Applejack questions

LeBreton said:

1-2: Doesn't really matter if the yeast is dead or not, most of it should have been left behind in the ice. Even if some wild yeast comes in with the apple, the ABV is so high that they'd die on contact, unless you're using a distillers turbo yeast there is no risk of re-fermentation, making Q3 unnecessary.

4: There is exactly the same amount of methanol in the ice cider as in the original cider. The ethanol will do you in long before the methanol.

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mcgray8 said:

I fermented cider to about 13-14% ABV and transferred it into 3L jugs for freezing. I let them freeze only once for about 48 hours and then placed them over 1QT mason jars. I found that I got exactly 1 quart of applejack per 3 liters of wine. I then cut up some apple wedges and placed them in the jar (mostly for appearance), and then put the metal lids and rings on the mason jars.

Q1) By freezing the wine for 48 hours, did I effectively kill the yeast that was in it? I used Red Star Pasteur Champagne yeast in bothe the primary and secondary (1 packet during each).

Q2) By adding apples, do I have to worry about wild yeast kicking up fermentation inside of the jars?

Q3) What would happen if I were to stove-top pasteurize the mason jars after they were sealed?

Q4) And I am still leery about methanol content. Is this stuff safe to give away to my friends?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

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funkphiler said:

I am not sure about that statement. The LD50, which denotes the average lethal dose, to be approx. 150mG. For ethanol it is much higher, I can't find the number but we drink more then that. However, the for methanol poisoning is drinking ethanol. The enzyme that breaks down methanol is the same for ethanol, alcohol dehydrogenase, and you cure poisoning by competatitively inhibit the uptake of methanol by the enzyme with ethanol.

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LeBreton said:

Methanol is more poisonous than ethanol for sure, but the ratio of ethanol to methanol in cider is not equal,which is why people die of alcohol poisoning all the time while methanol poisoning only occurs when poor distillation practices are used which can increase the methanol to ethanol ratio to unsafe levels.

When making applejack, the ethanol to methanol ratio of the final product is exactly the same as in the base cider making it just as safe to drink as the original cider.

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williamslayer said:

well said.

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