freezing beer

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nootay

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i made a RIS that finished at 1.040 and its way too sweet for my tastes. Instead of throwing it out, im thinking of accidentally letting it freeze and separating the liquids from the solids :cross: . anyways, the beer is currently in keg and carbonated. Im not sure how many people are familiar with this, but should i de-carbonate the beer prior to doing this? my plan was to fill 2 liter bottles, leave about 3 inches of head space, shake to get all the co2 out, freeze, drain. sound about right?
 
Whats your goal? If its to reduce sweetness; I don't think this will accomplish that. I believe you'll just freeze and separate the water, like an eisbock, etc.
 
i made a RIS that finished at 1.040 and its way too sweet for my tastes. Instead of throwing it out, im thinking of accidentally letting it freeze and separating the liquids from the solids :cross: . anyways, the beer is currently in keg and carbonated. Im not sure how many people are familiar with this, but should i de-carbonate the beer prior to doing this? my plan was to fill 2 liter bottles, leave about 3 inches of head space, shake to get all the co2 out, freeze, drain. sound about right?

I'm kind of confused as to what you think will happen...

If you freeze and drain, you'll be pouring out all of the alcohol and sugar and you'll be left with bottles with chunks of ice in them that will be just water after they melt.
 
Freeze concentration will make the beer even sweeter, although higher in ABV since you're removing some of the water in it. It might make a good sipper, but if it's already too sweet it might become cloying.
 
I would leave it as is to pour over vanilla ice cream or blend with a dry cabernet.
 
im hoping it will make a nice mixer. i cant drink it as it is, so was just trying to figure out something else to do with it. i didnt even think about it becoming even sweeter. either way, ive never "freeze distilled" anything so figure itll be fun and something good may come of it. i was pretty much just wondering if my process sounds about right and if i need to worry about pulling the co2 out of suspension. thanks for the quick responses!
 
Freezing cannot separate anything that is in solution, like the excess fermentables.

Might still be fixable though. I don't know the IBU/ABV, but you can dry it out by adding cane sugar and letting it ferment. I'd try adding a couple pounds of sugar in a gallon of water. Boil some hops in the water if you are concerned with lowering the IBUs.
 
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