Freeze distilling tips?

[nosmokingbandit]

I have a batch of cider I want to make apple jack out of, but rather than run my still twice I'm going to try freeze distilling once then run it through my still.

I took a gallon jug, filled it half full, and froze it. Then I set it upside down on a quart mason jar and let it thaw out, which happened very quickly (an hour or so to get a quart back out of the jug). The result was a much darker color and stronger smell, but I couldn't discern any higher alcohol content (perhaps because of the concentrated apple flavor). The remaining quart of ice in the gallon jug took almost a full day to thaw out, so obviously I got some kind of higher concentration out first.

Does anyone have any tips to make the process more efficient? Is reclaiming half of the frozen product a good amount, or should I keep a little more? I let the cider freeze solid, should I let it get slushy then strain out the ice crystals, or does my process work just as well?

I'm going through with it regardless because I have tons of hard cider and I want to experiment.

Thanks!

[Halfbaked]

The best thing about that you said is you have tons of hard cider. I agree you should take a couple of gal and freeze it and turn it upside down and what melts first is higher % of alcohols. Don't waste nothing. If you don't like it throw it in the still. I wish you good luck on your journey. Take care of the cider so as not to have it turn to vinegar or go bad. Refrigerate or freeze it. Still it all. Save the head ache. I hope the thump thump is the thumper.

[NZChris]

Stop when it is no longer as strong as the original. You can do it multiple times. I had some that wouldn't freeze after three times.

You can also freeze jack unfermented juice and add that back to hard cider and brandy. Acids get concentrated too, so don't use highly acid fruit for this.

[nosmokingbandit]

The best thing about that you said is you have tons of hard cider. I agree you should take a couple of gal and freeze it and turn it upside down and what melts first is higher % of alcohols. Don't waste nothing. If you don't like it throw it in the still. I wish you good luck on your journey. Take care of the cider so as not to have it turn to vinegar or go bad. Refrigerate or freeze it. Still it all. Save the head ache. I hope the thump thump is the thumper.

I still intend to distill it via pot still, I'm just substituting this for a first run. Freeze-distilling seems to keep a ton of flavor, so rather than distilling twice via pot still and losing a bit of flavor each time I should be able to concentrate the flavor and alcohol by freezing, then distilling down to high proof later.

I have one quart done (I plan of freeze distilling 7 gals down to 3.5) and it actually tastes ok. Its a little sour, which is to be expected, but it is perfectly drinkable. I don't want to dip into it too much since it still has all of the harsh stuff in it.

You can also freeze jack unfermented juice and add that back to hard cider and brandy. Acids get concentrated too, so don't use highly acid fruit for this.

This sounds interesting. I'm pressing more cider wednesday, so I might add a gallon or two back in for more flavor. The mix of apples I use are fairly acidic, does distilling via heat take care of this, or does just freeze distilling concentrate acids?

[NZChris]

Stilling leaves acids in the backset.

[WooTeck]

may have to give this a little go. i have some cloudy scrumpy that i need the bottles from.

[nosmokingbandit]

I have a bit of a progress report.

I've freeze-distilled about 3 gallon so far and I have about 1 gal and 1 pint of 'distillate' (if you want to call it that).

I've found that the alcohol melts fast. Really fast. I would get a steady trickle from my ice within a minute off taking it out of the freezer. It takes about 1 hour to 1.5 hours to get out all of the good stuff.

It doesn't seem to be consistent and I'm not sure why. From one frozen half-gal I'll get a full quart of product out before the remaining ice is clear. On another gallon I'll get 2/3 of a quart. Both are taken from the same carboy of hard cider.

I've been trying to get half of my cider back out of the ice but it seems like once the ice gets clear there isn't anything left worth saving. I'm hoping I'm not throwing away usable product, but I don't think there is a good way to tell. Neither of my hydrometers read accurately. Well, my brewing hydro does, but that doesn't tell me alcohol content. My distiller's hydro reads ~4% abv before freeze distilling (which I know is incorrect) and ~7 afterward (which is still lower than the actual abv of the cider to begin with).

The aroma is incredible. Super strong apple notes, obviously acidic, but very bright. The flavor is just super tart cider. I wouldn't drink it without oaking it for a year or two. Or I'd have to mix it with something, but I can't think of what it would go good with. The color is much darker that I started with, probably twice as dark. Its almost a little orange. I have the freeze-distilled product in a one-gal glass jug and it looks darker than my 3-gal carboy of undistilled cider, even though the 3-gal carboy is much wider.

I have four more 1/2 gallons freezing, so with any luck I'll have it all done thursday. That means I'll run it through my pot still saturday afternoon and hope for the best.

If this works well I'll probably try freeze-distilling twice in the future, then a pot still run. My still is a 1/4 keg conversion, so I'll eventually get a small 1-2 gallon pressure cooker to use for smaller batches. If I can freeze distill 5 gallons down to 2 I'd feel pretty silly running that in my keg still.

[NZChris]

The only thing I use freeze jacked hard cider for, is spiking it back into a couple of primed bottles of the same brew. I do the same trick for a few special bottles of ale rather than throwing the dregs out.

[rager]

very intrigued with your results and everything was good until you said pressure cooker

stock pot my friend stock pot

keep us updated , I have 10 gallons almost done fementing

cheers




rager

[Tap]

Thanks for posting this. I've never before considered using this technique as another tool in the tool box. Very interested to read how the final product turns out.


tap.out.

[NZChris]

I have made liqueur with freeze jacked juice, but it is quite tart. Baking soda might tame the acid. Maybe try neutralising the juice before freezing.

[nosmokingbandit]

Today's discovery: Smash the gallon jug on your counter while it is frozen, it breaks the ice up a little and the alcohol can filter through even quicker. I got a quart back out of 1/2 gal in about 20 minutes this way. Same color/aroma/flavor.

'Tis a shame it takes so long to freeze. If this gives me good product I'll plan on doing a larger batch in the middle of winter so I can leave my jugs outside to freeze overnight so I can do it all at once.

[rad14701]

Sounds like a long drawn out act of futility, just as I've always considered freeze jacking...

[nosmokingbandit]

Thank you for your input.

[ihatemurphy]

this session i made 20 gallons of hard cider of a wonderful apple crop. i then set out to jack 15 gallons of it. i would freeze a 2 liter bottle at-least 24 hours in the deep freeze then allow it to drain for one hour no more no less. i ended up with just over 3 gallons of finished product. i didn't have my still up and running yet and i wanted to do something with the cider, i never felt it was an exercise in futility. it does leave all the alcohols the would be removed with proper stilling so you can get quite the hangover if you over indulge. i think next year if the apple crop is as good i will just throw it all in the pot. it seems to most on here that the freeze jacking method is only useful if you brewed more than your pot can hold and you would like to avoid one more stripping run.

[rager]

what was the final abv?