Distilling RUM at Home using the Freezer 

About some questions about methanol, hangover etc. Methanol is a byproduct of ethanol fermentation, yeast consumes sugars like dextrose and sucrose to produce ethanol. methanol is a byproduct that is produced when yeast gets access to pectin sugar which is present in some fruits, especially grapes and apples. pectin is the sugar that makes your homemade wines hazy and homemade jams creamy. the professional way to reduce methanol production and wine haze is to add pectinase enzyme in must before fermentation to break pectin down to smaller molecules like fermentable sugars. this way yeast will not encounter pectin and naturally, can't eat them to produce methanol. another way is not to use pectin present fruits. if you are using refined sugar, palm sugar, cane sugar, corn sugar, fructose, glucose syrups etc. these stuff doesn't contain pectin so methanol production would be very little, if any. other thing is, methanol is not a horrifying compound when it's not concentrated. most common way to concentrate methanol is heat distillation, methanol will be one of the first things coming off from drip because it has lower boiling point than ethanol. think about 65 degrees celcius versus 78 degrees celsius, let's say 65 is the boiling point of methanol and 78 is the boiling point of ethanol and you got a a legal distiller certificate and turned your distiller on. you have a thermometer that shows which temperature the liquid at. it suddenly started dripping a clear liquid and you placed your cup under it and said oh yeah finally vodka dripping, you will get very serious health issues because the liquid came around 65 degrees celcius and methanol started boiling and evaporating like crazy, that thing you placed your cup under is almost pure methanol. that's why distillers dump "heads". if you don't use heat, you will not concentrate the methanol. drink this recipe without fear but with caution because this thing still has a lot of calories and ethanol in it :)

I read a long time ago that this was a medieval technique used in France to make brandy. They left barrels of wine out to freeze in the winter and called it "winter wine".

Amazing! I only thought distillation could be done with heat. Thanks for the excellent demonstration!

aweasome video using the freeze distilation, and straight to the point.

Never seen a distillation method simple as this. Th tip with cotton for cleaning the yeast residue is genius, many thanks 🎉

Well hell! I just watched your video for Orange wine and suggested you try this with the orange. In the States this is known as Applejack. Over 200 years ago Americans would make hard apple cider. They discovered when the barrel was left outside in winter ice would form on top and the liquid below would kick your ass. 3 suggestions 1. Check a local farm supply for feed grade molasses. Fairly inexpensive gallon buckets. 2. Keep the ice and use it to start the next batch. It has dead yeast and other nutrients to feed the new yeast. 3. Because it is not distilled by heat, it will contain “the heads” or methanol. That’s where hangovers come from. ⚠️NOT telling you to do it ‼️⚠️ Methanol has lower distillation temperature- approximately 147 F What I have done is place the liquor in a glass jar in the microwave. I microwave it for about 3 minutes checking the temperature EVERY 45-60 seconds until it reaches 150 degrees F. I cover with a coffee filter or towel for about an hour then put the lid back on. I do this for three straight days then let it sit for a month or so. IN THEORY the methanol will evaporate and give me a much better product. Decide for yourself.

In some places in the US they commonly use a very similar technique with apple juice. They harvest the apples and press the juice and come winter it's cold enough to freeze the juice on the mud porch or in an out building. The finished product is 30-40% and called Apple Jack, and is famous for giving the unwary a horribly memorable hangover. I have used this technique along with my little stovetop pot still. I concentrate big batches with freezing first, which lets me get a lot more flavors in my stripping run, and yields a richer finish than just the pot still alone. You don't see this technique remembered on forums much, probably because of the hangovers. Vacuum distillation is another that's rarely discussed, but also relatively easy.

Very smart technique for distillation. Thank you.

As always, another great video. This same technique was (is?) a very common way to increase the alcohol of hard apple cider. In the US the process is called "jacking" ("upping" the alcohol content of a an alcoholic drink by freezing rather than boiling (distilling)), and before prohibition, folk used to leave their fermented apple juice outside in barrels and the freezing temperatures in the winter froze the 6 or 7 percent abv cider. The liquid was removed and allowed to re-freeze, and the process was repeated until an apple 'brandy" of about 25 -30% abv resulted. With a freezer, you have much more control and a faster process and if you begin with a 12% ABV wine, you are already further along the process.

