clear it up. My friend kegs his beer so I understand he is carbonating through gas, where as I am relying on my yeast for bottle carbonation.
I am concerned that cold crashing to 0 to 2 degrees Celsius for a few days that my yeast will die off and there for I will not get my bottles to carbonate appropriately.
Cheers
Ollie

I've done 9 brews and cold crashed 3. They certainly take longer to carbonate in the bottle. I have done some research and would suggest two things. 1 drop the temp by 3° a day and keep the lowest temperature to about 5° and 2 have you tried finnings? It's a small packet you put into boiled water let it cool then pour into fermenter a day before cold crashing starts. Did these on my last brew and it's crystal clear.

 

[Diddlez]

I just opened my first bottled Czech pilsner lager.
Fermented at 10c for 3 weeks. Lagered at 2c for 3 weeks. Bottled it straight out of the fridge. I tried one after 5 days and it was fully carbed.

 

[malt and barley blues]

I just opened my first bottled Czech pilsner lager.
Fermented at 10c for 3 weeks. Lagered at 2c for 3 weeks. Bottled it straight out of the fridge. I tried one after 5 days and it was fully carbed.

I would be presuming that the conditioning in the bottle would have been at a higher temperature.

 

[koshari]

Isnt it sort of self defeating cold crashing to then bottle condition? I mean your only going to end up with sediment again after the bottle conditioning? even when cold crashing with kegs i still get a tiny bit of sediment in the bottom of the keg after keg conditioning. The good thing about kegs is that pouring the first pint generally takes care of that and it clears up rapidly.

Counter pressure bottle fillers are surely the best way to get clear bottles but they do necessitate kegging equipment.

 

[JDW81]

Isnt it sort of self defeating cold crashing to then bottle condition? I mean your only going to end up with sediment again after the bottle conditioning? even when cold crashing with kegs i still get a tiny bit of sediment in the bottom of the keg after keg conditioning. The good thing about kegs is that pouring the first pint generally takes care of that and it clears up rapidly.

Counter pressure bottle fillers are surely the best way to get clear bottles but they do necessitate kegging equipment.

Not necessarily. Cold conditioning will drop a lot of proteins/polyphenols/other objects that cause haze in you beer to the bottom, the longer you leave it (within reason) the more will drop out. Adding finings (gelatin/isenglass/polyclar) will also help improve clarity.

If you bottle when the beer in the fermenter is still cold, then you will leave most of the haze forming stuff behind (presuming you don't rouse your fermenter too much). Best option is to bulk prime. I.e. sanitise a seconder fermneter/bottling bucket and then carefully transfer your fermented beer to the bottling bucket with a priming solution in to (sugar/DME).

If you are careful, then there is no reason you can't have nice clear beer from a bottle. The other thing to remember with bottles is to put them in the fridge for a few days (not a few hours before you drink them). This will act as a second cold crash and help clear up any residual haziness before serving. Also, poor slowly to leave the sediment behind.

JD

 

[wide eyed and legless]

Yes I bottle at least half of what I brew, cold crash then bottle, condition for 2 weeks, the sedement will settle at the bottom a careful pour and the sediment stays in the bottle. I would say 5 days and it is fully carbed dependent on temperature, I would be wary opening a bottle after 2 weeks, good effort by a new brewer to go straight into lagering.

 

[TwoCrows]

If bottling I cold crash to 4-6 c it is cold enough to flock and settle. You are then increasing the temps in the bottle back up to 18c and yeasties will be active and hungry.

If you are kegging, I crash to 2-5c and at this temp it will help force Co2 into solution and a week at 4c ready to go. I put a few coopers carb lollies in there to help remove any oxygen that may have ingressed into the wort at transfer.

If you have the room and $$ start kegging. So much easier. No waste from the keg and very little trub at the bottom when she blows.