As I understand it, this is very simple: Partially freeze your favorite beer (preferably a bock, hence the term eisbock) at the end of fermentation and remove some of the ice crystals. Alcohol won't freeze at 32 degrees, just the water. Removing the water ice will thereby increase the ABV. Not rocket science.
Are you talking about something like an eisbock, or are you referring to some og the megalagers that are called "Ice"?. Very different techniques and reasons for the two.
--------->Denny
i am referring to beers like bud-ice rainier-ice it seems that all the major brands have a new line of ice beer on the market.. i have tasted rainier-ice. it didn`t have much body to it but over all flavor was pretty good and i was wondering if the average home brewer could make ice beer.... can you elaborate further about the different kinds of ice beers this sounds interesting... i thought there was only one kind of ice beer... thank you ............. john g
Not sure if you could make an "ice beer" the same way as the commercial breweries do, but I'd imagine if you just want the "ice beer" effect, which is essentially higher ABV, you may be able to jack up the alcohol in your favorite pilsner recipe without adding any color or flavor by adding some additional corn sugar or rice syrup. I quite like the rice syrup. One of my best beers uses it, no kidding.
AFAIK, the major breweries use "ice beer" as a filtration technique, not a way to increase alcohol. George Fix did quite a bit of writng about it, and tried it on some of his brews. The idea, apparently, is that if the beer if nearly frozen, it makes it easier to filter, and comes out clearer. The European eisbock, OTOH, uses freezing to increase the alcohol content.
------------>Denny
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