apfelwein and mead

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fireball

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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? :drunk:
 
It sounds like he's talking about freezing the juice before fermentation to concentrate the flavors???
 
+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.
 
jds said:
I wonder if it would end up tasting differently than if you boiled apple juice to concentrate it.
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.
 
Nurmey said:
Oops, my bad! Sorry fireball. I read that as freezing apfelwein. :eek:
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.:D



Nurmey...You are nearing 500.....Just saying.
 
no harm, no foul. :tank:

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. :drunk:

Nurmey said:
Oops, my bad! Sorry fireball. I read that as freezing apfelwein. :eek:
 
fireball said:
I have a thing about preservatives. :drunk:
Juice concentrates do not usually have any preservatives added. The concentrated juice is acidic and very high is sugar which makes it a great preservative, no need to add anything. This is one reason why most ready to drink beverages are from concentrate. However I don't think the concentrate has the same flavor so I prefer using locally produced cider in my apple based wines and cysers.

Craig
 
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