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Re: Great Gin Recipe Discussion

PostPosted: Wed Mar 11, 2020 3:47 am
by Hull brew
BSC-KIlby
Thanks for your response.
I think what I'll do is take a litre back to 40% and run it through a bag of juniper only.
I'll also try another litre in a juniper maceration.
Yeah I'm deviating from the script, and may not be able to reproduce, but at my stage its all valuable learning.
Should've curbed my enthusiasm and started as per PeterC's method with a small amount, changing compositions as I go.

No worries, it'll all get drunk I'm sure, or used as handwash!
Can you believe there's panic buying of the stuff in UK supermarkets?!

Cheers
Steve

Re: Great Gin Recipe Discussion

PostPosted: Wed Mar 11, 2020 9:35 am
by BSC_Kilby
Hull brew wrote:Hi Peter, thanks for your comments.
Firstly no worries, I don;t feel Ive been lead astray, if anything it's my beginners over enthusiasm.

I tried a couple last night, watered to 43% - it was OK but lacking that (and here my words let me down) that 'zing'.
There is a juniper aroma, do doubt.
I think I may leave star anise out on the next trial, also nutmeg.From your reply, I think I got the packing of the 'haggis' about right.
Ive smelled the residual botanicals and there is little identifiable remaining, so looks like all the good stuff has been extracted.
Without boring you with the vol/temp/% (I kept notes throughout), I can say I stopped at 20%, when the output was an occasional drip.
Still temp rose to 98C at this point.
Last two 150ml collections were at 30 and 20% and were slightly cloudy.
I mixed them all together as the tails had some earthy junipery flavours.
I'll water down a small batch, leave for a few days and sample a few, purely in the name of science!

My thanks for your feedback



On resting, for mine, the average is 2 weeks at high proof (as it comes off the still, usually ~80%). It takes me at least a day to do dilution, making sure the spirit is agitated or pumped over itself for at least 3 hours. I let it rest overnight then bottle it.

Re: Great Gin Recipe Discussion

PostPosted: Sat Mar 14, 2020 2:51 pm
by Chocko6969
BSC_Kilby wrote:
Hull brew wrote:Hi Peter, thanks for your comments.
Firstly no worries, I don;t feel Ive been lead astray, if anything it's my beginners over enthusiasm.

I tried a couple last night, watered to 43% - it was OK but lacking that (and here my words let me down) that 'zing'.
There is a juniper aroma, do doubt.
I think I may leave star anise out on the next trial, also nutmeg.From your reply, I think I got the packing of the 'haggis' about right.
Ive smelled the residual botanicals and there is little identifiable remaining, so looks like all the good stuff has been extracted.
Without boring you with the vol/temp/% (I kept notes throughout), I can say I stopped at 20%, when the output was an occasional drip.
Still temp rose to 98C at this point.
Last two 150ml collections were at 30 and 20% and were slightly cloudy.
I mixed them all together as the tails had some earthy junipery flavours.
I'll water down a small batch, leave for a few days and sample a few, purely in the name of science!

My thanks for your feedback



On resting, for mine, the average is 2 weeks at high proof (as it comes off the still, usually ~80%). It takes me at least a day to do dilution, making sure the spirit is agitated or pumped over itself for at least 3 hours. I let it rest overnight then bottle it.


Hi Kilby, I've not read of agitating the Gin like this ( and I must have missed it coz I've read craploads ), does it help all the botanicals merge after distillation or something? Also, how do you do it, what setup?

Cheers,

Chocko

Re: Great Gin Recipe Discussion

PostPosted: Mon Mar 16, 2020 5:51 am
by BSC_Kilby
Chocko6969 wrote:
BSC_Kilby wrote:
Hull brew wrote:Hi Peter, thanks for your comments.
Firstly no worries, I don;t feel Ive been lead astray, if anything it's my beginners over enthusiasm.

I tried a couple last night, watered to 43% - it was OK but lacking that (and here my words let me down) that 'zing'.
There is a juniper aroma, do doubt.
I think I may leave star anise out on the next trial, also nutmeg.From your reply, I think I got the packing of the 'haggis' about right.
Ive smelled the residual botanicals and there is little identifiable remaining, so looks like all the good stuff has been extracted.
Without boring you with the vol/temp/% (I kept notes throughout), I can say I stopped at 20%, when the output was an occasional drip.
Still temp rose to 98C at this point.
Last two 150ml collections were at 30 and 20% and were slightly cloudy.
I mixed them all together as the tails had some earthy junipery flavours.
I'll water down a small batch, leave for a few days and sample a few, purely in the name of science!

