Benedictine

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Benedictine

Postby RuddyCrazy » Fri Apr 02, 2021 2:27 pm

G'day Guy's,
Yesterday while setting up Sophies Patch here in the Adelaide Hills I got talking with the owner and sure enough the subject got onto moonshine :laughing-rolling: When I said I could decanter a bottle of my AG for him he went and got a bottle for me and no guesses yes it was a bottle of DOM Benedictine. He said he loves to take a sip and let the flavour take over rather than just gullet it down to get wasted. Now when he had a sniff and shot of my AG this morning he said man this is way better than Johnnie Walker hands down :handgestures-thumbupleft: Just before I left I went up to say good bye and his wife chimed out saying it was the best whisky she had tasted and if you want to make some Benedictine we have a full range of flowers and herbs here to make it.

So the quest has now started :laughing-rolling: :laughing-rolling: :laughing-rolling:

On reading my old recipe book it say with the herbs etc to use the oil of.. Which basically means getting the oil out of the herbs and flowers.

The method I'm going to use is soak the herbs, flowers and spices in separate jars of 90% to make a tinture then vacuum distill in my glass still and use my separatory funnel to get the oil. By watering down the tinture to 40% the alcohol and oil will distill off leaving the water behind where the alcohol can be re-used and the oil collected.

Now Benedictine uses a neutral spirit and Drambuie uses a whisky spirit so both liqueurs can be made. As both recipies are a close secret all one can do is make one's own version using the modern herbs, flowers and spices that one can get in today's world so this will be a fun project to take on.

Cheers Bryan
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Re: Benedictine

Postby RuddyCrazy » Fri Apr 02, 2021 2:35 pm

more info

Bénédictine is made of 27 herbs and spices. It's believed that it includes hyssop, lemon balm, juniper, aloe, arnica, and cinnamon. The brand, however, only reveals angelica and saffron, making no other claims or allusions as to what the exact ingredient list entails.

The distillers at Bénédictine do reveal that those 27 ingredients are divided into four groups. Each group is combined with neutral spirits and distilled either once or twice in copper stills. The result is four distillates called esprits. The esprits are aged for eight months then blended with honey for flavor and infused with saffron for color. This blend is double-heated to finish the flavor before going into oak barrels to age for four months. Before bottling, the liqueur is filtered.
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Re: Benedictine

Postby RuddyCrazy » Fri Apr 02, 2021 3:23 pm

Here's some of the herbs used

Angelica, hyssop, juniper, myrrh, saffron, mace, fir cones, aloe, arnica, lemon balm, tea, thyme, coriander, clove, lemon, vanilla, orange peel, honey, red berries, cinnamon

Now the saffron is only used at the end of the process to colour the liqueur so that can be left out and the red berries could be anything as it's a very vague description along with the fir cones.

Also the honey is used at the end of the process when the blending takes place.

With a list of those herbs SWMBO will given them tonight when she gets home and tomorrow I'll have everyone to put in the shade house to grow :handgestures-thumbupleft: if some of the herbs aren't at the open day orders will be put in as our friends at Hillside Herbs can get us any herb we need

I will be putting some licorice root in aswell as some star of anise and of course some black pepper to give the liqueur that Aussie flavour :handgestures-thumbupleft:

A new name will have to be given to this project too as the recipe is so old but has bought out by the big players so time to put thinking cap on :character-count:

Anyway off to put some dried orange peel in some 90% to get the ball rolling :handgestures-thumbupleft:

Cheers Bryan
Last edited by RuddyCrazy on Fri Apr 02, 2021 3:24 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Benedictine

Postby RuddyCrazy » Fri Apr 02, 2021 4:11 pm

Ok got 4 tincture jars put down

1. Dried Orange Peel
2. Cinnamon
3. Black Pepper
4. Licorice Root

So duly went grabbed a 2 litre goon bottle and it was only after I poured the last jar I noticed I had used the 90% corn off the Angel Yeast Project. Now whether this is a fail :angry-banghead: or taste profile feature :handgestures-thumbupleft: it is yet to be known. I put a 1/3 of each product in a moccona jar then topped it up and in a day or so I'll pour off the liquid and add more neutral this time :laughing-rolling: as the goal is to get 800ml of 40% to distill in my glass vacuum still. As I will be using a bunsen burner no solids can be put in as they will scorch the round flask and ruin it.

