Hotd Dave - Anyone ever try and "eisbock"?

[IndyPABrewGuy]

Hey all -

I'm interested in creating an Eisbock out of a barleywine I'm planning on making. Has anyone ever had any experiences doing such a thing? Thoughts on freezing process??

Cheers,

 

[JustDave]

Hot Dave? Please, I'm blushing.

 

[PseudoChef]

Hair of the Dog Dave. Hehehe.

 

[Chriso]

Man, your avatar gives me the shivers every time I see it, JustDave.

No idea on the eisbock technique, I know that removing more than a certain (rather marginal) percentage is not legal, technically, and because of this information is a little scarce. But I'd be lying if I said I wasn't interested in the how-to part of this. For... educational purposes only, of course.

 

[Freezeblade]

If you live in the US it is technically illegal to make a traditional eisbock due to the freeze distillation process employed. This thread will likely be locked when a mod sees it for this very reason.

 

[Yooper]

Man, your avatar gives me the shivers every time I see it, JustDave.

Look who's talking, Chriso! Your avatar gives me the heebie geebies.

I don't know if a traditional Eisbock involving freeze distillation can be done in the US (doubtful) but it may be legal in places that allow distillation.

As I see it, an Eisbock is a bock (lager) and I'm not sure simply making a stronger barley wine will give you an Eisbock. The BJCP guidelines call it an "extremely strong full and malty dark lager". Totally different than a barley wine. Here are the BJCP guidelines: BJCP 2008 Style Guidelines - Category 05

 

[Boerderij_Kabouter]

I just checked the Wisconsin statues (125) and cannot find a definitive answer as to whether or not Eisbock would or would not be legal. All signs point to legality.

this is §125.06 (3)

(3) HOMEMADE WINE OR FERMENTED MALT BEVERAGES. The
manufacture of wine or fermented malt beverages of any alcoholic
content by any person at his or her home, farm or place of residence
if the wine or fermented malt beverages is to be consumed
by that person or his or her family and guests, and if the person
manufacturing the wine or fermented malt beverages receives no
compensation.

It also defines wine as any beverage with between 0.5% and 21% ABV. I think you would be hard pressed to find someone who was knit picky enough to say yes it is a fermented beverage, but you froze it and some of the water was removed.

There is no mention in the statues about home distilling (or being a home rectifier according tot he definitions).

Also, WI has no homebrewing limit!

 

[Freezeblade]

I just checked the Wisconsin statues (125) and cannot find a definitive answer as to whether or not Eisbock would or would not be legal. All signs point to legality.

this is §125.06 (3)


It also defines wine as any beverage with between 0.5% and 21% ABV. I think you would be hard pressed to find someone who was knit picky enough to say yes it is a fermented beverage, but you froze it and some of the water was removed.

There is no mention in the statues about home distilling (or being a home rectifier according tot he definitions).

Also, WI has no homebrewing limit!

however, it is totally illegal to concentrate alcohol in any way shape or form in the United states. This includes freeze distillation, this topic has been discussed before on this board.

 

[McKBrew]

Interesting read.

While it is probably illegal to make an Eisbock traditionally, it's one of those things that no one needs to know about. I don't specifically see a law prohibiting you from transferring your beer into another container if it "inadvertantly" gets frozen.

 

[Boerderij_Kabouter]

however, it is totally illegal to concentrate alcohol in any way shape or form in the United states. This includes freeze distillation, this topic has been discussed before on this board.

Double-damn! I need to look into that thread. Not that I will ever distill anything anyway, but I wish it was an option.

 

[k1v1116]

not that Ive ever tried anything like this but the basic process involves freezing the already fermented bock at a slow pace agitating it every once in a while so that it doesnt form a solid block of ice but rather lots of fine ice crystals, think slush. once the fine crystals have formed you can basically pour this into a fine strainer and collect the syrupy liquid that drains through leaving the water crystals above, this process can be repeated several times to increase the concentration.

 

[Chriso]

I was able to find a little bit of info on a BeerAdvocate thread...

Can't answer all of your questions, but I just did an Eisbock a few weeks ago, and I can tell you that you don't get a straight sheet of ice at the top, you get a beer slushy. I left mine outdoors over night when it got down to 25 degrees or so, worked out pretty well, I got about a gallon of ice off of it. It's sitting on raspberry puree right now.
Good luck!

Good questions. I am pretty familiar with these processes, as the Eisbock is like my "pet beer".

For the best results, I would condition the beer some in the secondary before freezing it. Depending on the beer, I have found that six weeks is normally sufficient for most "pretty big" (<9%ABV) beers. One helpful suggestion I would make before freezing your keg is to blow some CO2 down the long dip-tube before freezing it...this will make it a WHOLE LOT easier to start. Put around 3-5# of pressure on the frozen keg, and reap the Eisbock from the beer tap into another purged keg. As HardTarget said, you will have slush left over once the gas starts coming through the ice into the collection keg. I have still not determined the "secret" to tell how much ice you have left over before-hand, but you seem to get a purer product when you use very cold beer under lower pressure. I am leaning toward idea that the ideal scenario for making Eisbock would be to leave it frozen and bleed off the contents slowly under very low pressure. I don't have the means to test this theory, but I would imagine that you could use the head pressure and ambient temperature like a still if it was properly applied. I digress... An Eisbock always benefits from aging a couple months+++ in a lagering fridge after freezing.

I'm with McKBrew on this one..... I'm not circumventing a law, nor am I intending to distill... I'm just making sure I have appropriate knowledge to handle a situation in case I accidentally turn my keg fridge down too far, and partially freeze my beer.

Here's a relevant thread on Apple Jack, too...

 

[IndyPABrewGuy]

Wow, didn't realize that it'd get that in depth, nor would there be any skirting of legality. Guess I should look into it a bit further.

Lock away, mods!