Frozen Beer During Cold Conditioning

[WarmBeer]

I've had my beer cold conditioning in a cube for the last week, but my fridge appears to have been a little too eager, and has frozen the beer in the cube.

Will this have affected the flavour in any way, or killed off the yeast prior to bottling? I am now bringing it back up to bottling temperature.

Any thoughts or opinions appreciated.

Cheers,


Brett

 

[buttersd70]

I've had my beer cold conditioning in a cube for the last week, but my fridge appears to have been a little too eager, and has frozen the beer in the cube.

Will this have affected the flavour in any way, or killed off the yeast prior to bottling? I am now bringing it back up to bottling temperature.

Any thoughts or opinions appreciated.

Cheers,


Brett

HA! Had exactly the same thing happen to me today....my fridge was struggling yesterday due to mid 30's temperatures, and we had a cool change come in last night....so the fridge stopped struggling, and the cube froze. :lol: Not solid, but pretty badly. It's just finished defrosting.

This has happened to me once before, as well....don't worry about it too much, just bring the temp up and let it melt gradually. I was bottling back then, and it carbonated perfectly fine afterwards, and there were no detrimental effects that I noticed. In fact, it was one of the clearest, nicest beers I had done up till that stage. :lol:

 

[Tyred]

I don't know if it will affect the flavours at all. Freezing will probably have killed off most of the yeast.

Did it freeze completely solid or just the upper section ? If it didn't completely freeze solid there is a chance that some yeast may have survived.

 

[WarmBeer]

I don't know if it will affect the flavours at all. Freezing will probably have killed off most of the yeast.

Did it freeze completely solid or just the upper section ? If it didn't completely freeze solid there is a chance that some yeast may have survived.

No it was frozen pretty solid all the way through. I've got some extra dried yeast handy in order to carbonate it, but would like to avoid using it, as this was my first time using a nice Wyeast liquid yeast, so I don't want to spoil the flavour if I don't have to.

 

[Adamt]

John Palmer - Aaagh! It froze!

 

[buttersd70]

No it was frozen pretty solid all the way through. I've got some extra dried yeast handy in order to carbonate it, but would like to avoid using it, as this was my first time using a nice Wyeast liquid yeast, so I don't want to spoil the flavour if I don't have to.

Ouch. A big block of ice in it is one thing, being completely solid is another.

Ok,one thing you can do is, once it thaws, keep it at cc temps (without freezing this time :lol: ). Take a sample, say a stubbie, or 2/3 of a long neck. bring it to 20c, then add dex or sugar to it, but more than you normally would, say 10g? ish. Shake the bottle well, and leave it (uncapped. preferably airlocked, or with a baloon on top) in a warm (25C would be good) place to see if you get any fermentation happening, kinda sorta similar ish to when you do a starter. Just to see if the yeast is still viable, not to actually use this as a starter.
Or alternatively, just pitch fresh yeast for bottling. Most of the flavour will come from the yeast used in primary, anyway, so it houldn't affect it too much. Just remember that pitching rates for bottling are lower than that for primary, from memory around 10%, so you won't need the whole packet of dry.

 

[mfdu]

you poor thing!

 

[brendo]

I have had this happen to me twice... but like butters only a bit up the top - not a solid block (I check pretty regularly).

I haven't had a problem in this sort of situation - carbed up no worries both times.

I reckon butter's suggestion is a goer.

Good luck!!

Brendo

 

[buttersd70]

The one that was frozen this morning was actually a double batch in 2 vessels....when it defrosted, I kegged and forced carbed one of them, and am drinking it right now......all I can say is it's f'n luverly :beerbang: .

Obviously this observation is not relevant as far as carbonating in the bottles, and the associated issues surrounding that......but as far as taste is concerned.....maybe I should freeze all my beers. :lol:

 

[WarmBeer]

Ok, I'm going to give Butters advice a try. I've taken a sampler out of the cube, added 3 teaspoons of sugar, given it a good shake, and popped a balloon on the top.

How long should I expect before I see a decent amount of gas filling up my balloon?

Cheers

 

[buttersd70]

It might not fill up per se. All you really need to look for is positive pressure (it starts to try to inflate, if you get my drift. Looks rather rude and humourous :lol: ), and it might take, i dont know, maybe couple of hours to a day? Ish. Particularly if its warm. should go off pretty quick, and you basically look for the same signs that you do with a starter, positive pressure, krausen, increase in sediment etc. If after say 2 days, there are no visible signs, check the gravity of the sample. If its close to the same gravity as the main batch, then it fermented out. Because with 3tsp of sugar in a small sample, if it didn't ferment at all, the grav would be several points higher in the sample as a result of the sugar that was added.

Good luck with it, buddy.

 

[WarmBeer]

Nope, tried the sugar in the tester, the balloon on top was still flaccid this morning, so I guess my yeasties are dead, dead, dead.

I'm going to try using 1/10th of a pack of dried generic ale yeast in a cup of cooled boiled water, then mix this into the secondary with a sanitised spoon. Hopefully it all comes out OK, cause it looks, smells and tastes luverley, just completely flat!

Thanks for the advices guys, I'll let you know how I go.

Cheers

 

[buttersd70]

Nope, tried the sugar in the tester, the balloon on top was still flaccid this morning, so I guess my yeasties are dead, dead, dead.

I'm going to try using 1/10th of a pack of dried generic ale yeast in a cup of cooled boiled water, then mix this into the secondary with a sanitised spoon. Hopefully it all comes out OK, cause it looks, smells and tastes luverley, just completely flat!

Thanks for the advices guys, I'll let you know how I go.

Cheers

Well, at least you know before bottling the lot.

Whilst the literature says a tenth of the amount for pitching, you might want to use a little more, just to be sure. maybe up to a quarter pack? Ive never tried repitching for bottling, so am not sure how the results would be even for "correct" amounts.

 

[SJW]

What u should do is pack it up and send the cube to me for further analysis. I will send the cube back.......empty.

Steve

 

[WarmBeer]

What u should do is pack it up and send the cube to me for further analysis. I will send the cube back.......empty.

Steve

Thanks for the constructive criticism Steve

To paraphrase Charlton Heston, "You can have my fermenter when you tear it from my cold, dead hands"

Just joking, dude. Seriously, come over, just bring your kegging equipment

 

[raven19]

You could use this as an excuse to invest in a kegging system... :lol:

With the minister of finances approval of course....