I love your videos. Many thanks from England!

This is SUCH a COOL idea! Thanks so much for sharing, and thank you Derek wherever you are for the great idea! And also the scienticic info in the comments

Fantastic. I love the windmill arm swing at the end--spectacular!

I love your channel! Your English is perfect, thank you. Keep up the amazing videos brother!!

First time I've heard about this technique, very interesting!

My chef You've upgraded ! I love it Ciao Ciao

Can't wait to try this. 😊

I love this way of distilling!

Spectacular Derek and Andrea!!

great work! That looks very very strong!

Very very interesting recepie spectacular👍😊

Nice clever way and work! You always amaze with great work! Cheers Cu🍻👍🎉

Something new, cold crashing👍 Spectacular.

One more brilliant alcohol recipe. I could make out from the colour that your base ingredient was palm sugar, mainly from the Palmyra palm. One of the best for quality and nutrients. Very interesting video. Thank you Chef!

That is incredible

Amazing!

Nice and cloudy like old school Pirate rum!☠️😂, your videos always put a smile on my face!🙂💜✌️

Brilliant thankyou!

Really interesting technique! I'm surprised by how quickly your fermentation went, I'm in Brazil (where it is pretty hot) currently fermenting some fruit wines using the commercial yeast Red Star Premier Rouge, and in all of them after 5 days on the primary fermentation, they are still at around 1020 gravity, and it's taking more than two weeks to get below 1000 gravity, and yours is almost done after only one week.

Put a drop or two on the palm of your hand - if the warmth of your hand will make it evaporate enough to light it with a match, it's at least 50% alcohol. Traditionally, we would pour the wine (or cider) into a wide but shallow bowl and skim the ice off the top as it froze on a very cold night until no more ice formed. The danger with using cider is the possibility of methanol - hence the nickname for applejack being "suicider"

I'm from Indonesia and never think about making it,thanks for the inspiration i will make it next time i get my hand on gula merah

spectacular!

Amazing 🎉

Very nicely done :)

Thanks for all the content in this channel! I'm from Brazil and I love infusions and anything that adds flavor to alcohol haha Distilling alcohol only with a freezer never had crossed my mind. Your ideas and techniques are so ingenious! Here in Brazil we have the famous "cachaça", known as "Brazillian Rum", that is made from fresh sugar cane, and it's highly appreciated here. I would highly recommend to try the "Homemade Malibu Rum" recipe that I discovered by accident: 1 liter of alcohol (white rum is perfect) in a supersaturated coconut infusion + 50g of coconut shell toasted at 150°C for 1 hour (per liter of alcohol), let it infuse for 15 days, strain it through a coffee filter, then add 250ml of simple syrup (if you make the simple syrup with coconut water instead of just water , is even better), mix it really well, and voilá: The best homemade Malibu ever. Leave it in the freezer for some hours, and tastes like exactly like what you want in a homemade Malibu: Stronger, more coconut flavor, sweeter and delicious. About 30% alcohol degree. I've made this recipe for myself and for friends and family, and everyone liked a lot, and praised very much. This channel is gold! I absolutely love your infusions and recipes!

Amazing technique Andrea ! Thank you for sharing, just started mangosteen wine (they are in season now in Bali).

Definitely going to try this with some of my mead!

You’re the man!

I love the chemistry of this freeze technique. #alchemist

Very good

Great video

Nice practical example! Unfortunately, there are significant losses with this method. Some of the alcohol remains trapped in the water crystals. Productivity can be increased by precise temperature control. Another disadvantage is that there is no removal of unwanted components. I would definitely not use this procedure when processing kvass with stones (due to the methanol content). If you want to see more, look up Fractional freezing and Freeze Distilling.

My word!!

I'm in Canada so I don’t need to waist energy! I can do it outside.This is amazing!

