Freezing Wort

[NMSU4ever]

Has anyone intentionally froze your wort to enhance your beer? I read stories it increases ABV, and I guess taste. I never had any beer like that. Thanks for reading this?

 

[ShaineT]

I just did this recently with part of my weizenbock batch. It's called "eicing" from the traditional style "eisenbock". Basically you use freezing temps to partially freeze the beer so that its slushy not solid. I froze till there was slush suspended in about half the beer. You then drain off the liquid to another vessel leaving the ice behind. This is done most easily with a keg transfer. Good luck.

 

[DocScott]

Has anyone intentionally froze your wort to enhance your beer? I read stories it increases ABV, and I guess taste. I never had any beer like that. Thanks for reading this?

Look up byo magazine from a month or two ago. There is an article about and recipes for eisbock. Basically, you ferment your wort to completion, then partially freeze it. This freezes out some of the water leaving more concentrated alcohol in the end product. It's a process of freeze distilling (distilling talk is a no-no) on this site, but as eisbock is a bjcp style, should be ok to talk about on here? The article, like most byo articles, is succinct and will answer your questions well

 

[woozy]

Basically, you ferment your wort to completion, then partially freeze it.

Well, (not) to nitpick, but if it's been fermented then shouldn't it be called "beer"?

 

[McCoy]

Well, (not) to nitpick, but if it's been fermented then shouldn't it be called "beer"?

Indeed. I was hoping to find some kind of neat project where someone was maybe partigyle brewing but due to only having one fermenter or some other equipment limitation was freezing some wort to be fermented later.

 

[NMSU4ever]

I have a freezer that is empty. My Mr. Beer Keg would fit perfectly in it. 2 more cans of stout that I might try this experiment with one of them. THANK YOU!

 

[two_one_seven]

This has been done on a home brew level and a proffessional level. Freeze condensing alcohol to create a super high alcohol beer. A couple of breweries in Scotland and Germany are competing for the titile of highest ABV naturally fermented beer. I have read that it makes a really smooth final product......I guess we all need to start experimenting.

 

[NMSU4ever]

So when you finish the final stages process of letting the yeast do it's thing. Put it in the freezer let it get slushy and then bottle it? Leaving the ice behind? The aging in the bottle would have to be at least 3 months? THANKS!

 

[two_one_seven]

Yes leave the ice behind. Don't know about the aging. I have read that ice "distilling" leaves a more mellow product than traditional distilling. Age and try when you think it's ready. May or may not have to age longer.

 

[NMSU4ever]

Heck I might try this with my homemade wine in my Mr. Beer keg. I appreciate your replies. As a matter of fact I will try it. It might turn out good, or bad. THANKS!

 

[ShaineT]

Heck I might try this with my homemade wine in my Mr. Beer keg. I appreciate your replies. As a matter of fact I will try it. It might turn out good, or bad. THANKS!

So would that make it more "brandy" like?

 

[DocScott]

Well, (not) to nitpick, but if it's been fermented then shouldn't it be called "beer"?

You're right. I guess I worded that strangely.

Ferment your wort to completion. Then partially freeze your beer...

Thanks for keeping me honest

 

[NMSU4ever]

I am not putting my wine in the freezer, I will let it process out and keep it conventional. Thank you for reading this. By doing some research, I just realized I could have made "brandy" by freezing it. I am not going to pursue this technique at all. But it makes a good conversation starter. Thanks.

 

[dantodd]

Freezing beer and draining the beer off the ice is common practice. We also used to do this to hard cider when I was a kid, we called it apple jack.

I wouldn't really recommend freezing wort though. If you want to do a partigyle and ferment some later, or just create more wort than you need immediately, I would use the no chill method pioneered by the Aussies. Essentially, just dump the hot wort straight into a clean HDPE container, squeeze out any air and seal. The hot wort will sanitize the container and as it cools it will remain very clean as long as the cap is air tight. Basic Brewing has done some experiments too and not noticed any loss of flavor in the resulting beer.

 

[two_one_seven]

I wouldn't say common. It's been done before but it isn't something routinely done.

 

[Cathedral]

This is how the guys who created the worlds highest ABV beer did it - Brewmeisters Armageddon at 65%, and I saw an interview where a guy drinking it said it tasted just like a heft beer; no alcohol flavor like you would expect. Thus, it was a dangerously good beer.