Frozen Beer

Yesterday while cleaning my kegerator (freezer chest) I accidentally left the temperature sensor outside. Therefore it was on overnight and everything froze. 3 cornys my CO2 tank and gauges, and some beer bottles burst. I am trying to thaw them with an incandescent utility light.

What damage can I expect to my beer, and my gas regulators, if any?

None? Unless there was water (or beer) inside the regulators when they froze they'll be fine. Beer might have overcarbed a bit if your pressure remained constant, but that's probably negligible. I'd skip the forced defrosting and let it slowly thaw out, rapidly heating frozen things is a great way to stress the material.

Kegs will likely be overcarbed (BTDT), simply vent them over the course of several days and all will be good.

If your kegs or bottles ahve yeast in them, you likely lysed a lot of yeast and can get some pretty nasty flavors, burned-rubber style. If there wasn't any yeast in the kegs, you should be fine, although I hadn't thought of overcarbonation. I would thaw them out 100% (at which point they'll be pretty much uncarbonated, I think) and then hook them back up to serving pressure for a set-and-forget slow carb.

I have done that exact thing (twice).

Everything will be fine. I even reanimated plastic jars of yeast that I had in there.

Hi

It's pretty easy to fool yourself into believing the thaw out is done. Just as you really didn't freeze the kegs solid overnight, you won't fully thaw them in a day.

Bob