Thank you for the great video. Question: if sugar cane is not available, can i use brown sugar??

I never managed to drink with Moderation because i never met him.

Fun fact, native peoples of the northern parts of the americas would also often use this freezing technique in the maple syrup/ sugar process. Instead of wasting tons of wood boiling down all the sap, you could just leave it out over night in wide mouth pots or bark trays, as it often still gets cold a night during sap season. Or you could bury it in a pile of snow which was still on the ground. In the morning you would just break the ice off the top by hand and chuck it. Then repeat. Only in the final stage would you use the fire, and so save a LOT of wood and work. Of course once metal cooking containers were more common and firewood far easier to gather in large amounts this method was abandoned.

You should try make Pinga (Brazilian Spirit) made with sugar cane juice, and after that make the most famous drink Caipirinha (taste like mojito but much better)😊

In Siberia, in the old days, in winter, large iron products, such as a cannon or swords, were placed outside. There, in winter the temperature drops to -50°C. And they poured the mash in a thin stream over the surface of the frozen metal. The result was Siberian vodka, which was called “vymorozki”, from the word “to freeze out”. And the temperature in your freezer does not drop below -24 - 27°C. But along with ethanol, such poisons as methanol, isoamylol, acetone and others are preserved in such vodka! Only a suicide can drink this kind of drink!

Merci😊

You can do a similar thing with home brew cider. Apple juice (anything that doesn't have preservatives in it) and sugar, freeze to get scrumpy jack.

Beautiful video 🍷🍸🍹🍺

Spectacular, I use carbon to filter my alcohol when its done.

Sweet

that is a nifty way to do freeze distilling.

Do my chef know that this is an old Scottish way of making Rum, But they only use actual molasses,, I will write you a mail explaining Hope you don't mind Regards Des

Hey can you use dry yeast? What kind and how much to use? Thanks!

Neat!

I enjoy watching your videos so much I subscribed. QUESTIONS: 1) Can the finished rum be stored on a shelf (room temperature) 2) Can fresh package yeast (store bought) also work 3) I assume brown sugar will work what is your opinion. Thanks for all the great videos I have learned a lot.

This is fantastic and you can add molasses to the sugar !

Public Service Announcement: Great video, but I feel morally obligated to make a couple of points. 1. If you're in the United States, this is illegal without a distiller's permit. Check your own state laws, as it may well be illegal there, too (and probably is - very few states allow distillation). What this means is that, if you live in a state where unlicensed distillation is prohibited, you can face criminal charges at the state level should you get caught. Even if your state does allow it, however (and some have, in fact, recently passed such laws), you still open yourself up to federal criminal charges, as it remains illegal at the federal level. Now, if you're about to say ah, but this isn't distillation; it's freeze concentration - well, yes it is, and yes it is. Here's how the TTB (Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau, an agency under the Department of Treasury) replied when asked about freeze concentration: "However, wine and cider may not be frozen for the express purpose of increasing the alcohol content. TTB has previously held that freezing a mixture of alcohol and aqueous fermented material, like wine, causes some water to freeze and separate from the alcohol mixture. The resultant mixture has higher alcohol content than the original and is called a “high alcohol content wine fraction” and any person who separates alcoholic spirits from any fermented substance is known as a distiller. Because Federal law requires a permit to operate as a distiller and prohibits the operation of a distillery in a residence, in order to freeze wine or cider you will have to file an application with TTB and follow our regulations regarding the manufacturing processes approved for making distilled spirits." What came before that "however" was the rule for making ice beer, which is slightly different but still prohibits jacking up the ABV by removing more than 0.5% of the total volume of the beer in ice. 2. Make and drink sugar wine if you want. Buy and drink rum if you want. Hell, if you're cool with breaking the law or somehow live somewhere where this isn't, in fact, illegal, then distill your own rum the right way (actual heat distillation, a process by which different substances boil off at different temperatures). PLEASE FOR THE SAKE OF YOUR HEALTH DO NOT DRINK FREEZE CONCENTRATED BOOZE! A whole bunch of nasty things other than ethanol are produced naturally during fermentation. Generally speaking, however, in beers, wines, ciders, etc., the concentration is so low it's almost impossible to drink enough of the fluid for them to get you - never mind alcohol poisoning from the ethanol itself. Assuming you know what you're doing, when you distill using heat and a still, then condense and collect the distillate for consumption, you let the bad stuff boil out and be disposed of before you start keeping the good stuff, thus mostly eliminating the issue. When you freeze concentrate, however, all you do is pull water out of the solution, which results in more ethanol - and more of the far more dangerous chemicals, like methanol and other potentially lethal impurities.

