Frozen keg

[terry101]

New to legging and left an IPA in the fridge for 2 days while away on a business trip. Came home looking forward to a HB and tap was dry. Checked lines and gas and all looked good. Finally opened the corny and found the beer frozen solid??? I had a couple of Heineken bottles in fridge too but they were ok. Has anybody else have this happen? After a few hours it thawed out but is now very foamy.


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[BBL_Brewer]

Sounds like you've got a good frige. I keep my keg frige turned all the way down. It keeps the temp just under 50F.

 

[hunter_le five]

Yup, I froze a keg once. The beer will recover. You just need to turn the fridge's thermostat up a bit.

And foamy beer is not surprising. Carbonation level is a function of both temperature and pressure. Your beer got colder than you wanted, so naturally it got more carbonated as well.

I would take it off the gas and out of the fridge, let it warm up a bit, and release pressure periodically until you can bring the carb level back down a bit. Then stick it back in the fridge and on gas at the proper temp/pressure until you've reached equilibrium.


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[Duster]

Had the same thing happen, beer really never recovered but I think it was frozen for a while. I purchased one of these and now everything is good....

 

[andy6026]

Out of curiosity, does anyone have a scientific explanation to offer the OP as to why this would happen, given that the Heineken bottles in the same fridge did not freeze?

My first guess was that the carbonation pressure gave the beer a higher freezing point (although I may well be talking out of my back-side), but the bottled Heineken's would also be under a similar level of pressure, n'est pas?

 

[Mike_kever_kombi]

Out of curiosity, does anyone have a scientific explanation to offer the OP as to why this would happen, given that the Heineken bottles in the same fridge did not freeze?

My first guess was that the carbonation pressure gave the beer a higher freezing point (although I may well be talking out of my back-side), but the bottled Heineken's would also be under a similar level of pressure, n'est pas?

The conductivity of metal vs glass?
Abv of Heineken was higher than homebrew?

Or if it is anything like my little keg fridge, I have a freezer compartment on the top of my dorm fridge. If one of the posts touches the freezer tray it will freeze an entire keg in a day, and not the bottles at the bottom of the fridge

 

[MindenMan]

non, pression plus élevée, plue la température de congélation. C'est pourquoi les bouteilles n'éclatent. plus les molécules sont plus vite qu'elles gèlent et je serais prêt à parier que le fût a été sous pression plus élevée.


no, higher pressure, higher freezing temperature. that is why bottles didn't burst. the closer the molecules are, the faster they freeze, and I would bet the keg was pressurized higher.

 

[pfgonzo]

Could also be the location of the keg in the fridge. Was it on the floor, and not raised in any way? I've iced a few kegs accidentally, and the problem stopped when I added a small platform to the bottom of my fridge to elevate the kegs slightly.

 

[terry101]

Just a follow up.....left keg to thaw for a week and what was a nice IPA is now tasteless. Rats!


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[FuzzeWuzze]

Out of curiosity, does anyone have a scientific explanation to offer the OP as to why this would happen, given that the Heineken bottles in the same fridge did not freeze?

My first guess was that the carbonation pressure gave the beer a higher freezing point (although I may well be talking out of my back-side), but the bottled Heineken's would also be under a similar level of pressure, n'est pas?

Im guessing that the keg was at the back of the fridge right next to the fan dumping cold air from the freezer in.

ive frozen many food items by sticking them in the back of the fridge, even with my fridge not set as low as it can go.

 

[Gar]

Out of curiosity, does anyone have a scientific explanation to offer the OP as to why this would happen, given that the Heineken bottles in the same fridge did not freeze?

My first guess was that the carbonation pressure gave the beer a higher freezing point (although I may well be talking out of my back-side), but the bottled Heineken's would also be under a similar level of pressure, n'est pas?

Ive noticed if you put bottles in the doors of some fridges they stay much warmer then on a shelf. maybe he had them in the door.

 

[terry101]

Bottles were on the door. Fridge does not have a freezer compartment. Must have been too close to wall. Most disappointing is that the beer lost all flavor after it thawed.


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[pfgonzo]

I've never heard freezing/thawing a beer impacts its flavor, unless you're still drinking it at 30F or so. Cold temps do mute flavors, but they perk back up when warmed.

I can't make it work logically either. There are brewers who intentionally freeze their beers as part of the clarifying process. Have you warmed the beer to 55F or so (in a glass) and tasted it?

 

[terry101]

I'm thinking the beer got oxidized when I opened the keg. Not sure if I purged after closing as I was stunned it was frozen and was focused on thawing it out.


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[pfgonzo]

Short of shaking it, you prob didn't oxidize it. Oxidation flavors of wet cardboard/sherry are distinct.

Here's another thought: are you sure the keg thawed all the way?

I accidentally iced an IPA once (may have mentioned that in my previous post). The initial flavor had a nice strong grapefruit face punch that dwindled to nothing after a couple days. Concerned, I popped the keg to do another dry hop addition and saw it was half frozen inside (which explains why they were also hitting me so hard... Google "freeze distillation").

It took 2-3 days to fully thaw once I adjusted the fridge.