Freezing beer

[chriscapetrib]

Hi All

Not strictly kegging related to most but, necessity has forced me to do this .
Picture this - I have finally stopped drinking warm (to hot beer) - now there is a fridge to put my keg system in but - power is an issue to run the fridge , because I'm living the renewable power dream(solar panels & batteries nightmare ). I have had to fill the freezer(of the keg fridge) with something to keep efficiency so I put in all those 3 litre bottles of beer(leftovers that wouldn't fit in the kegs).

Has anyone tried frozen beer ? And not that 6 pack you forgot about that time, but beer that has been frozen and then gassed?

Have I just wasted 33 litres of various beers?? ?? (there is 9litres of lagers and the balance is dark ales.)

[timmy]

Should be OK. Let them thaw and give them some time for the pressure to redistribute (ie back into the beer). I've frozen a full batch during cold conditioning and it ended up fine...

[KEG]

yeah, should be alright... but they might continue to age a fair bit slower once thawed.

also, i wonder if there's a risk of in-bottle autolysis if you've popped some of the yeast cells... thoughts people?

[chriscapetrib]

i wonder if there's a risk of in-bottle autolysis if you've popped some of the yeast cells... ?

"Autolysis is a process by which a biological cell self-destructs.........In the food industry, autolysis involves killing the yeast and encouraging the breakdown of the cells by enzymes. It is used to give different flavors. For yeast extract, this process is triggered by the addition of salt." From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Your scaring me KEG!!!
So what might this mean for my precious beer??? Taste? Appearance?

[rwh]

I don't reckon there'd be sufficient yeast present for it to be a problem. But autolysis tastes like vegemite, minus the salt.

[Trough Lolly]

...and for auto self lysis splitting to occur, the yeast must be active, not frozen.

Cheers,
TL

[KEG]

what i was thinking was, that the yeast cells that popped (if any) when it was frozen, might begin to get consumed by the other yeast cells which survived the ordeal

[chriscapetrib]

Right.... so worst case scenario is I'll have some beer that's more suited to spreading (pouring) on toast than drinking but chances are it'll be ok.
Thanks All. I'll post result when in.