# FREEZE BEERS



## gh (Oct 13, 2003)

Since you asked, I think you need to find the caps lock key and press it. 

The beer thing is a pretty easy experiment, throw a couple in the freezer and then take them out.


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## relikpaul (Feb 20, 2008)

*FREEZING BEERS*

MY QUESTION IS HOW DOES IT AFFECT TAISTE? 
DOES IT GO FLAT, DO SOME EXPLODE? 
CARBOINATION? WHAT WORKS BEST? 
THESE ARE THE QUESTIONS I NEED ANSWERED, NOT HOW TO PUT A BEER IN THE FREEZER?


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## rwhyman (May 23, 2005)

Yes and no, Some ,yes, not really, sometimes.

I guess you must have spilled beer on your Caps lock key.

Everyone's tastes are different, but if you are just drinking Bud, does it really matter?


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## raymo (Aug 10, 2008)

Look at the top of the beer can, if the top is deeply concave, when it freezes it has more room to expand than other beer cans. Tast is still good especially if it is someone elses beer and only beer left. Also by splitting iced beers into days and don't open cooler, and seal arround cooler lid with tape everything stays verry cold. Will work with food also on multi-day trips.


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## GoodTimes (Mar 9, 2006)

Buy all the cheap beer you're accustomed too.....toss one of each in the freezer (a freezer works best for freezing things....you asked what works best ).....and see what happens. Sounds like a fun experiment to me. Taste will be about the same....but carbonation is another issue. Just gotta give 'er and see what happens!! 

I haven't tested them all......but I know most domestics freeze well......carbonation lost for the most part.


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## Dave Frank (Oct 14, 2003)

I can tell you Dale's gets much flatter than it started.


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## dgosn (Sep 8, 2006)

*freezing beer*

As a connoisseur or cheap cold beer here is all I know about freezing beer.

Usually quick freezing beer seems to burst them more than a slow process. ie: If i only put in a 12er in my freezer a couple may break, as opposed to filling the freezer up it takes longer to freeze due to amount of mass that needs cooled, in this case fewer break.


Hamms and PBR freeze well, and out of a 30 pack only 1 if any break. PBR seems to hold carbonation the best.

Tecate has about a 5-10% mortality rate.

besides tasting like shit, milwaukees best seem to break a lot.

Budweiser does almost as well as PBR, but when it is thawed it taste like.. well,.. Bud

Coors gold does okay, expect to loose about 2 of 30 to explosions

Steel Reserve (12oz) has about a 10% mortality, and tastes way worse then it did to begin with, hard to beleive but true.

Guinness, Bodingtons, Old Chub, Murphys, Youngs, etc all seem to not like to be frozen, not surprising but at $1.25 a loss that sucks.

Depending on how much beer you freeze/drink eventually after 200 burst beers you might as well have bought a expensive cooler. I can still put 3 30 packs of frozen PBR in a Coleman EXtreme cooler pack with crushed ice, not open it and have COLD beer after 7-10 days in 90 degree weather as long as cooler is left closed and in the shade..... I would say that over all PBR and Bud Hold up the best.

Scott


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## fdon (Jul 23, 2008)

So, Its July and hot as hell, I am bored and an icy cold beer or two would certainly make my present condition a whole lot better. So much for the reason for bumping this old thread, plus I was witness to another way to freeze canned beer.

On the Selway a few years back, a kayaker asked me for some space in my raft cooler. He had a 12er of canned beer frozen solid. Not being the type of guy to turn down beer, I asked him how he did this and he told me to just find a tupperware tub large enough to hold the 12 pack, cardboard rapper and all, put it in, fill with water and put it into the freezer. He explained the process as the surrounding water freezes first and supports the cans thus protecting them from bursting. I do not recall the brand of beer but none burst as they were thawed and consumed. They must have been OK to drink as none of the cans came home full.

I thought the effort was over the top for canned beer but I wonder if the same process could be utilized for those fridge mini-tappers of Heini beer.
A small keg of beer per day after a hard summer day on the water just might be the ticket.

Hey Relic, did you ever get a post stone-age keyboard that does not yell at everyone? Unless your yelling, "I GOT SOME REALLY COLD BEER HERE", its just not how its done.


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## El Flaco (Nov 5, 2003)




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## Andy H. (Oct 13, 2003)

No shit, Josh. I just move to the next post when I see all caps or zero punctuation. I ain't got time to read all caps or try to figure out what someone's trying to say if they don't have the respect to make it easy for their audience...

...uh, well, except for Milo...


