Beer frozen accidently, bad or go for ICEBeer

[bourbonbarrel]

Had a controller go goof on me after power spike / interruption yesterday.
now I have three kegs of fabulous beer which is normally unavailable from Great brewers far away which are now at least partially frozen.

currently at 21 degrees F when I found this am when going out to visit the archive.


Two high gravity bourbon barreled imperial stouts near 12% One was oatmeal
and two ales near 7 % one wood aged one not ( if it may matter)

one of the 7 % ales were shipped carbonated the other three beers shipped and stored flat, un carbonated ( except for any natural gas that evolved in the last 3 months.

does good ale break like wine does when it abused in such a sorry way as this

should I thaw it and keep fingers crossed or just go lower for four unique Ice beers?
UUUURG!
Yours in the wood
Bourbonbarrel

[kugeman]

It's not ideal, but I think you'll be ok. I had four kegs of beer freeze in the back of my pickup while I was driving to a beer festival a couple of years ago. (it's amazing what four hours in a 30 below weather will do). It's not ideal for the long term flavor stability of the beer, but I think it'll survive. For the beer that is carbonated you may find that it's gone flat and may need more CO2 added. That was my experience anyway.

[BrewinLou]

IMO I would let them thaw out, then roll them around a little to make sure the water is fully blended back in. Should be fine.

[cpelz]

In years past we'd regularly (and inadvertently) freeze our kegs while skiing in the Selkirks. I was always amazed to find no difference when thawed. Always seemed like such an awful thing to do to beer but it seems to bounce back.

I understand freezing is not an unheard of way to store wine.

[fullmoonwinery]

i accidentally froze some of my cider which i keep in wine bags for my own drinking and was surprised how great, fresh and clean it tasted after thawing out of its slushy state.

i'm thinking about incorporating that into the commercial process. i guess it needs to be chilled to near freezing for the bottler anyhow, so that should do it.