What temp does beer freeze?

At what temp does beer freeze? OK, I know it will depend on a few factors, but let's say a 5% ABV average beer.

I want to try bottling from my keg sometime down the road and was told to get it super cold, almost freezing.

Then I also want to force carb and bottle a sparkling wine, I assume I can go colder with the wine, which will be a benefit as my regulator only goes up to 30PSI and I understand sparkling wines need to be carbed at 40, so I assume if I can get it super cold at 30, when it warms up to serving temp, it should be carbed just about right.

since the beer is almost completely made of water...I would go with 32 degrees.

Suddy said:

since the beer is almost completely made of water...I would go with 32 degrees.

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Um, no. I just took a 7% Dopplebock down to 28f, no freezing.


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I think it's right around 24F. But I've noticed once you open a can/bottle of beer, they freeze even faster.

Found this bit of info:

The freezing point (°C) of beer = (-0.42 × A) + (0.04 × E) + 0.2, where A is the percent of alcohol content by weight, and E is the original gravity of the wort (°Plato). Therefore, each 1% increase in alcohol content lowers the freezing point by 0.42° C and each increase in gravity of 1° Plato raises it by 0.04°C. Thus, no beer will freeze at -1°C, and products at higher alcohol concentrations (including high-gravity brews prior to dilution) will withstand even lower temperatures.

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So, if your ABV is 7% and your OG was 1.07, you'd get the following:

A = 5.6
E = 16.84

(-0.42*5.6) + (0.04*16.84) + 0.2 = -1.4784*C or 29.33888*F

Beer freezes at:

°C = -0.42(ABW%) + 0.04(OG[as °Plato]) + 0.2

So a 1.0508 OG (15.53 °Plato), 4.95% alcohol by weight beer will freeze at

-0.42(4.95) + 0.04(15.53) + 0.2 = -1.26°C or about 29.73°F

A much stronger beer of 21.84°P and 7.18% ABW will yield a slightly lower freezing point of -1.94°C or 28.51°F

Suddy said:

since the beer is almost completely made of water...I would go with 32 degrees.

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No. The general phenomenon is melting/freezing point depression:

http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/chemical/meltpt.html

Even tiny amounts of an impurity can lower the melting/freezing point
by measurable amounts.

Ray

Did I start a fight?

So when I go to bottle from my keg, I should be safe with 30 ish degrees, I could set my thermostat to 32 and it will vary the temp between 28 and 32 with teh liquid hovering right around 32, I should be safe.

So for my wine, I should be able to go a few degrees cooler.

What about pressure? will the pressure in the keg affect freezing temp?

wildwest450 said:

Um, no. I just took a 7% Dopplebock down to 28f, no freezing.


.

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Hmmm....

The lowest possible freezing point of your Dopplebock would be (using this information as a basis):

OG: 1.072 (from style guidelines)
ABV: 7%

OG as Plato: 17.51
ABW: 5.53

-1.42°C or 29.44°F

You might want to get your thermometer checked. For a freezing point of 28°F you would have needed an OG of -2.225°P and, well, that's just not possible.

Either that or your ABV% is considerably higher than you calculated.

BillC68. 30 degrees is safe for any beer or wine. It won't freeze at that temp.

mightynintendo said:

You might want to get your thermometer checked. For a freezing point of 28°F you would have needed an OG of -2.225°P and, well, that's just not possible.

Either that or your ABV% is considerably higher than you calculated.

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I wasn't trying to get the temp down to the nearest decimal point, just stating that the freezing temp of beer is below the freezing point of water.

And for the record the % is correct and thats the temp suggested by Zymurgy where I got the recipe from.

Funny that Zymurgy would suggest a temperature that will freeze the beer.

I have to keep track of several temps when i get a beer down this cold. I don't have an automated temp control system yet, so everything is done manually and tested on water-only batches before subjecting beer to these measures.

Winter in Minnesota is great for lagering, as long as you have a well insulated place to store your beer. Fortunately, our garage is very well insulated, and can maintain a temperature above freezing with just a little oil-filled electric heater I got for $4 at a yard sale.

• I keep the garage at about 40F / 5C

• I keep the yeast fridge at 35F / 1.5C

• I keep the lager fridge at about 30-31F / -1C

The problem with Fermometer brand thermometer strips is they only go down to 36F, so while your Pilsner may spend a couple days in the 60-70F range, most of its life is lived off the scale. So i trust my swanky 1970s analog readout, which is surprisingly quick adjusting.

Sounds like the general rule of thumb is don't go below 30 deg f. I have two jars of yeast slurry in the freezer of my fridge/freezer combo fermentation chamber. I also have a cup of water. The cup of water is frozen and the yeast slurries are still liquid. Im going to exchange that cup of water with some beer so I can get a good estimated temp of what my yeast slurries stay.

Brewmegoodbeer said:

Sounds like the general rule of thumb is don't go below 30 deg f. I have two jars of yeast slurry in the freezer of my fridge/freezer combo fermentation chamber. I also have a cup of water. The cup of water is frozen and the yeast slurries are still liquid. Im going to exchange that cup of water with some beer so I can get a good estimated temp of what my yeast slurries stay.

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I'm interested in hearing what you find.

I have frozen water bottles sitting in my garage fridge, but the jars of yeast slurry and bottles of beer are still liquid.

I'm going to agree that 30F is the line of demarcation. I let my kegerator dip below 30F (28-29ish) inadvertently, and got icing in the lines between the ball locks and the taps.

The thing to watch out for if using a freezer is how/where you are measuring the temp. For lagering/cold crashing, have the probe measuring ambient air of the freezer, not the temp of the beer itself. If you go off of beer temp, the freezer will cool your ambient air to -20 before the beer starts to change temp which will lead to freezing after a few cycles. I've frozen 2 batches with the freezer set at 33*F and the probe in the fermenter.

DaWhip said:

The thing to watch out for if using a freezer is how/where you are measuring the temp. For lagering/cold crashing, have the probe measuring ambient air of the freezer, not the temp of the beer itself. If you go off of beer temp, the freezer will cool your ambient air to -20 before the beer starts to change temp which will lead tofreezing after a few cycles. I've frozen 2 batches g.with the freezer set at 33*F and the probe in the fermenter.

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I have a fridge/freezer combo that I use for a fermentation chamber. I am measuring the air temp of the fridge. It is specific to every system, but I have found that if I keep my controller at 60-62, it keeps my freezer in the 30's, where I store yeast slurry. When cold crashing, I will just move my slurry from the freezer to the fridge where that will then be in the 30's. I just got this fridge, so still testing this method out.

Also keep in mind that pressure will cause the freezing point to decrease. Also the fact that there is CO2 gas dissolved in the beer will cause the freezing temperature to decrease.

billc68 said:

At what temp does beer freeze? OK, I know it will depend on a few factors, but let's say a 5% ABV average beer.

I want to try bottling from my keg sometime down the road and was told to get it super cold, almost freezing.

Then I also want to force carb and bottle a sparkling wine, I assume I can go colder with the wine, which will be a benefit as my regulator only goes up to 30PSI and I understand sparkling wines need to be carbed at 40, so I assume if I can get it super cold at 30, when it warms up to serving temp, it should be carbed just about right.

Click to expand...

Wait...you don't have to get it near freezing to bottle from the keg. I bottle from kegs for competitions, when I'm tired of a beer I have on tap, when it's a beer I know I'll want to be able to cellar, etc. My keezer is usually set to 44F and it works just fine. How are you planning on filling the bottles? For example, Blichmann Beer Gun, NB Last Straw, Morebeer Counter Pressure Filler?

The answer is: Lambeau Field in January