Aussiedistiller, Home Distilling, Moonshine, Home Brew

Prof and Maka you have same still as i do,
sounds like 24hr max with the neut.
its a very simple recipe,thanks dark for sharing :)

follow up re distilling after macerating in neutral-
run the neutraliser with rc off?
empty packing?
thanks

I did the same as Dark Alchemist except I macerated for 24 hours. Used 4 orange and 1 mandarin peel for a 5 litre batch. Diluted to 40% and removed peel before distilling through a pot. Really happy with the results.

sorry for lots of questions,
the peel in recipe means entire peel from a piece of fruit per litre?
also,does it work if cover boiler element with water then add say 5 litres of the macerated spirit(50l boiler)- does flavour get left behind in the extra water,
thanks

Not the entire peel, that will introduce bitterness. Use a zester to take off only the coloured part of the peel.
Adding some water to the boiler will be fine.

bluc wrote:He is running through a t500 reflux hence the long maceration..

I did say for a pot still.

corrymeela wrote:follow up re distilling after macerating in neutral-
run the neutraliser with rc off?
empty packing?
thanks

I wouldn't run the whole column, just the parts that make up the 4" pot still. So out of the boiler into the bottom 2" x 4" reducer then into the top 4" reducer followed by the elbows and PC etc.

Are you running this in a boiler with internal elements?

bluc wrote:He is running through a t500 reflux hence the long maceration..

Exactly, but in saying that, I do other gins that I mascerate for 48hrs with good results.

Professor Green wrote:Macerating for two weeks is way too long if you're going to be distilling this in a pot still with the botanicals in the boiler IMO. 12-24 hours should be more than enough bring good flavour across.

:angry-banghead:

I wouldn't run the whole column, just the parts that make up the 4" pot still. So out of the boiler into the bottom 2" x 4" reducer then into the top 4" reducer followed by the elbows and PC etc.

Are you running this in a boiler with internal elements?


so i read the above as take out the 5 bubbler sections and the rc
yes elements are in the wash

thanks again

corrymeela wrote:so i read the above as take out the 5 bubbler sections and the rc

Yep, bang on.

corrymeela wrote:Are you running this in a boiler with internal elements?

No, I've run this with a 2" pot on a bain marie boiler so the elements don't heat the macerate directly.

corrymeela wrote:yes elements are in the wash

OK, so scorching might be an issue for you. You may very well need to let the botanicals steep for the two weeks and strain them out before you run it.

Yesterday’s gin run. Knocked back to 45% with butterfly pea flowers only just added to do their job. Will sample it tonight and leave the majority of it to rest for about a month or so. Eager to try it as this run has a couple of extras added to the vapour path. Christmas gin here we come.

An hour or so later and the Christmas batch goes into the pantry.

Lesgold wrote:

C5C7D633-847A-415F-A854-2A30442304C0.jpeg

An hour or so later and the Christmas batch goes into the pantry.

Nicely presented too - my butterfly peas arrive later this week - thanks for the inspiration :text-thankyoublue:

Lesgold
Gin looks lovely. I am going to order some butterfly peas too.
I use beerlabelizer for labels ( about AU$11 for permanent use but there are free designs as well, also see jamlabelizer and winelabelizer). They are printed on a colour laser printer and stuck on with milk ( yes - milk). They look good and the labels come off easily when you want to reuse the bottles. Beer labelizer has front and back labels so you can create a backstory if you wish. You can also have the label showing through the bottle ( like Prohibition Gin).
Cheers
Carol

Thanks for that Carol. I’ll have a look at those sites. I’ve been using the free Avery labels site that works quite well but it would be nice to have more backgrounds etc to get variety. I like the idea of using milk. A good idea. Cleaning old labels off is a pain. Been doing it for years for jars (I keep about 30 beehives) My wife and I clean hundreds of the darn things every year. The labels I used were Avery craft brown labels. As I use so many, I didn’t want to muck around cutting them out from regular paper but with the spirit, it would be OK. I should also mention that we use Oomph grease and stain remover for cleaning up the glue stains on bottles. You can buy it in Bunnings. Works quicker than anything else I’ve tried. (Tried using foreshots and it is OK on some glues but not on others)

Cheers

Les

Thanks for the info on Oomph - I will add that to the shopping list.
The other thing I like about Beerlabelizer is that you can add your own photos to some of the labels. I am about to do some for a 70th Birthday.

Hi Carol,

Just had a look at the beerlabelizer. Really easy to use. Good stuff. Thank you. Much more user friendly than the Avery label maker software. It's really good to be able to pick up bits and pieces of info from people on the site. Just helps with the whole learning process.

Cheers

Les

I use beerlabilizer; simple cheap and effective!

Another tip for glue is olive oil and bicarb - cleaned up some bottles for me beautifully after hot soapy, then alcohol failed..

Olive oil and bicarbonate? What an interesting combo. Will have to give that a go.

Thought I would add a pic of the stainless washer that was added to the underside of the lid on this last run. Put a few botanicals in the vapour path as well as following Odin’s recipe. Angelica root, lavender flower and black pepper were wrapped in some cotton and placed in the column. Used some copper wire to keep the bag in place. Didn’t want to macerate them as I was concerned that these flavours could be overpowering. Initial gin taste is very good but I want to leave it sit until Christmas.