Disaster - I just froze my beer by mistake!

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magictorch
Posts: 13
Joined: Tuesday Oct 12, 2004 3:09 pm
Location: Melbourne

Disaster - I just froze my beer by mistake!

Post by magictorch »

Well, I was lagering my bottled beer in the old fridge in the garage, and at last taste it was coming along splendidly.

Unfortunately, I didn't realise that it was some sort of uber-fridge which at maximum setting more closely resembled a freezer.

I went to get a bevvy last night to be treated with a scene that closely resembled some kind of horror movie - every bottle had frozen solid, the amber ice expanding to burst pretty much every cap seal, long stalactites of frozen foam everywhere.

I've taken the bottle out of the fridge at the moment, to defrost, and fully expect to have to discard the whole lot. But if I can make it drinkable again I'll try.

I was thinking about re-priming and re-sealing the bottles. Does anyone have any advice for a disheartened brewer? :(
kozzi

Post by kozzi »

This is coming from a theoretical standpoint

But as far as i know what you've done is what many brewers do on purpose, ie cold filtering.

Basically by freezing the beers its like giving them a lobotomy and taking out all of the harsh flavours, as JB says it also takes out most of the character.

So it still might be salvagable, but i'd wait until a bigger heavyweight replies
thehipone
Posts: 266
Joined: Tuesday Sep 21, 2004 12:20 pm
Location: Brisbane, QLD

Post by thehipone »

Hmmmm..... an interesting predicament.

Your idea of re-priming and rebottling might work, but if it froze completely solid, I think there is a good possibility that the yeast are no longer alive.

One thing that might work would be to defrost the bottles and collect all of the remaining liquid in your fermenter, add a bit of dry extract (about what you would use to prime the whole batch) and pitch some new yeast in. Get the yeast somewhat mixed through and re-bottle, with no further priming sugar. The yeast should eat up the extract and re-carbonate the bottles.

Now for the bad news,

All of this handling is going to give you issues with oxidation. If you're careful to pour smoothly back into the bucket and gently mix, it might not be so bad. Infection is something else you need to worry about. While you wait for them to defrost, I assume there will be melting beer on the outside of the bottles, good food for all of those nasty bacteria and such that want to eat your brew.

The freezing probably did change the character of your beer, but as far as i know, when commercial guys do ice brewing they don't let the whole batch freeze, they get it slushy and remove some of the ice crystals. Since you aren't necessarily removing anything since the entire volume froze, the brew might still be somewhat similar to what you intended it to taste like.

I wouldn't give up totally and throw it out just yet. Maybe someone else will have a better suggestion?

One good thing did come out of this: Now you know you're equipped to brew an eisbock. :)
Oliver
Administrator
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Joined: Thursday Jul 22, 2004 1:22 am
Location: West Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

Post by Oliver »

As you may know from having frozen soft drinks before, once they're brought back to their liquid state they don't regain their fizziness.

So, you could always reprime each bottle, then, for good measure in case the yeast has been killed, put a grain or two of yeast into each bottle.

Hope this helps.

Cheers,

Oliver
Dogger Dan
Posts: 3168
Joined: Thursday Aug 26, 2004 10:43 am
Location: Lucan, Ontario, Canada

Post by Dogger Dan »

My old man once froze a coke and gave it to my mom to drink and she promptly got food poisoning so she says. Truthfully I think that is an urban myth, Nevertheless I normally pitch the frozen ones that have been open for some time however, try thawing re priming with a fresh yeast and drive on. Sorry about your luck. If all else fails, have a good piss up this weekend.


Dogger
"Listening to someone who brews their own beer is like listening to a religous fanatic talk about the day he saw the light" Ross Murray, Montreal Gazette
magictorch
Posts: 13
Joined: Tuesday Oct 12, 2004 3:09 pm
Location: Melbourne

Post by magictorch »

Just an update for those who were interested.

I cleaned up the bottles after they'd sat around at room temperature for a few days, and opened a few. They were all still pretty fizzy. In fact, I tried adding yeast or sugar to some of them, and the beer just erupted quite violently.

Concerned that the seals had been compromised, I just opened and recapped every bottle. In light of the fact that I'd equalized the pressure inside the bottles, I'm trying to drink them as quickly as possible, in case they go flat or oxidize or something.

They don't taste too bad either, I probably wouldn't have noticed any difference if I hadn't known there'd been a problem. Shame I won't be able to lager them for longer, but my next batch will be better.
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