freeze off

What is the proof of alcohol that can be frozen off any wine or mead made at home?

What do you mean by "frozen off"?

Do you mean freezing to concentrate? If so, what you're doing isn't freezing the alcohol. Because alcohol has a lower freezing temperature than water, you can freeze the water into ice and remove the ice. This leaves a concentrated, higher ABV beverage behind. Its called "freeze distillation." This is how eisbock and applejack are made.

its also regarded as being a bit dangerous as it does not remove other alcohols like methanol. in normal distilling you tap off the other alcohols ie the heads and tails.

Wouldn't you be drinking those other alcohols anyway if you didn't concentrate?

You would but in much lower concentrations.

Ive always wondered, is oxidation not an issue when freeze distilling?

Taise said:

You would but in much lower concentrations.

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Yeah, but if you drank a liter of mead with 15% ABV, and 300 ml of 50% ABV distillate, you'd still be getting 150 ml of the same alcohols.

huesmann said:

Yeah, but if you drank a liter of mead with 15% ABV, and 300 ml of 50% ABV distillate, you'd still be getting 150 ml of the same alcohols.

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You can drink that 300ml alot faster then that 1l. That extra time will give your body time to process it.

There's much to be said for dilution, too. Water is the means by which a lot of dissolved stuff is removed.

Consider a liquor hangover against a beer hangover. If you drink enough water to dilute the liquor, you end up with about a beer hangover.

Okay, there's a little concern here about "bad alcohols" in freeze-concentrating. Here's my 2 cents' worth:

1. First of all, freeze-concentrating will get you a mead (or wine, beer) with an alcohol content similar to fortified wine, like port or sherry. It removes a lot of the water and (mostly) retains the alcohol, but it also retains some of the other stuff, like sugars, etc.; that might be left behind. I tried it and it is hard to get pure ice out without a little of the liquor leaving with it. I put the ice in a colander and allowed the liquor to drip back in (in a frozen environment), but a little stayed behind. I didn't measure the ABV, but I suspect it might have been in the 20%+ range.

2. There is a concern about an increase in "bad alcohols" (esters), like methyl, dimethyl (as opposed to ethyl) alcohol as a result of freeze-concentrating. Did you know that, in some beverages these esters are intentionally left behind? Distillers of whiskey and some brewers of lager take them out, but vodka makers and, I think, English ale brewers leave them in. They do it because the taste of their respective beverages requires them. Yes, methyl and dimethyl alcohol can be toxic, but so is ethyl alcohol.

I think you may have your definitions confused, esters are not alchols, they do contain the ethyl/methyl etc groups and can be broken down to alcohol and vinegar with the right equipment and heat but they are not toxic, they are what give brews slightly fruity flavours. What you are talking about are the fusel alchols, butanol, protanol and of course methanol. That said while the fusol alcohols are definitely removed during distilation, you are probably right that the esters would also be removed as the distilation would likely cause the break down to acid and alcohol.