Froze 'green' beer in carboy :(

Long story short, I was a dummy and let my 'temp controlled' Wheat beer freeze solid in my fermentation chamber after I left my temperature probe outside of the freezer on accident. D'oh!

Up to that point the beer had been fermenting for 10 days at about 64 degrees and by all accounts went smoothly. The beer in the carboy was pretty much frozen solid for about a day but the carboy was intact and hadn't overflowed yet so I guess it could have been worse (except for the fact that the airlock 'cap' had been pushed off). I slowly thawed the still 'green' beer and took a gravity reading and it was at about 1.020, still a few points higher than the target of 1.017. It tasted just fine for 10 day old beer (maybe a touch sour) however I have no idea if the yeast were killed off or not. Since I thawed it it appears that new Kreusen has formed and it is bubbling again somewhat in the airlock so I think some yeast has survived and may be taking care of unfinished fermentables.

Since this is going to be a fruit beer, and I plan on racking on top of 3 lbs of Raspberry puree in the secondary and eventually bottling, what I'm wondering is if I should pitch some fresh yeast into the primary or secondary to make up for the possible killed yeast? I'm just worried that I won't have enough viable yeast to bottle condition. I do have the capability to keg so that is always an option too.

In any case, any advice would be greatly appreciated!

If there are yeast still active, they're hardy bastids, and I'd be inclined to let them enjoy the fruits, so to speak
They'll increase their numbers if necessary, and it really doesn't take much yeast to carbonate a bottle...

Cheers!

day_trippr said:

They'll increase their numbers if necessary

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I disagree... at this point, a lot (most?) of your fermentables are probably gone, but if there is enough sugar for the yeast to multiply that will cause off flavors. I would be inclined to believe that at this point that overpitching isn't much of a concern.

If I were in your situation, I'd pitch a quarter-packet of rehydrated yeast and add the fruit at the same time.

day_trippr is definitely right that it doesn't take much yeast to carb a bottle, though.

day_trippr and Trail:

Thanks so much for your advice! The carboy is still slowly fermenting away as of this morning so I'm guessing there was enough fermentables and residual yeast left even after the freeze to keep things going (and as you point out probably enough to bottle).

In any case I'll most likely add a little extra yeast when I rack to the fruit in the secondary just to be safe. I just don't want to have 'flat' bottles so to speak after attempting to carb and condition.

Cheers!