Bitters

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Re: Bitters

Postby bt1 » Mon Mar 24, 2014 7:16 am

Hello dbv,

What volume/strength of spirit did you use?

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Re: Bitters

Postby dogbreath vodka » Mon Mar 24, 2014 3:52 pm

Hey bt1
As recommended by Doc 95%
:handgestures-thumbupleft: :handgestures-thumbupleft:
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Re: Bitters

Postby peterhobit » Mon Mar 24, 2014 4:21 pm

DBV did you add wormwood AND dandelion root to make it extra bitter?
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Re: Bitters

Postby dogbreath vodka » Mon Mar 24, 2014 5:28 pm

No mate
The wormwood did the trick all by itself. :twisted:

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Re: Bitters

Postby peterhobit » Mon Mar 24, 2014 5:35 pm

Sorry confused, now. the recipe of Docs had Dandelion root in it, did you omit that using wormwood instead? (sorry I am slow)
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Re: Bitters

Postby dogbreath vodka » Mon Mar 24, 2014 7:46 pm

peterhobit wrote:Sorry confused, now. the recipe of Docs had Dandelion root in it, did you omit that using wormwood instead? (sorry I am slow)

Yes

I had wormwood in the garden - so used it instead.
If you have dandelion root as a dried herb ... I'd use it.

It just depends on what's available to you at the time.
:D :handgestures-thumbupleft:
Cheers
DBV
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Re: Bitters

Postby peterhobit » Sat May 03, 2014 3:24 pm

Just filtered my 500 ml trial batch that is now 3 months old. It is very good thanks all for the recipe. I will now put down a 4 liter batch I think.
I have much better neutral available now.
Pretty sure the test batch was made with turbo so the winos sugar wash neutral I have will be significantly nicer.
Not going to change the recipe. Think this will make nice Chrissy presants for my friends, just got to find some bottles with glass droppers.
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Re: Bitters

Postby dogbreath vodka » Sat May 03, 2014 4:30 pm

Glad to hear yours worked out as well mate .... Doc's recipe is a winner :handgestures-thumbupleft:

I tried it before putting the wormwood in.
It tasted nice with all the herbs as well as sweet.

:think: :think:
Hmmm --- Might give one a go later without any bittering agent, just for the joy of experimenting.

:D

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Re: Bitters

Postby peterhobit » Sun May 04, 2014 10:28 am

Here is me saying I will keep to the recipe.
Made up my 4 liter batch this morning. (I use dandelion root as the bittering agent). Followed the recipe but added 4 whole but bruised Black cardamon pods (love black cardamon as it has an earthy flavour in cooking) and a small pinch of Iranian saffron (maybe about 20 strands) just to be extravagant. The orange peel was fresh as our new citrus is just coming into season.

Should be lovely.
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Re: Bitters

Postby dogbreath vodka » Sun May 04, 2014 6:45 pm

Nothing wrong with experimenting. :handgestures-thumbupleft:
But you don't have any of the original to compare with. :think:

Guess you'll have to make a second batch. :teasing-tease:

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Re: Bitters

Postby peterhobit » Sun May 04, 2014 7:18 pm

:)
I have the original batch as I only bottled it yesterday, so I will make sure I keep some back to compare with the new batch in 3 months.
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Re: Bitters

Postby templeton » Tue Jan 13, 2015 8:25 pm

Sorry to bump this thread.
I'v been bittering for a couple of years now.
The best way to go is dedicate a number of jars to separate infusions - I've got about 20 bottles of pure infusions on the go. After they have infused, start blending - this gets over the problem of having an overpowering flavour - like star anise, or green cardamom, or wormwood - dominating your mix. After 3 months of infusing, sit down with all your jars and a dropper, and a bottle of soda water, and start blending - the soda is to dilute the bitters in, and stops you getting pissed and making wacky flavour calls :)
Mind you, after the christmas gift bottling, I just poured the left overs of everything into a big bottle, and its superb :)
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Re: Bitters

Postby Professor Green » Sat Oct 01, 2016 8:58 pm

Popped a batch of this on Tuesday and it already smells amazing. I'm rather fond of a good lemon lime and bitters on those occasions when I can't have a real drink so am quite looking forward to cracking this open in 3 months.