My thanks for your feedback


The thing I find it helps most with is haze. I don't often get haze in gin (louching if you want to call it that), But I have found that setting up a pump and pumping the gin over for a few hours allows for the gin to be more 'shelf stable' when it comes to haze. Basically it can get colder without forming a hze


On resting, for mine, the average is 2 weeks at high proof (as it comes off the still, usually ~80%). It takes me at least a day to do dilution, making sure the spirit is agitated or pumped over itself for at least 3 hours. I let it rest overnight then bottle it.


Hi Kilby, I've not read of agitating the Gin like this ( and I must have missed it coz I've read craploads ), does it help all the botanicals merge after distillation or something? Also, how do you do it, what setup?

Cheers,

Chocko


It does a couple of things in my book. It makes the gin more shelf-stable against haze (It won't go cloudy if it gets cold in the booze cabinet) and it prevents stratification in the tank which can give you ABV x at the top of the keg/storage container and ABV y at the bottom. I set a pump pulling gin from the bottom and pumping back in through the top. You need to be careful doing this and make sure that the vessel you do it in has the headspace to contain any vapour that forms to minimise the chance of explosive boo boos.

Re: Great Gin Recipe Discussion

PostPosted: Mon Mar 16, 2020 10:11 am
by The Dark Alchemist
Made this a while ago; drinking beautifully and the original 4L is almost gone.......

If you like liquorice this is for you - less thick than ouzo, with an element of Gin-ness (not Guinness)......

Liquorice Lovers Gin
Neutral 43% 1 L
Juniper Berries 20 g
Coriander 10 g
Angelica Root 2 g
Licquorice Root 2 g
Cinamon Stick 2 g
Fennel 2 g
Star Anise 2 g
Sweet Orange 0.2 g

Macerate for 3 days, dilute to 30% and pot still. Garnish with a piece of liquorice....

Re: Great Gin Recipe Discussion

PostPosted: Fri May 15, 2020 11:30 pm
by Commune
I’m making good cuts and my bath tub gin recipe tastes good. I run it through my reflux and as expected it loses flavour. Is there a way to continue to use my reflux without removing the packers to get more flavour as i find the second run is almost flavourless?

Re: Great Gin Recipe Discussion

PostPosted: Sat May 16, 2020 7:20 am
by Chocko6969
Commune wrote:I’m making good cuts and my bath tub gin recipe tastes good. I run it through my reflux and as expected it loses flavour. Is there a way to continue to use my reflux without removing the packers to get more flavour as i find the second run is almost flavourless?


Basically if you want to retain your flavour, then no, you need to remove your packing as stripping flavour and (other unwanted crap) is what it's intended to do. Unless you're using a Gin basket/carter head setup inline after your packed section and offset preferably, then you're effectively wasting time, money, ingredients and everything else as you're stripping it out, if you're distilling a macerated Gin as described. Make the effort and remove the packers, you will not be sorry. Blend your cuts to your liking and let it steep at a high ABV for at least 3-4wks then dilute to about 44%ABV and bottle.

Cheers,

Chocko

Re: Great Gin Recipe Discussion

PostPosted: Sat May 16, 2020 11:34 am
by Professor Green
Commune wrote:I’m making good cuts and my bath tub gin recipe tastes good. I run it through my reflux and as expected it loses flavour. Is there a way to continue to use my reflux without removing the packers to get more flavour as i find the second run is almost flavourless?


Essentially, no. The reflux still is doing what it is designed to do and that is strip flavours.

Second run? Can you explain a bit more about your process?

Re: Great Gin Recipe Discussion

PostPosted: Tue Jun 09, 2020 4:19 am
by Hull brew
BSC_Kilby wrote:
Hull brew wrote:Hi Peter, thanks for your comments.
Firstly no worries, I don;t feel Ive been lead astray, if anything it's my beginners over enthusiasm.

I tried a couple last night, watered to 43% - it was OK but lacking that (and here my words let me down) that 'zing'.
There is a juniper aroma, do doubt.
I think I may leave star anise out on the next trial, also nutmeg.From your reply, I think I got the packing of the 'haggis' about right.
Ive smelled the residual botanicals and there is little identifiable remaining, so looks like all the good stuff has been extracted.
Without boring you with the vol/temp/% (I kept notes throughout), I can say I stopped at 20%, when the output was an occasional drip.
Still temp rose to 98C at this point.
Last two 150ml collections were at 30 and 20% and were slightly cloudy.
I mixed them all together as the tails had some earthy junipery flavours.
I'll water down a small batch, leave for a few days and sample a few, purely in the name of science!

