Stop spreading false myths about methanol in homebrewing!!
Isn't a "false myth" a truth??? But then, if there is a "true myth," is it actually a false truth? 
I never said people were going to die, go blind, or explicitly that they'd have a terrible hangover. Nothing I said was untrue, nor was I fear mongering, or telling folks what they must or must not do. Also, what I said is most applicable to fermented juices, not "homebrewing" in general because beer contains very little methanol. I am just providing a suggestion to reduce methanol in jacked cider, at no expense to the cidermaker, and with no potential detriments other than perhaps a slight haze in the finished product.
Let's look at some science before making knee-jerk blanket statements about "spreading false myths." Let's assume a hypothesis of
"Does the science back up the assertion that freeze-concentrating fermented cider increases methanol content by an
appreciable amount?"
First, the formation of additional methanol when pectic enzyme is used is a fact, and is well-documented in scientific literature for both wine and cider. It is also a fact that freeze concentration will concentrate all alcohols.
Second,
Ciders naturally can contain up to about 100 mg/L methanol, perhaps more depending on variety, and the
level is higher for pectinase-treated juice which can exceed the FDA standard of 0.35% by volume pre-fermentation (or concentration). Assuming 3-fold concentration of a juice at the FDA methanol level with 6% ABV, you might have 1.05% by volume methanol and 17% ethanol. That would mean 0.83g ethanol for every 170 mL ethanol, or 4.88 g methanol for every 1L of ethanol, about half the
EU has a limit of 10g methanol for every 1L of ethanol in an alcoholic beverage. Note that this is a conservative calculation using the FDA standard and pectin content
could exceed this standard.
For a standard apple without pectinase use and 100 mg/L methanol and 60g/L ethanol (6% abv) freeze jacked to 18% ethanol would have aproximately 300 mg/L methanol. 300 mg/L methanol works out to 0.3 g methanol / 0.22 L ethanol, or 1.36 grams of ethanol per liter of ethanol. So only 13.6% of the EU criteria, but still a tangible amount, without use of pectinase.
Note that these are back-of-the-envelope calculations using fairly generic values from literature and reference grams of methanol per liter of ethanol. So assuming one can drink 1 L of 20% apple jack the methanol does would be 0.27 to 0.98 grams of Methanol.
This is below lethal dose which is around 56 grams per person, and the blinding dose of 3.16-11.85 g ethanol...
BUT as you might guess, someone susceptible to methanol could have a wicked hangover from drinking 1L of a 20% applejack treated with pectinase, which could >1 g ethanol per liter of applejack.
Whether or not folks care about additional methanol in their ciders is up to them, and not everyone can crush a 6-pack of cider or 18 oz of jacked cider without feeling ill effects, regardless of methanol.
Feel free to check my math and sources, I'm open to science-based discussion but not hyperbolic rhetoric.
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