Should I Cold Crash a Yeast That Stalled?

[hobospy]

Hey,

I've finally got my beer to ferment down to an expected FG of around 1012, I've been using Mangrove Jack M03 on a split batch and all three brews stopped about ten points high, anyway, I got them all going again after raising the temp and finally having to stir them with a sanitised spoon. Now that they have all reached FG my usual next step is to cold crash for a couple of days to get some of the yeast to settle out but I'm a bit worried this will mean that there won't be anything available for carbing up come bottling time :/ Any advice??

Ta,

Christopher

 

[yankinoz]

Yours is one of those recurring questions. The short answer is that cold crashing before bottling ot kegging usually leaves enough yeast for carbonation. The main and occasional exception is if the crashing is long and really cold. To be on the safe side, crash for no more than two days and don't go too low. Ten C. will drop most of the yeast. If you're concerned with chill haze you could go a bit below ale serving temp, say, down to 6 C, but if you're doing a dark ale that might not be an issue.

How much yeast did you use, and what were the total volume and OG of the batches? I'm wondering if underpitching contributed to sticking.

 

[Danscraftbeer]

Why cold crash pre bottling? It seems a technical task for ale. There is nothing wrong with just lagering the finished product for longer. Much easier. Thats just what I have found. The few times I've cold crashed pre bottling seemed too difficult and tedious for home brewery stuff and the results were not superior in any way. Maybe to the contrary because of extra processing exercises.

 

[Rocker1986]

I can't see how cold crashing for two days will drop ALL yeast out leaving nothing to carbonate in the bottle, even if it has stalled. But to be on the safe side maybe don't go down quite as low as you normally would.

I cold crash all batches pre-bottling, mainly to drop yeast out so I don't end up with as much sediment in the bottles, and more recently to facilitate adding Polyclar to remove chill haze. My experience has been that cold crashing (full batch) by itself has done shit all for removing chill haze, even when done for periods of weeks. Bottles left in the fridge for weeks have dropped clear, but I don't have the patience or fridge space for that.

 

[hobospy]

Thanks Rocker, that was my thought, possibly not dropping it down too low, probably around 10C and only doing it for a couple of days. The real concern is how much effort it took to get the beer up and running again after it stalled, I tried just raising the temp, gentle rousing, more gentle rousing and in the end the only thing that worked was actually getting a spoon in there and stirring the yeast up, just not sure if this yeast is known for this.

 

[Rocker1986]

I don't have any experience with the MJ yeasts so can't really answer whether that particular strain has a reputation for behaving like that or not. At least it was able to be got up and going again though.