I really should get on and make that heating mantle so I have a use for that power controller I won last xmas :laughing-rolling:

As this all unknown I'll do one and see if I can get any oil out of the run and if not I'll just add all the tintures and do a run thru my 2" potstill and let the low wines age for a few months while the other herbs grow, get harvested and dried ready for use.

Now before I started this thread I did scour both forums to see if any members had tried this before and didn't come with one single thread on the subject so it does look like this thread could be the first. :handgestures-thumbupleft:

After making AG, Brandies and everything else under the sun liqueurs is the next step for me and it is going to be a fun one

Cheers Bryan

The goal is make enough to do a batch with neural and a batch with my single malt AG so one can both taste profiles but this project is going take close to year to do
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Re: Benedictine

Postby Wellsy » Fri Apr 02, 2021 5:07 pm

What about calling it bishop Bryan :laughing-rolling:
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Re: Benedictine

Postby RuddyCrazy » Fri Apr 02, 2021 5:17 pm

Wellsy wrote:What about calling it bishop Bryan :laughing-rolling:


What and think this drink would be harmful to kids :laughing-rolling: :laughing-rolling: :laughing-rolling:

and there I thought Wellsy had an imagination but sadly it is really lacking :laughing-rolling: :laughing-rolling: :laughing-rolling:
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Re: Benedictine

Postby Amberale » Fri Apr 02, 2021 6:52 pm

Don’t forget Cardamom.
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Re: Benedictine

Postby RuddyCrazy » Sat Apr 03, 2021 11:02 am

G'Day Guy's,
Well gotta say the smell of each moccona jar this morning nearly blew me away with the scents coming off :teasing-tease: :teasing-tease: so this batch using the 90% corn may just pay off :handgestures-thumbupleft:

Went down to the supermarket and grabbed some herbs and got 2 packets of each

So
5. Ground Cloves 50 grams
6. Ground Cardamom 30 grams
7. Coriander Seed 40 grams which will go thru my corona mill
8. Nutmeg 30 grams

This batch will be done with my 90% neutral to make the tintures

Also grabbed from the big green shed 1/2 a square metre of fiberglass cloth so I can make a start on the mantle heater and it's going to be a fun exercise threading the nichrome wire thru the cloth so none of it touches. Also i will setup for a stir bar and make a simple controller for variable speed and for the stir rod I'll just gang some 3x3x3mm neo's and fiberglass them in to make the stir bar. I do think just dumping in the whole contents when vacuum distilling will bring out more flavour too

Now for the vacuum I'm just going to use the motor out of an old fridge where one of the tubes blow and the other sucks :laughing-rolling: On doing tests before it does create a near purfect vacuum too :handgestures-thumbupleft:

Also I need to do some plumbing as my flojet pump will complain about the restriction going thru a 8mm pipe for sure. As I'll be doing quite a few runs a 20 litre cube for the cooling water just won't cut the mustard.

So the fun continues

Cheers Bryan
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Re: Benedictine

Postby RuddyCrazy » Sat Apr 03, 2021 4:41 pm

G'Day Guy's,
Well put all the herbs down in jars with 90% neutral then had a go at making heating mantle, threaded that nichrome wire through the fiberglass then wired it up. Put some heatshrink over the solder joints and then hooked it up to the power controller. After I went just over 50% power I saw a nice glow for about a minute then nothing :angry-banghead: Took it apart and yep in several places the nichrome wire had snapped by burning thru. :angry-banghead:

I got this wire about 12-15 years ago and found it kinks too easily and it just fails every time so today I was dead careful but to no avail.

O'well at $140 for a brandnew 1000ml heating mantle/stirrer and buying it with afterpay it was the way to go so when it does get here I'll setup my glass still all ready for each run. Now with only doing a 1 litre batch at 40% 400ml is the best one can take but 320-350ml is the reality. The unit should be in a couple of weeks so plenty of time to find a home for it and I do have a SS lab bench here which I'll use.

From what I've learned about tintures after a few days one takes out the liquid then adds more and keeps doing it until all the goodness is gone so it may endup being enough to do a couple of runs for each one. My end goal is make enough so for the final run I can do a full 40% spirit run over 4 plates with a close to full boiler.

