Looking for a way to impress your friends this holiday season? Or just looking for a very unique hand-made gift? I will let you in on a little secret that I will be doing this season, and that is… Apple Jack! This is a cold distilled drink that I made a few months ago; I can’t wait to make a few more batches as gifts for friends at Christmas. This is probably the easiest fermentable drink you can make, seriously! If you can freeze and thaw water, you can make this! (No seriously, it doesn’t get any easier than this.)
Things you will need –
Non-Concentrated Apple Juice
Yeast (I used Safale US-05 and Danstar Notthingham)
Plastic Bottle(s)
Large plastic funnel
sanitizer (bleach or fancy brewing grade stuff)
Freezer
Re-sealable Glass bottle
Tin foil
Step 1 – Buy Apple Juice!
– Specifically, you are looking for any apple juice NOT from concentrate. It doesn’t matter the brand or if it has been pasteurized, but it should be the fresh squeezed. The last time I made a batch, the apple juice came directly from a farm that presses apples, but store bought will work fine.
Step 2 – Add Yeast –
– Now open your bottle of apple juice and pour yourself a small glass or fill your tube for a hydrometer reading,* it should enough to create a little room at the top.
OK, ready for the magic to happen? Open your packet of yeast and pour it in! Cover the top with tin foil and place it in a dark, quiet place. Find a place for your apple juice where the temperature will not vary. I typically use a closet. Give your brew about a week, two if you want to be extra safe, for the yeast to do their duty. You wil know it is done once all the particles have stopped swirling around and there is a nice thick layer of substrate on the bottom.
NOTE/DANGER/CAUTION/READTHIS! – DO NOT SCREW ON THE CAP!!! When eating all the sugar in the apple juice, your yeast will be producing alcohol (yay) and CO2. If you screw on the cap after adding your yeast, you will create a pressure bomb which can do some damage. I once had my Sunday best ruined (on the way to Church no less) while checking on a clogged air lock from one of my brews. This video is a great example of the pressure can yeast can produce.
– If you brewed in a plastic bottle, take off the tin foil and gently screw on the lid, just enough so it come off if bumped, DO NOT TIGHTEN SHUT (remember the video) and place in your freezer overnight. If you used a glass bottle to ferment, transfer, VERY gently, your apple jack into a sterilized plastic container. You can be fancy and buy a sanitizer from a brew shop or go really cheap and use a bit of diluted bleach and then rinse with hot water very thoroughly. Again, place plastic container in fridge with cap lightly screwed on.
– Now that your apple jack is frozen solid, take it out of the fridge and place on a counter. Now sterilize (again with a brewing safe sanitizer or bleach) your funnel and a 2nd plastic container. Place funnel in empty container with your bottle of Apple Jack turned up-side-down inside the funnel. This is where the “kinda” distilling process occurs. Alcohol has a much lower freezing point than water, so it will funnel out of the frozen cider you just made faster than anything else in your batch. This is the cheater’s way to distill.
Out of a gallon of apple cider you should get about one-forth gallon of Apple Jack. Now you can bottle this as is and let it age to taste or repeat the process and end up with something that will really warm you up on a cool night. For this sample I froze the batches twice over and I let them age in a closet. I will open them up in a few weeks to take a sip and go from there. If I find they are turning more tart, I will probably share and drink them sooner. If they are turning more mellow, I will let them age longer and wait until I grow too impatient.
This is the result of the Safale yeast. My tasting notes are as follows – A little sweet and sour, and a bit of heat in the taste and nose.
And here is the Nottingham yeast – Sweet and lightly acidic. Not very tart and less heat than the Safale
If you want to bottle this as a gift, I suggest something with a re-sealable cap or a cork. I hope you have a wonderful and safe holiday season. If you do give this a shot please feel free to contact me and let me know how it turned out.
For more info and a great video on this, check out:
Basic Brewing – The video episode that inspired me in the first place.