I made apple jack before and the tales of hangovers are true. Freeze distilling does not remove impurities in the alcohol and can cause brutal hangovers. It's lovely to drink but beware; freeze distilling can cause hangovers so bad, you want to kill yourself. I will try this recipe also but limit my intake to one or two drinks maximum. Love your channel BTW. Thank you from the Maritimes Canada

What yeast would you recommend and how much if you didn't have any live?

I'm curious as to whether you can taste the palm sugar. How sweet is the final product? And if I try this with a fruit wine, I'm wondering how much of the fruit flavor will be discernible in the final product. I think the usual heat distillation leaves behind a lot of those flavors, but this freezing method seems to retain the flavors. Any information about that?

Hi, how did you put this tap into the bottle? Doesn't it screw on the other side? Does such distillation produce no harmful compounds (methanol) as in hot distillation?

Best distillation without danger

This technic gives very interesting taste results with freezing strong kinds of beer like RIS or porter.

Wow! Can I make this with regular wine?

Sir can we use this fridge distillation technique on other fruit wine i mean can we make this 40% alcohol beverage by other fruit wine with this fridge distillation technique??

I will try that with the passion fruit wine that didn’t fizz

You need to boil off the methanol. That starts at 148 degrees Fahrenheit until 174 degrees Fahrenheit when the ethanol begins to boil off. Somewhere between 8-10% of the liquid by volume.

Which yeast is best to use. It can be for wine or beer.

This was used in the early days of America to but with Hard Cider, hence, making "Applejack".

How did you instal the water tap from inside the container?

This is like American Apple Jack. I bet that the hangovers from this are phenomenal just like real Apple Jack.

Is it possible to make grappa without a distillation machine ?

hello sir! what did you use as yeast?

You might enjoy the Vevor brand. They sell some pretty decent alcohol stills. They may even ship to your area or somewhere nearby.

Sir one more question that when we collect 1 litre rum and then when we keep this 1litre rum again into the freezer for double check then how many time we should wait

Tnx dear but I tried this method by mixture of santising methanol and water but at the end of process both was freezed and I had low concentrate methanol

Apple cider frozen in barrels, yields a liqueur called scrumpy jack.

Can one use molasses instead of palm sugar. I don't think we can get it in our country, South Africa.

very nice idea ! thank you ... but i have one doubt , if you ever did distillation for sugar its create so much acetone (on heads) and im not sure this process will get rid of it 🤢

If I want to make a 21L mash with the sugar, water and DRY yeast, what will the ratio of the ingredients be?

Can grain or sugar fermented liquids be distilled

Hi i have a question, how did you calculate the 21 per cent and than 39.5 per cent , thanks

What about the heads and tails of destilation? Are they together with the ice formed?

Servus derek.alter chemiker.schmecka muss es.❤😂

Spectacular i run out of rum.i drink with moderatione.😅😊

neato

This is like the old process to make "apple jack" with "jacking" being the freezing you do to cider. Gives you a heck of a headache apparently

What if you use normal brewing yeast

How do you ensure that there is no methyl alcohol produced. How will you remove the methyl alcohol by this method. It seems very risky. Many people in my country die by drinking locally distilled alcohol.

Good technique 😅

Per quanto riguarda l’alcol metilico? Non ci sono problemi?

👌👌😊

using this method also can capture methanol, going from sugars, methanol should be minimal

Panels can be used

was caught off guard to see host wearing casual t shirt anyway thank u for video

So is this spontaneous fermentation because I didn’t see him pitch any yeast?

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