Frozen distill experiment

[Alphadog007]

I'm pretty sure I ruined my mash by waiting much too long and it turning bad. Regardless, I'm thinking about trying a frozen distill: pour mash into 2 liter bottles, freezing them, and then turning upside down ... as alcohol will melt off first; then collect a pint to a quart. Other than getting the heads too, what am I missing?

[kaziel]

I've heard that's a myth. How will you do the cuts? Old guy told me that you can make 30% doing that and that this stuff will have nasty taste color and will give you killer hangover. But I'm last to talk you out of it .

[MitchyBourbon]

Alphadog007,

What makes you think it went bad? If you have any hope of getting something that is drinkable then distill it. If not then toss it. You won't get much separation and all the taste will remain.

[Alphadog007]

MitchyBourbon, it has sat in my garage for about a year with oxygen having gotten at it. I haven't checked to see what is all vinegar and what hasn't but I'm not hopeful. My unit was/is out if commission which is why it sat so long and I'm too cheap to throw it out.

[MitchyBourbon]

Experiment away then.

At least you can have fun with it if nothing else.

[OzKev]

I've read several times people saying if you ever get an infected batch of beer to distill it and it will taste great. I think you have a better chance of a drinkable product by running it through the still than you have trying to freeze distill it.

[Jkhippie]

Nothing wrong with freezing as a strip. Even if you only get 20%. That's not as good as a regular strip, but it's better than a 10% wash. If it's no "extra" hassle, why not?

[Coyote]

Let us know how it turns out.
I have tried it and got distracted. . .
All I got was watered down booze

Coyote

[Prairiepiss]

Ok let's look at this. You think the wash went bad. So that would mean its undrinkable. Now you want to try to freeze jack it. Which would normally give you a less then tasty drink. And in no way is it going to sterilize it. If there was something bad in it.

The reason everyone says to go ahead and distill something that may have gone bad. Is the fact that the distilling process will destroy any bad stuff in it. Making it safe to drink. If it turns out tasty enough to drink.

If you wouldn't drink it right out of the fermenter. Right now. I wouldn't freeze jack it.

But then again I would waste my time freeze jacking anything. It's a waste of time energy and packs a hell of a headache. I've tried it. To never try it again.

[Pyewacket]

I've heard that's a myth.

LOL, yankee farmers in cold northern New England would argue about that. No myth, freeze jacking works fine...and as a souvenir you will get a wonderful headache in the morning.

I agree with PP, not sure how freeze jacking with help you~

[JackBlack]

I am playing around with freeze jacking fermented fruit juices, mostly from our farm in Australia. Started off with a glut of mandarins. Then tried some red wine to see what would happen, then an apple cider kit, bananas and persimmons. It is an interesting journey and it is as well that I enjoy doing things when I don't know what I am doing. So far my first persimmon batch, from our own tree, is the best, but they are all sort of drinkable, but my son says that he will stick with buying malt whiskey.

The basic kit is a modified freezer, as we do not get snow around here, and today is nudging towards 90F. I have a thermostat and timer system that lets me cycle between two temperatures, trying to emulate outside day/night jacking in the frozen north. I choose temperatures to give me about a 50% ice slurry and then spin out the liquor with a salad spinner driven by an electric drill. Then back again to a lower temperature for a second jack, then a third. This typically takes me down to around -4F (-20C) and strong spirit. I have not managed to measure alcohol level as the fruit content is very high.

It is very interesting how the process changes the fruit flavours. After all wine does not taste like grapes. I am currently playing with adding malted grain and experimenting with ripening temperatures to understand (?) the enzyme ripening process.

Not really expecting to come up with anything brilliant, but it certainly gives appreciation of the generations of development that went into defining the process for our beers, wines and spirits.

The basic is the opposite of distilling in that you are removing the water, not the alcohol, so that the fruit remains in the jack. On this basis I would expect that jacking an infected batch of beer would produce a truly horrible result.