Beginner's Gin Journey

[cps1]

I detailed the construction of my 35 litre copper pot still here:

viewtopic.php?f=17&t=3360

It was predominately designed for rum but the domestic goddess and the number 2 princess likes Bombay Sapphire and the number 1 princess likes Hendricks so a gin head was always going to be an accessory.

I like steampunk so it had to look the part and match the still while being able to be incorporated within the limitations of the Lyne arm outlet and the condenser inlet

Its 8" tall and 4" diameter constructed from a length of 4" copper tube with turned ends

The inlet and outlet plumbing is in 1" copper (available in metre lengths from H&G at Brookvale Sydney). Fittings are standard copper fittings, joints are soft soldered with the exception of the outlet pipe being hard soldered to the body of the head.

The brass bottom is soldered into place and the lid is sealed with a length of 6mm silicon aquarium tube.

The basket was made from a stainless steel sieve with a fine mesh from the. The mesh was cut from the plastic sieve and formed over a wooden former. An inner ring of copper (hard soldered) and an outer ring of bronze squeeze the mesh. when formed the inner and outer rings were soft soldered together and two 3/16" washers were soldered , one inside and one outside to form the hole for the suspension bolt to go through. The basket was the most difficult part of the job.

I was concerned that the gin head would flood with initial condensation and with the accumulation of water through the run so I included a drain cock and and another cock just below the bottom of the basket so that I could check the level every now and again and drain any condensate so as to prevent the botanicals being flooded.

The photos tell most of the story

The initial charge was 25 litres of 40% achieved through 5 TPW washes (thanks for the recipe McStill and others!) and was run without the gin head connected until I had collected 200ml of foreshots.

The recipe for the botanicals that I used was based on blond.chap's but did not include anything other than the ingredients listed on the BS website.

50g Juniper Berries (Herbies)
5 strips Lemon Peel
3/4 tspn Angelica Root
3/4 tspn Orris Root Powder
1/2 star anise
1/2 tspn dried Coriander
1/2 scroll Cassia Bark
5 Cubeb Pepper Corns
6 Grains of Paradise
1 tspn Liquorice Root
4 Almonds

After I collected the first 4 litres I added 3g dried rose petals and 6 strips of cucumber to add the Hendricks touch to the final bit.

Then the gin head was coupled up.

It took quite a while for the whole thing to get hot, maybe 5 minutes, before the first output appeared. I was a bit surprised at the 86% result but since realise that the gin head is acting like a thumper.

The aroma was definitely GIN!

After I collected the first 4 litres I added 3g dried rose petals and 6 strips of cucumber to add the Hendricks touch to the final bit.

The end result after cuts was was about 5 litres of 80%. The product dropped off fairly smartly after about 60%

I cut the BS to 47% and the H to 42%

The verdict:

I was a bit disappointed that both versions are a bit cloudy... just a bit which diminishes their appeal a bit

They both smell remarkably like gin with the H being a bit flowery

When mixed with gin they both taste very nice but might be a tiny bit weak in the juniper and citrus department

The only downside in the flavour department is a definite Orris Root overkill

Still very drinkable but the next batch will have 70gm Juniper, 1/4 tspn Orris Root, 8 strips lemon peel

The cloudiness becomes more apparent when mixed with tonic and is probably what led to a chorus of Hmmms from the potential drinkers.

They still prefer the real thing, naturally. It might be different if they were paying

I have had a few glasses of both now mixed with tonic and the Orris Root is definitely settling down.

I gather that I shouldn't judge too much before giving them a month or so to settle

So far so good, they are both very drinkable and I'm happy with either.

[cps1]

The photos won't load

The forum comesback with too big despite 800 x 600 164kb

I'll try again

[cps1]

Here come the photos, 4 at time

[cps1]

The final photos

[blond.chap]

Very nice mate, love you're all copper gear.

[cps1]

Thanks blond.chap for the recipe.

