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Author Topic: Frozen Lager  (Read 4854 times)

Offline tomsawyer

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Frozen Lager
« on: January 07, 2011, 04:44:32 pm »
I'm just using a smal firdge to lager, and after a few days of not opening it the temp dropped below 30F and apparently that was enough to freeze my two German lagers.  Does this do irreperable harm?  I have the corny kegs out thawing and will put them back after adjusting the thermostat (knob with numbers).
Lennie
Hannibal, MO

Offline beerocd

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Re: Frozen Lager
« Reply #1 on: January 07, 2011, 04:50:44 pm »
Yes your lagers are broke. Turn the kegs upside down, catch what comes out for an hour or two and toss out the rest of the ice chunk. ;)  Or if you don't want Eis-beer you may need to repitch some yeast.
The moral majority, is neither.

Offline tomsawyer

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Re: Frozen Lager
« Reply #2 on: January 07, 2011, 04:56:14 pm »
I should clarify that they're done fermenting and are being lagered in kegs.  there should have been relatively little yeast in the kegs, just what was left after racking.

I did have a small glass of eisbeer when I went to pour a glass from one of the kegs.  As soon as I tasted it I knew what was up, it was concentrated stuff!  I actually let off the pressure and opened the keg to return the beer so as not to weaken what was left.
Lennie
Hannibal, MO

Offline johnf

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Re: Frozen Lager
« Reply #3 on: January 07, 2011, 06:57:23 pm »
I froze four kegs once. As far as I can tell it did no harm and they were all absolutely brilliantly clear. If I wasn't worried about damaging the kegs I would think about adding it to the normal process.

Offline joeysmokedporter

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Re: Frozen Lager
« Reply #4 on: January 08, 2011, 05:16:00 am »
I froze a helles last year during lagering.  Fermentation was complete so it didn't hurt attenuation.  Let it thaw and bring it back down.  Maybe pitch an active starter of lager yeast if you are concerned about cleaning up any off-flavors that were still in the beer prior to it freezing.

My helles did win a few ribbons in small competitions.  It was definitely not ruined.
R. Lorber
Westminster, MD

Offline onthekeg

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Re: Frozen Lager
« Reply #5 on: January 08, 2011, 10:26:45 am »
Last month I had a 5 gallon keg of a dark strong that I forgot about out in the garage.  I noticed it was frozen so I brought it in the house and let it thaw until it was slushy.  Transferred it to another keg and have 3 gallons of super strong eisbier.  I am going to have to bottle it and let it age.  I ended up dumping about 2 gallons of ice out after the transfer. 

It needs time in the bottle now.  Definitely a sipper. :o

Offline tschmidlin

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Re: Frozen Lager
« Reply #6 on: January 08, 2011, 05:30:59 pm »
I've mentioned it before in another thread, but a friend of mine freezes his lighter lagers solid and then thaws them as part of his process.  They are very clean tasting and brilliantly clear.
Tom Schmidlin

Offline drf255

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Re: Frozen Lager
« Reply #7 on: January 09, 2011, 06:37:59 am »
It will do no harm to the beer and may even improve it.  I've been there a few times.

Offline bluesman

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Re: Frozen Lager
« Reply #8 on: January 09, 2011, 08:13:23 am »
No worries. I froze a couple lagers before without detriment to the beer. Thaw and force carb. They will be fine.  8)
Ron Price

Offline redbeerman

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Re: Frozen Lager
« Reply #9 on: January 11, 2011, 07:58:56 am »
No worries. I froze a couple lagers before without detriment to the beer. Thaw and force carb. They will be fine.  8)

^^^^^^^^^^^^
This is my experience as well.  Good luck!
CH3CH2OH - Without it, life itself would be impossible.

[441, 112.1deg] AR

Jim

Offline tomsawyer

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Re: Frozen Lager
« Reply #10 on: January 11, 2011, 08:40:54 am »
I was worried that this was going to cause yeast autolysis, but it sounds like this isn't a factor.  I did rack off the primary cake to the keg so it wouldn't be a huge amount of suspended yeast.

I thawed both kegs and they are back in the fridge.  I'm going to tap into one of them soon, although I moved a fresh british bitter in when I took this one off and its going to be hard to take it back off, its a favorite of mine.
Lennie
Hannibal, MO