[Steve Ruch]

Denny, I can't overstate the importance of this research.

I may not be one of your huckleberries on this, but I am eager to hear the results, in part because two things pop into mind:   Big Beer's ice stabilization process would suggest that freezing can have some significant effect on beer.   OTOH, it is (or at least was, don't know if it survived the sale to InBev) a longstanding practice at AB to freeze cans of Budweiser in liquid nitrogen.  They are (were) to be opened at intervals of 5, 10, etc. years, and compared by taste panels with current product, to ensure there is no drift over time -- which clearly assumes there would be no effect from freezing.  I wonder if craft beer which has been previously subjected to less stabilization processing (lagering, adsorbent treatments, filtration, etc.) would be more affected.  (If I do decide to participate there will be a drip tray under my freezer shelf.)

Dude...stop thinking! 

Larry, "I was thinking".
Moe, "Stop, when you think it weakens the nation".

[Robert]

Denny, I can't overstate the importance of this research.

I may not be one of your huckleberries on this, but I am eager to hear the results, in part because two things pop into mind:   Big Beer's ice stabilization process would suggest that freezing can have some significant effect on beer.   OTOH, it is (or at least was, don't know if it survived the sale to InBev) a longstanding practice at AB to freeze cans of Budweiser in liquid nitrogen.  They are (were) to be opened at intervals of 5, 10, etc. years, and compared by taste panels with current product, to ensure there is no drift over time -- which clearly assumes there would be no effect from freezing.  I wonder if craft beer which has been previously subjected to less stabilization processing (lagering, adsorbent treatments, filtration, etc.) would be more affected.  (If I do decide to participate there will be a drip tray under my freezer shelf.)

Dude...stop thinking! 

Larry, "I was thinking".
Moe, "Stop, when you think it weakens the nation".

Ha!  Now, what I want to see is the Stooges making homebrew in a schoolie.  (Enjoyed the article.)

[chumley]

Have you considered throwing a puck of dry ice wrapped in insulation in your cooler? With a good cooler it should last a while. Insulation is to keep it from freezing everything (Accidentally froze some beer & jello shots on a float trip).

Yes, I have used dry ice.  The problem on a 4 day float trip is that cooler space is at a premium.  Frozen cans of beer serve the purpose and can be consumed, unlike dry ice and insulation.

[brewsumore]

Some guys on our permit a few years back floating the Middle Fork of the Salmon River (5-day float) did that, and I remember him telling me that in freezing lots of beer in cans that they had some kind of intermediate step so that they froze more slowly than quickly.  IIRC, he said that freezing a few cases so that the thermal mass changed more slowly as the chest freezer worked up to freezing all of it, is how they did it to keep cans from bursting.  Or started the freeze, took them out, put them back in to finish the freeze.  And oddly enough I think it was PBR.