Cheers Bryan
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Re: Benedictine

Postby RuddyCrazy » Sun Apr 04, 2021 10:50 am

G'Day Guy's,
Well did the first decant on the first 4 jars this morning and I just used some cider stubbies and capped them to keep the critters out :handgestures-thumbupleft: got 1/2 a stubbie so with the second take off should go close to filling the stubbie then it will be enough to do a run in the glass still after watering down to 40% :handgestures-thumbupleft:

Tomorrow I'm going back to Sophie's Patch and I'll grab a heap of different rose petals so I can do some tintures with them and a few more to add to the list.

My goal is 25-30 different herbs, spices and flowers using my own thoughts as the benedictine recipe is a secret may aswell make own concoction full of explosive flavour :laughing-rolling:

Cheers Bryan
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Re: Benedictine

Postby RuddyCrazy » Sun Apr 04, 2021 3:52 pm

G'Day Guys,
Had a look at my 90% neutral stock and less than 6 litres left :teasing-tease: so went and bought 12 kg's of sugar and put a TPW down SG 1066 and with my digi ph meter it was saying 7.2 :scared-eek: and bouncing about. so got our my PH papers and the ph was spot on 5 so put the yeast in and gave it a good stir and 1/2 an hour later it bubbling :happy-partydance: :happy-partydance: :happy-partydance:

I reckon this one can go straight over 4 plates and the packed section and I won't bother stripping it as it's going to distilled again anyway.

Cheers Bryan
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Re: Benedictine

Postby RuddyCrazy » Thu Apr 08, 2021 6:50 pm

G'Day Guy's,
Well over the easter break I bought a 1000ml heating mantle with a a stir function and it rocked up this morning :happy-partydance: :happy-partydance: :happy-partydance: So just had to go try it out :laughing-rolling: put 500ml of water in the 1000ml round flask and got the heating going, I put that temp gauge I got with the glass still and 13 minutes later the water was about to boil and the temp gauge was showing 100C. When the bubbles from boiling started the temp gauge was showing 105C :scared-eek: so looks like this temp gauge is as accurate as a pollie telling the truth :laughing-rolling: :laughing-rolling:

Starting work earlier tomorrow so I can knock off earlier and get upto Aim Scientific to grab a new temp gauge and the fitting for the 7mm tapered connected on the short still head. :handgestures-thumbupleft:

Then the fun can begin this weekend with the maiden run in my glass still.

Cheers Bryan
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Re: Benedictine

Postby RuddyCrazy » Sun Apr 11, 2021 1:58 pm

G'Day Guy's,
Well after a week decanted the second batch of the first 4 herbs and the first of the second batch of 4. Decided I just had to try this out so 10ml of each went into a 500ml measuring cylinder and worked out the water ratio using the calculator page on this forum to water down the tinctures and the neutral to make 500ml. I do have a couple of 500ml beer bottles with the swing top lid, I'm going to replace that red seal with a silicon one just to be sure.

Now the first taste was like :o :o :o when is the flavour going to stop after swallowing :laughing-rolling: :laughing-rolling: :laughing-rolling:

Here's a pic of my first liqueur

first liquier.jpg



Now to do the same and use my single malt whisky to make a Drambuie style liqueur which have an even better taste profile :handgestures-thumbupleft:

I am going to wait until I get the temp attachment for my short distilling head on my glass still as I do reckon in order to get any of the oil out of the herb/spice the temp will be past boiling so basically take the distilled alcohol then by using my separatory funnel decant the alc out then when the boiling starts close it up and just see if any oil does pass thru.

This is my first foray into vacuum distilling and bugger looking what other people do as one has learn just by doing it :handgestures-thumbupleft:

Cheers Bryan
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Re: Benedictine

Postby Wellsy » Sun Apr 11, 2021 3:33 pm

Damm mate it must be strong even the photo is out of focus :laughing-rolling:
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Re: Benedictine

Postby RuddyCrazy » Sun Apr 11, 2021 4:08 pm

[quote="Wellsy"]Damm mate it must be strong even the photo is out of focus :laughing-rolling:[/quote

Yea mate having the phone in the pocket while welding will produce that effect :laughing-rolling: :laughing-rolling: :laughing-rolling:

Anyway I got to do a survey off FB where I get a $40 coles voucher every 2 weeks so I'll use that to buy a new top of the range phone.

Now surely I'm not the first to use tinctures to make a drop so for the guys that have done it before chime in guy's and give some guidance :handgestures-thumbupleft: as I'm sure with those 8 ingredients I used using 10ml of each can be adjusted. Now SWMBO said she can get some lime so that could make for a nice tincture :handgestures-thumbupleft: and still yet to get some flowers to add to the mix.

