I accidentally froze my beer

[JohnK93]

Hi all,

I was cold crashing my pale ale in my chest freezer (it was in the secondary after fermenting down to about 1.012) and accidentally left the temperature probe outside of the freezer for the better part of a day. My beer isn't quite frozen solid, the middle is still liquid, but the outside definitely froze. I figured I'll just let it naturally rise back to cellar temps. (lucky I got home and checked it or my glass carboy would have been in trouble!)

Could this result in any issues, flavor or otherwise?

Thanks,
John

 

[Temp81]

I had this happen to me a couple of times because I didn't realize my thermostat had went bad on me. Out of the 3 batches this happened on I didn't notice any issues or off flavors.

 

[bragona71]

beersicles yummy!!

 

[gregjohnston]

I bottled a bucket of stout slush the other week. Turned out great. Cold winter here in Boston...

 

[eatmorefrogs]

I did something similar once. Didn't have any issues. Gave 'er a gentle swirl to ensure I homogenized it again. Everything panned out just fine.

As a side note, what you've done is a step in a beer process. You didn't make a bock, but you can always roll with the punches and scrape off the water...

 

[JohnK93]

I figure anything that separated will come together with a gentle shake in the keg.

Otherwise, I guess I could make Eispale Ale!

Thanks!

 

[blackbeer]

that stuff in the middle would be interesting

 

[DoctorMemory]

I did this a couple of weeks ago with an ESB, cracked open one last night and didn't notice any issues. I think you'll be fine.

 

[Darwin18]

I froze a keg of California Common a couple years ago. When it eventually melted the beer inside stratified into different layers. I just had to give a shake to mix it up but it turned out well. Even scored well in a competition a few weeks later.

 

[Ivypunx]

pics or it didnt happen

 

[cgrivois]

Ever have one of those brew sessions that just went bad from beginning to end? I was making a blue moon for my wife, missed all my temps, PH wound up around 4.8, then of all things three weeks later I froze the wort while cold crashing. I didn't even thaw out the wort, I kegged what was in the middle. The beer tasted horrible to me, however my wife drinks it. She crushes an entire orange in a pint. I named the beer "dishwater".

 

[sensortech]

Nice to know I'm not the only one that's happened to. Froze 3 kegs the same way, no issues after it thawed.

 

[ol-hazza]

Yeh I've done it, clearest beer I've ever made.
And I didn't add any extra yeast for bottle carbonation, came out just fine.

 

[JohnK93]

Thanks for all the replies! I just dry hopped this and it looked pretty clear and...well, liquid...so I think it'll be fine. I'll find out for sure in a couple of weeks once it's kegged.

 

[guitarguy6]

Happened to me as well about a month ago. I let it thaw at room temp and then put it back in the fridge. Beer turned out great.