HOW TO MAKE APPLEJACK
The features that make Applejack different from hard cider or apple wine, which have alcohol concentrations of respectively 5% and roughly 12%, is that it has a higher concentration of alcohol. It can be as high as 30% alcohol (or 60 proof). Also, the apple flavour is more intense or concentrated.Applejack is made by storing completely finished apple wine at below freezing temperatures. What happens is the water that is in the apple wine freezes and rises to the top while the alcohol stays in liquid form—a process known as fractional crystallization . Each day you "simply scoop off" the ice that has formed, causing the alcohol and the apple flavour that is left behind to become more concentrated. You can also use a salad spinner to separate the ice from the concentrate, see below.
Each day you will notice that the amount of ice that is forming will be less and less, until eventually no more ice will form at all at that particular temperature. The following will give you an idea of how concentrated the alcohol can become at a given temperature: at zero degrees ice will form until the liquid reaches 14% alcohol by volume. At 10 below ice will form until it reaches 20%. At 20 below 27% can be made. And, at 30 below 33% alcohol can be obtained.
So, roughly %ABV = 14 - 0.64 · degrees Celsius.
Do not use glass containers as they as they will more than likely crack. A soft plastic, food-grade fresh-keeping box with lid seems to work well for this purpose. Just put your apple wine in the deep freezer, set the thermostat as low as it will go.
The alcohol level the wine starts out at is not all that important. Whether it is 8% or 12% the same concentration level will eventually be reached regardless. The only thing that changes is the amount of ice you will need to remove to get to that point.
Another thing to note here is that while traditionally this method is applied to apple wines, it can also be applied to other wines just the same. Other good candidates would be: Pear, Mead, Watermelon, Peach, Strawberry - primarily fruits that do not have a strong, assertive flavor to begin with. Have fun and experiment with a litre or eight!
PROTIP: USE A SALAD SPINNER
Line the bowl of a salad spinner with kitchen towels (or cheese cloth) on the inside so the ice won't fly through the holes. Careful, the plastic mechanism of a lettuce spinner is probably not designed to deal with heavy loads of frozen water, so don't fill it up more than half-full or even a third. Otherwise you'll break it before you've processed four litres or so, based on experience with several salad spinners ...You'll get a much higher output this way than by trying silly and cumbersome things like "scooping off the ice" or putting it in a sieve or whatever. Really that shit doesn't work (ok, hardly), you get a slush-puppy type of consistency when you freeze your alcohol, and all the liquid will just stick and hang between the ice. Best is to spin it out.
Enjoy!!
LIVE IN THE USA?
Freeze distilling is super-illegal for you. Police will knock on your door and say EXCUSE ME SIR BUT WE'RE GOING TO NEED TO HAVE A LOOK IN YOUR FREEZER SIR, and you'll be in big trouble.Sucks, but you should trust your government to have these laws in place for a very good reason and comply with them.
Additionally, methanol will kill you DEAD. So keep it out of your drinks as much as possible.