Things to soak in Neutral

This area is for recipes that are not yet proven, use this area for experiments, recipe research and development of your own variations. Once a recipe is accepted as being good by the consensus it will be moved to the proven section.

Things to soak in Neutral

Postby Boomgate » Wed Jan 23, 2019 3:56 pm

Heya guys, I was thinking of making some flavoured neutral.. I have a reflux still so generally my neutral is around the 90 ABV

I have made limoncello in the past, and I found I enjoyed it but it was too sweet.... I kept dropping the sugar until essentially I was just making flavoured neutral...

I tried the same with oranges, also fantastic...

I was thinking of doing some more and making a little suite of ... well not flavoured vodka, but close to...

What other stuff soaks well... was thinking possibly trying Rasberries, Strawberries, Almonds.. any tips and tricks gratefully accepted...
Boomgate
 
Posts: 484
Joined: Mon Oct 08, 2012 8:56 pm
Location: Western Melbourne, VIC
equipment: 25L Ultra Pure Reflux.

Re: Things to soak in Neutral

Postby RC Al » Wed Jan 23, 2019 4:18 pm

My best "dropper" fruit to date has been blueberries, always goes first
my kahlua dont last long either
Worst thing ive tried has been bacon fat
RC Al
Mentor
 
Posts: 1568
Joined: Mon Oct 23, 2017 4:58 pm
Location: Sunshine Coast Area
equipment: 3 plate 4" glasser
2" Potty

Re: Things to soak in Neutral

Postby RuddyCrazy » Wed Jan 23, 2019 4:32 pm

With the hot weather playing havoc with our fruit trees everyday we check for fallen fruit and our young cider apple tree has been hit pretty hard but has a bumper crop on the branches. So all the fallen fruit is chopped up then dried in a hotbox.

With so much dried apple I decided to put a handful in my mini me pot still boiler, added a bit of cinnamon and it's now soaking in 52% neutral. I've left enough headroom to water it down to 40% and after 4 hours the smell is really starting to show.
RuddyCrazy
Mentor
 
Posts: 2439
Joined: Thu Oct 31, 2013 6:36 pm
Location: Not far from Kanmantoo SA
equipment: 4" copper bubbler with a setup for Neutral and a thumper for Whisky and my old 5 litre pot for doing maceration runs and MiniMe the baby pot still

Re: Things to soak in Neutral

Postby effque » Wed Jan 23, 2019 4:46 pm

Bryan1 wrote:With the hot weather playing havoc with our fruit trees everyday we check for fallen fruit and our young cider apple tree has been hit pretty hard but has a bumper crop on the branches. So all the fallen fruit is chopped up then dried in a hotbox.

With so much dried apple I decided to put a handful in my mini me pot still boiler, added a bit of cinnamon and it's now soaking in 52% neutral. I've left enough headroom to water it down to 40% and after 4 hours the smell is really starting to show.

that actually sounds SOOO good
effque
 
Posts: 44
Joined: Sun Mar 18, 2018 1:45 pm
Location: Brisbane
equipment: 50L keg boiler 4" sight glass 2" copper modular reflux/pot 2x2200W elements 2" shotty
2 beer kegs for storage or low wine collection
35L of 5L glass jars
25L french oak barrel made from an ex muscat barrel

Re: Things to soak in Neutral

Postby bluc » Wed Jan 23, 2019 4:50 pm

Strawberry is a winner mixed frozen berries not so much..currently have limonchello in the works and want to do a kaluha type drink.
bluc
Site Donor
 
Posts: 8967
Joined: Tue Apr 14, 2015 5:47 pm
Location: sunshine coast
equipment: 2" pot with 2" shotty 400mm long 5x 1/2" on a t500 boiler.
50l keg boiler 4" still mount 4" sight glass 1" drain..
4 plate 4" bubbler, 600mm packed section

Re: Things to soak in Neutral

Postby j0sh2008 » Wed Jan 23, 2019 5:10 pm

I have done skittles, XXXX mints few other Lollies. They turn out alright but pretty sweet :handgestures-thumbupleft:
j0sh2008
 
Posts: 231
Joined: Mon Dec 05, 2016 1:07 am
Location: Brisbane
equipment: 4" 5star still - 4 plates + 500mm packed section
100L milk can boiler - 2400W & 3600W FSD elements.
2 X 1000L IBC - Recirculating water

