I have multiple imapd-SERVICES configured and experience occasional freezes when I try to log in!

If you have more than one imapd-service configured in cyrus.conf(5) then they must have distinct names (the first argument in each line). Otherwise a deadlock can occur because the services will try to use the same lockfile, whose filename is derived from the name you gave to the service.

Certain characters, while not strictly forbidden, should not be used in these names, because they will cause the name to be truncated. For example, “imap” and “imap_remote” will result in the same lockfile (/var/imapd/socket/imap-0.lock). It is best to only use letters and digits.