Frozen kegs

[bishjb]

FYI. Just so this doesn't happen to anyone else....

I picked up a refill of my 20lbs co2 tank on My way to the airport. The tank sat in the back of my Suburban for four days and probably reached temps of 110 plus.

Brought the tank home at the end of my trip and hooked it up to my keezer system. Had a couple of cold ones and all was well. I'm having a dinner party tonight and went to check on things with the beer. Well, wouldn't you know it but all five kegs are frozen! Temp was set at 32 ish but it's always been set there. Beer has poured perfectly always.

Did the hot gas going Into the cold beer solution cause this? I don't think there was a co2 leak. Can't figure out why. But the real question is how to fix it? I just put the kegs outside (it's about 85). And I'll let them thaw

Anyone have any suggestions? Did I just ruin 5 kegs of homebrew?


Thanks,

JB


Sent from my iPad using Home Brew

 

[day_trippr]

Pull the CO2 tank, remove the regulator, weigh the cylinder, compare against the stamped Tare weight.
Is it still a full cylinder - or is it totally empty?

Unless the burst disk somehow survived four days in a hot car and then decided to go to Heaven inside your dispensing appliance venting the entire cylinder, I can't imagine how kegs could get frozen by "hot CO2".

As for the beer, if you thaw them and maybe invert them a couple of times to make sure you don't have a layer of straight ethanol in there somewhere they'll probably be fine...

Cheers!

 

[grathan]

The kegs will be fine when thawed.

Why not bump the temp up a bit? 32 seems like it is cutting it close..

 

[sandyeggoxj]

I bet the temp sensor was trying to cool the air mass down from all the hot thermal mass of the tank. Everything was just trying to reach equilibrium.

 

[day_trippr]

But if the tank was radiating so much heat that it affected a sensor, wouldn't the kegs see all that heat as well?

Cheers!

 

[AlCophile]

When a compressed gas expands, it takes heat with it, leaving behind cold gas or liquid. This is how Dry Ice is made: CO2 gas is allowed to expand so fast that some turns to snow, is compressed, and sold. Btw, CO2 in a cyl. is a liquid at about 800 psi. Sounds like you got liquid CO2 into the kegs, and THAT is what caused freezing as the liquid expanded. My guess is you came damn close to rupturing a keg.

 

[day_trippr]

 

[Hello]

Is it even safe to keep a full co2 tank in a hot car?
I worry about it for 10 minutes.

 

[Mark_tries_brewing]

I have no ideas about why they froze but you should not keep a tank in a hot car. With CO2 luckily it will just release all the gas not explode but I am surprised you came back to a full tank and if it had been nearly anything else you would have been lucky to come back to a car at all. The AirGas near me has a picture of a small truck completely torn apart after the owner left the smallest size of acetylene tank in the car on a hot day.

 

[MindenMan]

When liquids are that cold under pressure they will freeze solid. The pressure has already forced the molecules together tightly, and freezing is a very common thing at 32* F. 34*F or 36*F is a much safer temp to store your beer.