First to get this over with I work for the ATF as contractor for 3 years and this is what they told me about making apple jack.
We don't care if:
It not over 24%
You don't own a still (freeze distillation ok)
You don't sell it.
I'm not interest in debating If I'm right or not. The agent that would show up to my house (in my state anyway) I would know so I'm safe if I do these things.
I'm trying a few batches and I want them each to be pretty sweet.
I'm use Lalvin EC-1118 and want it to go all the way to 18% and still be a little sweet so I'm using about 2 lbs of sugar and adding 1/2lb of sugar equivalent about 2 weeks in for each gallon. For the equivalent 1/2 lb I was going to make 1 apple concentrate, 1 honey and 1 browns sugar to test the different taste.
I plan on fermenting in my garage so the temperature will range from 45-60 F.
After it done I'm a little worry about "bad" alcohol messing up the taste and give me hang overs.
After doing some research this what I have found. (again I could be wrong)
Fermentation make all these but some in very small amounts.
Acetone 56.5C (134F)
Methanol (wood alcohol) 64C (147F)
Ethyl acetate 77.1C (171F)
Ethanol 78C (172F)
2-Propanol (rubbing alcohol) 82C (180F)
1-Propanol 97C (207F)
Water 100C (212F)
Butanol 116C (241F)
Amyl alcohol 137.8C (280F)
Furfural 161C (322F)
The wood alcohol is the hang over cause by far. So i plan to on heat the batch to 160F for 10 min to burn it off. I might loose some good ethanol but that ok to get rid of the bad.
Then I plan on freeze distillation a little. Very little I doubt in the end it over 20% alcohol so not really apple jack level.
I figure if I do both I should be able to remove the Methanol from heating and
Water, Butanol, Amyl and Furfural from freezing and be left with a smoother Apple wine/jack.
I'm not doing it to get the % way up, just smooth out the taste.
I have a few questions.
1. Is it enough sugar to keep it sweet.
2. If I slow ferment, will it produce less methanol. (so i can skip the heating)
3. If I don't heat it will the yeast completely die after freezing it (25-30F) for 2-3 day or just go dominate. As I plan on bottling it and don't want it to carbonate and to stay sweet.
Other commits are well come too.
Thanks
PS
If this works ok I might try the turbo yeast and take it to 22% and try the same thing.
We don't care if:
It not over 24%
You don't own a still (freeze distillation ok)
You don't sell it.
I'm not interest in debating If I'm right or not. The agent that would show up to my house (in my state anyway) I would know so I'm safe if I do these things.
I'm trying a few batches and I want them each to be pretty sweet.
I'm use Lalvin EC-1118 and want it to go all the way to 18% and still be a little sweet so I'm using about 2 lbs of sugar and adding 1/2lb of sugar equivalent about 2 weeks in for each gallon. For the equivalent 1/2 lb I was going to make 1 apple concentrate, 1 honey and 1 browns sugar to test the different taste.
I plan on fermenting in my garage so the temperature will range from 45-60 F.
After it done I'm a little worry about "bad" alcohol messing up the taste and give me hang overs.
After doing some research this what I have found. (again I could be wrong)
Fermentation make all these but some in very small amounts.
Acetone 56.5C (134F)
Methanol (wood alcohol) 64C (147F)
Ethyl acetate 77.1C (171F)
Ethanol 78C (172F)
2-Propanol (rubbing alcohol) 82C (180F)
1-Propanol 97C (207F)
Water 100C (212F)
Butanol 116C (241F)
Amyl alcohol 137.8C (280F)
Furfural 161C (322F)
The wood alcohol is the hang over cause by far. So i plan to on heat the batch to 160F for 10 min to burn it off. I might loose some good ethanol but that ok to get rid of the bad.
Then I plan on freeze distillation a little. Very little I doubt in the end it over 20% alcohol so not really apple jack level.
I figure if I do both I should be able to remove the Methanol from heating and
Water, Butanol, Amyl and Furfural from freezing and be left with a smoother Apple wine/jack.
I'm not doing it to get the % way up, just smooth out the taste.
I have a few questions.
1. Is it enough sugar to keep it sweet.
2. If I slow ferment, will it produce less methanol. (so i can skip the heating)
3. If I don't heat it will the yeast completely die after freezing it (25-30F) for 2-3 day or just go dominate. As I plan on bottling it and don't want it to carbonate and to stay sweet.
Other commits are well come too.
Thanks
PS
If this works ok I might try the turbo yeast and take it to 22% and try the same thing.