Cold Crashing Temperature-too High?

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Truman42

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I normally cold crash my beer at around 1-2C in the fermenter for 5-7 days before bottling.

However I now have to use my fermenting fridge which is a small bar fridge and with the hot summer weather it struggles to get my beer down any lower than about 5-7 C especially on hot days. It might drop to 4 overnight but is back up to around 6-7 at the end of another hot summer scorcher like today where it gets very hot in the garage. (Why do these tight arse spec home builders not insulate the garage ceiling when they do the rest of the roof space)

So question is will this simply require more time at these temps for the yeast to drop out, or will the yeast NOT drop out above a certain temperature?

FYI- I tape my probe to the fermenter and have it covered with foam and its a 25 litre batch.
 
The yeast will still floc out, but you will need to leave it about 3 days at those temps for it to finish.

I would also look at another fridge long term. If the fridge is warming up over the day and it's running 100% of the time, it's sucking on the power like a 16 year old chick sucking on a ..... :eek:

The other thing you could look at is trying to insulate it better. Does it have external cooling fins at the back, if so cover the sides and top with insulation. Also is it getting hit with direct sun, if so that will heat them up pretty fast. At certain times of the year if I haven't drawn the blinds, my keg king kegerator in the house gets hit the morning sun for an hour and jumps a couple of degrees as it can't keep up with the cooling.

QldKev
 
The yeast will still floc out, but you will need to leave it about 3 days at those temps for it to finish.

I would also look at another fridge long term. If the fridge is warming up over the day and it's running 100% of the time, it's sucking on the power like a 16 year old chick sucking on a ..... :eek:

The other thing you could look at is trying to insulate it better. Does it have external cooling fins at the back, if so cover the sides and top with insulation. Also is it getting hit with direct sun, if so that will heat them up pretty fast. At certain times of the year if I haven't drawn the blinds, my keg king kegerator in the house gets hit the morning sun for an hour and jumps a couple of degrees as it can't keep up with the cooling.

QldKev

Kev, Its in the garage so does not get direct sunlight and yes it has external cooling fins. But I thought if I cover them up it wouldn't allow the heat to escape from them. I was thinking about sitting a small fan on top of the fridge facing the back wall so the air deflects down onto the fins.

@Doon...Good idea I didnt even consider that as I thought you still had to get it down in temp to around 2C for the gelatin to work effectively.
 
I can see what you though with my wording... Don't cover the cooling fins, cover the top and sides of the fridge itself with insulation.

Be careful adding fans etc. A rough rules is if you are going to leave an appliance running all the time multiply the watts by 2 and add 10% to get $. So a small 40w fan will cost you $88 a year to run. But I guess you could get a timer so it's only on for the hottest 8 hours of the day, so then a third of 88 is only $30 a year.

Also if the fridge is pushed back close to the wall, drag it forward a bit to allow extra air behind it, and if possible allow some air space on the sides for circulation.

Gelatine is a great idea if you don't reuse the yeast.


QldKev
 
Don't cover the cooling fins, cover the top and sides of the fridge itself with insulation.


Gelatine is good if you don't reuse the yeast.

Oh my bad, Im with you now. :D
 
(Why do these tight arse spec home builders not insulate the garage ceiling when they do the rest of the roof space)

:icon_offtopic: Really? I would have thought that the new sustainability guidelines would make it manditory for full insulation. If they're cutting costs there, I be pretty concerned what other "savings" have they made like; low grade timber, cheap tiles and glue, 2 coat paint system, cheap electrical and cheap door furniture.

back on topic, get an old freezer with an stc, that little frdge will be costing you heaps to run.

Cheers
 
:icon_offtopic: Really? I would have thought that the new sustainability guidelines would make it manditory for full insulation. If they're cutting costs there, I be pretty concerned what other "savings" have they made like; low grade timber, cheap tiles and glue, 2 coat paint system, cheap electrical and cheap door furniture.
:icon_offtopic:

Just because it is mandatory doesn't mean they do it. I live in a brand new rental (not for much longer, just signed the contract on my first place) and there is bugger all stuff which has been done to code, mind you the building code in victoria is pretty slack. Plenty of cheap fittings and tiles too.
 
:icon_offtopic: Really? I would have thought that the new sustainability guidelines would make it manditory for full insulation. If they're cutting costs there, I be pretty concerned what other "savings" have they made like; low grade timber, cheap tiles and glue, 2 coat paint system, cheap electrical and cheap door furniture.

back on topic, get an old freezer with an stc, that little frdge will be costing you heaps to run.

Cheers

Im not 100% sure but it gets very hot in there so I dont think it has insulation. The fridge works fine normally and hardly runs. Yesterday and last night it held at 20C for 3 hours before switching on. Its only when its hot.
 
:icon_offtopic: Really? I would have thought that the new sustainability guidelines would make it manditory for full insulation. If they're cutting costs there, I be pretty concerned what other "savings" have they made like; low grade timber, cheap tiles and glue, 2 coat paint system, cheap electrical and cheap door furniture.

back on topic, get an old freezer with an stc, that little frdge will be costing you heaps to run.

Cheers

Every saving you can imagine, is in place.

Cheap paint, they spray painted the internal walls here!
Low grade timer, they used metal beams and trusses on this place
Hows this, they have plumbed my bath tub in the same size pipes and drain plug as they use in bathroom sinks to save another couple of dollars.
Even the string to hold the float in the water tank was too short to be effective, it started refilling the tank from the mains at about 90% capacity. 5c worth of string saved!

Our carport is insulated, but it is often warmer than the rest of the house?
 
