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Jimmy wrote:Hey guys I am new and found this thread very interesting. As a further progression on this idea have any of you considered freezing the finished "alcoholic water" to see what happens? I have heard that alcohol doesn't freeze at the same temperature as water, therefor, I imagine that the water will freeze and the alcohol will stay liquid. If this is the case, then we could be talking very cheap spirit production. The product would potentially be a very good quality mixer spirit. Any response would be greatly appreciated.

I have thought of making it in to 'slush' drink but not freezing off the alcohol.will have to try that!
I've now finished my second lot and am into making my 3rd batch as it has gone down so well at parties. it's lovely made up with T***o's double concentrated blackcurrant

That's called freeze distillation, which used to be (and as far as I'm aware still is) legal in the UK. Although finding enough room in your freezer may be a problem. What you are doing is freezing neither water nor alcohol, but a solution of alcohol in water - and the whole lot will freeze at the same time. The trick is that when you thaw it, it's the alcohol which thaws first and so is dripped off. The problem with that is that fermentation does not produce simple ethanol - it also produces a small amount of methanol and fusel oils, which are, to say the least, toxic. Luckily, these are the substances which thaw out first of all. So, if you are going to try to do this, you have to construct an arrangement whereby you can 'hang' the frozen wine so that it drips into a receptacle. Then you have to THROW AWAY the first 4 fluid ounces or so to get rid of the nasties. When about a third to a half of the wine has thawed, what you have left in the remaining frozen lump is just water - chuck that away too. If your freezer can get down that far, you can then repeat the process to further concentrate the spirit.

I have never done this, so please don't hold me responsible for any results - but that is how it's done.

There's more to this than meets the eye, obviously. I suppose if you are determined enough it might make for an interesting experiment. I wouldn't want to see anyone get damaged though by drinking stuff that might be more potent because it's more concentrated. I imagine one would have to drink in moderation, but that is sensible anyway. If anyone does try this, let us know what happens...but only if you can type while suffering hiccups!

B*gger... we make Alcoholic Water every week in 2 x 2ltr bottles but we didn't know it.

We use it as a Co2 system for our fish tank plants... D'oh!

We've been chucking it down the sink

Sounds like a brilliant idea. I'm brewing stout right now but soon I might try that.

Can I be a silly billy though and ask what a pound and a gallon is in metric?

Decentralist wrote:Sounds like a brilliant idea. I'm brewing stout right now but soon I might try that.

Can I be a silly billy though and ask what a pound and a gallon is in metric?

lb = about 500g
Gallon = about 5ltrs

... in your new-fangled money

Thanks, that is a great help. I'm no good with imperial measures.