Aussiedistiller, Home Distilling, Moonshine, Home Brew

Gday Fed,

I've not thought of fermenting a wash with these ingredients. I'm not saying it won't work. I have no idea if it will or not.

But as they say, nothing ventured nothing gained.

Give it a go and let me know how it went :handgestures-thumbupleft:

Its a good drop made to recipe though. I make a lot of ouzo and find that this drink provides a nice alternative to the traditional.

Woodsy

Fed wrote:Quick question, would this work if all the ingredients were thrown in at the wash stage then run through the pot still?

Personally I wouldn't try n do it that way , This is a good recipe as it stands.
I see a number of problems.
1If you put the ingredients in a wash what are you achieving? Your going to have to go down the path of making cuts on all of the spirit that leaves the still.
By using good neutral to begin with you avoid that and only need to take a very small fores cut as stated in the original recipe.

2 What sort of wash are you going to add the botanical to? what sort of still will you use to run it?
Again more problems. Run a TPW wash with botanicals in it though a pot its gunna taste like shit in my opinion. Use a reflux and it will strip most of the flavor out.

What I can say is that the original recipe if followed makes fine drop.

Woodsy71 wrote:My understanding is that you need to use a neutral spirit to macerate the botanicals prior to distilling

You don't need to macerate prior to distilling for the ouzo, the flavors come through quite strong enough as is , throw all ingredients in the boiler and fire her up.

G'day SBB

I was going to run it through a pot still. a mate wants me to make ararak for him, similar ingredients and run it 3-4 times (His request), but I might try the original recipe and see if he knows the difference.

Cheers
Fed

Found an 8 month old bottle of this in the shed.

Its a super drop. :happy-partydance:

Not sure if its my imagination, but it tastes better than it did at bottling.

Might have to whip up another batch for comparison :D

Woodsy71 wrote:Found an 8 month old bottle of this in the shed.

Half your luck!!
Ive really got the taste for this stuff lately, did 4L a couple of days ago but realistically maybe I should just do a 44Gal drum of it and I can have some aged stuff in 8 months too :-D :-D

Hi guys, I have a t500 with the original condenser, so can only make neutrals. Can I soaked these ingredients in the neutral at 40% and get a good flavoured result?

No. I presoak the botanicals sometimes before redistilling, you wont be happy with the results.

You need a pot still head of some kind for the boiler or can you get the packing out of the T500?

bb

Badbird is spot on with is advise N95....it just isn't the same, infact its down right horrible.

Bumma!

~x(

I'm planning to a batch of this tomorrow night. Seems like most folks just chuck the lot in the boiler and go for it. Would there be any advantage in macerating the botanicals overnight in the neutral as is done with absinthe?

Cheers,
Prof. Green.

Professor Green wrote:I'm planning to a batch of this tomorrow night. Seems like most folks just chuck the lot in the boiler and go for it. Would there be any advantage in macerating the botanicals overnight in the neutral as is done with absinthe?

Cheers,
Prof. Green.

No mate.

I tried this with a batch and all i achieved was a distinct bitterness in the end product.

I reckon one or more of the botanicals soured during the maceration :think:

Every other run worked a treat running it straight away.

This is a super drop, a nice play on ouzo, and a regular on my top shelf :handgestures-thumbupleft:

OK Thanks.

Cheers,
Prof. Green.

Wow! This is an amazing recipe. Just tried a bit of this straight off the still and it is unbelievably good. I'm a big fan of aniseed based drinks and this certainly compares favourably with the common commercial pastis offerings such as Ricard or Pernod.

For what it's worth, I did stick the botanicals in the neutral before I headed off for work this morning so they'd been macerating for about 12 hours (didn't see your reply Woodsy71 until it was too late!) and haven't noticed any adverse effects.

A little tip for anyone who doesn't want to wait for the fennel to dry; spread the fennel sprigs out on baking paper on a tray and pop them in the oven at it's very lowest setting for 30-40 minutes then check then to see if they are dry. If not, leave them for another 10 minutes and try again. Keep doing so until they are dry. Mine took me about an hour at roughly 100 deg Celsius.

Cheers,
Prof. Green.

Hi guys
I love Pastis. I currently have a T500 column on a 35liter boiler driven by a 4 ring Rambo with low pressure regulator
Do i need a pot still to make this recipe.

This was answered just above by Badbird....

Hi,

So I'd like to give this ago. I only want a smallish batch - say no more than 5ltrs finished product.
Can I do this with a 50 ltr keg boiler by just filling half way with water to make sure the element is covered, or do I need to make or purchase a small pot still for re-distilling maceration's?

Filling till the elements are covered is a valid method.
Try using hot tap water to save on your heat up time.

Depends how many litres water you need. You may wnd up with real low proof spirit especially with a pot..

So I'd like to give this ago. I only want a smallish batch - say no more than 5ltrs finished product.
Can I do this with a 50 ltr keg boiler by just filling half way with water to make sure the element is covered, or do I need to make or purchase a small pot still for re-distilling maceration's?

Really depends on your setup. How much liquid do you need to cover the elements ?
I would aim to charge the boiler with 15L of 20% ABV hearts, which should give you ~5L of finished product (give or a take a liter). When running this through a pot still with the spices, you will start collecting at ~80% and ABV will drop from there. Collect down to ~20% ABV. Combine all the cuts and you should end up with ~45-55% ABV (remember to use only good hearts) drinkable product wihtout further dilution.
In my 50L boiler, I need 20L boiler charge to have one element still covered at the end of the run (~12L). BEcause I am still experimenting and, like you, prefer smaller batch sizes, I made a second boiler 20L keg, where I can get away with 10L boiler charge (at 20% will give me 3-4 L of finished product). Obviously, one could also get rid of the element and go gas fired...or use one of those T500 boilers.

Cheers, RS

I just made the nicest drink,
I distilled to make a clear spirit with a reflux column, 90%, watered it down to 60% and filtered it through coconut charcoal.
I flavoured the alcohol with star anise etc as per recipe, filtered it with filter paper. (No Pot still) mixed with lots of ice and soda water.
what a wonderful drink.