Freezing beer.. is it bad?

djmd · 12-22-2005, 02:13 PM

I'm just curious what ill effect freezing might have on beer in it's various stages of production.

I have a scottish ale in secondary in the garage, and it dipped down to 32... never saw ice crystals or anything, but I was out of town and wondered what might happen if it did start to freeze.

SWMBO · 12-22-2005, 02:23 PM

I don't know... but you could filter out the ice crystals and have yourself a stronger beer, like the Canadian mega-swill "Ice" beers.

I think the freezing point of reasonably-strong beer is closer to 23 F, so you probably don't have to worry about it.

barleypopmaker · 12-22-2005, 02:23 PM

Only real ill effect is that your yeast may be dead if it did in fact freeze, they are at least out of suspension for sure. All you did was clear your beer. Many people, especially those who keg, do that to their beer to get the yeast to drop out. As far as flavor goes it will be fine. As a matter of fact Eis Bock beer is frozen then some of the frozen water is removed leaving behind a stronger beer. If you are bottling I would add some more yeast prior to bottling just in case the yeast died, if it didn't freeze they should be fine though.