Keg in Frozen Garage?

[jlinz]

Well, this cold snap is screwing things up! I have a keg that I set and forgot about two days ago at 12 PSI. As of now, things are freezing in the garage- temp in garage is about 20 or so. A test glass of water in the fridge in the garage is frozen. Not sure about the keg at this point. Never had this happen. Should warm up a little bit weather wise in the next few days. What should I do?

 

[user 246304]

I'd suggest a portable heater, set to a temp controller. I can't even finish my brewing frame, it's too damn cold. I'll have to do the same thing when I get going as I'll ferment in the garage and right now we're something like -4F. The portable ceramic heater was suggested to me by folks on this site.

 

[TennBrewer]

if it's fermented already, there may be enough alcohol to keep it from freezing but this continued cold spell could even freeze beer. I would move it indoors until it passes.

 

[jlinz]

When moving it indoors, should I disconnect the co2, maybe purge it, or just keep it at 12PSI and then just put it back in the fridge after the temps get a bit better out there?

Oh, and yes, it is fermented, set it to carbonate.

 

[popsicleian]

If you are going to move it inside, I would just disconnect and keep at 12 PSI. Before I moved my keg fridge inside, I had a couple of kegs freeze during really cold spells--I didn't perceive any drop in quality when they thawed and I resumed drinking.

 

[mongoose33]

When moving it indoors, should I disconnect the co2, maybe purge it, or just keep it at 12PSI and then just put it back in the fridge after the temps get a bit better out there?

Oh, and yes, it is fermented, set it to carbonate.

I'm thinking it's probably not frozen; the combination of the alcohol and the pressure probably means it's not. You should be able to slosh it a little bit and hear if anything is moving.

I'd take it indoors, I would NOT release the pressure; that may be the only thing keeping it from being frozen, assuming it's not. Every had a really cold bottle of soda or water and as soon as you open it, it freezes? It's the pressure that prevents that, up to a point.

So, take it indoors, let it warm up to maybe 35 degrees or so (measure on the keg itself, keeping a temp probe against it with a piece of foam or something to isolate it from ambient temperatures), then draw some off and see what you've got.