Cold crashing and oxidation

[cdburg]

Anyone know of a solution somewhere between a large balloon and a $120 dollar cask Breather? I can't find a regulator that will go that low that isn't $300+ dollars...Doesn't seem like it would be a very difficult part to make...I would think something would already exist that would serve this purpose...that isn't crazy expensive?

Can someone tell me what makes that piece of plastic $120?

It looks like a low pressure propane regulator may work as a replacement for a cask breather:
http://www.beerandloafing.org/hbd/fetch.php?id=93076
http://www.franklinbrew.org/wp/?page_id=336

[crashlann]

Ok, but if the beer is sitting in the carboy unsettled in a cooling device (fridge), the air that is being sucked back in theoretically is only going to touch the surface of the beer, this should not cause much of an oxidation effect, thats why we have to agitate and stirplate wort in our starters...right?

The thing with chemical reactions and attractions between atoms is that atoms will find the atoms they want whether they're on the top of the beer surface, the middle of the carboy or the bottom. If an Oxygen molecule is introduced into your beer it will find the necessary molecules it wants to attach to, disassociate or oxidize as Trans-2-nonenal.

When you crash in the carboy you're sucking that CO2 gas blanket back into the beer. The colder the beer the more gas it can hold, which means there is a diminishing amount of CO2 blanketing you're beer. My tip is to keg warm for a few days with a priming sugar solution to create CO2, to allow the yeast to wake back up and diminish any newly created diacetyl from the decarboxylation of 2-acetolactate and more importantly to scavenge any O2 molecules created from the transfer.

Thank you all for ruining homebrewing for me...I thought I was on my way to figuring it out and now this?!
Worst board topic EVER!!!!!!!!

Wait, I will just brew everything with Brett....that might help! jk....

[bloberglawp]

I really should omit the cold crash step (which I do before bottling) and just bottle straight after dry hopping & D-rest are done.

Yes.

Bottle conditioning is a refermentation, the yeast will use the oxygen when fermenting the sugar added for carbonation. Cold crashing is also pointless because you want those bottles and beer at room temperature for bottle re-fermentation.

Does anyone who bottle conditions use CO2 to flush the bottles first?

Wouldn't bother either, see above. Just don't slop your finished beer around like a wild horny monkey when bottling.

[Ceejay]

Wouldn't bother either, see above. Just don't slop your finished beer around like a wild horny monkey when bottling.

Dammit, pretending I'm a wild horny monkey makes bottling much more fun.

Cheers!

[Mike D]

-So I thought that cold crashing before putting it into the keg was the whole point (to separate the yeast and the dry hops). If you rack to a keg still warm wouldn't you transfer unwanted yeast (as well as the hops don't drop very well)?
-JZ was saying to cold crash in the keg to avoid oxidation, but is he then jumping to another keg to separate what was left?

[Ozwald]

-So I thought that cold crashing before putting it into the keg was the whole point (to separate the yeast and the dry hops). If you rack to a keg still warm wouldn't you transfer unwanted yeast (as well as the hops don't drop very well)?
-JZ was saying to cold crash in the keg to avoid oxidation, but is he then jumping to another keg to separate what was left?

You either use a keg like a bright tank & transfer to another one, or you just pour off the first pint or two & dump it. I usually just pour it off since there's less cleaning involved & you're accomplishing the same thing. The only time I'd transfer is if you were moving the keg around, like taking it to an event. I never cold crash the fermenter.

It's the same process pro brewers use, only their 'keg' is a bright tank. If you put the beer under pressure, you can cold crash without sucking anything in. The pressure will just drop.

[Afterlab]

Yeah what Oz said

If there is a concern with transferring warm and picking up too much yeast, trub or hop matter during the transfer then chances are you're either transferring too early out of the fermentation vessel to the keg or bottling bucket or you've selected a powdery yeast that likes to stay in solution. Choose a yeast that flocculates well enough and there shouldn't be a problem.

[Stinkfist]

Do you guys transfer directly from where you ferment? I need to bring my fermenters upstairs to transfer them, if I don't cold crash it would take it forever to resettle after I move it, but when it is cold that stuff falls right back down..

I am giving the low pressure regulator a try as soon as I get it I will update if/how it works