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Ageing in the freezer?

PostPosted: Wed Aug 06, 2014 12:02 am
by Johnny B Shiney
Hey fellas
Ive heard you can age spirit in the freezer but I have no details.
I looked through this section but couldnt see anything on it.
Anyone do it? or is this a myth?

Re: Ageing in the freezer?

PostPosted: Wed Aug 06, 2014 8:34 am
by Yummyrum
Never heard about it but I think If you tried ,you would need to be careful about cracking jars .You couldn't do it in plastic obviously .
I suppose its another variant of forcing booze in/out of wood through change in pressure

I have heard of using a Freezer to strip wash though

Re: Ageing in the freezer?

PostPosted: Wed Aug 06, 2014 8:47 am
by baysidebogan
Water and Alcohol have different boiling and freezing temperatures. All you will end up doing is separating the water/alcohol mix in your spirit. When you eventually take it out of the freezer you will have two separate layers of ice. Also what is the spirit being stored in while in the freezer ? Glass will shatter, leaving a nice mess in the freezer

Re: Ageing in the freezer?

PostPosted: Wed Aug 06, 2014 9:16 am
by OzKev
Not sure about aging it in the freezer, but we often store bottles in the freezer so they are nice and cold for drinking. At 40%abv the freezing point is -23c so in most freezers your product will not become frozen.


Code: Select all
Freezing Point
abv% in pure water
(% by volume)    0    10    20    30    40    50    60    70    80    90    100
Temp (oC)    0    -4    -9    -15    -23    -32    -37    -48    -59    -73    -115


the freezing point will also be affected by the sugar content of the product.

Re: Ageing in the freezer?

PostPosted: Wed Aug 06, 2014 9:56 am
by Sam.
It comes down to changes of temperature making the spirit interact with the oak in different ways. Same principle as heating it on oak for aging just you will get a different result. The two used together may give something different again.

This is the reason that barrels stored somewhere that the temp fluctuates more seem to produce a better product.

If your thinking of chucking it in the freezer without and oak on it then I don't see it doing much, either way I wouldn't let it get near it's freezing point :handgestures-thumbupleft:

Re: Ageing in the freezer?

PostPosted: Wed Aug 06, 2014 1:45 pm
by res
sam_and_liv wrote:It comes down to changes of temperature making the spirit interact with the oak in different ways. Same principle as heating it on oak for aging just you will get a different result. The two used together may give something different again.

This is the reason that barrels stored somewhere that the temp fluctuates more seem to produce a better product.

If your thinking of chucking it in the freezer without and oak on it then I don't see it doing much, either way I wouldn't let it get near it's freezing point :handgestures-thumbupleft:


:text-+1:
It will be fine :handgestures-thumbupleft:
I usually put a jar of what ever I have ageing in my fermenting fridge when the ferment is finished. Then set the temp to -2° to crash cool the wash. Works a treat for dropping the yeast out of suspension and ageing the jar.