Freeze concentration experiment

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roadymi

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I froze 1/2 gallon of my mulled/spiced cider. Prefrozen it was a bit on the spicy side.
Postfrozen it is really spicy. I am going to let it age for awhile see what happens.

The quart jar was obviously the first qt thawed and the 1/2 gal jar was the second.

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Pumbaa, we don't lock these. Freeze concentration is legal, as far as we can tell. It is valid discussion and allowed here at HBT. Please, no further discussion on legal aspects (or worthless comments about thread closure). If you want to explore the legality issues, start a new thread.
 
I did this as a learning experiment. The biggest thing I learned thus far is that it really concentrates the flavors. I am anxious to see how it works with a more subtle cider. I have
6 1/2 gal of plain cyser to bottle this weekend, I am going to freeze some of that.
 
The color difference is interesting, I wouldn't have thought it would be so dramatic. Was there a taste difference between the two? I just started making hard cider and I'm interested in trying to make some applejack at some point too.
 
The color difference is interesting, I wouldn't have thought it would be so dramatic. Was there a taste difference between the two? I just started making hard cider and I'm interested in trying to make some applejack at some point too.

Definitely............the clear one basically tasted like water.

I am going to try putting an ounce of med toast oak chips in the jar this weekend to see if that helps mellow it out.

Think of eating a snow cone. All of the concentrate melts out first and you are basically left with a ball of plain ole ice at the end. This worked pretty much the same.
 
Ive heard a lot about freeze concentrate causing terrible headaches and hangovers. Any personal experience?
 
Roadymi,

Would you be willing to share a little of your process for the freezing? What temperature did you freeze to? How long? How much slush?

Your end product seems a lot clearer that most of what I've seen and I've got a keg of dopplebock that's just begging to be eis'd.
 
Roadymi,

Would you be willing to share a little of your process for the freezing? What temperature did you freeze to? How long? How much slush?

Your end product seems a lot clearer that most of what I've seen and I've got a keg of dopplebock that's just begging to be eis'd.

Pretty simple:
*Filled plastic 1/2 gallon apple juice container about 90% full
*Left cap loose just in case
*Placed in my home freezer that's digital readout says 0 F
*Left it for a couple of days, it was pretty well frozen solid.
*Took it out and placed upside down over a quart jar and let it drip.
*When the first quart was full, placed it over the 2nd jar. By now the remaining ice was pretty clear.
*What drained into the 2nd jar was pretty much flavorless.

I'm not a scientist so I don't know the technical terms but basically everything in the cider has a lower melting point than water so the alcohol, sugar, and the appley (prob not a word) goodness melt first. Think back to eating sno-cones as a kid. the first 1/2 was great because it was loaded with flavor. By the end all you had left was shaved ice.
 
I put this on a few oak chips end of June. At the time it was very spicy and had a sharp bite to it. I just poured me a few ounces and wow what a difference. The spice is still noticeable but not overpowering. It is very smooth and I would compare it to a nice sipping brandy but perhaps a bit thinner. I'm not sure what would happen if you chose to get drunk on it but for an after dinner desert drink it is really really good.

I just finished up a small batch of caramel apple.........gonna concentrate a 1/2 gallon.
 
I put this on a few oak chips end of June. At the time it was very spicy and had a sharp bite to it. I just poured me a few ounces and wow what a difference. The spice is still noticeable but not overpowering. It is very smooth and I would compare it to a nice sipping brandy but perhaps a bit thinner. I'm not sure what would happen if you chose to get drunk on it but for an after dinner desert drink it is really really good.

I just finished up a small batch of caramel apple.........gonna concentrate a 1/2 gallon.

Please report back how this goes. I just kegged my carmel apple cider last night. I may follow your lead if it works out well :)
 
I'm interested in making the apple jack using the freezing method. Anyone have a quick and easy recipe to make the apple jack from scratch? WITHOUT doing any cooking and fermenting only
 
I'm interested in making the apple jack using the freezing method. Anyone have a quick and easy recipe to make the apple jack from scratch? WITHOUT doing any cooking and fermenting only

I made applejack with freeze method and it was not very appealing, even after adding cinnamon. Along with concentrating the alcohol you also concentrate the taste and smell. The smell gets me all the time, Its like socks, or feet but when you taste it its not bad at all.... here was my recipe.

12 Litter juice.
3 pounds sugar.
1 pack yeast lavlin yeast 1118

Fermented 2 weeks

then you freeze distill. Be patient tho cause it will probably take you 1-2 week to freeze distill. Took me 6 days for 2 runs and it still tasted like strong wine. I would rather run it through a still if i had the option. No matter what someone tells you its NOT brandy unless you distill it, Its just concentrated wine. I was actually sent here from the distilling forums when asked how to make it and no one recommended making applejack there unless you run it through a still and make your proper cuts, I know why now.....
 
What would be the recipe if I wanted to do 1 gallon of juice?

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Let me help out the noobs here, think of apple cider as beer in one sense: most store bought cider has an O.G. of 1.050, so you can use a brewing calculation to approximate the pre freezing ABV%. Let's say, your ABV is 10%, so you know 10% of the quantity of cider you started with is pure alcohol, but you will play hell getting just the alcohol out if that is your only goal. A 1/2 gallon contains 64 oz, so maybe 6.4 oz is pure alcohol, right? I had good luck at 10* F in the freezer. There was a significant amount of water slush along with the what is now hooch. Drain off the first bit, and return rest to freezer. 3 or 4 hours later (or so) you can pour off a little more of the cider, and repeat until you are done for that session. DO NOT throw the ice out, as there is still alcohol in there, use your hydrometer to verify the residual alcohol after thawing, and freeze it out too.
You must diligent in controlling your fermentation temperatures, or you will have hot, nasty, boozy tasting applejack. And if the temperature do rise while fermenting your applejack will smell like acetone and also nasty.
Look, if your only goal is to see how much hooch is made when adding sugar to apple juice, have at it, but don't hurt yourself or anyone else by drinking too much.
 
