[Sca-cooks] FREEZING WINE......

[Philippa Alderton]

--- Tara Sersen Boroson <tboroson at netcarrier.com>
wrote:

> I dunno, Phlip.  I've accidentally frozen both beer
> and wine solid, back
> in the heady college days of trying to chill
> beverages quick-like for
> parties.

Doubt you froze them solid- if you had, the containers
would have broken if they were glass or aluminum- I
have frozen such things solid- I know ;-)

> Any solute will cause water (which is most of wine)
> to freeze at a lower
> temperature (as well as boil at a higher
> temperature.)  That's why the
> water where the Titanic sank was liquid at 27
> degrees F.  The greater
> the concentration of solute, the lower the freezing
> temperature.

Only up to a point. Also, you're discounting the
effects of the miniscule, several tons per square inch
pressures at that depth. But go on.... ;-)

  So,
> for a really strong solution of alcohol, you're
> right.  That's why you
> can use grain alcohol or vodka for extracting oils
> from herbs and then
> put them in the freezer to separate out the oil.
> But the concentration
> of solute (primarily alcohol) in wine is
> comparatively very low.

Yes, it's about 10% on average, and there are a bunch
of esters and other fractional ingredients, many which
produce flavors, which do not benefit from freezing-
in fact, the changes of state are sufficient to
destroy a fair percentage of their integrity as
compounds.

> Phillipa, I can see no reason why freezing would
> alter any of the
> aromatics that make wine what it is.  Most things
> that do not freeze
> well are so because of physical problems, not
> chemical.  The cell walls
> break down when the water in the cells expand, and
> they turn to mush
> when thawed.

Very true, but.....

  That isn't a problem with wine or
> other liquids.  Give it
> a shot!  Maybe freeze one ice-cube, then thaw it
> right away and compare
> it to a glass of the original, un-frozen stuff and
> see if there is a
> difference.

Here is where I differ. The author of the original
advice is giving the impression that a wine can be
frozen just like many sauces, as Magnificent Muiredach
suggests. This means that the person freezing is most
likely going to be freezing the wine and tossing the
cubes into a baggy and pulling the cubes out at need.
This means that unlike the lipids, spices, and water
in the sauces, the slippery little unfrozen alcohol
molecules are going to be precipitated by gravity to
the bottom of the bag, along with any other unfrozen
microfractions, thus separating out from the cubes as
used.

I don't see why this method wouldn't work for a short
term use- a day or a week, say. But if used as most of
us do, with mystery items stashed in our freezers for
(shall I be polite?) indeterminate periods of time,
there likely will be a significant flavor difference.
As I said, if she wants to try it, fine, and if she's
happy with the results, great ;-) But, it may not be
what she really wants, and she ought to know why it
might not work, as well as the legal ramifications she
might inadvertantly run afoul of. Who knows how bored
her local BATF agents might be, the week a friend of
hers happens to mention she's freezing wine? She needs
to choose whether or not she wants to take even so
small a risk.

Phlip

=====
Never a horse that cain't be rode,
And never a rider who cain't be throwed....

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