Thanks to The Doctor for sharing his recipe (and all the other knowledge he passes along) with the world and thanks to DBV for bringing it to our attention here.

Now does anyone know where to get bitters "dasher" bottles from?

Cheers,
Prof. Green.
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Re: Bitters

Postby Zzpop » Sun Oct 02, 2016 6:47 am

Try company called "Herbies" for herbs no $50 minimum
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Re: Bitters

Postby the Doctor » Sun Oct 02, 2016 8:39 am

Hi all ...just a quick update on our ever evolving method for making bitters...firstly we have found that you can speed up the extraction of the botanicals by vacuum sealing the azeotrope and botanicals into quart mason jars we then cycle the temperature of bitters by placing into a hot water bath that we cycle from 20*C to 60*C for a period of a few days...to cycle the temperature we use a bluetooth controlled Sous-Vide stick ( Anova brand )... The reason for all this is that we found that boiling speeds up extraction, but you run the risk of caramelisation and the subsequent change to the taste...by working with a vacuum you are able to boil at room temperature and boil violently at 60*C without caramelisation.... If you do not have access to a sous-vide heater just heat a tub of water once a day and put the jars in and just let them naturally cool...the effect will be the same.....To vacuum mason jars you can buy a jar attachment to fit the standard jar sizes these connect to a little hose outlet found on most domestic vacuum food savers...
Well that is all the news that is fit to print from sunny Kentucky NSW...have a great day
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Re: Bitters

Postby Professor Green » Sun Oct 02, 2016 8:54 am

Great information there Doc, thanks again for sharing it with us.

Cheers,
Prof. Green.
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Re: Bitters

Postby dogbreath vodka » Mon Oct 03, 2016 7:57 am

Professor Green wrote:
Thanks to The Doctor for sharing his recipe (and all the other knowledge he passes along) with the world and thanks to DBV for bringing it to our attention here.

You won't need to make it too often unless you're a mad keen gin drinker.

Now does anyone know where to get bitters "dasher" bottles from?

Cheers,
Prof. Green.


Bitters dasher bottle you sayy..... mmmmm. You mean like this?

Bitters bottle.JPG

I get mine from Mr Tabasco.

Well you might need to make a funnel and insert for the bottle....... like this.
Making funnel bitters bottle.JPG


Only you possibly won't need to do it in stg silver. :D
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Re: Bitters

Postby Professor Green » Tue Oct 04, 2016 5:54 pm

dogbreath vodka wrote:You won't need to make it too often unless you're a mad keen gin drinker.

What makes you think I'm not! Actually I'm rather partial to a lemon lime and bitters when I'm not drinking for real.

dogbreath vodka wrote:Bitters dasher bottle you sayy..... mmmmm. You mean like this?

Bitters bottle.JPG

I get mine from Mr Tabasco.

Well you might need to make a funnel and insert for the bottle....... like this.
Making funnel bitters bottle.JPG


Only you possibly won't need to do it in stg silver. :D


Nice one! I'd better get cracking on the Bloody Maries to build up a stock of bottles then hey!

Cheers,
Prof. Green.
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Re: Bitters

Postby rumsponge » Thu Jun 29, 2017 7:45 am

Looking into making some bitters as well in the near future.
Found this link helpful:
http://makeityourown.com/recipes/featured/aromatic-bitters

particularly, I like the idea of separate macerations for the bittering agents and the aromatic agents and final mixing to adjust to taste.
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Re: Bitters

Postby Huntsman96 » Thu Jun 29, 2017 7:15 pm

Hey guys just looking for new things to use neutral for and noticed this. I was just wondering in the case of a few of the spices is the dried powder form of say cardamom okay or does it have to be the whole spice? Cheers for all the great info btw :handgestures-thumbupleft:
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