Drinking in moderation is all I do. I'm not a fan of getting wasted because I hate the days after. I'm looking to make something smooth and delicious that's all. Mindenman, what is a good temperature for fermentation? One of my friends said somewhere around 62 to 66? Does that sound about right?

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Ive heard a lot about freeze concentrate causing terrible headaches and hangovers. Any personal experience?

I've freeze concentrated a few homebrewed wines so far and have had nothing but good results. No headaches or hangovers as of yet. I drank a gatorate bottle worth of applejack one night and felt great the next morning. Granted, everyone is different :tank:
 
I've freeze concentrated a few homebrewed wines so far and have had nothing but good results. No headaches or hangovers as of yet. I drank a gatorate bottle worth of applejack one night and felt great the next morning. Granted, everyone is different :tank:


No hangovers for me either. 16 oz of Jack produces a great buzz.


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I made a great batch this year. ImageUploadedByHome Brew1393258725.066950.jpg

1 pound of turbinado, 1 pound if brown, 5.5 gallons in a 6 gallon primary. Secondary until clear (1month) transfer to a 5 gallon plastic Carboy and drop in the deep freeze. My deep freeze gets to -25. Two days there, remove and invert over a 5 gallon pail until most of the color is out. You end up with about 1 gallon. About 50 proof. Drop in a tube of apple juice concentrate. Mix well, bottle. Drop a cinnamon stick in each one. Smooth as silk!
 
I made a great batch this year. View attachment 181821

1 pound of turbinado, 1 pound if brown, 5.5 gallons in a 6 gallon primary. Secondary until clear (1month) transfer to a 5 gallon plastic Carboy and drop in the deep freeze. My deep freeze gets to -25. Two days there, remove and invert over a 5 gallon pail until most of the color is out. You end up with about 1 gallon. About 50 proof. Drop in a tube of apple juice concentrate. Mix well, bottle. Drop a cinnamon stick in each one. Smooth as silk!

You noticed any off smells? Mine smells awful but tastes great besides the burning feeling.
 
You noticed any off smells? Mine smells awful but tastes great besides the burning feeling.

Funny you should ask about off smells. I freeze concentrated a gallon batch of white grape peach wine that, through my own fault, got slightly oxidized due to too much headspece. It didn't taste all that great and had an off smell. I said, "what the hell, i'll concentrate it and see if it helps out at all".

The final product came out tasting awesome and had no off smells like it previously did. It somehow turned a batch that I would have dumped, into a delicious, high ABV beverage.
 
Funny you should ask about off smells. I freeze concentrated a gallon batch of white grape peach wine that, through my own fault, got slightly oxidized due to too much headspece. It didn't taste all that great and had an off smell. I said, "what the hell, i'll concentrate it and see if it helps out at all".

The final product came out tasting awesome and had no off smells like it previously did. It somehow turned a batch that I would have dumped, into a delicious, high ABV beverage.

Hmm, strangely my new batch of cider has a strange smell but tastes awesome. Im starting to think its my yest or apple juice. I switched up my juice in my 24 litter bath underway so lets hope for the best!
 
I tried to do a "speed batch" of Cider this past December not realizing my hydrometer had a crack in it. Needless to say I ended up way over fortifying my batch with honey and brown sugar. Turns out what I thought was an OG of 1.065 was actually an OG of approximately 1.12 or there about ( i had to go back and actually do the math). I pitched it with EC1118 and nutrient etc. When it finally stopped it was around 1.001. I let it sit in my cold garage covered for a few days to figure out what to do with it since it was in actuality a wine at this point ( and extremely harsh, sour and hot); so I finally decided to jack it. I took the 3 gallons and stuck it in the freezer for a couple of hours and periodically came out and scraped ice ( I discarded the ice; may change that in the future). I ended up with about 1.3 gallons left over. again, I let it sit in the garage for a few days to mellow out. I didn't do the final math, but I ended up with a product that my friends won't quit bugging me about. I guesstimate that it is in the 25-30% range, and it is super tasty and very potent; I definitely limit my guests imbibement of it due to the whole methane issue, but dang if it ain't good! Thankfully I take lots of notes with each batch; I certainly hope to be able to reproduce this little phenom in the future!
 
I made a great batch this year. View attachment 181821

1 pound of turbinado, 1 pound if brown, 5.5 gallons in a 6 gallon primary. Secondary until clear (1month) transfer to a 5 gallon plastic Carboy and drop in the deep freeze. My deep freeze gets to -25. Two days there, remove and invert over a 5 gallon pail until most of the color is out. You end up with about 1 gallon. About 50 proof. Drop in a tube of apple juice concentrate. Mix well, bottle. Drop a cinnamon stick in each one. Smooth as silk!

So does anyone have an opinion as to come up with the smoothest product. Should one jack well aged cider/wine or jack new cider and then age the resulting product? Maybe it does not matter, but I am curious what people think or have experienced.

I have also been trying to figure out what jack was in colonial times. People now make it into a brandy with about 40% alcohol, but I am guessing it was more like a very strong wine and more in the 20 - 25% range. Aiming at 50 proof seems very realistic to me, but wondering what others think.
 
How many bottlesd that one batch make you? I'm about to do your recipe tomorrow

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