Will wine freeze?

[sdelli]

Rying to setup a cold stabalization on some Cab wine. It gets pretty cold in Michigan and I was wondering... Will wine freeze? If so at about what temp do you think? I hear in the mid 20's is good to do this but what if it got colder? Would it hurt?

Thanks

 

[vacuumpumpman]

Yes wine will freeze-
All depending on the alcohol % ,
I believe most wines will freeze between 15-20 F
BTW - that is liquid temp not air temp , so if it dips down a bit air temp not a big deal - just inspect the carboy for getting slushy at all

So with that said and all - do you have a attached garage that hopefully theres a spot in the corner that will typically get colder than the rest of the garage ?

 

[Geronimo]

Technically, the answer is no, but practically speaking, the answer is yes.

Why? As the water crystallizes the remaining wine has a progressively higher ABV, acting as antifreeze.

So... some of the water will freeze and the wine will get slushy, but it's very hard to freeze it down to the point of separating all the alcohol from all the water.

 

[seth8530]

http://www.engineeringtoolbox.com/ethanol-water-d_989.html

This link has freezing points of alcohol solutions. Keep in mind just like Vacuum said, that is temperature at which the solution has to reach in order to freeze. Which can take quite a bit of time.. .I might calculate that just for dandies if I get to bored lol.

 

[sdelli]

Thanks all! Looks like judging by the chart Seth posted around 25 degrees is about as cold you want to get.... My attached garage is at about 35 degrees so I think I will use that location to be safe.

 

[spaniel]

Technically, the answer is no, but practically speaking, the answer is yes.

Why? As the water crystallizes the remaining wine has a progressively higher ABV, acting as antifreeze.

So... some of the water will freeze and the wine will get slushy, but it's very hard to freeze it down to the point of separating all the alcohol from all the water.

Respectfully, this is not true. When I worked as a molecular biologist we froze very high alcohol solutions routinely as part of the process to precipitate and purify DNA. 70% ABV frozen solid as can be. The alcohol does not separate out from the water during the freezing process.

The difference is that the volume we were freezing was typically 1mL or less. With a 5gal carboy of wine, it will take many hours below the freezing point of the solution to get the entire container down to the temp where it will freeze.

But at my home now, temps are in the single digits at night and never above 25F in the day, it appears (I am away). I am sure if I'd left a carboy of wine outdoors it would have shattered by now.

 

[Geronimo]

Respectfully, this is not true.

That's interesting because I've read about freezing as a method of distillation.

But at my home now, temps are in the single digits at night and never above 25F in the day, it appears (I am away). I am sure if I'd left a carboy of wine outdoors it would have shattered by now.

Yes, with an 85%+ water content, it would freeze.

 

[Brew and Wine Supply]

When I was in the liquor business, we kept our beer cooler at 28*f. any lower and the beer would freeze. Most beers are between 4 and 6%. wine being higher alcohol could go lower, but keep an eye on it.
The freezing method to remove alcohol is called "Jacking" ie" apple jack. No more talking about that here the mods will get mad.

 

[spaniel]

That's interesting because I've read about freezing as a method of distillation.



Yes, with an 85%+ water content, it would freeze.

It can be used as a distillationconcentraiton method (ice wine) if the solids are removed, but while the alcohol concentration does increase it is not a clean separation of water and alcohol. And the temperature at which you will find a frozen lump of wine busting the carboy is not all that low. It would not be hard to freeze with wine entirely solid.

For those of us making/cold stabilizing wine in glass carboys, the only meaningful temp is that at which you get a frozen layer with sufficient expansion pressure outward to crack the carboy. I've never tested that but I doubt they have much strength in that direction, so I'd stick with the freezing point at the known ABV as a safe guideline.

 

[Vpilieci]

YES! Ask me how I know....

 

[SouthernChemist]

You're more likely to partially freeze wine unless you truly lower the temperature.

Makes me wish I still had that picture of when I had to make a cooling bath with ethanol and liquid nitrogen (about -115 deg C).