Membership questions? Log in issues? Email info@brewersassociation.org

Author Topic: That German Lager flavor, round 2  (Read 11309 times)

Offline erockrph

  • I must live here
  • **********
  • Posts: 7788
  • Chepachet, RI
    • The Hop WHisperer
Re: That German Lager flavor, round 2
« Reply #45 on: January 04, 2013, 03:02:37 pm »
Why is it bad if beer freezes? I know it can make a chill haze permanent, but if the beer doesn't have chill haze, what's the risk in freezing it solid?

I've had some damn good Eisbocks.

Since the amount of lagering time needed seems to be dependent on temperature, maybe all you really need to do is freeze the beer solid and then thaw it out and put it on tap.

Autolysis.  Yeast cells explode or are pierced by ice crystals, releasing the yeast's guts, which can give your beer a meaty or brothy flavor -- not usually desirable characteristics!

I've had Wyeast Smack Packs freeze up on me during shipment in the winter, and I was still able to thaw them, smack them, and get a healthy fermentation out of them. According to Lalvin, you can store dry yeast in the freezer. I'm not sure that a short freeze and thaw cycle would lead to significant autolysis. Although, if I were to try something like this, I'd probably want to get it off the yeast cake just in case.
Eric B.

Finally got around to starting a homebrewing blog: The Hop Whisperer

Offline nateo

  • Brewmaster General
  • *******
  • Posts: 2336
Re: That German Lager flavor, round 2
« Reply #46 on: January 04, 2013, 03:38:32 pm »
Yeah, I wasn't picturing freezing it on the yeast cake. Cold crash, rack, then freeze. It might be an interesting experiment. I'm planning a CAP I might try that on.
In der Kürze liegt die Würze.

Offline tschmidlin

  • I must live here
  • **********
  • Posts: 8198
  • Redmond, WA
Re: That German Lager flavor, round 2
« Reply #47 on: January 04, 2013, 10:59:45 pm »
Yeah, I wasn't picturing freezing it on the yeast cake. Cold crash, rack, then freeze. It might be an interesting experiment. I'm planning a CAP I might try that on.
I have a friend who does this for his light lagers all of the time, they are quite good (for light lagers).
Tom Schmidlin