Freeze distillation isn't distillation at all. It's fractional freezing — a process that concentrates alcohol by removing water as ice, rather than boiling off ethanol as vapor. You don't need a still, a heat source, or any specialized equipment. You need a freezer, a bottle of wine or cider, and about 48 hours of patience. The result is a richer, stronger drink that tastes like a more intense version of whatever you started with. Colonial Americans used this exact technique to turn hard cider into applejack two centuries before craft cocktail bars made it trendy again.
Water freezes at 32°F (0°C). Ethanol freezes at -173°F (-114°C). Your home freezer runs at about 0°F (-18°C) — cold enough to freeze the water in an alcoholic beverage while leaving the alcohol in liquid form. Separate the liquid from the ice, and you've got a concentrated product with roughly double the ABV of the original.
But "simple" doesn't mean "no caveats." There are real health considerations, a murky legal landscape, and technique details that make the difference between a genuinely impressive fortified drink and a harsh, headache-inducing mess.
What Freeze Distillation Actually Is
The proper scientific term is fractional freezing or freeze concentration. In real distillation, you heat a liquid until the alcohol evaporates (ethanol boils at 173°F / 78.4°C), then condense the vapor back into liquid. Freeze distillation works in the opposite direction — you cool a liquid until the water solidifies, then drain off the alcohol-rich liquid that remains unfrozen.
The term "freeze distillation" stuck because "fractional freezing" doesn't sound nearly as interesting. You'll also hear "jacking," from the colonial applejack tradition.
Here's the critical distinction from conventional heat distillation: thermal distillation is subtractive — you boil off the alcohol and can selectively discard undesirable fractions (foreshots, heads, tails). Freeze distillation is additive concentration. Everything in the original liquid stays in the concentrate. You're just removing water. The alcohol gets stronger, but so does everything else.
How Freeze Distillation Works
Wine, beer, and cider aren't pure water. They're complex solutions containing ethanol, sugars, acids, tannins, and hundreds of other compounds. These dissolved substances lower the freezing point and prevent the liquid from freezing uniformly. Instead of going from liquid to solid at a single temperature, an alcoholic beverage freezes progressively — the water-rich portions solidify first while the alcohol-rich portions remain liquid longest.
Most people assume the freezing step does the separation. It's actually the thawing that matters most. When you freeze a bottle of wine solid and then let it thaw slowly, the components melt in order of their freezing points. Ethanol and the flavor compounds dissolved in it melt first, flowing out of the ice matrix as a concentrated liquid. The water stays locked in ice crystals longer.
Slow thawing in a refrigerator produces dramatically better separation than quick thawing at room temperature. Fast thawing melts everything at roughly the same rate, mixing the water back in with the alcohol.
A standard home freezer at 0°F (-18°C) can concentrate a 12% ABV wine to roughly 25-30% ABV in a single pass. Repeat the process 3-4 times to push that higher, but you'll hit a ceiling around 30-35% ABV — beyond that, your freezer can't solidify the liquid. For more on the science, see our deep dive on the freezing point of alcoholic drinks.
The History of Applejack
Freeze distillation isn't a modern hack. It's one of the oldest alcohol concentration techniques in North America.
In 18th-century colonial America, hard apple cider was the everyday drink. Clean water was unreliable, beer required imported grain, and rum depended on Caribbean sugar trade. Apple trees thrived. By some estimates, the average colonist drank 35 gallons of cider per year.
Northern winters presented both a problem and an opportunity. Cider barrels left in unheated barns would partially freeze. Farmers noticed the unfrozen liquid in the center was significantly stronger. They started doing it deliberately — leaving barrels outside overnight, draining the concentrated liquid through the bung hole each morning. They called the process "jacking" and the product "applejack."
