fireball

Recipes 

the other night I was reading some of the applejack threads and came across a post where a member was freeze concentrating his juice and fermenting to a high alcohol content. this reminded me of a snow shoeing trip I took two years ago where my container of apple juice started to freeze and became an outstanding beverage, needless to say I'm trying the idea. here's the catch, freezing isn't perfect and it leaves a semi-apple beverage behind if you keep the ice, so why not use it as a base stock for a mead?

the gravities after the first freeze are 1.054 for what will be apfelwein and 1.034 for the remainder. I still need to freeze down the apfelwein mix once more to get my starting volume, now instead of freezing the dregs down to try to get the last bit of sugars, why not just freeze more juice? keep concentrating the apfelwein portion and use the dregs for a cyser? albeit a bit weaker on the apple flavour.

or does this belong in the drunken mumblings?

Nurmey

Recipes 

What you're talking about is distilling and we don't really do that on HBT because it's illegal in this country.

__________________
Batch 1 Brewing
The American Revolution would never have happened with gun control.

Ice9

Recipes 

It sounds like he's talking about freezing the juice before fermentation to concentrate the flavors???

__________________
Primary:
Secondary:
Bottled/Kegged/Conditioning: Orfy's Boddington's clone, Orfy's Old Speckled Hen clone, SN Celebration clone
On Deck: Gumballhead clone, German Pilsner
Drinking: Old Ale, Bourbon Barrel Wee Heavy, Bourbon Barrel RIS

jds

Recipes 

+1234

I think the OP is talking about partially freezing plain old apple juice FIRST, then fermenting the concentrated liquid that's not apple flavored slush. Nothing illegal about it.

Personally, I think that's an interesting concept. I wonder if it would end up tasting differently than if you boiled apple juice to concentrate it, then fermented, or rehydrated frozen concentrated apple juice to a higher gravity before fermenting.

Please let us know the results if you decide to try it.

dibby33

Recipes 

Nice idea. Bit like using concentrate...

__________________
Primarys : empty.
Secondary : Mead (2 gallon trials)
Bottled : all drunk
Drinking : A Lot.
Next Up : Pumpkin Ale

dibby33

Recipes 

...does honey freeze?

__________________
Primarys : empty.
Secondary : Mead (2 gallon trials)
Bottled : all drunk
Drinking : A Lot.
Next Up : Pumpkin Ale

Yuri_Rage

Recipes 

There's a good chance that you'd wind up with apple jelly if you did that. Heating juice is usually a bad idea - it can cause issues with pectin.

__________________
YouTube Channel .......... Shirts, posters, and other SWAG

Nurmey

Recipes 

Oops, my bad! Sorry fireball. I read that as freezing apfelwein.

__________________
Batch 1 Brewing
The American Revolution would never have happened with gun control.

BigKahuna

Recipes 

Even still....I don't see (Other than the law...)That this would be a bad experiment. But alas...Until the law changes...I'd sure hate to get in trouble for something that stupid. I've got a lot more stupid things to get in trouble for.



Nurmey...You are nearing 500.....Just saying.

__________________

fireball

Recipes 

no harm, no foul.

to cloud the issue further by concentrating the flavours and say fermenting out to 16-18% it's completely possible that one could fortify into the low twenties, it would take less than an ounce of everclear or 1 1/2 of good vodka per 750ml bottle.

I have a thing about preservatives.