Distilling Alcohol By Freezing

[Chappers]

I know that distilling your own alcohol is illegal in the UK, not to mention incredibly dangerous but I was also under the impression that fortification via freezing is also illegal.

You know, because alcohol freezes at -40c or something, you can freeze wine for example, remove the ice as it is just frozen water and you are left with a "fortified" wine.

Do any of you genius' know if that is still illegal in the UK?

[Artemis]

If it's for your own use, no problem. I used to do this with Sloe Gin.

[Chappers]

Are you sure? I mean, even if proper distilling was for your own use it would still be illegal.

How do you do it with sloe Gin? I mean, you can do it with wine due to the fairly low alcohol %, but Gin is about 40% already, I wouldn't have thought that to work too well.

[NiceCupOfTea]

Not that I'm promoting illegal things, but it'd be difficult to be caught in the act as all you'd be doing is putting booze in a bucket and freezing it. As long as you're not flogging it in the local market, who'd know? As compared to having a still which would be more difficult to hide. Whatever you do, just watch who you give it to - a lad I know in Waterford was done when one of his awful neighbours shopped him after being given a bottle of poteen for Christmas! (Which he drank, by the way......)

[Chappers]

oh I'm not going to be doing it, it's to settle a discussion I was having with a friend, I'm pretty sure distillation by freezing is illegal (I was told by my grandfather who was an amateur brewer) and he says it's not.