Crash cooling temperature

[pjc]

I have been cooling my latest beer for a week prior to bottling and I am just wondering how critical the actual temperature is. I've set my STC-1000 to 2°C but the temperature has not gone below 3.8°C which must be the limit of the fridge. I've read in several places that it could do with being colder than this. Is this temperature low enough to have the desired effect?

 

[bobsbeer]

Close enough I would have thought. :hmm:

 

[Aleman]

It's yeast strain dependant, ale yeasts you want to get down to around 8C, lager yeasts you really need to get colder than that (around 2C )

The idea being that the yeast shut down and go dormant (and so drop out of suspension), leading to clearer beer.

 

[pjc]

It's yeast strain dependant, ale yeasts you want to get down to around 8C

I'm using WLP001, so I'll change my question... is 3.5C too cold? :)

 

[adomant]

Also, it is not always good to crash cool quickly. Sometimes it is better to cool over 1-2 days for a VDK rest which eliminates diacetyl.

 

[winelight]

23 litres of wort will take a minimum of 24 hours to cool a few degrees. To go from 20C or thereabouts to 3.8 would take a couple of days, I should imagine.

Commercial brewers cool to 12C before bottling bottle-conditioned beers so I would imagine that's cold enough!

 

[Aleman]

23 litres of wort will take a minimum of 24 hours to cool a few degrees. To go from 20C or thereabouts to 3.8 would take a couple of days, I should imagine.

I can take 85L from 20C down to 2C in under 18 hours!! (The difference between cooling the environment and cooling the wort directly ) . . . I normally crash chill over a period of several days droping teh temp a couple of degrees every 12 hours

Commercial brewers cool to 12C before bottling bottle-conditioned beers so I would imagine that's cold enough!

It is yeast strain dependent, some drop out easily others do not The reason some commercial brewers chill to 12C is merely that is sufficient to drop the bulk of their yeast out to allow them to bottle . . . without causing a chill haze!

WLP001 is the wet version of US-05, which is notorious for not dropping clear at fermentation temps . . . I'd say anything below 5C is good enough . . . If you don't have a yeast head on the surface of the brew, then it's cold enough :)

 

[winelight]

23 litres of wort will take a minimum of 24 hours to cool a few degrees. To go from 20C or thereabouts to 3.8 would take a couple of days, I should imagine.

I can take 85L from 20C down to 2C in under 18 hours!! (The difference between cooling the environment and cooling the wort directly )

Yes, I should have said "in a brewfridge".

 

[pjc]

23 litres of wort will take a minimum of 24 hours to cool a few degrees. To go from 20C or thereabouts to 3.8 would take a couple of days, I should imagine.

I have 30 litres in the FV and it took about 40 hours to go from around 20C down to 3.8C (in the brew fridge).

WLP001 is the wet version of US-05, which is notorious for not dropping clear at fermentation temps . . . I'd say anything below 5C is good enough

Sounds like 3.8 is OK then.

Thanks all.

 

[winelight]

I have 30 litres in the FV and it took about 40 hours to go from around 20C down to 3.8C (in the brew fridge).

That's useful to know, thanks for sharing.