My thanks for your feedback



On resting, for mine, the average is 2 weeks at high proof (as it comes off the still, usually ~80%). It takes me at least a day to do dilution, making sure the spirit is agitated or pumped over itself for at least 3 hours. I let it rest overnight then bottle it.


This stuff is improving with age and while not my perfect choice of flavour, is in my opinion very drinkable, far superior to the 'house gin' my local pub sells. I'm going to have another go, probably with a bath-house version (eg Odins) or maybe just drop the star anise

Re: Great Gin Recipe Discussion

PostPosted: Sun Aug 23, 2020 1:28 pm
by Guyross
I am sitting here minding my 10 litres of gin while it distills. I am attempting a modified Odin’s/great gin combo. I wanted to try putting it through my bubbler with a gin caddy, but I decided to use my T500 boiler with Alembic pot instead.

So I took 10 litres of 43% neutral, and macerated 200 grams juniper berries and 100 grams coriander and the zest from 4 lemons for 16 hours, dumped that in the boiler. In the gin basket I put 20 grams cassia, 20 grams liquorice root, 15 grams Angelica root, 2 grams orris powder, a few cardamom pods, some grains of paradise and some cubeb for a bit of bite, and off I went. I am distilling it slowly, and am hopeful it will be drinkable.

I chose this as it will allow me to run a number of different botanical combos without too much effort. If this works, I will simply adjust what goes in the infusion basket, and adjust the amount of juniper/coriander to taste based on this run. I can run smaller amounts easily in the boiler, so it is very handy for trying different combos. Next will be something with rose in it, and I want to try something Mediterranean- rosemary, olive leaf, etc.

So far so good. It smells like gin, anyway.

Re: Great Gin Recipe Discussion

PostPosted: Sun Aug 23, 2020 4:58 pm
by Guyross
Guyross wrote:I am sitting here minding my 10 litres of gin while it distills. I am attempting a modified Odin’s/great gin combo. I wanted to try putting it through my bubbler with a gin caddy, but I decided to use my T500 boiler with Alembic pot instead.

So I took 10 litres of 43% neutral, and macerated 200 grams juniper berries and 100 grams coriander and the zest from 4 lemons for 16 hours, dumped that in the boiler. In the gin basket I put 20 grams cassia, 20 grams liquorice root, 15 grams Angelica root, 2 grams orris powder, a few cardamom pods, some grains of paradise and some cubeb for a bit of bite, and off I went. I am distilling it slowly, and am hopeful it will be drinkable.

I chose this as it will allow me to run a number of different botanical combos without too much effort. If this works, I will simply adjust what goes in the infusion basket, and adjust the amount of juniper/coriander to taste based on this run. I can run smaller amounts easily in the boiler, so it is very handy for trying different combos. Next will be something with rose in it, and I want to try something Mediterranean- rosemary, olive leaf, etc.

So far so good. It smells like gin, anyway.


Well, that was not an entire success. I overdid the juniper in the macerating. I had used 20g per litre in the vapour path technique and used the same for macerating. It is too much for me when macerated and boiled. I ended up having to cut it hard with neutral, and as a result lost a lot of the flavour of the milder botanicals. It is fine, but just a heavy juniper forward style. I will take some and redistill through some botanicals to try and get a bit of complexity going.

Live and learn. I think the technique is fine, but have to down adjust the juniper and coriander in the boiler/maceration.

Re: Great Gin Recipe Discussion

PostPosted: Mon Oct 12, 2020 2:11 pm
by BSC_Kilby
Guyross wrote:
Guyross wrote:I am sitting here minding my 10 litres of gin while it distills. I am attempting a modified Odin’s/great gin combo. I wanted to try putting it through my bubbler with a gin caddy, but I decided to use my T500 boiler with Alembic pot instead.

So I took 10 litres of 43% neutral, and macerated 200 grams juniper berries and 100 grams coriander and the zest from 4 lemons for 16 hours, dumped that in the boiler. In the gin basket I put 20 grams cassia, 20 grams liquorice root, 15 grams Angelica root, 2 grams orris powder, a few cardamom pods, some grains of paradise and some cubeb for a bit of bite, and off I went. I am distilling it slowly, and am hopeful it will be drinkable.

I chose this as it will allow me to run a number of different botanical combos without too much effort. If this works, I will simply adjust what goes in the infusion basket, and adjust the amount of juniper/coriander to taste based on this run. I can run smaller amounts easily in the boiler, so it is very handy for trying different combos. Next will be something with rose in it, and I want to try something Mediterranean- rosemary, olive leaf, etc.

