52
votes
Accepted
Why not use alcohol ice?
Ethanol has a much lower freezing temperature than water: -114°C. This is considerably colder than dry ice and would require expensive specialised equipment to make and store. It would also be ...
- 11.9k
32
votes
Can we keep alcoholic beverages indefinitely?
Short Answer: Yes.
In general, unopened containers of alcohol have an indefinite shelf-life. For example, there are 500+ year old barrels of wine which are likely still drinkable (i.e. not only safe ...
- 1,718
18
votes
Why not use alcohol ice?
You could - provided you have a specific custom freezer that can reach as low as -17° F / -27°C - produce whiskey ice cubes.
The question is, should you?
If you are cooling your drink, you are ...
- 58.7k
13
votes
Accepted
Vanilla extract with pure alcohol
I can see two possibilities.
One is that vodka and the like are highly available. You can buy them in almost any country, and in most places just in a supermarket. They're even fairly likely to be ...
- 43.8k
13
votes
Why not use alcohol ice?
Many cocktails are shaken with ice, this isn't to mix it - you could do that with a spoon - it's to dilute the drink with water. This seems counterintuitive, but that's usually desired. The idea of ...
- 75.4k
9
votes
Can we keep alcoholic beverages indefinitely?
Alcohol in high concentratons is a preservative.
The only spiritous liquor or cordial type thing I've ever had go off from age was off-brand Irish Cream liqueur which curdled - never had a problem ...
- 16k
8
votes
Why not use alcohol ice?
Freezing a mixture of two liquids solid is quite a complex process.
Contrary to most of the other answers, whiskey/vodka/gin/whatever 40% hard drink starts to freeze at ~ -30C, but it is only the ...
- 349
8
votes
Why not use alcohol ice?
This is one of the rare "why not" questions which happen to have a technical reason behind them, rather than a random "it could have been done, but nobody cared enough to do it".
...
- 137k
5
votes
Can we keep alcoholic beverages indefinitely?
I've experienced sugar crystallising out of some very-sweet liqueurs. That's taken over 20 years so far, with a net result that the content is less-sweet than it used to be.
And that suits my ...
- 646
4
votes
Why not use alcohol ice?
No need for ice cubes
If you happen to store the (~40% ABV) drink in the freezer it won't freeze but will stay cold, I personally have one of the cheaper whiskeys in my freezer that I use for mixing. ...
- 143
4
votes
Accepted
Has My Cider Fermented?
A hydrometer can be used to measure the density (which is determined primarily by the sugar content) of the liquid, thereby determining whether the sugar has been transformed into alcohol. The place ...
- 27k
4
votes
Can we keep alcoholic beverages indefinitely?
Unopened spirits have an indefinite shelf life. Once opened, color and flavor may be impacted. They will certainly be food safe. Wine is fermented fruit. It continues to change, even in a sealed ...
- 73.8k
3
votes
Unopened wine bottles kept in fridge. Are they still good?
It depends on the wine. A bit cold for standard "cellaring" of wine, and some wine matures well, while other wines are short-lived.
It should not be dangerous, anyway.
You can taste it and ...
- 16k
2
votes
Accepted
Can't get rid of alcohol smell in my sourdough starter
Interestingly, I think the extra feeds might be contributing.
So, there's two types of respiration in yeast:
Aerobic, which needs oxygen, and produces CO2, and anaerobic, with a lack of air,which ...
- 274
2
votes
Can't get rid of alcohol smell in my sourdough starter
A bit of alcohol smell is normal as it's a natural byproduct of the fermentation process. After all, the whole point of feeding the yeast is so that it can convert the starch in the flours into carbon ...
- 543
1
vote
Are freezer bags not safe to store alcohol?
Plastic bags are permeable to certain molecules. For example, iodine (and iirc glucose) can pass through a regular Ziploc bag. I've noticed that greasy things put in a plastic bag can cause the ...
- 2,288
1
vote
Irish Cream Manufacturing
For long shelf life, don't use real milk.
Focus on viscosity and mouth texture.
(Guar bean or guard gum) will produce a thick cream like liquid that will not curdle or chunk.
Sulfides or the boiled ...
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