Preservation and refrigeration

Not to be a smartass, but if you store a beer at 32 degrees Fahrenheit, wouldn't it freeze and explode? I havent tried it myself, but I've heard this. Maybe the baseline for the storage temp should be 50 on the scale? I'd hate to see some poor soul freeze all their beer...

 

Alcohol is antifreeze, so you can go a bit lower depending on ABV. At 10% ABV, it freezes at 25 degrees F. Should be a chart for that too....

 

Nice to know. I figured the alcohol and water would seperate, but I haven't tested it. I've seen light beers freeze in cold temps and Ive seen some liqueurs get slushie in the freezer, so I wasn't sure about beer in general. Good to know though in case i do some winter drinking.

 

German Lager breweries are know to finish the lagering at -1C which is 30.2 F. Those are usually 5% beers, and don't freeze until it gets down to about 28F.

I've tried it on my homemade lagers. It works.

Edit - the freezer you have is much colder. -10 to -20 F.

 

Good point, i didn't have a thermostat in the freezer. And since water freezes at 32, it was probably well below that.

 

At some temperature it will separate, but should be good for a few degrees below freezing. Per the article below you can make beers stronger by partially freezing them, skimming the ice, and then bringing back to fridge temperature.

http://www.popsci.com/science/article/2013-01/beersci-how-make-strong-beer-stronger

 

The other part of this to think about is taste, Cold temperature liquids dull your taste buds.

 

These are called Eisbock

 

I've had Eisbock but hadn't realized it was less a style than a post-brewing treatment. Sounds like you can do this to most any beer and it becomes an Eisbock, at least from the style description. Or are they leaving out that there is some standard for the base beer?

 

In many (or most) jurisdictions this eisbeer procedure produces an ABV that is high enough so that it is considered to be spirits and is referred to as freeze distillation and likely requires a distillers license. You can probably use any base beer, but the results likely would have less flavor if it is a low alcohol beer or is a light-flavored beer style to begin with.

 

In the US, on the Federal level, it's not the final ABV that determines its legality, it is the process itself. So-called "Ice beers" (not the true eisbocks) are allowed only if:

Supposedly, the ruling doesn't not affect imports (some have US TTB label approvals not as "malt beverages" but as ""699 - OTHER SPECIALTIES & PROPRIETARIES" which is a "DISTILLED SPIRITS" and thus taxed at a much higher rate).

In general, the TTB has looked the other way with small batches of eisbocks in the US and there have been rumors for years that the agency is considering revising the rule.