Re: British cider strongbow
Posted: Thu Aug 20, 2020 11:04 am
As I recall, it has a great deal to do with what apples are use- and beyond that I do not know the particulars. I DO know that distillation, when done wrong, produces formaldehyde and a variety of nasty ketones and alkaloids... to say nothing of the poisons created if the still is made of anything other than pure copper, stainless or Pyrex.Dave wrote: ↑Wed Aug 19, 2020 6:39 pmAccording to some commentary I read, in the Colonial and pre-Prohibition days applejack had a reputation for causing particularly bad hangovers, and possibly even "apple palsy" (sometimes leading to blindness).Sgt. Howard wrote: ↑Wed Aug 19, 2020 6:09 pmGenerally speaking, Congeners in apple Cider are not near as concentrated as in red wine or rum- and they significantly add to the flavor (even though they tend to be mildly toxic).
Some indicate that the biggest risk factor is from methanol... which is produced during fermentation by yeast's action on pectin. Apples contain a great deal of pectin. I'd think that would be the biggest advantage of heat-distillation over freeze-concentration; during distillation the lower-boiling-point methanol comes out with the heads, and can be discarded (or used for bio-fuel I suppose).