OT But this house has a water tank but its not connected up to the toilets. It only has two taps at the front and rear of the property. I thought it was mandatory that the water tank be connected to the toilets? Its good for running through my chiller though.

Also it has a hot water solar panel on the roof and a gas hot water unit and a hot water boost switch in the meter box. So I have no idea what its actually using? Does the gas hot water unit only run as a back up? If so what the hell is the boost switch in the meter box for? I always though that if you have solar heating then you can only have electric boost?
 
OT But this house has a water tank but its not connected up to the toilets. It only has two taps at the front and rear of the property. I thought it was mandatory that the water tank be connected to the toilets? Its good for running through my chiller though.

Also it has a hot water solar panel on the roof and a gas hot water unit and a hot water boost switch in the meter box. So I have no idea what its actually using? Does the gas hot water unit only run as a back up? If so what the hell is the boost switch in the meter box for? I always though that if you have solar heating then you can only have electric boost?

I have instanaeous gas boost on my SHW system.

So split system, where roof panels heat a 400L SS tank on the ground via recirculation pump (think little brown pump), which has a rinai infinity (solar edition) mounted on it. It heats the water up to 65C as you draw from the tank (if necessary) and then the tempering valve cools it back to 55C

A fridge which can't get below 7C isn't a fridge anymore ;)

My ferment fridges will get to zero C (even the really old ones)
 
Back on topic, for less than $500 you can get a KegMate / Tomahawk style fridge which is purpose built for beer. Further insulate the door inside with real estate sign corflute. You can run it down to -1. When not used for CC it makes a brilliant fermenter coupled with a Fridgemate. Or if you want to just use the single fermenter, start it off on the Fridgemate then when it's time to crash, run the fridge "native" mode.
 
Every saving you can imagine, is in place.

Cheap paint, they spray painted the internal walls here!
Low grade timer, they used metal beams and trusses on this place
Hows this, they have plumbed my bath tub in the same size pipes and drain plug as they use in bathroom sinks to save another couple of dollars.
Even the string to hold the float in the water tank was too short to be effective, it started refilling the tank from the mains at about 90% capacity. 5c worth of string saved!

Our carport is insulated, but it is often warmer than the rest of the house?
Nothing wrong with spraying internals Kev, as long as they know how to use an airless properly. You would be suprised how many dont use it properly though, alot set it to one pressure ( full ) and use one tip, then wonder why they get covered in overspray. Another thing they do is thin there paint with the belief they are saving but all it does is atomise the paint more than is needed and creates overspray that wastes more paint than they have saved. Airless paint systems work well but you MUST backroll your sealer to hide the definition of plaster to paper and use at least a 3 coat system. Also vary the tips and pressure to the area and paint catergory used. I am slowly getting the message across to the guys in your area ;) . Once shown how to do it properly 60% change. Geez feel like I am back at work.

Sorry for the OT truman but hopefully you already have your answer.

Cheers
 
Don't ask me about solar hot water. :angry: This place has solar hot water panels on the roof, and a hot water tank on the ground next to it. The tank has a 240v cord going to an outdoor socket, and it's never been switched on, I assume this would be an electric booster?. The fuse box has a circuit breaker marked with HWS. After anyone has a shower the system starts to draw 3150watts from the grid, even in Queensland summers. But if I switch the circuit breaker off in the fuse box, we have cold water 2 days later.

QldKev
 
Don't ask me about solar hot water. :angry: This place has solar hot water panels on the roof, and a hot water tank on the ground next to it. The tank has a 240v cord going to an outdoor socket, and it's never been switched on, I assume this would be an electric booster?. The fuse box has a circuit breaker marked with HWS. After anyone has a shower the system starts to draw 3150watts from the grid, even in Queensland summers. But if I switch the circuit breaker off in the fuse box, we have cold water 2 days later.

QldKev

The 240v cord could be for the solar controller/recirculation pump. On my system it's a little box attached to the tank with sensor wires running to the roof and tank. Basically a giant solar HERMS ;)

An electric booster normally wouldn't be just 10A would it?
 
The 240v cord could be for the solar controller/recirculation pump. On my system it's a little box attached to the tank with sensor wires running to the roof and tank. Basically a giant solar HERMS ;)

An electric booster normally wouldn't be just 10A would it?

After 14months or so since moving in, and after reading your post and thinking yep time to do it, I've finally pulled the cover of the side where the cables go.

Sure enough a hot logic controller. I've been running without my HERMS sm_doh.gif

You would think the builders/plumber would leave it active?


Now to google why the status light is red.

Thanks for the motivation to check.

QldKev
 
The 240v cord could be for the solar controller/recirculation pump. On my system it's a little box attached to the tank with sensor wires running to the roof and tank. Basically a giant solar HERMS ;)

An electric booster normally wouldn't be just 10A would it?

Thats what mine has a control box on the side plugged into 240v socket. The other day I could hear the gas on and I switched this off to plug the water tank pump in (Only one socket for this and the water pump) and I heard the flame go out?

So does the solar provide hot water into the tank and the gas is only used if its not warm enough? Ive also noticed you cant turn the water temp down at all as the dial has been riveted on at its hottest setting.
 
What's a good method of fixing chipped floor tiles, you know the little chip that you get when you drop a meat hammer or a pot or something - not a crack but just where it takes a chip off exposing the dark ceramic body of the tile?
I can easily mix up the correct colour artists oil paint and dummy them up but I was wondering if companies like Uptiles or Beaumont sell repair kits?
 
Us off topic never :lol:

but it was Truman's thread and he directed us here, so I assume all good :D
 
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