Beer storage after cold crashing

Mase

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Due to my limitation of only 2 kegs in my Keezer at a time, I am looking for direction on if I can cold crash at say 35 degrees (f), then store at room temperature, say 68 degrees (f).
 
I've been pondering that as well. I think that if you cold crash and rack, you're good.
 
If I can, I would take one keg out of the Keezer for a couple days whilst I cold crash another. Then, once it's cold crashed, I can take it out and store it and return the previous keg back to the Keezer.
 
Remember to slowly adjust your temperatures so you don't shock the beer.
 
So is it a myth that warming beer once it's chilled will "skunk" it? I would only consider storing under CO2
 
So is it a myth that warming beer once it's chilled will "skunk" it? I would only consider storing under CO2
Have you ever bought a warm lager from the grocery store? Even if you haven't, it may have been shipped warm.
 
Remember to slowly adjust your temperatures so you don't shock the beer.
I got out of that habit. The instructions said 1-3°F per day. I was tired of taking a week and a half to get to lager temps at 2°/day drop. I'm still pleased enough.
 
I got out of that habit. The instructions said 1-3°F per day. I was tired of taking a week and a half to get to lager temps at 2°/day drop. I'm still pleased enough.

Due to Keezer size limitations, I have to transfer from secondary carboy to a keg. Then, purge out the air with CO2. Should I continue carbonating even if only during cold crashing. Then pull the keg once it is cold crashed and set it aside until room is available in the Keezer. My only fear would be that I will have more secondary trub in the keg, since I couldn't cold crash the carboy. I bring this up as both previous brews had a more dense trub after cold crashing vs the trub that is more "fluffy" in the primary.
 
I would just recommend racking carefully. I design my recipes to have 6.5 gallons in the brewpot at flameout. That allows me to have enough to fill a 5 gallon keg completely, going from primary to secondary to keg for all beers, ales and lagers. I use a 6.5 gallon carboy for Ale fermentation. I have a 6 gallon carboy I'll only use for lagers. I don't cold crash, but I suppose my lagers are cold crashed by definition. Primary 55°F, lager at 34°. I think logistics is what's preventing me from cold crashing.
 
I would just recommend racking carefully. I design my recipes to have 6.5 gallons in the brewpot at flameout. That allows me to have enough to fill a 5 gallon keg completely, going from primary to secondary to keg for all beers, ales and lagers. I use a 6.5 gallon carboy for Ale fermentation. I have a 6 gallon carboy I'll only use for lagers. I don't cold crash, but I suppose my lagers are cold crashed by definition. Primary 55°F, lager at 34°. I think logistics is what's preventing me from cold crashing.

That actually answers a future question about making sure we end up with 5 gallons of beer... increase the grain bill accordingly. And I think I have a logistical problem that would be solved with another temp controlled chest freezer. I'm not sure I want to go through all the aggravation and planing, rather than just getting another chest freezer.

From what I have found, and experienced, the transfer from secondary to the keg allows to transfer virtually all of the beer as the cake at the bottom of the secondary is so dense due to cold crash compacting the trub bed.
 
Like I said, I don't cold crash. I'm pretty happy with the beer I can get out of primary. It seems like a thick cake (not much of a slurry) is left behind, ales and lagers. I do have 2 small freezers for fermenting one batch apiece. And another freezer for my keezer.
 
So is it a myth that warming beer once it's chilled will "skunk" it? I would only consider storing under CO2
It is. What could happen is, if the beer wasn't stabilized, is haze formation. If the beer is in amber glass or aluminum, it won't skunk. Light is required to skunk beer.
 
It is. What could happen is, if the beer wasn't stabilized, is haze formation. If the beer is in amber glass or aluminum, it won't skunk. Light is required to skunk beer.

Perfect! That's what I was hoping for. Now I have to get me a couple more corny kegs!
 
I have the same problem with using a kegerator that only holds 2 kegs. I brew when I notice a keg is getting low and store the fermented beer at room temp until the low keg kicks. Then I cold crash overnight, fine/carb simultaneously, and am drinking the new beer within 48 hrs of putting it in the kegerator. No problems so far.
 
I just tapped a keg of IPA that has been out back for a couple weeks. At first it was in snow, gone now. I still have an Imp stout out there and just kicked an APA. It has worked fine. I'll be running out of cold nights soon, sun is getting higher so I need a new plan. I just like using nature when I can.
 
I have the same issue - 2 kegs in the kegerator.

I used a bunch of ice to cold crash (35F) a lager in my Chronical, and then kegged and left in the basement at 60F for 2 weeks. It's now finally in the kegerator lagering. After a few days it tastes great, no issues. I can say that being stored at 60F, the yeast didn't flocc much and are now on the move.
 
Beer has something to do with the taste and how it's stored. Like the darker the bottle the better it will hold it's flavor. I think drinking any beer from aluminum composite material container tastes bad. For optimum taste, you need to release the carbonation and let the beer breath. Pour the beer into a glass first, then drink.
 
Im looking at the same scenario i can hold 3 kegs in kegerator but want a 4 or 5 keg for leway. I think a good cold crash and geletin then transfer to keg purge and sit at ambient should be fine in theory. Once one is kicked swap out warm keg wait a week and should be good.

Let us know how you get on mase.
 
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Im looking at the same scenario i can hold 3 kegs in kegerator but want a 4 or 5 keg for leway. I think a good cold crash and geletin then transfer to keg purge and sit at ambient should be fine in theory. Once one is kicked swap out warm keg wait a week and should be good.

Let us know how you get on mase.

Decided to take an alternate or at least an interim route. Instead of getting more kegs, I purchased "The Last Straw" bottle filler. This will allow me to empty a keg that is needed for another beer.

I say it is likely an interim measure only because only certain beers will be bottled. For example right now I have a full keg of a Chocolate Milk Stout that's well into carb'ing and tonight the Gruit will be kegged (currently cold crashing), so I will have two full kegs in the Keezer and within the next couple weeks I have another IPA that will need to be kegged. Since the Stout will do better with age, we will transfer most, if not all, to bottles from the keg with "The last Straw" bottle filler. However, since we like the hoppier beer styles, bottling won't be as good as an option as the IPA's have a short shelf life.

So I plan on purchasing another corny or two to avoid a log jam in the future.
 
Decided to take an alternate or at least an interim route. Instead of getting more kegs, I purchased "The Last Straw" bottle filler. This will allow me to empty a keg that is needed for another beer.

Its not hard to bottle out of a keg. I made a simple, inexpensive counter pressure out of a Pluto gun, stainless steel tube and a rubber cork. I've used it to fill bottles to empty a keg and also for bottling for competitions. It takes a little trial and error to get the carb level just right, but it works extremely well.
 

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