Applejack became one of America's first native spirits, predating bourbon by decades. Soldiers in the Continental Army received applejack rations. The Laird family of New Jersey began commercial production in 1698 and received one of the first distillery licenses in America in 1780. George Washington reportedly requested their recipe. Today, Laird's produces apple brandy using conventional stills, but the brand's history is inseparable from the jacking tradition.
Health Risks and Safety
This is the section most freeze distillation guides gloss over, and it's the one that matters most. Freeze distillation concentrates everything in the original beverage — including the stuff you don't want.
The Congener Problem
In heat distillation, the distiller makes "cuts" — separating foreshots (methanol-rich, discarded), heads (harsh), hearts (the good stuff), and tails (heavy oils). This removes methanol, fusel alcohols, acetaldehyde, and other undesirable compounds.
Freeze distillation provides no such separation. The total amount of methanol doesn't increase — your bottle of wine still contains the same milligrams of methanol. But the concentration per serving is significantly higher because you're drinking fewer ounces of a stronger product.
Apple Palsy
Colonial Americans called the brutal hangovers from applejack "apple palsy" — headaches, nausea, and tremors more severe than ordinary drunkenness, caused by concentrated fusel alcohols and acetaldehyde. Heavy, repeated consumption could cause genuine nerve damage. This is well-documented in colonial medical records and was one reason conventional distillation eventually displaced jacking.
The Safety Rule
Only freeze-distill commercially produced beverages. Wine, hard cider, and beer from licensed producers already minimize methanol and fusel content. Even concentrated 2-3x, these levels remain within generally safe ranges for moderate consumption.
Never freeze-distill homemade ferments where you're uncertain about methanol or fusel content. Improperly managed fermentations — particularly from pectin-rich fruits like apples — can produce elevated methanol levels, and concentrating that product could push per-serving methanol into dangerous territory.
And pace yourself. A 6-ounce pour of concentrated wine at 25% ABV delivers the same alcohol as nearly 12 ounces of the original.
Legal Status
The legal status of freeze distillation in the United States is genuinely unclear, and anyone who tells you otherwise is oversimplifying.
Under 26 U.S.C. § 5601, producing "distilled spirits" without a federal Distilled Spirits Permit is a felony. The TTB (Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau) has never issued a specific ruling on home freeze concentration. Some legal scholars argue the statute doesn't apply because no actual distillation (vaporization and condensation) occurs. Others note the TTB could interpret "obtained by distillation" broadly enough to include any concentration method.
The safest assumption is that freeze distillation occupies a gray area under federal law. It has not been explicitly prohibited or explicitly permitted. State laws vary enormously — some prohibit any production of concentrated alcoholic beverages, others focus statutes on distillation equipment (stills). Our guide to U.S. home distilling laws by state covers the landscape in detail.
Legal Disclaimer: This article is for educational and informational purposes only. We do not encourage any activity that violates federal, state, or local laws. The information provided here does not constitute legal advice. Check your local regulations before attempting any form of alcohol concentration. If you're unsure about legality in your jurisdiction, consult a licensed attorney.
What You Can Freeze-Distill
Hard Cider (The Classic)
Commercial hard cider at 5-7% ABV concentrates to 15-20% ABV in a single pass, producing a rich, intensely apple-forward drink reminiscent of Calvados but with more residual sweetness. Choose dry cider for a spirit-like result, or semi-sweet for something closer to dessert wine.
Wine
Red, white, and rosé all work. A 13% ABV wine can reach 24-28% ABV after two passes, putting it in port territory. Reds produce the most dramatic results — tannins, color, and fruit concentrate alongside the alcohol. I've done this with a $12 rosé and the result was genuinely impressive — like a dry, aromatic fortified wine you'd happily serve after dinner.
Beer (Eisbock)
German brewers have freeze-concentrated beer for centuries. Strong ales, doppelbocks, and barley wines at 7-9% ABV concentrate to 15-18% ABV with intensified malt sweetness and body. Hop-forward IPAs are less successful — the bitterness concentrates too and can become unpleasantly harsh.
