[majorvices]

Has anyone ever frozen beer before? I have but it has been years and years ago. Long story short; I forgot to put the ranco probe in my chest keggerator and froze all the beer in there solid. I've only tried two but one is an alt and the other is a tripel. Both are drinkable but they also both seem to have "stronger" flavors than before, especially the alt. Also, the alt now has a haze that wasn't there before. The tripel hadn't completely cleared up prior to freezing but it seems to also have a bit more haze.

Anyone have any experience or science to back this up?

[bluesman]

I inadvertently froze a keg of Kolsch a few years ago. It was a sad day for me, but I thawed it out and tasted it...turned out to be a great tasting beer. It did develop a permanant type haze which I believe was due to freezing. I don't think it had any adverse effects on the beer flavor, at least from my taste perception.

[tomsawyer]

Certainly a chill haze might develop at the low temp, I'd expect you could fine that out if you cared to.  Otherwise, you sure they are completely thawed?  that or it may have layered out sine the heavier sugared stuff would be liquid earlier.  I froze some and tried it before it had thawed completely, it was like you said until the whole thing thawed and had time to blend again.

[majorvices]

I'm sure there is a way to fine a sanke, but I'm not going to mess with it.  Yes, I'm positive they are completely thawed out.

Stratification is kind of what I thought. Maybe that would explain the stronger flavor on the alt.

Ron, did your beer pour clear before it froze? Did it clear up over time?

I'm not too terribly worried but I do think it is odd that I am noticing these changes. The haze on the alt was definitely not there prior to freezing.

[bluesman]

Ron, did your beer pour clear before it froze? Did it clear up over time?

It did pour relatively clear before it froze and it didn't clear after freezing.

[corkybstewart]

I made some eisbiers once.  My temp probe got against the wall of the chest freezer and dropped the temp to 20F overnight.  I caught it the next morning but didn't realize the kegs had frozen because I could still pour beer from them.  A week or so later my irish red died but when I pulled the keg out it was still very heavy. The keg was full of ice, so were my porter and ESB.
The beers were still delicious, very smooth and there were no clarity issues, but I had noticed I could only drink a couple of pints before the alcohol hit me.

[euge]

I froze a keg of ordinary bitter once and pulled it out to thaw. Thought it had melted completely after a day. Wrong. But the beers I pulled were very much like a nice bourbon. After several pints- I don't remember how many- no more than four probably the keg was left alone. When it finished thawing what was left resembled Schlitz. And it was very clear.

Guess those pints were the best of it.

[tschmidlin]

I have a friend who freezes his light lagers, but they are much clearer after freezing than before.

[Thirsty_Monk]

Ron, did your beer pour clear before it froze? Did it clear up over time?

I got this from Dr Bendford that freezing and thawing beer will make it hazy.
I am not talking about the "Eis" beer where you siphon off the liquid and leave the ice behind.

[majorvices]

I have a friend who freezes his light lagers, but they are much clearer after freezing than before.

He freezes them solid??? WTF for???

[tschmidlin]

I have a friend who freezes his light lagers, but they are much clearer after freezing than before.

He freezes them solid??? WTF for???

He did it by accident once and it was the cleanest, best light lager he'd ever made.  Now he does it regularly, and I have to say his beers are always very clean tasting and brilliantly clear.

[bo]

I have a friend who freezes his light lagers, but they are much clearer after freezing than before.

He freezes them solid??? WTF for???

He did it by accident once and it was the cleanest, best light lager he'd ever made.  Now he does it regularly, and I have to say his beers are always very clean tasting and brilliantly clear.

I've got to give that a try sometime. Do you know if he ever had any problems with it swelling his corny keg or maybe plenty of head space would prevent that.

[euge]

You want little headspace as air doesn't compress very well.

[Hokerer]

air doesn't compress very well.

 

[euge]

Ok my bad. I think you will still have trouble with a lot of headspace though pure co2 is preferable. Not air.