Cold crashing mead on a large scale

[ovalvasix]

Long time lurker/researcher, first time poster (I'm excited).

I'm been doing research around the forums just for some fun, and had a question on how you larger operation guys/gals chill down your mead (and if you do so at all). Did you invest in a glycol chiller and insert SS plates when ready to chill (or jacketed fermenters), or do you have a cold room where you stick your mead when ready to crash?

I figured first you would rack off your primary, add finings, filter, then crash (Or something similar). Is this correct? For those of you that don't crash, why, and what do you do instead?

Thank you in advance! This was about one of the only questions I wasn't able to figure out while searching.

- Cory

 

[JSquared]

Welcome! Sadly I can't answer your question but would like to be the first to greet your arrival. Also I have family in Bend, so I have a soft spot for anyone from around there

 

[ovalvasix]

...Sadly I can't answer your question but would like to be the first to greet your arrival. Also I have family in Bend, so I have a soft spot for anyone from around there

Thank you for the welcome! I have family in Phoenix, so here here!

Thought I would add another question, somewhat similar to my original post. For those who pasteurize (or god forbid, boil!) your must, what do you use to cool it down to pitching temperatures? On a hobby scale, a copper chiller or therminator would do, but would you use a heat exchange like a brewery would?

- Cory

 

[Loadnabox]

Define "Large scale"

I can cold crash a 15 Gallon bucket in my temp controlled fridge, this might be peanuts compared to what you're thinking of.

Most any home hobbyist (with the money and space for extra chilling gear) is going to use a dedicated fridge or chest freezer to cold crash and/or ferment. Anything larger and you're talking extremely expensive commercial gear that is inaccessible to any but the richest of home brewers.

The same would go with cooling methods. Metal tubing with cold water running through it is the best most any home brewer can do. I would add that on this site it's extremely rare to find anyone who boils their must anymore. Mostly this applies to beer brewing (which many of us here do) From the beer brewing side there's some very task-specific gear to make that cold coil even more effective and accurate, but it's till the same basic thing.

Again, cost prohibits us from getting the really fancy chillers that a commercial brewery would have.

The order I would go with is:

Cold crash (to make a compact lees/sediment layer) rack

repeat at least once (In my attempts to salvage as much as possible I always accidentally drag a little bit of crud along for the ride)

Possibly rack without cold crashing depending on how much sediment there is.

If the brew isn't cleared within 6 months then CONSIDER using fining agents.... or just wait even longer and eventually most wines will clear on their own.

Rack as needed without cold crashing as sediment forms on the bottom.

If you can't wait any longer for it to clear (because it isn't or you're impatient... whichever ) Then use fining agents.

THEN if it's still not as clear as you want use forced filtration.


For me, forced filtration is a last ditch effort, mostly because of cost. It costs $3 per filtration step. Getting it to polishing will cost $6 alone per batch. For me, it's easier just to use fining agents which makes things really shiny without the extra cost.

 

[ovalvasix]

I suppose by large scale, I meant the commercial meaderies that are out there, though much of what you mentioned could be applied to them too. Thanks!

- Cory

 

[brian92fs]

I suppose by large scale, I meant the commercial meaderies that are out there, though much of what you mentioned could be applied to them too. Thanks!

- Cory

Keep in mind that there's a lot of variation here as well. I believe Brad started out using 55 gal HDPE barrels and Ian started out with 500+ gallon batches.

 

[ovalvasix]

Keep in mind that there's a lot of variation here as well. I believe Brad started out using 55 gal HDPE barrels and Ian started out with 500+ gallon batches.

Oh indeed! I would like to hear all options!

 

[Soyala_Amaya]

Holy crap, that's more mead than I've made in a year and that's what they STARTED with? I thought I was crazy...

 

[slimslam]

large scale ops would have thier fermenting tanks equiped wiht cooling jackets and run cooled water or that glycol stuff wiht a chiller. that type of setup is very expensive though, or i guess if they have a large cooler they could move the tanks using a forklift into the cooler.

 

[brian92fs]

large scale ops would have thier fermenting tanks equiped wiht cooling jackets and run cooled water or that glycol stuff wiht a chiller. that type of setup is very expensive though, or i guess if they have a large cooler they could move the tanks using a forklift into the cooler.

There are cheaper DIY options. Check out the blog on Ian's website. There are several posts, but I think this is the last one. The DIY version isn't as efficient as a commercial glycol chiller on a jacketed fermentor, but it's a fraction of the cost.

 

[IanB]

Thanks Bryan

Thanks for the link Bryan, and to the OP, you need about a 5000 btu's worth of cooling to chill 700 gallons 10 degree's a day (if it is WELL insulated).

Also, if you ferment in plastic, this could be quicker to cool, but may be difficult to 'hold' the low temperature, as the plastic allows heat transfer rather quickly. However, I believe I answered your question.

Remember, EVERYTHING needs to be insulated. There is also a discussion on this forum a few pages back about a portable cooling option from someone in Finland I believe.

The 'normal' entry level chiller is about 2500 btu, and costs 3k ish, for the 5k btu unit, it costs 4200 ish. I got mine 'hand built' by an over-clocking PC forum for around $1200.

There are many ways to cool your mead (if it's winter, just put it outside in the 'barn' for a few months!)
Ian