What happens to yeast when it freezes for 12 hours?

Well, I forgot to put the temp probe back in the chest freezer after cleaning it out and placing new kegs in.  So, 12 hours later, I have found frozen yeast slurries in 1 qt Ball jars.  Are they goners?  I have taken them out to allow for them to return to basement temperatures (55-60 F) before returning them the chest freezer (if they are OK).  My gut says that I have reduced some of the viability.  I imagine the beer will be fine once it acclimates.

Some if not all of the yeast will be dead.  You could try making starters and see if it works.  But I wouldn’t bet on it.

I bet you could make starters with it but you definitely killed a large portion of them.