Wild One

[Romahawk]

Boy oh Boy do I have a wild one..... I don't know what is going to happen to it or how it will turn out but it has been boiling madly along for over three weeks now. It is a traditional mead made of 2 gallons of honey, 4 gallons of water, 6 teaspoons of acid blend, 6 teaspoons of nutrient, and two packs of EC-1118 yeast. It is showing no signs of slowing down, wonder if my truck will run on it when it's done?

[Ben Brewcat]

As long as you have the jet-fuel conversion kit for your truck . Sounds like a panty-loosener for sure. If it's a little over the top you can always blend it down with a six-percenter sack mead in six months. Or use it to make propolis tincture .

[Romahawk]

Hmmmmm I was thinking of freezing it after it's done working and see what it turns into then.

I've seen several people on different boards talking about what they call their poor mans distillery, plastic milk jugs and an old freezer. I'm just wondering if I might come up with something bad by concentrating the alcohol though. Anyone tried this with a wine they made that turned out to be to rough on the taste buds?

[AndrewSchwab]

I believe that is called "jacking" popular up there in the way north.

It does not work for everything (or most things) it does work for hard cider etc..

I think what you will get is an even stronger alcohol % as for what doesn't freeze. You have me interested try it and see what happens. I would like to hear about it.

[Romahawk]

After a little looking I found as you say it is the way Apple Jack is made but I also found some information that makes me think it might not be a good idea. One home distilling site in New Zelanad had this to say.

Today, freeze distillation of alcoholic beverages is illegal in many countries because a number of by-products of fermentation (fusel alcohols), which are mostly removed by heat distillation, tend to accumulate to an unhealthy level in freeze-distilled beverages.

Guess maybe I'll take my old Mead the way the EC-1118 gives it to me.

[mattoleriver]

Distillation neither increases nor decreases fusel alcohols it merely concentrates the fusel alcohols that are already there. Heat distillation facilitates the removal of fusel alcohols but they do have to be removed they do not simply disappear in the distillation process. There is no easy way to capture and remove the fusels when freeze distilling.

Your non-distilled alcoholic beverage will contain fusel alcohols whereas your distilled beverage may (probably will) have had the fusel alcohols removed. In other words, if you drink TOO MUCH beer/wine/mead you will get as much, or more, fusels than if you drink distilled beverages.

I don't think the Feds are as worried about your fusel alcohol intake as they are about collecting the taxes due on distilled beverages. If you ever get busted for running an illegal distillery it will be the Tax Man, not the Surgeon General, who comes knockin' at your door.

Removing fusel alcohols will reduce the risk of headaches but it will not reduce loud, crude, lewd, rude, injudicious and socially unacceptable behaviour---all that is still in there if you want it to be!

George

[Aspera]

As Matt said, freezing isn't the issue, taxes are. Freeze distillation is considered distillation and is regulated as such by state and federal law. Ridiculous though they may be, you have to pay your taxes and follow the law. The first revolution against the U.S. government was fought over this issue.

[Romahawk]

Boy I bet if my grandfather and my father had known their tradition of making applejack every winter was considered distilling they would have surely stopped doing it.

Fusel oils didn't seem to bother them any. Then again when we were young my father caught me and my brother sampling the keg after it was moved down into the cellar and he sat us down and let us drink a big glass of it. We didn't sample anymore for years but now my wife thinks maybe the fusel oils is what addled my brain...