Cheers Bryan
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Re: Benedictine

Postby RuddyCrazy » Tue Apr 13, 2021 6:18 pm

G'Day Guy's,
Called into Aim Scientific this arvo and bought the 14/10 temp probe fitting and asked for a mercury 150C temp probe as I found the one I got with the glass still is way out of accuracy. He did say the mercury ones were within +1 -1 C in accuracy. Anyway he went out the back to get the gear and came back and said the 150C ones were out of stock but he does have some 250C ones, as the invoice was already printed out he siad well mate as your a repeat customer you have the 150C one for the same price as the 150C on to save printing out another invoice :handgestures-thumbupleft:

So got the fullsetup now for the glass still and I do need to check if I have enough 8mm plastic tube for the condenser as I won't be using the crap tube supplied with the still.

Cheers Bryan
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Re: Benedictine

Postby RuddyCrazy » Sat Jun 26, 2021 4:31 pm

OK Guy's,
This project has just been sitting on the bench since the inception and the first bottles were made, on offering samples the return was from this is nice drop beside a fireplace on a cold night to make a heap and create your own brand :handgestures-thumbupleft:


I do have to process that Benedictine project so got 2 options

Option One just dump it all in my 5 litre boiler and do a spirit run in my 2" pot still like i have done for years

Option Two Set up the cooling on my glass still and vacuum distill each herb to get a tincture extreme then use them as a base for making a nice cocktail drink :handgestures-thumbupleft:

Each tincture has sat in my 90% neutral and with the first batch the liquid was emptied and put into throwdowns with a beer cap loosely

over the top, I also put a silicon seal in the bottle cap so the seal in the cap wouldn't impart the tincture. Now the rest has just sit in the moccona jars doing their things and i do think all the goodies have been leached out.

Now with my glass still I have a 1 litre round boiler that sits in a heating mantle with a stirrer and the output goes into a 250ml separation cylinder just incase we get some oil :handgestures-thumbupleft: I did buy the short head still attachment and a 250 degrees glass rod temp probe so yet to use it.

For the vacuum I do have a vacuum pump that won't go down but I do have a old fridge pump where one end sucks and the other end blows so that will do for the vac pump. :laughing-rolling:

Anyway in the morning while the boiler is heating up for my last strip run on my TPW I will get this glass still setup and for the easy test of a vacuum I'll put a burning flame in then apply the vacuum if it goes out the vacuum is good, if it doesn't I got burnt glass :angry-banghead:

Anyway all good fun in store as I explore this craft to the max

Cheers Bryan
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Re: Benedictine

Postby Barjacjohn » Fri Aug 05, 2022 1:44 pm

Very new to this hobby, and probably going a bit crazy! I found this Benedictine recipe : http://www.guntheranderson.com/liqueurs/benedict.htm
It looks interesting, but I cant access lots of the tinctures (that might be a good thing - spirits of ether look lethal!)
Has anyone got a recipe for a Benedictine-like herbal liqueur that is close to the DOM B but with more readily accessed ingredients?
Cheers
John
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Re: Benedictine

Postby Barjacjohn » Tue Aug 09, 2022 4:49 pm

Just read my previou s (and only) post and realised it may come across as a bit disrespectful of RuddyCrazy's contribs to the thread! Apologies! As a total newbie, and Airstill-er, I am totally out of your league for both your knowledge & skill. That is why I am looking for a shortcut to DOM. B and Drambuie - like tipples. One day I might dare venture into creating tinctures, but until then ....
Cheers to all and thank you to all posters - I am assiduously reading everything, and trying to mark, learn., and inwardly digest the wisdom on offer :)
John
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Re: Benedictine

Postby RuddyCrazy » Sat Nov 12, 2022 5:17 pm

G'Day Guy's,
Just saw a post on a local FB group and looks like we have an iris farm close by so I'm going to see if I can get some of the iris flowers to make some tinctures for the floral component of the Drambuie.

I do need to setup my glass still again after that crash with the reflux column and the Graham condensor :angry-banghead: where it created a vacuum and tried to launch the the roof after the seal let go :angry-banghead: :angry-banghead: :angry-banghead:

Also got a heap of wormwood here in a few varieties so that component can can be added via the tincture method.

As xmas getting closer I do need to get on this project as it is my xmas gift. :handgestures-thumbupleft:

Cheers Bryan
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