Mead
A 12-14% ABV traditional mead concentrates into something thick, honeyed, and complex — reminiscent of a high-end dessert wine. If you have access to good commercial mead, this is worth trying. For context on why making your own fermented beverages keeps growing in popularity, the quality gap between craft and mass-market products has never been wider.
Step-by-Step Guide: Making Fortified Wine
Here's the most accessible freeze distillation project you can do this weekend.
Equipment
- 1 bottle (750ml) of wine — I recommend a bold red or dry rosé for your first attempt
- A freezer-safe container with a lid (1-quart mason jar or plastic freezer container)
- A collection vessel (jar or measuring cup)
- A mesh strainer or cheesecloth
- A refrigerator with shelf space
The Process
- Pour the wine into your freezer-safe container. Leave at least 1.5 inches of headroom — liquid expands roughly 9% when freezing. If using a mason jar, don't fill past the shoulder.
- Freeze at 0°F (-18°C) for 24 hours until fully solid. Wine at 13% ABV freezes slowly because the ethanol depresses the freezing point, but a standard freezer will get it solid.
- Remove and invert the container over your collection vessel with a strainer or cheesecloth between them to catch ice chunks.
- Place the setup in the refrigerator. This is the critical step. Slow thawing at 35-38°F (2-3°C) produces far better separation than room temperature. The alcohol-rich liquid melts first; the water ice stays frozen longer. Let it thaw 12-18 hours.
- Collect the first 10-13 ounces (300-400ml) of runoff. This is your concentrate — noticeably darker and more viscous. Taste periodically; when the drips become thin and watery, stop collecting.
- Discard the remaining ice (or save it for cooking — it's essentially faintly sweet water).
Expected Results
From a standard 750ml bottle of 13% ABV wine, expect approximately 10-13 ounces of fortified wine at 22-26% ABV in a single pass. Pour your concentrate back in and repeat for a second pass to reach 28-32% ABV. A third pass can hit 33-36%, though diminishing returns set in. Beyond 35% ABV, most home freezers simply can't freeze the liquid.
Store the finished product in a sealed glass container, cool and dark. The elevated alcohol acts as a preservative.
Eisbock: The German Tradition
German brewers have been freeze-concentrating beer into eisbock (ice bock) for centuries, and it's considered a legitimate beer style — not a bootlegging technique.
Legend places eisbock's origin at the Reichelbräu brewery in Kulmbach, Bavaria, where an apprentice left barrels of bock outside on a freezing night. The brewmaster drained the unfrozen concentrate and discovered a remarkably rich, strong beer. The technique starts with a strong doppelbock (7-9% ABV) and concentrates it to 9-14% ABV — intensely malty, slightly sweet, full-bodied. Served in small pours as a digestif.
Extreme modern examples like BrewDog's "Sink the Bismarck" (41% ABV) and Schorschbräu's "Schorschbock 57" (57.5% ABV) push the technique to its limits with industrial equipment. If you're interested in brewing your own base beer, our Homebrewing Hub has resources on getting started.
Freeze Distillation vs. Heat Distillation
These techniques produce fundamentally different products. Neither is superior — they do different things.
| Factor | Freeze Distillation | Heat Distillation |
|---|---|---|
| Mechanism | Removes water as ice | Separates alcohol as vapor |
| Equipment | Freezer and containers | Still (pot or column), heat source |
| Congener handling | Concentrates everything | Selective removal via cuts |
| Flavor profile | Rich, amplified original | Clean, distinct new spirit |
| ABV ceiling | 30-35% (home), ~60% (industrial) | 95%+ (column), 60-80% (pot) |
| Safety risk | Concentrated congeners | Fire/explosion risk; methanol if cuts are poor |
| U.S. legal status | Gray area | Illegal without federal DSP permit |
The key practical difference: heat distillation creates a new spirit. Freeze distillation creates a more intense version of the original beverage. A freeze-concentrated wine still tastes like wine — richer, stronger, but recognizably wine. A heat-distilled wine becomes brandy. For more on what happens when wine meets a still, see our overview of distilled wine spirits from around the world.
