Froze my wort after pitching.

Brewer #49306

New Member
Premium Member
Joined
Apr 16, 2018
Messages
27
Reaction score
16
Points
3
Hi, Not my best brew day yesterday. Made Helles and had several problems through the day but got through it and actually hit my numbers.

Pitched yeast at WLP838 at 48 degrees around 6 last night. At about 7:00 my son in law is describing how he wants to led light my bar and back bar mirror and in the process takes my controller out of the mirror shelf and sets it on the floor.

This morning I check the beer and I have 6 gallons of ice wort. When he set the controller on the floor he pulled the probe off of the fermenter and into the seal gasket on the freezer which read 65 degrees. The freezer ran all night, thus my wort problem.

Should I wait and see if fermentation starts once it thaws or does anyone have better ideas?

Thanks
Tom
 
I’m thinking you may need to purchase more yeast once it thaws out. Not sure how the flavor will turn out, I’ll let others chime in on that
 
Is Eis-Helles a thing? I agree with @Mase , thaw and repitch and see what happens. Maybe you have stumbled upon the new "it" thing!
 
I think Mase maybe correct about the yeast, freezing doesn’t hurt the wort, but the yeast will be harmed. No idea if it’s harmed so much it won’t take off, but I would say your going to have to go into “salvage mode”.

I brew mostly lagers and if it were me, I would warm the wort up to 44-45F, rehydrate 2 packs of 34/70, pitch it and wait. Once it takes off, bring up to 48F. You could aerate at pitching even if you have already.

I would expect this may be an awesome beer despite the freezing.
 
Is Eis-Helles a thing? I agree with @Mase , thaw and repitch and see what happens. Maybe you have stumbled upon the new "it" thing!
If the IT thing is being a dumb a$$ then I probably have IT locked down.
 
Last edited:
I think Mase maybe correct about the yeast, freezing doesn’t hurt the wort, but the yeast will be harmed. No idea if it’s harmed so much it won’t take off, but I would say your going to have to go into “salvage mode”.

I brew mostly lagers and if it were me, I would warm the wort up to 44-45F, rehydrate 2 packs of 34/70, pitch it and wait. Once it takes off, bring up to 48F. You could aerate at pitching even if you have already.

I would expect this may be an awesome beer despite the freezing.

I was really hoping to use the WPL838 for this batch but I may have to go the 34/70 route.
 
I was really hoping to use the WPL838 for this batch but I may have to go the 34/70 route.
I think at this stage you essentially have a blank canvas, yeast-wise. I see no problem with using WLP838 once things have thawed out reasonably.
 
If you thaw the wort, it should ferment just fine. You will have damaged some of the yeast cells but not all. If you want, a "safety" pitch of either the yeast you used or a packet of 34/70 should be sufficient.
 
I was really hoping to use the WPL838 for this batch but I may have to go the 34/70 route.
I think the big difference between 34/70 and WLP838 is the malt character, 838 is a little more malty, but I’ve gotten a slight red apple out of it, similar to an American lager. 34/70 will make a good beer with slightly less malt coming through, so now you going to have to try that recipe again with 838 and see how they compare. What are you going to do with all that beer?
 
I'm in the "warm and wait" camp. Yeast is pretty resillient. Unless you had solid ice throughout the container, the yeast will have survived in large numbers. I'd warm it up to 60 and let it sit until there's sign of activity. If you don't see it within a day or so, repitch.
 
I'm in the "warm and wait" camp. Yeast is pretty resillient. Unless you had solid ice throughout the container, the yeast will have survived in large numbers. I'd warm it up to 60 and let it sit until there's sign of activity. If you don't see it within a day or so, repitch.
I think by pitching a very healthy amount of 34/70 (2 packs) and keeping it cold would yield better results. Lager yeast that are fermented in the low 60's taste like ales to me, I have had a lot better results by letting them set @ 44-45F and waiting 24-30 hours.The beers are way cleaner and crisper. I wouldn't be afraid of over pitching at that temperature, lagers should have a bigger pitch anyway.

But your might right though, raising it to the low 60's might kick it off nice and the beer would still be decent. It is a reasonable option.
 
I put the heat belt on it this morning and is up to 44 f. I think I might wait over night to see if I get any fermentation activity at 48.
Thanks everyone.
 
Lager yeast that are fermented in the low 60's taste like ales to me,
I don't disagree, but in this case, getting the yeast back to life after such low temps makes it a viable approach. as soon as there's any activity, I'd bring it back down to the 48-52 degree range.
 
Final update. Came home from work today and about a inch of Krausen in the fermenter.

Lots of worry about nothing apparently.
RDWAHAHB
Sometimes it is surprising what yeast can go through. I guess you can say you have the coldest pitched lager on Earth! I think this may be an awesome beer.
 

Back
Top