DesignatedDrinker
Well-Known Member
Does frozen keg ruin beer? Here is my experience....
So somehow(I'm still not sure how), my kegerator setting got changed to "permanently on" during the chilling process before carbing for a porter i made. Well it sat overnight and when i checked it in the AM to add pressure to start the carbing process, half of it was frozen. temps were reading 16 degrees.
This one was one of my 2.5 gallon kegs, so i thawed it in the sink with room temp water around it. Once thawed I stirred it up gently not to aerate or splash and carbed it for a week.
Just did a side by side taste test against a bottle carbed brew of the same batch and the keg one is horrible! Has an increase alcohol taste like the alcohol was concentrated or separated from the rest of the liquid. It also picked up a metal-like taste which i would think would of been brought off from the keg walls during the freezing process, then thawing? Its a SS keg so Im not sure. Its very bitter too, almost like the IBU's became concentrated. Keep in mind I did stir it up before starting the carbing process, but did not stir after that.
The bottled porter was perfect tho.
This is just my experience I thought i would share for people wondering if the should toss there accidental frozen batch...next time i will dump it if it happens again.
cheers,
Chris
So somehow(I'm still not sure how), my kegerator setting got changed to "permanently on" during the chilling process before carbing for a porter i made. Well it sat overnight and when i checked it in the AM to add pressure to start the carbing process, half of it was frozen. temps were reading 16 degrees.
This one was one of my 2.5 gallon kegs, so i thawed it in the sink with room temp water around it. Once thawed I stirred it up gently not to aerate or splash and carbed it for a week.
Just did a side by side taste test against a bottle carbed brew of the same batch and the keg one is horrible! Has an increase alcohol taste like the alcohol was concentrated or separated from the rest of the liquid. It also picked up a metal-like taste which i would think would of been brought off from the keg walls during the freezing process, then thawing? Its a SS keg so Im not sure. Its very bitter too, almost like the IBU's became concentrated. Keep in mind I did stir it up before starting the carbing process, but did not stir after that.
The bottled porter was perfect tho.
This is just my experience I thought i would share for people wondering if the should toss there accidental frozen batch...next time i will dump it if it happens again.
cheers,
Chris