Home Freeze Concentrating Apple Juice... Have you done it?

[JP Smajda]

Has anybody had any luck freeze concentrating Apple Juice at home?
My plan was to concentrate it like you would an Apple Jack. Freeze a container of Juice, let half of it thaw into a vessel. Hoping that the water will remain and a thicker apple juice concentrate will come out.


"Why? Just buy some Concentrate!" You say
Im trying to save a few buck. I'm finding that those cost more per gallon than doing something like this at home.

Goals.
Pitch this to the secondary for added sugar and flavor.

 

[RPh_Guy]

Yes, people do it. Not me personally, but I've heard it's pretty easy.
That'll be a project for next year. I love ice cider.

 

[Chalkyt]

Hmm, I have been busy on HBT today, but yes I have made FAJC exactly as you have described.

Simply by freezing the original juice which is typically around 1.050 then letting it partly thaw and run into a container, the first melt ends up at over 1.100 (my last lot was 1.150 but if you let the water melt too, you can control this to whatever you want. If you have one, use a refractometer to measure the SG as this only requires a drop rather than a tube full for a hydrometer reading). A small amount of this FAJC is then added to the fermented cider to increase the FG by 0.002 for carbonation when it is bottled, which gives me a nice petillant result. Freezing as ice cubes rather than a big lump makes it a bit easier to control.

My last batch used about 100ml of home made FAJC to a gallon of cider for carbonation. Not sure if it had any effect on flavour, but that wasn't the reason for adding it.

 

[madscientist451]

I've done it several times, its fun and easy to do. Recently, I concentrated the juice by boiling and added that to regular strength juice, Its not done aging yet, but it seems promising so far.

 

[MarkKF]

I freeze concentrate 1/2 gal. of fresh pressed for every 5 gal. I make and use it to back sweeten in the keg.