I knew the ingredients but had no idea of quantity.

Your recipe put me on the right track and I think it's pretty close

[Aussiedownunder01]

Here come the photos, 4 at time

That riveted still looks great but I would love to see a photo of the train please

[cps1]

It's a 3 1/2" scale model designed by Burnaby Bolton and built by a neighbour back in the 40's.

He built it using a treadle lathe and paid a mate sixpence an hour to work the treadle

It was steamed once but never on the rails

I'll get a photo

[BackyardBrewer]

That cloudyness might have been tails? Sounds like you ran pretty long into your run?

Also not that I can tell in the photo but it wouldn't hurt to smash the juniper berries up a bit more. They looked very intact still to my eye.

What's the value or flavour if something as weak as cucumber (90% water) in the path of hot ethanol vapor? Wouldn't it just be reduced to sludge and add no flavour? 6 strips of cucumber in that much hot ethanol ? What did it add?

The rose petals I get but fresh cucumber? Interesting...

[blond.chap]

I just had a better read and I recon ByB is on the money, my most recent batch turned a slightly blue translucent colour when I added water. And you could definitely taste the tails. Be a bit harsher on your cuts at the tail end next time, and if you can taste the orris root there probably is too much in there, it's only included as a flavour fixitive.

The thing to remember with these recipes is that they depend a lot on your equipment, so some experimentation is needed.

Also, a month makes a massive difference in flavour, probably won't fix the cloudiness though.

[cps1]

Thanks Backyard

I crushed/ bruised the berries in a mortar and pestle but maybe I should have really smashed them

The cloudiness did not appear until I took it down to 48%

I discarded 2 1/2 litres of tails, perhaps that wasn't enough?

The hearts that I cut out was sitting at 80% as I had to add about 2+ litres of water to bring it to 48%.

My figures are rough here. I should have written it all down

It sounds as if I may have been stingy and included some tails?

Nother lesson to learn

[cps1]

The train:

It's an O Burnaby Bolton Design 3 1/2" scale model

Possibly a NSWGR C36 Express Engine

The things people notice in photos!

[BackyardBrewer]

Thanks Backyard

I crushed/ bruised the berries in a mortar and pestle but maybe I should have really smashed them

The cloudiness did not appear until I took it down to 48%

I discarded 2 1/2 litres of tails, perhaps that wasn't enough?

The hearts that I cut out was sitting at 80% as I had to add about 2+ litres of water to bring it to 48%.

My figures are rough here. I should have written it all down

It sounds as if I may have been stingy and included some tails?

Nother lesson to learn

Don't feel bad mate, blond.chap & I were saying how much harder heads & tails are to pick with gin because the botanicals are so strong you can't rely on your nose.

I think we need to work on turfing an arbitrary 500-800mls of heads and the last 500-800 as tails and sling it back into the feints jar for the next run.

[cps1]

Thanks for that.

I did my 5 TPW washes and ended up with about 25 litres of spirit

I tipped it all into the still and made it to 40% with water

I did a spirit run discarding the foreshots and collected into jars, discarding what I thought was heads and tails at that point into a feints demijohn for next time. from memory it was about 3 litres of heads and a similar amount of tails

I may have made a major blunder next when I tipped 5 litres of the resulting "hearts" back into the still making it up to 40% and did the gin run with that

Should I have done further cuts on the gin run or can I assume that the heads and tails have been taken out by then?

BTW I have another 4l of the remaining "neutral" to do another gin run

Thanks

[blond.chap]

Just a quick thought, when we typically do a run we rely on the foreshots and heads to clean the still before taking hearts. This is important because the foreshots cleans the tails out from the previous run (the result being that the foreshots actually contains some tails). So if you put clean hearts in to the boiler then collected everything you may be getting some tails from the first bit of the run.

So next run, take cuts and see if either the first ones or the last ones turn cloudy. You probably won't need much.

[cps1]

Done!

Thanks for the advice