Fermenting A Stout - End Game

[Lobsta]

ok, this may be a really stupid question, so if it is, keep the laughing to a minimum, but my stout has finished fermenting, 1080-1020, and has been constant for days now, and i have heard people talk about crash cooling beers to increase clarity or something, is this something i should do to the stout as it sits on the yeast cake? still in the fermenter, should i take it down to like 14-16 degrees using the faithful ice block and water bath method?

what generally is the point/benefits/reasoning behind crash cooling? do i have it right or what? what effects does it have on your end product?

Lobby

 

[0M39A]

I always crash cool my beers when they are done fermenting for a few days.

helps with clarity by dropping out a bit of the yeast and other things floating around in your brew.

worth it for a stout? up to you i guess. i did with my last stout.

 

[dc59]

Personally Lobby I wouldn't bother about crash cooling to increase clarity on a stout, and if your bottling, its probably best to keep the still active yeast in suspension to help with the priming sugar and the long maturation period.

Hope it turns out nice, I'm yet to brew a stout I've been happy with.

In hindsight maybe I shouldn't give advice on them .

Dave.