Beer Brewing Question (Ice Beer Content)

Randy Mosher, Chicagoan, and author of Tasting Beer and Radical Brewing wrote:The TTB considers it {i.e. freezing beer to remove water} distillation, as it involves concentration of alcohol. No prohibition of the product here, just on making it in US breweries.

The ice beers made by the industrial breweries a while back had to be re-diluted back to their original strength, so it was just a marketing gimmick. Actually, they were slightly stronger dry ( super high attenuation) beers.

Pete Crowley, Brewmaster, Rock Bottom Brewery, 1 W. Grand, Chicago wrote:Randy is correct. Any increase in alcohol under a brewer's license has to be from the yeast. This is becoming an issue with barrel aged beer [which involves water evaporation} and in CA they are now taxing it like a distillate. Almost 200 bucksper bourbon barrel in added taxes. Ouch. We are required to submit a 'statement of process' for any beer we make and this is to include how the 'alcohol' is made. If we freeze it, distill it or add booze to it there is an issue. It also has to be a certain percentage of barley per our license. Hope this clears things up!

This is a section from Dennis Davison's article "Eisbock: The Original
Ice Beer" (_Zymurgy_ vol 18 no. 5 Fall 1995) that addresses this issue:
Is it Legal?

Are homebrewers "distilling" or "freeze distilling" and
thereby breaking the law, if they make an eisbock in the
traditional manner by freezing beer and removing ice to
increase the alcohol content and enhance the flavors?
According to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms
officials, the process of freezing beer and removing ice
is called concentrating. A brewer may not employ any
process of concentration that separates alcohol spirits
from any fermented beverage, and since *ice* is being
removed from *beer* (author's emphasis), this concentration
process is legal.

Ice Beer

Eisbock is different from so-called "ice beer," a fad brew that was "invented" by Labbat's of Canada in 1993. It captivated a certain market segment and was imitated quickly by all the major industrial breweries before its popularity began to slip. Ice beer lacks the Eisbock's strength and maltiness, but it has one production step in common with the Bavarian original: After fermentation, both beers are cooled down to a temperature of at least -25°F (4°C). At this temperature the water in the beer solidifies into tiny crystals like slush. But this is where the similarity ends.

While the Canadian ice beer is based on a standard North American light lager as a starting brew, the Eisbock starting brew is a potent Bockbier or, more likely, Doppelbock. While the Canadian frozen brew is sharply filtered, which takes out not only the ice, but also a large portion of the tannins and bittering substances derived from the hops and grain husks. Fresh water is then added to the Canadian-style ice beer to bring the alcohol level to what it was before freezing. The result is a particularly soft and mild beer, with almost no hop bitterness.

Binko wrote:

Ice Beer

While the Canadian ice beer is based on a standard North American light lager as a starting brew, the Eisbock starting brew is a potent Bockbier or, more likely, Doppelbock. While the Canadian frozen brew is sharply filtered, which takes out not only the ice, but also a large portion of the tannins and bittering substances derived from the hops and grain husks. Fresh water is then added to the Canadian-style ice beer to bring the alcohol level to what it was before freezing. The result is a particularly soft and mild beer, with almost no hop bitterness.

Cathy2 wrote:Hi,

Last night I went to a lecture on German beer.

The presenter made a point a beer with a substantial foam was made with female hops. If it was less, then it was a mixture of male and female hops. Is this true?

Regards,
Cathy2

pancake wrote:But male hops are not used in beer.

nr706 wrote:That may be what the presenter was referring to.