Ice blockage in my beer lines

[msa8967]

I am really starting to detest this cold weather. I have my keezer in the garage set at 40 F but due to temps below zero there is ice build up in my beer lines and now nothing will flow through the taps. The keezer is in our garage that is attached to the house but ca sometimes have inside temps drop below 32 F for several days. We don't have space for the keezer indoors so I am at a loss for what to do other than wait for things to warm up. I doubt raising the pressure would do anything. Just tired of having to disconnect the tap lines from the kegs and faucets to clear them.

Any ideas...?

 

[beninan]

I've heard you can leave an incandescent light on inside it to help keep it warm. Maybe you could rig up the switch so the inside light remains on, that is if it has an inside light.

I seem to be having troubles with mine as well, but my kegerator is inside. My temp controller seems to want to either keep it at 45 degrees, or 25 degrees...

 

[JonW]

You could put a light bulb inside the freezer to warm it up a bit. Are you using a Love or Johnson controller? Get one with dual stage (heat/cool) outputs and it can automatically turn the light bulb on as a heater when necessary, but shut it off when it gets up to your required temp.

 

[msa8967]

I am using a Johnson temp control but it is not a dual stage model so lesson learned for next time. I am going to try the light bulb method with a shop/trouble light as soon as I can find where it went after this last move.

Has anyone ever had kegged beer freeze under these conditions?

Thanks for the replies

 

[beninan]

"Under these conditions" you mean still freeze with a light bulb inside? Or kegs freezing in general?

I've never had to install a light bulb to warm up mine, I just have to increase the temp setting on the controller. I have had my kegs freeze from getting too cold. I just take them out to thaw, then give then a quick shake to mix the water back in, and they are fine.

 

[msa8967]

"Under these conditions" you mean still freeze with a light bulb inside? Or kegs freezing in general?

I've never had to install a light bulb to warm up mine, I just have to increase the temp setting on the controller. I have had my kegs freeze from getting too cold. I just take them out to thaw, then give then a quick shake to mix the water back in, and they are fine.

How long would you take the kegs out to thaw? I got some beer out of one of the lines but there is now some type of particle suspended in the beer and the taste has changed. I had used a cold crashing method with gelatin to try to produce a clearer beer but now I wonder if that gelatin has found its way back into the beer.

I cold crashed at 40 F for 24 hours and then added gelatin and let sit for 3-4 days in 40 F prior to racking to my keg. I preparred the gelatin by adding it to water at 170 F and letting it simmer for 10 minutes and then cold the water. Added this to my cold crashed primary.

 

[Whut]

I am using a Johnson temp control but it is not a dual stage model so lesson learned for next time.

If you've got the A419, you can move the jumpers to run heat. This video at MoreBeer will show you how to do it.

 

[Bottenbrew]

I have a similar problem and I bought a light at Lowe's today to rig up to fix it. In the mean time I have been filling up 1 gallon jugs with the hottest water my tap will put out and putting them in the keezer. It keeps it below 32, but beer doesn't freeze at 32 so it works out.

 

[beninan]

How long would you take the kegs out to thaw? I got some beer out of one of the lines but there is now some type of particle suspended in the beer and the taste has changed. I had used a cold crashing method with gelatin to try to produce a clearer beer but now I wonder if that gelatin has found its way back into the beer.

I cold crashed at 40 F for 24 hours and then added gelatin and let sit for 3-4 days in 40 F prior to racking to my keg. I preparred the gelatin by adding it to water at 170 F and letting it simmer for 10 minutes and then cold the water. Added this to my cold crashed primary.

I could shake mine and hear that it sounded slushy inside. You could leave them in the keezer to thaw as long as the temp isn't freezing, but that may take several days. I took out my frozen ones and placed them upright on a towel to soak up any condensation. I left them out overnight, so maybe it was a half a day total. I just kept shaking them until I didn't hear the slush inside anymore, then shook them a little more to make sure the water that had separated and turned to ice got mixed back in fully. They had to sit undisturbed for a couple-few days so the CO2 could properly get blended back in and to let everything settle. I tried taking a draw of one of the kegs after only about 2 hours placing back into the kegerator, and there was nothing but foam, and a lot of hop residue (I'm not sure why, but before this happened, the beer was very clear, and after it froze/thawed/reinstalled into refrigerator it was very not-clear, but after it sat for a few days now it is back to being clear again). As for tasting different, it did taste different when there was slush in it, due to the water being separated out, but after it thawed and was let to sit and re-carbonate now it tastes fine.

 

[msa8967]

I may have made a mistake on "thawing the kegs". I removed all of them from the keezer and brought them inside to help the process w/o thinking of how this might affect the beer taste. I know that once bottled beer is chilled you should not let it warm back up to room temp and expect it to taste fine. The kegs were inside for about 48 hours and then I shook them and returned them to the keezer. During all of this time the kegs maintained pressure but now the beer tastes off. Will the original taste return with time or has there been a permanent change?

 

[beninan]

I didn't have an issue with mine except I didn't wait long enough for it to fully cool and allow the CO2 to dissolve back in. I was 90% foam for the first couple days after returning to the refrigerator. As for off tastes, I haven't noticed any. Due to the water freezing and separating, maybe you didn't get it fully mixed back in? I honestly don't see why it would create an off taste anyway. It's a sealed unit, so when the water freezes and turns to ice, I would think that you now have a beer concentrate with ice. When the ice thaws, being a sealed unit, everything would get mixed back in and still be the same.
Maybe I'm 100% incorrect and someone else can elaborate.