How "Cold" Is Cold Crash?

[Chuck N]

So here's the deal...

I made a Styrofoam box to use as a cooler to fit my five gallon bucket fermenter in. That way I can keep much better control of the fermenting temps by putting in either frozen water "bottles" (more on this in a bit) or hot water bottles as the outside weather dictates.

My frozen water "bottles" are actually those "store and serve" seal-able containers you can get at the grocery stores. I fill them with water and put them in the freezer. They stack so then I can put more in if needed without them interfering with the box.

I am now attempting to do a cold crash using these. In the past twenty-four hours I brought three gallons of beer down from 71° to 61°. I hope to get it down lower (like down into the fifties?) and am not planning on bottling until Monday.

So how cold do I have to go to achieve a good cold crash?

[RickBeer]

I believe standard refrig temps - 30s - is necessary.

[Kealia]

The colder the better, without freezing.

A drop into the 60's won't do much. You'll get some clarity in the 50's, but still not anywhere near as much as you'll get from getting into the low 40's or upper 30's.