I had a keg freeze, what do I do?

[ramey70]

I set a pre-carbed keg with 4 gallons of AHS American Bock in the garage fridge while I did some work on the kegerator over the course of a few days. I had it on the lowest setting to keep it around 32 but I guess it was a little more efficient than I thought. When I poured a pint it was flat, despite being kept under pressure during that time with no leak. I went to burst carb and shake under 30psi hoping that would bring the carb back since this was a ready to drink well lagered keg I had already poured a few pints from. Nothing happened. When I opened the keg I noticed there was a solid chunk of ice covering the beer in the keg. So what I've gathered is I have a fractionated flat beer under the ice. Where do I go from here? Will it be fine to let it thaw for a few hours then shake to blend and recarb?

 

[Walker]

yeah, it should be fine.

 

[ramey70]

What's the proper way to recarb in short order? I usually just set at 10psi and let it sit for two weeks. However, since this beer is well aged and ready to drink and has been carbed once already, I figure it won't hurt to burst carb. What's the quickest and easiest method to do so?

 

[erock2112]

Just take it out of the fridge or wait for it to thaw. I had a bunch of kegs freeze before I got a temperature controller for my freezer - they all ended up fine. If it seems flat after it's thawed go for the shake method, although I don't remember ever needing to do that.

 

[Walker]

no help there. I'm a set-it-and-forget-it guy. The only times I have tried to get one carbed quicker, it has backfired on me. I neglected to unhook the gas line when I shook it the first time, and beer went up the line. I avoided that problem the second time, but it ended up overcarbed.

 

[david_42]

Hit it with 30 psi, disconnect and shake. Repeat once. With 20% head space, that will give you roughly 10psi dissolved. It can take a day or two for the beer to adjust to the pH change.