So far so good. It smells like gin, anyway.


Well, that was not an entire success. I overdid the juniper in the macerating. I had used 20g per litre in the vapour path technique and used the same for macerating. It is too much for me when macerated and boiled. I ended up having to cut it hard with neutral, and as a result lost a lot of the flavour of the milder botanicals. It is fine, but just a heavy juniper forward style. I will take some and redistill through some botanicals to try and get a bit of complexity going.

Live and learn. I think the technique is fine, but have to down adjust the juniper and coriander in the boiler/maceration.


Maceration can be a fickle thing. The ABV you use changes the effectiveness of the Alcohol/Water mix as a solvent. My rule of thumb is the more of the brighter flavours and aromas you want, the higher the ABV you will need to macerate in. The more of the earthy, heavy herbal flavours and aromas you want, the lower the ABV.

Re: Great Gin Recipe Discussion

PostPosted: Mon Oct 12, 2020 9:22 pm
by Tesla101
I've found that the higher the ABV in your maceration, the more flavour will be extracted from the botanicals. But the down side to that is that a higher ABV will produce a more drier gin.

If it's a less drier gin you want, macerate at a lower ABV for a bit longer to bring out the flavours.

Re: Great Gin Recipe Discussion

PostPosted: Wed Aug 11, 2021 7:10 am
by warramungas
This was my second 'odins gin' ive done. First one was amazeballs and was done via vapor infusion.
This second one was done with all the ingredients in the boiler and the flavor was not 'fresh' like the first one.
Used the same ingredients but more of a dull palate. Will be going back to vapor infusion.
Bottled it and then used butterfly pea flowers to color it blue. Color change effect is a fun novelty.

Re: Great Gin Recipe Discussion

PostPosted: Wed Aug 11, 2021 12:34 pm
by The Dark Alchemist
warramungas wrote:This was my second 'odins gin' ive done. First one was amazeballs and was done via vapor infusion.
This second one was done with all the ingredients in the boiler and the flavor was not 'fresh' like the first one.
Used the same ingredients but more of a dull palate. Will be going back to vapor infusion.
Bottled it and then used butterfly pea flowers to color it blue. Color change effect is a fun novelty.


So you vapour infused all of the botanicals?

Butterfly peas are an interesting component; I read about the "World's First Black Gin" coming out of NZ; was actually blackberries and butterfly peas that gave it the dark look - tried it myself and you get a really cool looking gin if you increase the butterfly peas in the mix....

Re: Great Gin Recipe Discussion

PostPosted: Wed Aug 11, 2021 7:16 pm
by warramungas
Yep. Last time it was all vapor infused and was great.
This time not as great but it's ok. The flavors arent as fresh and sharp.
Used a fresh infusion basket for every couple of bottles worth.
I used about 30 or 40 flowers for every couple of bottles worth of 50% gin.
Only needed a few hours of soaking to get that deep blue color. Cant take a photo as back at work now.
Hopefully the color will last and not get denatured by the alcohol.
:handgestures-thumbupleft:

Re: Great Gin Recipe Discussion

PostPosted: Thu Aug 12, 2021 8:27 am
by The Dark Alchemist
warramungas wrote:Only needed a few hours of soaking to get that deep blue color. Cant take a photo as back at work now.
Hopefully the color will last and not get denatured by the alcohol.
:handgestures-thumbupleft:


The colour doesn't diminish; it's a really cool effect isn't it. Captain Google gives plenty of other ideas; colour changing ice cubes for example; any other clear spirits for the same effect......

Re: Great Gin Recipe Discussion

PostPosted: Wed Jan 26, 2022 11:37 am
by Koonya 7187
Hi everyone,
I have recently ordered a 120 litre still to make only gin & vodka.
I have seen on this forum some great recipes for gin and what botanicals to use but how do I know the quantity of each botanicals to use in a 120 litre still.
I am a newbie and would appreciate so advice from an experienced distiller.
Peter from Port Arthur in Tassie.

Re: Great Gin Recipe Discussion

PostPosted: Wed Jan 26, 2022 1:23 pm
by Nathan02
Pretty big still for gin mate, I would of went more like 10 litre haha.

Re: Great Gin Recipe Discussion

PostPosted: Wed Jan 26, 2022 1:24 pm
by Nathan02
Gin is normally run in small batch sizes for the hobby distiller. Prob with a still of that size is you need a lot of macerated base spirit to cover the elements