silly bottle question

[jason1973]

sure i already know answer just need to ask, got a batch of bottled mr beer will be going in fridge tonight when get home from work. well just going put 3 or 4 740ml bottles in fridge leaving rest for 2nd week as people sugested so can see difference. i understand reason fridging for 2 or 3 days or longer is to allow co2 to move from headspace to body of beer.
here now is the silly question if i put on bottle in freezer for maybe 20-30 minutes then fridge hour or so will it be carbed so i can take a taste? or would it just be ice cold flat beer?

 

[Taco29wps]

Hey Jason,

My guess is it would be cold flat beer as you said. However, if you feel like being sciency, try your freezer/fridge method and see how it does. We all learn by experimentation, so go for it! Worst case scenario is "cold flat beer". If cold and flat, just mix it with a similar style of brew (50/50 split, works like a champ to carb flat beer). If it does work, report back and let everyone one know how the experiment turned out! Good luck,

Taco

 

[unionrdr]

I've tried putting bottles of homebrew in the freezer, but it didn't work very well at all. Getting co2 into solution isn't a quick process. At least a week in the fridge for good carbonation & allow any chill haze to form & settle. Two weeks for longer lasting carbonation & thicker head in my experiences.

 

[bernardsmith]

Jason, My two cents: I am not a chemist but I cannot see any reason that the temperature would have any impact on the speed at which the CO2 is absorbed by the beer. Temperature will have an impact on how much CO2 the beer can absorb but I suspect that the only important variable is the pressure itself and in a bottle the pressure is set by the amount of priming sugar you added and which has fermented.
Again, I have no expertise in this but I suspect that under normal conditions the sugar you added to prime your beer will have fermented in about 24-48 hours. Only time (and the pressure it is now under) will shift that CO2 from the headroom in each bottle into the liquid itself...
Others on this forum with much more knowledge than I may have other opinions...

 

[rhys333]

I do a quick 30 minute freezer chill with many of my beers. I often store them warm and just stick one in the freezer when I want a brew. The only difference I've noticed in regards to carbonation is the colder the beer is, the more settled the carbonation is. If I pop one of my hefeweizens at room temp (high 3.3 vols carbonation), there's a lot of head formation and it can spill over the glass if I'm not careful. After a quick chill in the freezer, the bubbling calms down a lot. That said, I've noticed flavors seems to change a bit and meld if I leave beer in the fridge to condition for a week.

 

[bernardsmith]

I do a quick 30 minute freezer chill with many of my beers. I often store them warm and just stick one in the freezer when I want a brew. The only difference I've noticed in regards to carbonation is the colder the beer is, the more settled the carbonation is. If I pop one of my hefeweizens at room temp (high 3.3 vols carbonation), there's a lot of head formation and it can spill over the glass if I'm not careful. After a quick chill in the freezer, the bubbling calms down a lot. That said, I've noticed flavors seems to change a bit and meld if I leave beer in the fridge to condition for a week.

I wonder if the changes in flavors after you have chilled your beer are a result of the yeast being sent into a dormant state and then dropping out of suspension. In their fall to the bottom of the bottle they may help flocculate other matter. In other words, you are removing particular flavor molecules from the body of your beer simply by conditioning your beer in your fridge for a week...

 

[C-Rider]

Putting a carbed beer in the freezer is another story from putting an Un=carbed beer in the freezer. Am I confused>?

 

[unionrdr]

I wonder if the changes in flavors after you have chilled your beer are a result of the yeast being sent into a dormant state and then dropping out of suspension. In their fall to the bottom of the bottle they may help flocculate other matter. In other words, you are removing particular flavor molecules from the body of your beer simply by conditioning your beer in your fridge for a week...

The yeast & trub settle out, leaving the beer clearer, of course. But I also think it tastes better as well. Crisper. Fridge time also allows chill haze to form & settle over the course of a week or so. Patience yields a better product. An uncarbed beer will only have what co2 that was in solution at bottling time to infuse. But freezer time of 30 minutes was never enough for an average gravity brew in my experiences.

 

[MindenMan]

There is a You-tube video showing the difference in beers that have been conditioned in the fridge for at least a week. I don't have the link in front of me. I have the tail end of a gusher batch of Scotch Ale, and I can say this: 1 or 2 days in the fridge, still gushers, 7 or 8 days in the fridge, only slightly over carbed. I used to be a skeptic about leaving beer in the fridge for a week, I am sold now.