Frozen Beer!

[kapone]

So I transferred my second ever brew (Brewcraft LCPA kit) to keg on Monday night, and made two, likely fatal mistakes.

1) I didn't check my brewing fridge temperature prior to putting the keg in. As a result, I've frozen it (it's almost slushy-like).

2) I forgot to gas the keg and purge the air


Now, I'm going to finish it off regardless, as it still has alcohol and it's part of the learning experience. But, do I try to carbonate the beer while frozen? Or do I wait?

And what can I expect the results to be based on these mistakes?

Cheers!

 

[Adamt]

It'll be fine, let it thaw out then gas as per normal.

 

[redbeard]

1 connect the gas & purge the air
2 let it stand outside for a few hours to unfreeze
3 put back in fridge (after adjusting controller) & gas up over a few days
4 drink


drinking it now slushy style will mean the %alc is a lot higher (as only the water is frozen ...)

cheers

 

[Adamt]

drinking it now slushy style will mean the %alc is a lot higher (as only the water is frozen ...)

But if you drink it like a slushy (with ice crystals in it) it won't be.

 

[Maple]

Pull the ice out, it's just taking up the space that could be occupied by alcohol and flavour. i've heard of this being done, and the result is quite good (see topics such as Ice bock, or eisenbier)

 

[Doogiechap]

MMMMMMmmmmmmm :icon_drool2: Eisbock :icon_drool2:

 

[Jase71]

What's the go with beers being frozen then thawed, is there any element that makes it shyte ? It was said at the Boags Brewery tour that if beers are simply refrigerated, then left to go to room temp again, then refrigerated a second time, they will taste like horse pish !

 

[Adamt]

It's a load of poo Jase; it refers to on beer skunking in the sun, but has been bastardised to just being warmed up and chilled again.

 

[lokpikn]

MMMMMMmmmmmmm :icon_drool2: Eisbock :icon_drool2:

MMMMMmmmmmmmm

Eisbock

 

[Jase71]

It's a load of poo Jase; it refers to on beer skunking in the sun, but has been bastardised to just being warmed up and chilled again.

You're telling me that a commercial brewery LIED TO ME ?!?

Probably not, but more a case of misinformation on the tour guide's part. She wasn't that knowledgeable when I threw some basic Q's in her general direction.

I often put beers in the fridge, then take them out after a few days, then re-chill, and find no variation in the flavour. On the occasion that they freeze a bit, that's a different matter, but a few bottle inversions to remix seems to do the job

 

[Millet Man]

I have a plastic fermenter frozen solid for the second time. Fermented at 16C, turned contoller down to where I though 0C might be on the dial, next morning it was a slushie (reading -4C in fridge), turned controller back up a tick to where 5C might be, next morning its at 10C, turn it back down to where 3C might be, came back a few days later and it is frozen solid and reading -9C in the fridge (separation between fridge and frezer has been removed).

Seems my old temperature controller (not the one I normally use) just runs the fridge continuously if I set it under about 10C!!!

About time I spoke to a sponsor about a new controller. <_<

Yes I've done it before and the beer was perfectly cler once it was defrosted, carbonated and served.

Cheers, Andrew.

 

[kapone]

Well I ended up doing a mixture of the above suggestions, but not on purpose.

I left it to thaw, adjusted the fridge temperature and then put it back in the fridge for carbonation. Left it to carbonate at about 35psi for two and a bit days (meant to be only 48hrs but I forgot to turn the gas off after getting home from seeing Nine Inch Nails last night).

Today I transferred from keg to keg to filter the beer. After looking at the original keg I found out that the beer had frozen again. So it looks like I made an accidental eisenbier!

So far taste is decent, although the carbonation is a bit too low and it has next to no head.

Given this was originally a straight up Brewcraft LCPA, I think I'll name this Sean's Pale EisenAle.

 

[boingk]

Sean's Pale EisenAle.

Man, killer name! Let us know how it goes, this Eis-style of beer has me intrigued.

- boingk

 

[mfdu]

(meant to be only 48hrs but I forgot to turn the gas off after getting home from seeing Nine Inch Nails last night).

dude! i mean, dude! how was little trent-y?

 

[kapone]

dude! i mean, dude! how was little trent-y?

It was awesome. I'm glad they did a three song encore as I missed half their show (was torn between seeing them and Lamb of God, after seeing both, I should have spent the whole time at the NIN show, they were awesome on stage).

It was pretty special to see Alice in Chains as well, and Unearth got the crowd going nuts!

Unfortunately the beer was pretty shit in comparison to the music, nothing but Tooheys Extra Dry at six bucks a pop.

 

[manticle]

It was awesome. I'm glad they did a three song encore as I missed half their show (was torn between seeing them and Lamb of God, after seeing both, I should have spent the whole time at the NIN show, they were awesome on stage).

It was pretty special to see Alice in Chains as well, and Unearth got the crowd going nuts!

Unfortunately the beer was pretty shit in comparison to the music, nothing but Tooheys Extra Dry at six bucks a pop.

While I'm not a fan of NIN at all it's nice to see another homebrewer who likes any kind of industrial related music.

Completely off topic.