Freezing During Primay Fermentation

[jmanis]

So....my friend and I drank one too many homebrews during out last brew and set the temperature of the refrigerator too low and wound up freezing the beer while in primary fermentation (brewed a pilsner). Then, to make it worse, when we realized our beer was completely frozen and turned down the temperature the cardboard on the case of beer which our carboy was sitting on crumbled because of the condensation. The carboy fell and came to a rest leaning on the side of the refrigerator. While I was glad it didn't shatter or break in any way, the top of the aerator came off and the spring water that was in there spilled out. When I saw this I immediately removed the ruined cardboard box and refilled the aerator with more spring water. My question to all of you is this... how much do you think this will effect the outcome of the brew? We already know it isn't going to come out how we wanted since we missed our SG but I am curious to what the freezing and then defrosting will do. Any insight would be appreciated. Thanks.

 

[JoeyChopps]

I would think the yeast will wake back up and do its thing as far as the airlock I have had a few go dry will no ill effect I think u will be fine nothing like goofy drunk accidents

 

[jmanis]

I was thinking the same thing in regards to the yeast but wasn't sure what the missing airlock cap would do. Thanks.

 

[subliminalurge]

I've done my share of brewing while drunk (hey, why get into this hobby if you don't like to drink beer?) and I've made my share of mistakes where I should have known better.

Just ride it out. 9 times out of 10 you'll find that you're far more concerned about your mistake than the beer is.

Hell, I once came home from a party and couldn't sleep 'cuz the bed was spinning. Somehow I decided that this was the perfect time to brew up the recipe kit I had in the cupboard. If you can imagine a way to do things wrong, I did it. My sanitation routine was to rinse things off under the kitchen faucet and call it good enough.

Beer came out fine. Not my best batch, but definitely not my worst, either.

Beer is hard to **** up, and 99% of the time if it's not quite right, it will fix itself if you give it enough time.

 

[joeybeer]

I've heard it wakes back up and will be fine.. I think Revvy did the same thing ..

 

[JoeyChopps]

I've done my share of brewing while drunk (hey, why get into this hobby if you don't like to drink beer?) and I've made my share of mistakes where I should have known better.

Just ride it out. 9 times out of 10 you'll find that you're far more concerned about your mistake than the beer is.

Hell, I once came home from a party and couldn't sleep 'cuz the bed was spinning. Somehow I decided that this was the perfect time to brew up the recipe kit I had in the cupboard. If you can imagine a way to do things wrong, I did it. My sanitation routine was to rinse things off under the kitchen faucet and call it good enough.

Beer came out fine. Not my best batch, but definitely not my worst, either.

Beer is hard to **** up, and 99% of the time if it's not quite right, it will fix itself if you give it enough time.

Man I would have killed to be apart of that brew session tanked cheers

 

[jmanis]

Thanks for the replies. I don't feel as bad now. As you said, no point in brewing if you aren't going to drink it...

 

[reddskinnfan]

This is hilarious! Not so much that it happened to you, but because it happened to me too. My probe somehow ended up outside of my freezer, which I have no idea how that would happen. This is because I usually sit the probe under the fermenter.

For me, however, this was only a day into primary fermentation (the krausen is frozen on top right now). So what do I do? Should I repitch yeast, or just let this one play out?

Any help is greatly appreciated!

 

[subliminalurge]

Man I would have killed to be apart of that brew session tanked cheers

Oh, I've had several like that, including another time where I woke up on a Sunday morning to find a fresh carboy of DIPA bubbling away with no memory of having brewed the night before.....

 

[jmanis]

We should just make this into the "I got drunk and brewed" thread...

 

[mrduna01]

Drunken brewing is never boring. The yeast will be fine more than likely. Also try bottling drunk. Good times. Once you sober up you will find 52 bottles of beer sitting next to an un opened pack of priming sugar.

 

[terrapinj]

when you say aerator do you mean air lock?

most people use either star-san or vodka instead of spring water to help avoid contamination

 

[chairbornrangerx]

The water i use for sanitation in my bottling bucket (5gal water and star san) is what i use to fill my air locks.

 

[JoeyChopps]

Oh, I've had several like that, including another time where I woke up on a Sunday morning to find a fresh carboy of DIPA bubbling away with no memory of having brewed the night before.....

This guy is my new effin hero

 

[normzone]

Drunken brewing is never boring. The yeast will be fine more than likely. Also try bottling drunk. Good times. Once you sober up you will find 52 bottles of beer sitting next to an un opened pack of priming sugar.

Well, that's probably better than finding 52 bottles next to an empty one pound bag of priming sugar.

I think my low point was to come home from work, have a couple, and decide to start racking some second run wine off the grape skins, then take a shower.

I hear my roommate through the bathroom window..."Is the garage floor SUPPOSED to be covered in wine?"

"So....my friend and I drank one too many homebrews during out last brew" - I wonder how many of the threads in this place start with some variation on this theme.

 

[jmanis]

when you say aerator do you mean air lock?

most people use either star-san or vodka instead of spring water to help avoid contamination

Yeah, I meant air lock...And yes, since I posted this I came to realize using vodka is better than using spring water. Thanks tho.

 

[subliminalurge]

The water i use for sanitation in my bottling bucket (5gal water and star san) is what i use to fill my air locks.

Yep. Fill a squirt bottle from the bucket and it just takes 3 or 4 squirts to top off an airlock that's running low.....