Freezer distilling

[NS Gearhead]

Started making wine about a year ago with good success, also made a batch of spiced apple cider that turned out terribly. However, I kept it and now about 8 months later it tastes much better. Discovered freezer distilling on youtube one day and wanted to give it a shot. It's pretty darn simple; freeze your hootch, turn it upside down in something that has a bigger opening, and let half of it melt... or until the original color's out of the ice left over. Alcohol melts first, so the water's left behind. In theory, if you cut your volume in half, what your left with has all the alcohol making it twice as strong as the original.



It tastes just as good as the original cider. I'll try wine next... although my wine has about 10-12% so doubling that could be interesting!

 

[Dan Hunter]

I do this with spiced mead. I use two 5 gallon soda tanks placed in my deep freezer until it's quite slushy and then use co2 to push the remaining fluid through a filter and into another tank. The frozen material is recycled. It's impressive.

 

[dmccarty]

Freezing distillation is the traditional way to increase the alcohol content of hard apple cider in the US.

Last time I checked, it was still illegal to distill alcohol, by freezing or heating, in the US, without paying one's tax.

Later,
Dan

 

[NS Gearhead]

Freezing distillation is the traditional way to increase the alcohol content of hard apple cider in the US.

Last time I checked, it was still illegal to distill alcohol, by freezing or heating, in the US, without paying one's tax.

Later,
Dan

Good to know! I guess I'm not re-inventing the wheel here. LOL I plan to get some better containers and more of them to speed things up. I didn't bottle half a batch of peach apricot wine to try this last time I made some.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sJqsJWJBaZY

 

[jix]

Here is an easy way. Go and buy some Bells Scotch, pour it in a glass and add some ice cubes and drink it slowly. Then pee in a bottle and throw the bottle way ...unless you are a woman.

 

[Jstpssng]

Freezing distillation is the traditional way to increase the alcohol content of hard apple cider in the US.

Last time I checked, it was still illegal to distill alcohol, by freezing or heating, in the US, without paying one's tax.

Later,
Dan

I just learned something new. "While individuals of legal drinking age may produce wine or beer at home for personal or family use, Federal law strictly prohibits individuals from producing distilled spirits at home (see 26 United States Code (U.S."

http://www.ttb.gov/spirits/home-distilling.shtml

 

[MossRoad]

I'm glad this is all a hypothetical conversation...

It is legal to make alcohol for personal consumption in most places in the U.S. (as in beer and wine). Where people get confused is this... While its legal to make alcohol, it's illegal to distill alcohol. Making alcohol and distilling alcohol are two different things.

Technically, freezer distillation is not distillation. Its concentration. Is this concentration legal? Who knows?

As for the process, I'd say if you have a good tasting beverage, this process would probably increase the flavor intensity and it would have a higher alcohol content than the original product. But if you have a bad tasting beverage, it would increase the bad taste. You couldn't use this process, for example, to make bad wine taste good, whereas distillation of bad wine into brandy can make a drinkable product that doesn't taste bad (as bad). :laughing:

 

[NS Gearhead]

Yes exactly. This isn't distillation, it's concentration. It does intensify the flavor and almost makes it more syrupy. Unfortunately I have no way of measuring the alcohol content. I've only done this to Peach Apricot wine so far...

I've had a police officer from the neighborhood in to try it and he didn't seem to have any problems with it

 

[jix]

Technically, you can concentrate a brew to almost 200 proof by freeze concentration, but you need to be able to accurately control the cold temperature to do that, and use a high vacuum system to sublimate the ice out.
Another way is to use a centrifuge at about 300 G. That is the fastest and will result in absolute alcohol if you do it right. Big, fast centrifuge costs a lotta money. Distillation gear is cheapest way to go

 

[dmccarty]

Yes exactly. This isn't distillation, it's concentration. It does intensify the flavor and almost makes it more syrupy. Unfortunately I have no way of measuring the alcohol content. I've only done this to Peach Apricot wine so far...

I've had a police officer from the neighborhood in to try it and he didn't seem to have any problems with it

In the US, most local or state officers are not going to know, or give a rats behind about distillation, that is a Federal or state ATF/ABC enforcement issue.

One might quibble if freezing is distillation or concentration, but either way, alcohol content is being increased by removing water from the liquid. What I read was from years ago regarding making hard apple cider and the book stated that freezing was considered distillation under then US Federal law and was illegal unless one had a license. US state laws just add more murkiness to the issue. Measuring alcohol content is easy, just buy a hydrometer from Amazon or the local brew shop.

Years ago in NC, a state legislator got into trouble because his family had for decades given away brandy as gifts. Course, brandy is a distilled product, his was untaxed, and thus illegal. About 10 years ago, I saw a pickup truck with two layers of one gallon jugs filled with a clear fluid driving through town. Now, I know there was some "spring" water in those jugs but that was to dilute the moonshine. :laughing::laughing::laughing: There are shot houses in NC where moonshine is sold. A guy just go killed at a shot house in the last week or so. Last I heard, a shot house sold a shot of shine for $1. How many ounces are in a gallon? How much does it cost to make a gallon? Lots of profit in that one gallon of 'shine.

I see quite a few small plots of field corn being grown in my area. Not sweet corn, field corn. The places do not have farm animals, and in any case, the plots are too small to feed any livestock. Why would people grow a small plot of field corn? I swear, some nights I can hear a thumper running some where to my south east...

Later,
Dan