Re: Things to soak in Neutral

Postby Professor Green » Wed Jan 23, 2019 5:51 pm

Musk sticks are a winner too.
Professor Green
 
Posts: 2483
Joined: Fri Apr 17, 2015 1:10 pm
Location: Victoria
equipment: FSD 100 litre milk can with 2 x 2400W elements
FSD Neutraliser
FSD Carter Head
12 litre double boiler with 2400W element

Re: Things to soak in Neutral

Postby Boomgate » Wed Jan 23, 2019 6:26 pm

anyone ever tried chilli?
Boomgate
 
Posts: 484
Joined: Mon Oct 08, 2012 8:56 pm
Location: Western Melbourne, VIC
equipment: 25L Ultra Pure Reflux.

Re: Things to soak in Neutral

Postby The Stig » Wed Jan 23, 2019 6:27 pm

Professor Green wrote:Musk sticks are a winner too.


Done these years ago after paying $50 for a 500ml bottle at Tambarine mt
The hardest thing was filtering enough to get it really clear of the gum’s that settle out
The Stig
Site Nerd
 
Posts: 18192
Images: 9
Joined: Sun Jun 19, 2011 8:37 am
equipment: Only the Best will Do.
Mac4 SSG Bubbles of Joy

Re: Things to soak in Neutral

Postby RC Al » Wed Jan 23, 2019 6:31 pm

bluc wrote: and want to do a kaluha type drink.

The recipie on here is good, i use moccona #5, queen vanilla essence and raw sugar in my version, pretty close to the original amounts, very tasty
RC Al
Mentor
 
Posts: 1568
Joined: Mon Oct 23, 2017 4:58 pm
Location: Sunshine Coast Area
equipment: 3 plate 4" glasser
2" Potty

Re: Things to soak in Neutral

Postby j0sh2008 » Wed Jan 23, 2019 6:57 pm

Boomgate wrote:anyone ever tried chilli?



Ive done a few chillies ones with different types of chillies. It all depends how hot you like it. :obscene-birdiedoublered: there is a recipe using birds eye chillies somewhere on the fourm. My favourite was with reaper's but it was hottttt
Last edited by j0sh2008 on Wed Jan 23, 2019 6:58 pm, edited 1 time in total.
j0sh2008
 
Posts: 231
Joined: Mon Dec 05, 2016 1:07 am
Location: Brisbane
equipment: 4" 5star still - 4 plates + 500mm packed section
100L milk can boiler - 2400W & 3600W FSD elements.
2 X 1000L IBC - Recirculating water

Re: Things to soak in Neutral

Postby The Stig » Wed Jan 23, 2019 7:01 pm

I’ve got a Carolina Resper plant growing
Can’t wait to try a Chilli gin
The Stig
Site Nerd
 
Posts: 18192
Images: 9
Joined: Sun Jun 19, 2011 8:37 am
equipment: Only the Best will Do.
Mac4 SSG Bubbles of Joy

Re: Things to soak in Neutral

Postby mattyb » Wed Jan 23, 2019 7:05 pm

Blackberries is a winner in my house
mattyb
 
Posts: 159
Joined: Wed Aug 10, 2016 8:10 pm
Location: WA
equipment: 4" Glasser

Re: Things to soak in Neutral

Postby viking » Wed Jan 23, 2019 7:22 pm

Thanks for the reminder - just sipping a kaffier lime vodka. Not a regular option, but surprisingly good when I find at the back of the cupboard.
viking
 
Posts: 189
Joined: Tue Dec 03, 2013 10:14 pm
Location: North of Perth
equipment: FSD 4 inch SSG 5 plates with packed section and 100L FSD boiler.

