I have a 9.9% dopplebock that I am going to use the Jamil method for making it an eisbock. Since it is already high alcohol, how much ice should I pull off? Just do it normal or take a little less than normal?
Do what you think is best. The style guideline has the upper end of eisbock at 14%. You could pull 20% of the water and still be within that range. It all depends on what you want to get out of it.
Ice concentration is a function of temperature. If you can only get down to regular chest freezer temperatures (or worse, fridge-freezer temperatures) then you can pull out quite a bit of water but you’ll still end up around the mid-teens in ABV. Like any other beer, your hydrometer will help you judge how the ABV is changing. Taste will also help guide whether you have concentrated it enough for flavor.
I am four hours into the process and the chest freezer as at 6F. I still have no ice crystals formed yet. Is this typical?
I don’t think I’d expect to see any ice for a while. There’s a big thermal mass there buffering temp changes. Could take a few days.
It’s going to take some time. I tried that out once using a gallon milk jug (like you see posted around some homebrewing forums) and even at that small of a volume I seem to think it took a couple days before the first block of ice formed.
There’s no way to screw this one up. It’s a very simple physical process of freezing. Once it happens you will definitely know it.