Tips for Better Results
- Start with quality. Freeze concentration amplifies every characteristic of the original, including flaws. You don't need expensive wine, but you need drinkable wine. The $8-12 range hits the sweet spot.
- Thaw slowly, always in the refrigerator. Room temperature thawing is the biggest beginner mistake. An 18-hour fridge thaw produces dramatically better separation than a 4-hour countertop thaw.
- Collect in small batches and taste as you go. The early runoff is strongest and most flavorful. The late runoff is watery. Finding the exact cutoff point is where the art comes in.
- Keep notes. Record starting volume, starting ABV, ending volume, and taste assessment. This lets you refine your technique and figure out which base beverages you prefer.
- Remember: the final product is more intensely flavored, not just stronger. Sweetness, acidity, tannins, and fruit character all concentrate alongside the alcohol. A good freeze-concentrated red can rival a quality port.
- Consider blending. If your concentrate is too intense, blend it back with a small amount of the original wine. You'll still have something significantly stronger and more flavorful, but more balanced.
If you're interested in other creative approaches to homemade spirits, our banana moonshine recipe and rye whiskey recipe explore the heat-distillation side of the hobby.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is freeze distillation illegal?
The answer is genuinely unclear under U.S. federal law. The TTB has not issued a specific ruling on freeze concentration for personal use. It occupies a gray area between legal homebrewing (federally permitted up to 200 gallons per household per year) and illegal unlicensed distillation. State laws add complexity — our guide to home distilling laws by state covers the landscape, but consult an attorney for your specific situation.
Can you freeze distill beer?
Yes, and it has a centuries-long tradition. Eisbock is a recognized German beer style produced through freeze concentration. Strong, malty beers respond best. Hop-heavy IPAs tend to produce unpleasantly bitter results. Start with 7-10% ABV beer and expect a single pass to yield 14-20% ABV.
How strong can you make freeze-distilled alcohol?
A home freezer tops out around 30-35% ABV. Beyond that, the ethanol depresses the freezing point below what a standard freezer can reach. Industrial freezers at -40°F (-40°C) can push past 50-60% ABV through repeated cycles. The record-holder, Schorschbräu's eisbock, hit 57.5% ABV.
Is freeze-distilled alcohol safe to drink?
In moderation, when made from commercially produced beverages, yes. The safety concern is concentrated congeners — methanol, fusel alcohols, and compounds that contribute to severe hangovers. Commercial wines, ciders, and beers contain these at low, safe levels. Concentrating 2-3x keeps them within generally safe ranges. The historical "apple palsy" was largely a problem of excessive consumption of variable-quality farmhouse cider. Don't freeze-distill homemade ferments unless you're confident in their quality.
What's the difference between applejack and apple brandy?
Applejack is traditionally freeze-concentrated; apple brandy is heat-distilled. Traditional applejack retains all the original cider's flavors and congeners in concentrated form. Apple brandy (like French Calvados) is distilled in a still — a clean, high-proof spirit. Modern commercial "applejack" like Laird's is actually a blend of apple brandy and neutral spirits, not a freeze-concentrated product. The flavor profiles are quite different: traditional applejack tastes like intensely concentrated cider, while apple brandy is a distinct spirit with apple undertones.
Can you freeze distill homemade wine or cider?
We don't recommend it unless you can verify methanol content. Home fermentations using pectin-rich fruits can produce elevated methanol if mismanaged. Heat distillers handle this by discarding foreshots. Freeze distillation concentrates whatever is present. If you brew using proper techniques, quality yeast, and pectic enzyme (which reduces methanol production), the risk is low — but "probably fine" and "verified safe" are different things when methanol is involved. When in doubt, stick with commercially produced beverages.
