F**k! Major F*$k!

[Dave86]

Horror story: Having a mates 21st here this arvo, went to check the beers we brewed for said party were right to go and found frozen kegs! :angry:

One keg, completely frozen solid, another partially, the other hardly at all. Beer has been forced all the way back through the lines and reg (I will be buying a no return valve thingy very soon). thawed two out in the bathtub and got em back in the fridge on the gas, the one that was frozen solid still has a big chunk of ice in it.

Main concern: Carbonation. Anyone experienced anything like this before? Ideally I would wait a week before trying to pour a beer but we've got a lot of thirsty uni students who have just finished exams coming in a few hours. Don't mind low carbonation but will my beer be flat?

Yours, shitting myself

Dave

 

[Katherine]

I have no solution for you but a lot of empathy! :unsure:

 

[muckey]

never had anything that bad

carbonation will go back into the keg over time OK but I dont think your going to be able to get the kegs thawed enough in time to drink them
the frozen 1 will have expelled most of it CO@ - (as it froze) and if the pressure it kept up it will re-dissolve as it thaws - id be carefull with it for a day or so though

Yours with deepest sympathy in you time of tradgedy

 

[kabooby]

You can use this method to force carb the kegs. Make sure you make some allowances for the C02 already in the beer. They may still be carbonated.

The Ross Method

Drink the defrosted ones first. That will allow more time for the other to defrost.

Kabooby

 

[Doogiechap]

On the upside, the frozen component is primarily water thus increasing the alcohol content of the remaining liquid so your mates will soon to too inebriated to care about any carbonation issues .

 

[cdbrown]

Damn man that's bad luck - at least with the beer being so cold it's easier to get gas into solution. Best bet is to forced carb, shake and relieve.

Can I ask what went wrong that allowed the kegs to freeze?

 

[bouncingcastle]

Dont stress it... At least they weren't bottles

purge all of the CO2 from the existing kegs before you try the "ross" method.. otherwise you may end up just pouring foam.

No reason you shouldn't have drinkable beer within an hour.

Chris

 

[Snow]

RDWAHAFH! ........Relax, Don't Worry and Have a Frozen Homebrew!

Seriously, don't sweat it. They are Uni Students - they will love any free alcohol you give them. Put the frozen keg in the sun - it'll warm up quickly enough. The others probably won't have lost much carbonation at all, if any.

Cheers - Snow.

 

[imellor]

May not be that bad. I suspect only the fully frozen keg will have expelled all the gas. As Doogiechap said the main part frozen will be water. The other kegs should be still carbed enough to drink. I have partially frozen a keg in the past and did not actually realize until the keg ran out. It still felt heavy when removing from fridge and upon opening a rather large block of ice was inside. That beer was a nice full bodied beer and no one noticed anything bad. Only thing to do is try it and see.

Good luck

 

[drsmurto]

I hope you are freezing these kegs in a conditioning fridge and dont have your keg fridge that cold. Altho you are serving beer for uni students.....

 

[Klemmstein]

Looking on the bright side... your serving Uni students. h34r:

Just open the kegs and put an ice cream scoop in there and tell them that it's beer slushies for the night!!!

It's the in thing you know. :lol:

Just kidding...... hope all works out.

Cheers,

K

 

[Batz]

Those guys are going to be impressed,I suppose you've been bragging about it for a while too?




Bad luck,but just a little funny when it's not me.


Batz

 

[Dave86]

Cheers for the replies fellas, was a busy day and didn't even get a chance to reply last night. Don't worry, as pissed off as I was, I still still thought it was pretty funny too!

Well, it all went ok in the end. For future reference for those it may happen to:

1. Kegs thaw fairly quickly in a bath of warm water

2. Aid your fridge in chilling them back to the right temp by throwing all the icepacks and frozen vegies you have around the kegs

3. Putting a full size pedestal fan in you fridge if it will fit (just!) will help the chilling process. Kind of like the computer fan trick on steroids

We had a 50L keg filled and ready to go (that escaped the first debacle) in my fermenting fridge so we put it on first while we gave the other beers some time to settle down (had them back on the gas all afternoon). The 50L batch poured terribly, I'm assuming it was something to do with the coupler, but anyway... After it blew dry we put on the next two batches: ann amarillo ale FWK and Tony's Bulls Tail Porter This beer was the hit of the party, one of the best beers I've brewed. Great stuff! The beers were carbed a little low, but I quite like em that way The keg that was frozen solid didn't get drunk, we figured we'd leave it till last so it's still to be seen what negative effects may have happened....