Considering an Ice Beer

[Babylon]

I know that the most common variety to do a freeze distillation on is a bock. I'm not interested in getting into Lagers as I tend to greatly prefer the flavors in an ale.

I am curious what sort of beer might be a good candidate to do some freeze distillation on, also if it would be best to wait until colder months so that i can leave it outside to let mother nature do the freezing.

I don't have a keg currently, so I imagine that carbonating it is going to be impossible, but I can tolerate that.

I'm a big fan of stouts and imperial stouts, I figure an imperial might be a bit too big to begin with to really do well when intensified by freeze distillation, anyone done an ice stout? Would I be better off focusing on a lighter style?

 

[windbreaker123]

Why do you want to do that style ? Wanting a alcohol level that can kick your A**!!! And how long are you willing to wait ??? For it to come to completion ? 2 yrs 3 yrs ?

 

[Babylon]

Why do you want to do that style ? Wanting a alcohol level that can kick your A**!!! And how long are you willing to wait ??? For it to come to completion ? 2 yrs 3 yrs ?

Not just the alcohol level. From what I understand freeze distilling kicks up all the flavors since it takes out water without taking out the rest of the stuff. I love super big beers and I figure this is a different approach from just making an Imperial Stout as far as getting that enormous profile.

I can wait a few years if needed. I take it with the intensifying effect of freeze distilling it'd need that long to age and mellow and be drinkable? I don't really have a problem sticking the bottles in my basement and forgetting about them for a while.

 

[ayoungrad]

I never even thought about doing an ice beer. Just an FYI for anyone interested:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ice_beer

 

[ayoungrad]

Similar and possibly more relevant link:

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/wiki/index.php/Ice_Beer

Check out the second paragraph under brewing ice lager...

 

[emjay]

Schneider's Aventinus dopple weizen eisbock is a freeze-distilled ale that seems to work. And the only one I can think of

 

[windbreaker123]

As long as you know it is legal to do in the area you reside. First will be a bump in abv second depending on recipe will be taste. Higher the abv the longer it will have to melow. It is possible to do a freeze technique several times and come out stronger abv each time. But it is a waste of time and energy to do it hot and get the same results! You Making Beer? Or wanting to make wine ? Or hard spirits ? I will not discuss the latter but it is available on the interweb

 

[Babylon]

I've checked the local laws. In Ohio so long as it doesn't go about 24% ABV (which I am not aiming to do) it's still considered beer.

If I wanted hard spirits I'd just go with a still, and I wouldn't be looking for advice on these forums.

A friend of mine is considering doing the same thing with wine, to really kick up the flavor, alcohol and sweetness but I tend to be the pioneer in our brewing experiments and I prefer beer.

 

[evanos]

From my understanding, eiswine (sp?) is made with partially frozen grapes, not partially frozen wine.

 

[ayoungrad]

From my understanding, eiswine (sp?) is made with partially frozen grapes, not partially frozen wine.

Oh yeah. I had one of those at a tiny winery in Newport, RI. Sickeningly sweet. Not to my taste but some people love them. But I agree with you on the frozen grapes.

 

[wedge421]

You can always do an imperial stout. Thats how Brew Dog gets their Tactical Nuclear Penguin to 32%. They reverse distill it

 

[emjay]

You can always do an imperial stout. Thats how Brew Dog gets their Tactical Nuclear Penguin to 32%. They reverse distill it

Interesting name for a beer. We just had what was easily the best beer brewed in the province - a fairly new Ontario craft brew called Smashbomb Atomic IPA - kept out of liquor stores (all government owned) because the label featured an explosion.

Really.

They say it was in "bad taste," but it's kind of hard to buy it when all the other off-brewery retail alcohol sales and ALL beer distribution go through "The Beer Store", a goverment-sanctioned monopoly jointly owned by Molson, Labatt, and Coors (or rather, their parent companies as they're all foreign-owned now!) They kind of own the place. At least one of the guys in my local homebrew club is from Utah, and even HE thinks the liquor laws are draconian and just plain absurd.

Sorry about the totally off-topic rant... the name of that beer just got me all frustrated again over that recent event.

 

[Babylon]

You can always do an imperial stout. Thats how Brew Dog gets their Tactical Nuclear Penguin to 32%. They reverse distill it

I have heard of that and that was one thing I was considering. I've never had tactical nuclear penguin, but I have been curious about it.

To the person that mentioned Ice Wine, yes, that is made from frozen grapes. it's not stronger than regular wine, just a lot sweeter. My friend is looking at freeze distilling wine, something which I don't think there is a proper name for.

 

[evanos]

Btw, what is reverse distilling? Wouldn't that be something like adding water to it?

 

[cjb]

I assume it just means that, instead of boiling the alcohol off and collecting it, leaving the water behind...you freeze the water and remove it, leaving the alcohol behind.

 

[emjay]

I assume it just means that, instead of boiling the alcohol off and collecting it, leaving the water behind...you freeze the water and remove it, leaving the alcohol behind.

That's exactly what freeze distillation is. And it leaves the flavor, color, and body compounds too - basically everything EXCEPT the water.

"Reverse distillation" would suggest to me the process of dilution as well, or even perhaps the process used to make alcohol-free beer, which is actually fermented like any other beer before the alcohol is removed - typically to a level of 0.5% or so rather than truly alcohol-free.

 

[Elshauno]

I made a massively oversparged IPA into a DIPA by freeze distallation its easy especially if you have 2.5 or 3 gallons kegs. Since they fit into a standard freezer.

 

[GuldTuborg]

The Basic Brewing guys did a freeze distillation on a barleywine a year or two back. They made a video about it, too, in case you're interested. They seemed to enjoy it well enough. I suppose that's another possibility.

http://www.basicbrewing.com/index.php?page=february-20-2009-barleywine-ice-beer