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## fdon (Jul 23, 2008)

OK, so this old thread caught the attention of a couple of big fish, so how about one of you great wizards of the Buzz moving it out of "The Eddy" and into a spot where it might attract some meaningful (or not) discussion about freezing beer for summer river trips


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## catwoman (Jun 22, 2009)

After reading this thread in 2008 we tried freezing some PBR. We lost quite a few, and they were flatter than I would have liked. We haven't tried it since. But I am curious about the tupperware method. What about just freezing layers of beer into your cooler? I need to find myself a walk-in freezer in which to borrow space before this August's Cataract trip.


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## constructeur (Feb 27, 2012)

Another reason the PNW rules all. The river is the beer cooler


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## MT4Runner (Apr 6, 2012)

catwoman said:


> But I am curious about the tupperware method. What about just freezing layers of beer into your cooler? I need to find myself a walk-in freezer in which to borrow space before this August's Cataract trip.


*This is a potentially genius idea!!!* 

Less cooler space lost to a frozen block of ice, colder beer, and an end to the "drain vs. not drain" discussion. Of course, as your beers thaw, you drain them down your gullet!



constructeur said:


> Another reason the PNW rules all. The river is the beer cooler


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## fdon (Jul 23, 2008)

*"This is a potentially genius idea!!!"*

*A fine reason to move this thread out of the "Eddy" where it might see the light of day and some further discussion.*


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## Marie99 (Jun 25, 2012)

*Frozen Beer*

Here is a link to an article we have on frozen beer. There is a list of beers our team has tried and turn out tasting pretty good.


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## Dave Frank (Oct 14, 2003)

Marie that is a good start, but please do more research, particularly in the IPA dept.

And unless I missed something, the article was more like a list. Any notable subtleties like Dgosn listed regarding freeze rates?

Thanks


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## GC Guide (Apr 10, 2009)

I like this thread! I use my freezer for beer as well. I find that most beers retain their carbonation as long as the end of the cans don't bulge. I am loving the idea of freezing the beer along with the cooler ice. Moetown could try it and let us know! Cheers for COLD BEERS! (sorry to shout)


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## watermonkey (Aug 11, 2009)

Shake the beer cans after they've thawed and give a half hour or so for the CO2 to reabsorb, then drink. The CO2 that has separated is still under pressure and the agitation aids in recarbonation. At least it works when kegging homebrews in corny kegs - same principle on a smaller scale.


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## paddlepilot (Aug 30, 2008)

I've had good luck freezing Guinness Draught. The little plastic ball of nitrogen helps to absorb the expanding ice, and the beer carbonates on opening. Cold tasty, smooth and good for you!


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## flipper42 (Apr 8, 2011)

it will be flat with a duller taste never had a beer that was frozen and melted taste the same.


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## billfish (Nov 22, 2009)

When I do carpentry work, I keep Bud's in the freezer and use them to keep my lunch cold. They are usually just right around 4:30 or 5 o'clock. Bud lights explode. I always assumed that the lower alcohol content made them expand more. I doubt they use different cans.


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## SALRVRRT (Mar 24, 2011)

On a recent trip, some guys froze beer into the bottom of their coolers, in a walk-in, with just enough water to cover the cans. They only had the cooler in the the freezer for a day or so, so it did not freeze the water completely, but we were chipping cold beer out of the ice on night 6.
Another guy on the trip froze a case of rolling rock and that seemed to work, but I didn't taste any of that crap to verify the result.
I heard of this method, and am going to try it for a late Aug mfs this year. 
Take all the cans out of the cardboard case/12er, then "line" the box with a garbage bag or two, replace all the cans. Put some duct tape around the box so that it'll hold up to the weight. Fill the bag with water, thus surrounding the beer inside the box, and freeze. 
Now you have block ice, and tasty cold beverages...


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## MT4Runner (Apr 6, 2012)

Dave Frank said:


> Marie that is a good start, but please do more research, particularly in the IPA dept.


I have a can of Big Sky IPA, a can of Ranger, and a can of Sierra Nevada Torpedo I'd be willing to risk for the sake of science.



watermonkey said:


> Shake the beer cans after they've thawed and give a half hour or so for the CO2 to reabsorb, then drink. The CO2 that has separated is still under pressure and the agitation aids in recarbonation. At least it works when kegging homebrews in corny kegs - same principle on a smaller scale.


Duh. I should have remembered that. You would also want to make sure the can is 100% thawed before opening. If you've got tough thumbs, you might also be able to shove the bottom dimple back in if it has bulged--to decrease headspace in the can and keep pressure high in the can to force re-carbonation.


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