What would you do?

[Daniel Parshley]

Ok so I'm sorry - this has been discussed to death, I get that. But I'm not sure what to do after reading what I've read on this..

I'll be bottling this week a very hoppy IPA with lots of dry hops. I want to cold crash to get the hops to settle. I don't have a keg system yet but thing that's next, so that's not an option. I have everything in a carboy, will cold crash and then move that into a bottling bucket. I know eventually I need to get rid of the bottling bucket step to minimize the chance of oxidization. But for now - how am I going to cold crash without having stuff from my blowback bottle sucked into the carboy? I just read about bottling bladders - looks like a good idea but too late for that on this brew.

So what would you do if you were me? Thanks guys..

The other respondents know more than I ever will, but here is what I did to control the hops. I use a nylon bag or stainless hop ball for my dry hop additions and it has worked well. The only down side is some yeast when removing the bag/ball 24 hours before bottling. Keep in mind I'm just a bucket brewer with a secondary and trying to minimize equipment/cost. I have found Irish Moss @ 15 minutes left in the boil is great for clarity and settling issues, too.

 

[FrostyBeach]

If you have CO2 you can fill the keg with starsan solution and push it out with CO2. That doesn't take much gas, probably less then trying to purge the keg till a light don't light. <g>

 

[BrewPatgonia]

to continue... your blowoff tube should have sufficient volume to support a cold chill... if you don't remove it from the carboy.. and you place it in a cold chamber.. you should not pull in anything detrimental to your beer.. it appears that you don't have a lot of resources available at this moment.. and your best bet if you want to chill is to just .. 'pull the trigger' and do it without disconnecting anything. Plan for future batches and prepare for them from the lessons learned... but you should be fine just moving ahead and expecting the best. It is not easy to destroy a beer .... but proper planning will make future endeavors flow smoother without frustration or doubts.

 

[beer1965]

look at the bottom of the page for a video on cold crashing, this works
https://www.brewhardware.com/product_p/ccguardianv3.htm

I found it.. too late for this brew and it's sold out. But will macgyver something like this for the next batch.

 

[beer1965]

If you have CO2 you can fill the keg with starsan solution and push it out with CO2. That doesn't take much gas, probably less then trying to purge the keg till a light don't light. <g>

Yup.. not at the keg stage yet but definitely have keg googly-eyes so am sure it's in my future at some point..

 

[beer1965]

to continue... your blowoff tube should have sufficient volume to support a cold chill... if you don't remove it from the carboy.. and you place it in a cold chamber.. you should not pull in anything detrimental to your beer.. it appears that you don't have a lot of resources available at this moment.. and your best bet if you want to chill is to just .. 'pull the trigger' and do it without disconnecting anything. Plan for future batches and prepare for them from the lessons learned... but you should be fine just moving ahead and expecting the best. It is not easy to destroy a beer .... but proper planning will make future endeavors flow smoother without frustration or doubts.

Yeah.. i thought about this too late. So I'd either be sucking starsan or air into the carboy. I think I'd rather take my chances with air. I will bottle on thew saturday I think. I'm now thinking to just bottle without a carboy cold crash and let that happen in the bottle. As it's a dry hop I'll have to be careful but I think that's my plan. I'm on the fence right now as to let it suck up air or just bottle without the cold crash.

 

[Mark Farrall]

It's extra floaties vs extra oxidation. The floaties will settle out in the bottle pretty quickly, even at room temp and much faster once you start chilling. The extra oxidation is hard to quantify, but the approach is to drink the beer sooner than later so the effects are minimised. No right answer and it won't make or break the beer.

With hindsight I'd probably go extra floaties and leave 20-50 mL at the bottom of every bottle when I drink it.

 

[4Bentley]

I sucked starsan. I didn't taste it, but the thought that it was there stays with you. Don't be afraid of the bottling bucket if you are using priming sugar. Put the sugar in first and put the tube at the bottom and let it gently fill. Personally I would cold crash with the tube out or in another beer. There are always the stubborn hop particles that still float. You will probably suck about 6-8 oz.

 

[thunderwagn]

Yeah.. i thought about this too late. So I'd either be sucking starsan or air into the carboy. I think I'd rather take my chances with air. I will bottle on thew saturday I think. I'm now thinking to just bottle without a carboy cold crash and let that happen in the bottle. As it's a dry hop I'll have to be careful but I think that's my plan. I'm on the fence right now as to let it suck up air or just bottle without the cold crash.

I much rather take on Star San than air. Star San isn't gonna hurt anything. I fill all my kegs with it and push the solution out with o2. Guarantee there is still some in the keg. You've surely heard the saying, 'dont fear the foam'. And you shouldn't imo. If you don't want to buy anything right now, it's super easy to use clean star san or even vodka, and a long enough tube and you'll be golden. It'll taste much better than oxidation.

 

[Hawkbox]

Let 'er buck. She'll be right.