American Applejack

[Cory]

Some time ago, in the States I took some of my 3L high-gravity cider and put it in the freezer to make Applejack.

I froze a 1L bottle and a 500mL bottle overnight.  Next morning, opened the bottles and tipped them up over clean/sanitized containers (in this case a pint glass and a clean mayo jar.)  After about 90 minutes, a concentrated sugar/alcohol/water mix had melted into the lower glasses, leaving mostly clear white ice in the bottles.  I combined my take to about 750mL, or half my original volume.





In previous batches, I aged it for a few months in Mason jars in my basement.  After a time, it lost the harsh alcohol-y smell and became a sweet, warming drink a bit like brandy.  This batch looks a little bit different than the batches I made at home.  Different juice, different sugar, different yeast- but I'm sure it will smooth out nicely under the sink.

Quick story- I used to call it "shirtless redneck approved" because I used to take flasks of it with me fishing for catfish in the Mississippi.  One night, a group of rednecks with no shirts and their wives and kids came down to the river to fish next to us.  They were really cool and kindly gave me a catfish that they thought was too small to keep, so I pulled out my flask and gave them each a pull in return.  I remember they said, "Damn!  That's some good s--t!  You made that yerself!?"  One of the proudest moments in my brief brewing career.

Cheers, all!

[nigel_c]

Freeze distillation / concentration (call it what you like) is illegal in Ireland.

[LordEoin]

is it legal to a certain ABV %  ? Or just illegal full stop?

[nigel_c]

Copied and pasted from a reputable source.

The legislation is a bit scattered and I think ultimately goes back to the 1830 Spirits Act which is all about penalties for distilling without a licence. SI 307 of 1975 makes it clear it doesn't matter which method of distillation is used, duty is still due. There's a long standing duty exemption for privately-brewed beer, which is what makes home brewing legal. No such exemption exists for private distilling.

[Garry]

That looks very interesting Cory, thanks for sharing.

I saw a similar article in BYO magazine about making eisbock. Shame it's illegel here 

What ABV would you get out of an applejack?

[LordEoin]

allegedly...

[Cory]

Thanks gents, I made the post totally honest.  A long time ago, back in The States I tried this.  I'll let you know how it tasted back home in a few weeks.

Love the forum and the community.  Y'all are great.

[Cory]

Also, not sure about ABV on this method because hydrometer readings would be moot.  Back home I concentrated some 15% cider to about half volume.  Resulting product had a MUCH stronger kick, but hard to really guess at ABV.  It was best enjoyed at room temp in small snifters on a cold day.  Or... ya know... while fishing for catfish in the Mississippi.

[Garry]

Out of curiosity, is there a chance of creating a beverage with a dangerous amount of methanol using freeze concentration?

[Cory]

Hmmmm... Never thought about that.  I don't know much about different kinds of alcohol produced and how they work chemically.  Haven't seen it mentioned in Applejack/Ice Beer recipes around.  Could it be worse to drink a snifter of jack concentrated from a pint of cider than drinking that same pint of cider?  I haven't gone blind yet, and I always keep it in moderation.  Thanks for the feedback- I knew I could count on this forum.   

[Garry]

I haven't gone blind yet

That's good to hear.

[Dr Horrible]

Came across this point in a book on cider recently - whereas distillation removes both materials with a higher boiling point than ethanol as well as the low boiling point materials (like methanol), freeze concentration doesn't so it concentrates the bad stuff as well, and is why applejack can (apparently) give bad hangovers.  Never had any myself, perhaps our (ahem) American friend could fill us in.

[Eoin]

Methanol is not even really an issue for distillers.

Sent from my HTC One

[Cory]

Thanks for all the responses, everyone.  Re: hangovers, I usually didn't drink enough jack in one night to worry, mostly because I regarded it as a special treat for special occasions.  I'd occasionally have just a bit to kick off a night before switching to beer or cider.  Never noticed any ill effects.

Isn't it interesting how complex and different the laws are between different countries and states regarding home brewing?  Is this organization happy with the current state of the law or are there some lobbying for changes?  Just recently, thanks to an active and vocal homebrew organizations, the last few US states finally made home brewing legal, but each state still has its own set of policies regarding yearly maximums and whether or not a brewer can take homebrew out of his or her home to share or compete.  Also, had I taken some of my homebrew in Iowa across the river to my share with my friend in Wisconsin, I would have been technically committing bootlegging- a federal crime.  Would that apply to taking brew from the Republic to the North here?

Looking at the 22% limit above, I don't think I could get anything to be quite that high with just one round of freeze concentration.  A decent amount of alcohol is lost in the process, depending on how soon the melting is cut off.  We'd have to take one o' them fancy alkey-meters to the final product to know for sure. 

I'll report back when this batch has cleared and settled out.

[Ciderhead]

Freeze distillation / concentration (call it what you like) is illegal in Ireland.

Concentration by freezing is not distillation as it does not involve heat, and therefore does not require a licence. (There is a legal issue once you manufacture a beverage of 22% abv or more, but that's a separate issue)

Fractional freezing or freeze distillation has been used for years in the wine industry to bump abv and flavour profile.
It is recognised in the EU as a commercial method of distillation and as such is subject to the normal laws for distillation.

Freeze distillation can concentrate methanol and fusel alcohols in applejack to unhealthy levels.
Far better off to boil as evaporation can separate these since they have different boiling points.