applejack procedures

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he uses a 20% ABV strain of yeast, although I don't know which variety.

I've pushed Lalvin EC-1118 to %20 before (i think they rate it at %18 but %20 is possible) and Jacked it's cider....took 500-ml down to 200ml by freezing and removing the ice repeatedly (i forget exactly how many times but at least 3)
Oddly enough, i was expecting a huge bold concentration of flavors but what i got was the opposite. Very subtle apple flavor almost like drinking an apple flavored vodka just without the harsh 80-proof bite that i sense on pretty much all spirits.

Just a word to the wise though. Jacking, unlike normal `D-word` doen NOT remove methanol/fuesel alcohols and concentrates them. So you will want to use moderation to avoid eye pain and bad hangovers.
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Come on Paps, not the methanol scare again, that **** has got to stop! As I have said before, you will die of ethanol poisoning before you could ingest enough methanol to do any damage. EVERYTHING we ferment has some methanol in it, and we don't discuss that do we? Fruit pectin produces more methanol than grain does during fermentation, so that is the basis of the scare. I make a lot of applejack, and have never had a headache, hangover, etc., from over indulging. What I have found personally, is if you are going to use an aggressive yeast keep the fermentation temperature as cool as possible until finished. The metabolite of methanol that causes the trouble is acetaldehyde. You will recognize the smell as nail polish remover or something very close. THAT is the **** that causes trouble when concentrated and drank too much of. The antidote for methanol poisoning is I.V. ethanol as the body will bind to the ethanol and the methanol will not be processed. When I fisrt started making hard cider I didn't understand the need for cool fermenting temperatures, and I made myself a nice gallon of acetone smelling cider. It took almost a month for the acetone smell to go away; it wasn't in a closed bottle it was in a demijohn with a airlock attached so when the room warmed up a little of the acetone went out through the air lock and when the room cooled down a little "fresh" air was drawn through the vodka in the airlock. I ended up making my first applejack out of this "bad" batch, and ten months of aging later it was amazing.
 
Come on Paps, not the methanol scare again, .

Get a grip.....i didn't say you would go blind from 1 sip.
I said to use moderation.
Methanol gets concentrated, we all know a little is made from fermenting anything but you normally don't drink 5 gallons worth of it in one sitting.
Perhaps you never get a hangover but other people can and do.
 
The night I drank way too much applejack was a complete accident, and I was wondering why I wasn't driving the porcelain bus. Yes, I know other people can and do get hungover on the stuff, and I wasn't trying to be an a$$.
 
So do u think if you have a 20-30% jack made with ale yeast then add more real juice like cranberry the yeast will not reactivate?
 
So do u think if you have a 20-30% jack made with ale yeast then add more real juice like cranberry the yeast will not reactivate?

The yeast i used for a cider ( Lalvin EC-1118 ) has gotten me to 20% without jacking. I keg and on several of the kegs when they kick they have a layer of yeast at the very bottom. So SOMETIMES yeast can be a real trooper.
HOWEVER.....if you do get over the 25% ABV range, it's WAY over the alc tolerance for most yeasts out there and they die off. But if you dillute it with juice back down under the yeast strains alc tolerance % then yes, it could start fermentating again.
 
I'm with Paps on this one, once the ABV gets over 20% most yeasts will crap out. I am confused by your question though, you are talking about a high ABV cider/juice combo that has not yet been in the freezer, correct?
Are you really asking if we think the juice would not re-activate so you could use as a back sweeten/flavor addition, or you want to add that flavor and you want it to start fermenting again?
 
I think he wants to back sweeten/flavor.
Not knowing what rayio of new juice to jacked juice they intended on using reminded me to say that it is `possible` that it could re-start fermentation as that `could` pout the abv% back in the range of certain yeasts. With an ale yeast, after %25 is reached, if he's only adding a cup to a gallon i think he's in the clear BUT there is still the chance you get the one survivor yeast cell that wakes up from hibernation and decides it wants to eat this new-found sugar available to it. Not likely after being around %25 abv and frozen a time or two but i didn't want to say that it's "impossible".

I haven't looked at the chart for a while but i think most home freezers can only get you to %25 abv.
It has something to do with needing colder and colder temps to actually concentrate alc to a certain %.
Getting to %40 abd needed something like -50-f or something insane well beyond the capability of the normal household fridge/freezer.
 
I always like to believe that the yeast is capable of re-achieving the total amount of alcohol percentage that results in its flocculation and the addition of any additional non-alcoholic fermentable liquid will reduce the solutions abv and reactivate the yeast. If it doesn't happen I typically regard it as the exception to the rule.

Jacking increases the percentage high enough where it's unlikely that you will reduce the solution to that percentage or below
(Keeping in mind if the cider was bine dry before jacking the yeast may have been capable of a higher attenuation) so I still think the smart money is against the reactivation of the yeast.

In other notes I personally feel that if you go through the trouble of jacking you should keep the jack seperate from the cranberry and instead use it as a mixer. This way you can play around with a myriad of concentrations and still take shots.
 
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60arces.... doing applejack as shots, what kind of an animal are you? Don't you realize the extra amount of effort it takes to create a tasty high proof non-rotgut sipping liqueur that puts us one step above the squirrels that eat partially fermented fruit and then fall out of the trees? Are you some kind of cretin? What kind of back-woods, possum eating, illiterate 6th grade educated, going to family picnics to meet girls kind of man are you? Don't you even care what other people think? (j/k)
I have drank a little non-aged applejack on different occasions, and IMHO it can't compare to anything six months old, and not even close to one year or more bottle conditioned. I guess I have a bit of a prima donna nature when it comes to food and beverage; if I don't believe I can wow you with something I have made, you will never know I ever made it. Oh wait, what did you say about doing shots?
 
Anyone have problems with apple jack oxidizing? All that exposure during the freezing and thawing seems like it would be asking for it. Also, once you open a bottle of jack, can you still store it for long periods of time without it spoiling?

I made a batch once and after a few months it had a maple syrup after taste. Isn't that typical with oxidizing?
 
Try oaking some cider before jacking.
It should help blend the oxidation a bit and
make it a more bourbon/whiskey like beverage.
(whiskeys oxidise as they age in the barrels)
 
What I can say about opening a bottle of applejack and leaving it at room temperature for two days, is there is a slight change in flavor that reminds me of an aged brandy , sort of. Still at room temperature past that point there is a lot of oxidation occurring; the a/j clouds up and starts to leave sediment in the bottom of the bottle and the flavor starts to fade. I cannot comment on opening and then re freezing right away, as I have done that, but I didn't keep notes. I am looking at purchasing 5 oz bottles to put my a/j into instead of the 12 oz bottles I am using now. It makes for easier gifting, and my wife and I just wouldn't drink a 12oz bottle of a/j in two days by ourselves.
 
I'm with Paps on this one, once the ABV gets over 20% most yeasts will crap out. I am confused by your question though, you are talking about a high ABV cider/juice combo that has not yet been in the freezer, correct?
Are you really asking if we think the juice would not re-activate so you could use as a back sweeten/flavor addition, or you want to add that flavor and you want it to start fermenting again?


No I'm talking about cider I fermented then freeze concentrated. The yeast was not killed off or totally removed. Now after the fact if I add some other juice to flavor it will the yeast restart fermentation if the ABV is over 20%?
 
It is technically possible the yeast may re-start, but there are few strains at that ABV that will start up again. If while waiting for a possible re-start, if that would be your plan, I would put a solid layer of CO2 on top of your cider to help prevent oxidation. From what I have seen, freeze concentrated cider oxidizes faster than just hard cider will. Give it a try; isn't that what we do here?
 
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