Apple Jack or Cold Distillation

[Michigan Swamp Buck]

Although making Apple Jack or other liquor with the process of Cold Distillation may be a subject that doesn't belong in the Survival and Sustainability forum, like in my previous threads on wine and beer making, I would put forth that alcohol is fundamental in regard to a number of uses.

Now, putting that aside, I went from my Wild Berry Wine and IPA beer made entirely from scratch from the most basic brewing methods to an apple wine made from deer bait apples. That worked up really well and the alcohol percentage was really good, but the fermented apple smell and taste was barely tolerable or at best an acquired taste for someone who just wants to get drunk.

So I had thought about getting the still out and distilling the near 5 gallons of apple wine when I remembered my first deer hunting experience at a deer camp where my buddy and I were drinking Apple Jack made from hard cider. That's when I was introduced to the cold method of distillation. You freeze the hard cider solid, let it thaw slightly then pour out the alcohol leaving most of the water behind in the jug.

A gallon of my apple wine produced about a shot of high proof alcohol when poured off of the frozen block. After I let it thaw about 15-20 minutes I got about a cup and a half of something more like a strong brandy level of proof. But, what amazed me is that not only did the flavor improve enough to be drinkable, but it retained it's mild carbonation as it was still working a little.

I can see this as being a way to distill oils or aromatics for medicinal uses. Maybe I can extract menthol from mints and wintergreen or oils from medicinal plants. Perhaps flavors can be extracted this way also. I need to look into this more and see what this process can do.

[Michigan Swamp Buck]

I want to elaborate more on the survival and sustainability of being able to produce fermented beverages and distilling the alcohol from it.

Early on in my beer and wine making experiments along with the distilling process via a still I bought, I had thought of the possible results as follows . . .

• I produce some fine wine, excellent beer along with some moon shine and possibly vodka for my drinking pleasure. These would be in high demand during SHTF and a valuable commodity.
  
• The product tastes terrible and I have to distill it to get anything useful from it drinkable or not.
  
• The product turns sour during fermentation and becomes vinegar that is good for cleaning and disinfecting along with canning and using in food preparations. This can be distilled as well.
  
• The alcohol could be used to produce tinctures and maybe extract aromatics and essentials oils.
  
• The alcohol could be used in a fuel for internal combustion engines or other uses.
  

That's the ideas I had from the start of all this and why I felt that this was the best forum to put this in. Other people here likely have more ideas along this line, please share.

[Chiefsmom]

How high do you think the alcohol content would be?  I know most of the tinctures I make, require pretty high content, like I use Everclear from Indiana.

[Ninurta]

I'll be interested to hear how well it works for menthol oil. I got some peppermint seed this year with an eye towards menthol production, but the standard distillation process seems a bit daunting.

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[Michigan Swamp Buck]

How high do you think the alcohol content would be?  I know most of the tinctures I make, require pretty high content, like I use Everclear from Indiana.

I believe you need to test it with a hydrometer like you would to test maple syrup to know for sure. I could try igniting it to determine what proof it is close to. However, this cold distillation process can only work so well and will depend on how much water is frozen and filtered out.

I suppose I could take the distilled product and refreeze it again and again until I get mostly alcohol. From what I heard Everclear is about as high of proof as is possible. Pure alcohol isn't possible with a kitchen still or this cold method and would require a lab to produce. Also, Methanol is in there along with the Ethanol and can be distilled out with a regular still, not so with this cold method (at least that I know of).

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I'll be interested to hear how well it works for menthol oil. I got some peppermint seed this year with an eye towards menthol production, but the standard distillation process seems a bit daunting.

Well, oils will float to the top of water, so there is a method to do it that way. Cold pressing the oils out of the green plants is another way. Drawing the oils out with another oil, like say olive oil, is another method. I believe there is also a steam method.

This cold distilling process using alcohol may work but I bet using liquid butane to extract the oils like they do for cannabis oils (or what we used to call hash oil) would work the best. My idea was to soak the plant material in alcohol for like a week then freeze it and pour off the alcohol that will hopefully carry the oils and aromatics with it. At that point, I wouldn't know how to separate the oils from the alcohol, but that might be OK depending on what I use it for. This idea may be totally off though, but I couldn't loose anything trying it.

ETA: You reminded me about a mason jar of a tincture of field mint I made two seasons ago. Field mint has the 2nd highest menthol content next to peppermint (I believe). I used the cheapest vodka I could buy at the party store. I just now went and found it and opened it up (not easy after two years) and the minty menthol smell was still going strong and filled the kitchen area.

I will put that in a plastic container and freeze it and tell you the results in a few days.

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I'm drinking some of the apple jack right now and man it's pretty good for sipping on and it has this little bit of a fizzy tickle on the lips and tongue, it is still working even after being frozen into a solid block. This is a living drink full of living yeast, something not possible with a regular heated still.

[Ninurta]

With oils extracted in alcohol, you should be able to evaporate the alcohol (maybe over a low heat to speed the process up) and leave only the oils behind.

You can mix the oil with vegetable glycerin (I forget the ratios, but can find out) and spray the mixture on tobacco to mentholate it. That rehydrates dried out tobacco, too, and makes it spongy again for rolling. Spray it. let it dry, spray it again, let it dry again, and you should be good to go. Handy knowledge considering they are planning on banning menthol cigarettes, and around 40% of smokers smoke menthol. I see a business opportunity there.

I've known tinctures to be made in alcohol concentrations as low as 35% (70 proof), but stronger is usually better. The most concentrated I can get here is about 75% (151 proof) without taking a trip to Tennessee, where I can get Everclear at 95% (190 proof). I used to drink Everclear straight out of the bottle. I dunno how I'm even still alive. I used 95% pure isoporopyl alcohol to clean ink out of screens for screen printing on plastic bottles, and that shit will eat the skin off your hands (dries it out and flakes it off) if you do it regular without rubber gloves. I can only imagine what 95% ethanol did to my innards. 

I stopped drinking Everclear straight like that one night long ago when it damn near killed me. Then I mixed it half and half with Mountain Dew, but spilled some on a floor one night and it ate the wax off the floor, so I stopped drinking it altogether.

Oh - and to get the alcohol out of a stout mix, you should be able to freeze it and pour it through a strainer to catch the water ice crystals since alcohol has a lower freezing point than water. When it's frozen "slushy", that should be about right to strain it.

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