Re: Things to soak in Neutral

Postby Hairyleg » Wed Jan 23, 2019 7:22 pm

I’ve currently got some small sample bottles with cinnamon sticks in one, juniper berries in another, dried orange peel, cardamom seeds, even trying lollie bananas in one.
All are just flavoured vodkas, but lots of fun.
Hairyleg
 
Posts: 11
Joined: Thu May 17, 2018 9:35 pm
Location: NSW Central Coast
equipment: T500 still

Re: Things to soak in Neutral

Postby db1979 » Wed Jan 23, 2019 8:34 pm

I've done blueberries twice now, my latest batch I don't think I soaked long enough, maybe 4 days. First time I did it I soaked them at least a week. I think I must have let them go so long cause I forgot about them. Soaked until the berries had lost their colour. First batch was nicer than my current one. Nice straight in soda water and ice. Currently just drinking weetbix vodka with a squeeze of lemon and soda water.
db1979
 
Posts: 1760
Joined: Sat Dec 29, 2012 3:47 pm
Location: South of the big smoke in banana bender land.
equipment: Eve - 4" x 4 plate solid state bubbler (sieve plates), 330 mm packed section on a keg boiler with 2 x 2000 W elements.
Currently having a makeover: 2" x 4 plate solid state bubbler (1" bubble caps, no sight glasses...maybe not for much longer!) on a bain-marie boiler.

Re: Things to soak in Neutral

Postby RuddyCrazy » Wed Jan 23, 2019 8:44 pm

Boomgate wrote:anyone ever tried chilli?


Last year my old Manzano Chilli tree gave me 5kg in one crop, so what better to do with 5kg's of chilli ferment it of course. With the manzano I found the sugar content was 1027sg and after dicing and freezing the sg went up several points. I used EC1118 yeast along with 4kg of sugar and also did a generation with the wort.

What surprised me the heat was hardly noticed and the taste profile of the fruit was just :teasing-tease: amazing :happy-partydance: with the second generation I put 5 litre of 65% with some toasted/charred French oak.

Now at the meet in Tasi last weekend Crow said compared to my chilli vodka the same taste profile just isn't there but it still very nice and your cuts are great. I asked Crow's better 1/2 if she had tried it and after one sip she owned the bottle with more promised back on the mainland.

With that maceration I put down today when I looked this afternoon about a 1/3 had been soaken up by the dried apple and the smell is just out there too :teasing-tease:

I do figure when I run this, once the temp gets up the alcohol stored in the apple will release along with all the flavour and in the thumper I'm going to put a scrubber to help stopping pukes but also allowing the lighter components to go to the pc while the heavier components will fall into the thumper fluid. If this trial works out I'll scale it up for a 5 litre run in my 2" pot still. Now if the taste profile is still there after the 5 litre run it's time for me to buy a few sacks of sugar and tomato paste as I'm going to need a heap of neutral to do a 50 litre run.

Cheers Bryan
RuddyCrazy
Mentor
 
Posts: 2439
Joined: Thu Oct 31, 2013 6:36 pm
Location: Not far from Kanmantoo SA
equipment: 4" copper bubbler with a setup for Neutral and a thumper for Whisky and my old 5 litre pot for doing maceration runs and MiniMe the baby pot still

Re: Things to soak in Neutral

Postby orcy » Thu Jan 24, 2019 7:04 am

Vanilla beans was always a winner here. And peppermint essence then mixed with lemonade made a very refreshing drink for summer.
orcy
 
Posts: 359
Joined: Wed Jul 05, 2017 1:02 pm
Location: Seaford, VIC
equipment: Old style T500 style still. honestly, I dont even remember who made it anymore
4 inch soon to be modular pot.

Re: Things to soak in Neutral

Postby wynnum1 » Thu Jan 24, 2019 8:40 am

Has anyone used Elderflower have them growing but the flowers do not have any taste or smell and have not tried to process purchase a bottle of elderflower cordial from supermarket bottle green hand picked elderflower cordial to see what the flavor was and tastes a bit like lychee the flowers can be purchase dried about $50 a kilo may be worth looking at.
wynnum1
 
Posts: 1494
Joined: Tue Jul 26, 2011 1:18 pm

Re: Things to soak in Neutral

Postby coffe addict » Thu Jan 24, 2019 11:51 am

We regularly mix elderflower cordial with vodka or gin. The Mrs used to make her own cordial from the flowers back in nz.
I would think they'd make a pretty good flavoured vodka and if I had some available I'd definitely have a crack at it.
coffe addict
 
Posts: 1027
Joined: Thu Feb 26, 2015 12:00 pm
Location: Brisbane central
equipment: 18 gal keg boiler on its side on wheel's with fill port, 1in drain and 2x2.4kw elements
4in 5 plate modular blockhead with optional infusion basket

Next

Return to Recipe Development



Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 20 guests

x