Correct Cold Crash Timing

[Trappers]

I'm currently brewing the notorious St Peter's Ruby Red kit - fermentation went fine, transferred to a pressure barrel with the standard amount of golden caster sugar, and left it for exactly a week. Of course, with the current weather, for that entire week the pressure barrel was at temperatures of 20-24 degrees, so am I correct to assume that secondary fermentation will have almost certainly finished? The reason that I ask is that yesterday I cold crashed it by sticking it in a dis-used fridge, as it was the only place in the house where I could get those cool temperatures for conditioning. Even on the least brutal setting of the fridge, it's currently at ten degrees - is this too low for conditioning? And should I have given secondary fermentation more of a chance/if it was not absolutely complete when I cold crashed, will that actually have any effect on the eventual product, apart from a marginally lower ABV? Thanks for any help!

 

[rpt]

It's worth doing one plastic bottle because you can tell how well it's carbonating by giving it a squeeze. I bottled an oatmeal stout on Tuesday and now, only 4 days later, the bottles are as firm as I expect them to get. So I think your barrel will be fine after a week.

10 c is not too cold to condition - currently I have bottles of bitter at 2c. If the carbonation was not complete then it will probably continue but slower. As well as being flat, the beer will be sweet. But it will almost certainly not be noticeable after a week in these temperatures.

 

[Trappers]

fantastic, cheers rpt.