Frozen wort!

[jim_reaper1066]

My friend put on a brew yesterday and left it on his deck to cool down before pitching the yeast. Well he fell asleep for a few hours and in the -34C temperatures the wort forze solid. It was covered the whole time and he left it to thaw overnight before pitching the yeast. Any ideas if this will affect the beer?

 

[bovineblitz]

Well it will definitely screw up the proteins in there but that's not that big of a deal... most should drop out. There may be a head retention issue but I'm not sure. The sugars should all be intact and I don't think the flavor will be affected.

RDWHAHB is all there is to it, I'm interested to see what happens.

 

[Gremlyn]

Pitch it, it will be fine. I don't think the proteins will be an issue for you at all, I've frozen many a protein solution in my days in the lab (Foetal Bovine Serum comes to mind), and they are as frothy as ever after thawing. It's really heat that will damage proteins. As long as you haven't pitched your yeast, all will be well.

 

[bovineblitz]

Pitch it, it will be fine. I don't think the proteins will be an issue for you at all, I've frozen many a protein solution in my days in the lab (Foetal Bovine Serum comes to mind), and they are as frothy as ever after thawing. It's really heat that will damage proteins. As long as you haven't pitched your yeast, all will be well.

Oh that's true, I've used lots of frozen proteins and they were fine. I was thinking crystallization could possibly screw up the structure though as usually lab proteins aren't stored in water based solutions.

I'm sure it'll be fine.

 

[eppo]

I work at a lab, and most all assays that we run work just as well after 1 freeze/thaw cycle. its multiple freeze/thaw cycles that may cause issues.
you will be fine.
as a side note, i had a keg freeze in my keezer when the temp control fell out. It is a wonderfully tasting dubbel, even after a freeze/thaw. scared the crap out of me when it happened though.