Frozen mash?

[john2674]

I set up my 60 gallon mash barrel with an aquarium heater then wrapped it in an electric blanket. Started it at 10% And it cooked down happily to 5%. Well the breaker for the shed tripped overnight,, and it's -15° f outside so now I've got a giant popsicle. Should I warm it and Repitch yeast,

or just cut my losses and run it as is? Or something else?

[DFitz]

Is the whole barrel frozen? It should take a few days for that to happen. I'd point some forced air heat at the barrel and get it warmed & thawed then see what you have to work with. It'll thaw eventually and as it warms it should kick off on its own.

[Bushman]

I agree, I would never throw a wash/mash out unless I was sure. Doesn't hurt to take a day or two to see if you can save it.

[bearriver]

Hit it with a maul to break apart the top, so you can make sure your heater isn't encased in ice when it gets turned back on. I am skeptical that it is frozen to the core. If your barrel is HDPE, you can hit the sides with the sledge end to break that up also.

Been there, done that. Warm it up, repitch and go.

[MitchyBourbon]

If it didn't freeze all the way through, some of those yeasts may wake up and they're gonna be pissed. Re-pitch a good starter and hopefully they will take over.

[Bob Loblaw]

Freezing/cold doesn't kill yeast. Only heat and/or too much alcohol. Plenty of folks out there with sourdough starter in their freezer saved for the future. Thaw it out and it will restart.

[MitchyBourbon]

Most of the yeast that are actually frozen in water will have ruptured and died. Yeast frozen in a medium that prevents the formation of ice crystals will be just fine. Perhaps sour dough is such a medium.

[john2674]

I turned. The heat up to 80 in the shed and turned the barrel heater back on this morning before I left for work. I'll report back in when I get. Back home tonight.

[john2674]

We'll it's still a little on the cool side so I'll Repitch tomorrow morning and let it rock n roll again.

[john2674]

Just thought id let everybody know how it turned out. the next morning after it got warmed up good it started cooking again on its own, I did repitch just to make sure I had a healthy yeast colony and I ended up with some real good tasting liquor!
Thanks again for all the advice!