I froze my first keg....now what?

[braydon]

I think I got a little over eager and carried away with all the interesting modifications that have been discussed.

I purchased a used Danby Millenium model and got it up and running and had my first 20l keg tapped last Friday.http://www.micromatic.com/forum/us-e...lies/smile.gif

Everything was perfect, EXCEPT, the first pour was half foam as the beer cleared out of the tower. Second and subsequent beers poured perfect, the right head temperature good, everything.

A week goes by, bring us to last night and I put a 12v fan in for the time being resting it on the top of the keg at an angle pointing towards the tower opening. Seems good as the subsequent beer pour an hour or so later has less foam on the first pour.

Flash foward to this morning. I take a peak inside to see how it is working and seems to be condensation, which I had not previously noticed on the side of the keg. Thinking this interesting but not fatal, I went off to work.

Arriving home ten minutes ago (yes I could not wait for an end of week beer!) I got absolutely no beer out of the tap and on opening the fridge discovered the line was frozen! Worse then that, I untapped the kep coupler and the keg gassed out with the valve loosely sitting in the opening. I have retapped it now and it is thawing (I could hear the frozen beer sloshing inside the keg)

Aside from letting it thaw and drinking it all in the next day or so (there are worse punishments!) Do i need to be worried about pressure? Will it still last? Have I basically F****D up the rest of the keg?

I had not realized, but do now! that the fan would make a given temperature setting for the fridge that much colder in real life, I had not read any mention of having to turn the fridge down after. Oh well. live and learn.

Any advice? Should I just lose the fan? I had planned on building the box and hose parts this weekend to direct it into the tower.

AARRGGHHHH!!!http://www.micromatic.com/forum/us-e...milies/mad.gif

[Woolly Bugger]

I wish I had a good answer for you, but I don't. I'm surprised that you were able to completely freeze the keg, though. Your fridge temp must be crazy low to be able to freeze the whole thing. This keg may be a loss (I'd drink all that flat beer just because I paid for it!), but in the future, I'd monitor the liquid temperature a bit more closely. I have a large glass of water in the fridge, and check it with a reliable thermometer every day (I'm trying to get my new kegerator dialed in as well). From all the previous posters, you can tell that the ideal temp is between 36-38. Before you throw in your second keg, I'd suggest monitoring your temp for a week or so until you know what is the exact setting for the perfect pour.

[braydon]

It did not freeze solid, aside from the lines and a plug of frozen beer in the bottom of the keg coupler (Type A German slider) it was just a bit slushy. The keg is a 20l of Steamwhistle.

Just tried it again after leaving the keg out for a while to warm and then replacing in the fridge, set lower-no fan, and it seems okay.

One big wack of foam on the first pour, but working well now. Taste seems pretty good as well.

Keeping my fingers crossed.

Does anyone know if the fan makes a difference to temp? Or is my temperature control wonky?

[psychodad]

Your fan likely prevented cold air from reaching where the controller senses temperature. Do as you were planning and build a box to cool the tower and all should be well.

[lunkhead]

A lot of us use fans / blowers to circulate air in the kegerator. There can be a several degree difference in temp between the top and bottom of the unit. The only thing that I can think you did was having it turned down too low or a mod error. Any time I did any mods on my unit I always ran a 2-1/2 gallon bucket of water in there for at least a week to make sure everything was OK before the beer went in. Just drink can or bottle beer in the meantime.

[bonefish]

As lunkhead said....

The temp in different areas of the fridge can vary. Make sure your beerline doesn't run against the cooling plate. I did the same thing.
A quick peek daily is a good idea, drinking or not.
SEAN

[sldaviau]

I've frozen several kegs, I'm not sure how solid, but frozen none the less. Everytime it happened I was able to thaw it out and drink it with no discernable loss of flavor. I also had several friends who helped drink it who didn't notice any loss of quality. Each time it helped me learn that the thermostat mod that I'd done on my Haier was too cold. I finally have it at a perfect (for me) 32 degrees F.

[braydon]

Thanks to everyone for your advice.

I have got the temperature under control and I am drinking the beer as quickly as possible :-)!

It has oxidized a bit from the keg losing pressure and air getting in, but all in all it is working well.

I am going to hold off on the fan mod until I have emptied the keg and then i will play with the settings to get it right before risking more beer.

Cheers!