StillSmart

Hi. I am attempting both methods of distilling. Im going to try applejack from freeze distilling and apple brandy from a pot still. I know that the in freeze distillation the color comes through. Guess my question is at 40% abv would they both taste the same? Or would there be a considerable difference?

Freezejacking has intrigued me for a while now.

I've always assumed the end product would be lower quality. Not being able (as far as I know) to make cuts.

Will be really interested to hear your results.

I have for a while been freeze jacking... But instead of a strip run. A wash will easily get to 30‰ after jacking. I then run a spirit run as normal with cuts. Makes a great neutral.

Heres a question. If its impossible to make cuts freeze jacking, does that mean you can drink it without a risk?

I don't believe you can cut without distillation. Once a wash is frozen you invert it and get a slushy. 11 litres typically from 25.

I suppose you could freeze it again? But there is no easy way to separate/cut it.

I have hard cider and pinot grigio both freezing right now. Going to try both later today. My friend who just tried it with cider told me he reduced his cider from a gallon to about 32 oz. He said that when he took a hydrometer reading with his tralle hydrometer, it read the same alcohol content that he started with. Is that even possible when alot of ice is left in the jug?

Hydrometers are normally calibrated to work at a certain temp (typically 20c). There are temp adjustment tables to work out the real reading so I reckon the answer to your question is....

Yes. (he read it but failed to correct the reading)

Ok thank you. Im pretty sure he tried measuring it right from straining.

Sttifyd35 wrote:Hi. I am attempting both methods of distilling. Im going to try applejack from freeze distilling and apple brandy from a pot still. I know that the in freeze distillation the color comes through. Guess my question is at 40% abv would they both taste the same? Or would there be a considerable difference?

Expect a big difference.
Not least that as no cuts are possible, freeze jacked spirit contains any and all fores, heads and tails.
If you want to drink these, take your name from the Organ Donor register, and continue

Robert.

When we drink wine, are we effectively drinking fores, heads and tails, just at a more diluted rate since it hasn't been through the distillation process?

And does this go for commercially produced wines too?

It has also been shown that in wine there are natural antidotes.
Which of course will not necessarily be present after distillation. Winemakers can also select yeast that increases or decreases the production of them.

So im gathering the safest way to do applejack is to cut ot with a neutral spirit? Maybe do a 25 to 75% split?

Not sure I understand.

AJ is principally cider, distilled by the action of freezing. The AJ is poured out and drunk. The ice (water) is discard. There is no cutting.

Im sorry. Didnt explain that. A distillery close by makes an applejack. However they cut 30% of the applejack with 70% neutral because there arent any cuts.

On another note, with my cider, i filled a gallon jug and repeated the process down to 32 oz. So i figured starting at 7%abv i would end up around at least 20% abv. However, after using the proofing hydrometer, it registered 0 proof????? Not sure what went wrong. I also did the same method with bottles of cheap pinot grigio. Final reading was 10 proof. Half of the original!?!? Somethings not right here. Any ideas?

I can remember doing a similar thing with some mates when I was at school after a particularly interesting chemistry lesson. How we ever survived I don't know - we nearly blew ourselves up making gunpowder/fireworks, my mate temporarily deafened himself after making a hydrogen balloon and wondering what would happen if he held a lighter to it, DUH!

Anyway, whether or not it was down to the poor quality of the wine we sourced it tasted terrible. Wine is wine because of the water content, remove water and all you end up with is concentrated wine really. Our method might also have had something to do with it as I seem to remember we put it in a container and skimmed the ice crystals as they formed. So it was in and out of the freezer all afternoon. Some may like it, but our experiment put me right off. Now if you go on to distill afterwards, that's a different story. It seems like a pretty good method for a stripping run if you have the space for another freezer.