Making Applejack from hard cider?

[bmd2k1]

UPDATE: Ok, so a couple months ago I experimented with my first batch of applejack. It ended up turning out quite nice! But, sadly it was only good for maybe a week or so after I had collected all my finished product. I believe it oxidized and turned quite bitter, even storing it in glass jars in the freezer. How can I avoid this for the next batch? If I can keep it from oxidizing like that, I'd be quite the happy person. Any suggestions to reduce air contact during the concentrating process, and maybe a good way to bottle and seal it when done? Starting a 6 gallon batch of the cider/wine today, so I've got a little while to figure it out, but not too long. Thanks!

Hmmmm....as pic in previous post shows...I store in plastic half gal containers and have never had an issue.

[emoji111]

 

[scottrossstolarik2021@gma]

For

Hello. So I want to make applejack from some of the hard cider i made a while ago. I have about 3 liters that are ready to be frozen to turn into applejack. Now I understand that making applejack would need us to freeze hard cider till the water freezes then wait for the alcohol to drip through a clothing or whatever. I'm familiar with the way of making applejack, I am just worried if it will not be safe to consume. I understand that the ABV will high and I should measure how much i want to drink with shot measurements. But the thing that is worrying me the most is the methanol and fusel alcohols. I read at some sites that freezing hard cider concentrates alcohol, all of them. Ethanol, methanol and the fusel alcohols. I need to know if that is true or not, and if it will have any effect on me drinking it. And if just simply freezing it and then taking the drippings dangerous and could make me blind, how do u seperate the ethanol from the methanol after you freeze it and let it drip?

For anyone reading this who decides to experiment with freeze separation of homemade or homebrewed alcohols, I would strongly suggest burn testing for consumption safety. While it is true that all alcohols produced during the fermentations will infuse to a 90+ percent, or minimum 180 proof end alcohol product, by lightning a small sample of the product on fire in a shot glass while inside of a dark room you can quick test for initial consumption safety. Anything that doesn't burn off as a blue flame, identical to natural gas from a stove, should be immediately discarded as it will immediately indicate other alcohols at an unsafe level for consumption. However it's not advisable to consume any quantity of a freeze separated chemical without additional testing for approximate ppm levels if the end product passes the initial flame test, as otherwise safe levels of ordinarily dangerous to concentrate or consume alcohols may still be present and accumulate to dangerous levels over the quantity consumed. Which is ŵhat led many states to attempt and suceed at defining the action you described as freeze distillation and making it an illegal activity. So once again, this is not advice... It's a history lesson that I do not recommend attempting, hope this helps and enjoy!

 

[Miraculix]

I don't think that it is an easy task to get a high enough alcohol percentage with freezing so that the liquid can actually burn. It is almost impossible with normal household freezers.

 

[MicroMickey]

I found an article on Eisbock which relates well to the production of apple Jack.

https://crescentcitybrewtalk.com/the-concentration-of-beer-by-freezing/

 

[fitzmer662]

Hello. So I want to make applejack from some of the hard cider i made a while ago. I have about 3 liters that are ready to be frozen to turn into applejack. Now I understand that making applejack would need us to freeze hard cider till the water freezes then wait for the alcohol to drip through a clothing or whatever. I'm familiar with the way of making applejack, I am just worried if it will not be safe to consume. I understand that the ABV will high and I should measure how much i want to drink with shot measurements. But the thing that is worrying me the most is the methanol and fusel alcohols. I read at some sites that freezing hard cider concentrates alcohol, all of them. Ethanol, methanol and the fusel alcohols. I need to know if that is true or not, and if it will have any effect on me drinking it. And if just simply freezing it and then taking the drippings dangerous and could make me blind, how do u seperate the ethanol from the methanol after you freeze it and let it drip?

Don't take it all the way to a no water extraction. Just do it a couple times and it will taste better.