Aussiedistiller, Home Distilling, Moonshine, Home Brew

$11.50

Sorry all I seen was 10g :oops: :oops: :scared-eek:
Guess I’m off to coles in the morning :O)

after having a look through an SA gin manufacturer on the weekend, and doing the make your own gin.

they purchase neutral in bulk
Citrus seems to be very overpowering and gives the sharp bite in the front of the mouth (use very little)
things like pepper and such are back of mouth feel

Mix your herbs in
for 500ml bottle
Starting mix was 12g of juniper, 3 grams coriander seed

add in what you want from there. crush up small amounts and add it to a hops bag. keep smelling it until you get the mix you want. Rely on your smell for what you want.

start with the front of your mouth items such as citrus and work back to the pepper etc

They use a 200l boiler, 6 plate 6 inch. gin basket up the top as well.

There is no presoaking. They tie the bag of botanicals into the boiler and start heating. Small tastes as they go through and use a gin basket at the top to add extra flavours if needed.

The Stig wrote:Be gentle with me 8-}
I am about to try my hand at gin.
I will be using a turbo boiler and pot so maceration is the name of the game here.
I have my botanicals (thanks Bluc)
I have all the gear needed (thanks 5 Star)
What I cant get around is the amount of time needed for maceration ?
All I want to do is small batch to get flavours right before going to a Carter Head, using the turbo boiler will let me do 2lt at a time to get a feel.
So, do I macerate in the boiler?
Or in a 5lt demi then strain into the boiler?
Do I distill with botanicals in the boiler ?
How long to macerate ? I have read everything from 2 days to 3 weeks ~x(
Thanks in advance guys and gals :handgestures-thumbupleft:

i got my missing gin basket bits that got left out on the 1st delivery so i'm armed with a whole lot of theory for my 1st gin.
in the 14 week wait i have totally changed my thoughts.
from total vapour infused - nope
maceration yes, with citrus taken out for distillation and put into gin basket.
maceration for weeks?, probably only if are going to strain before adding to boiler.
the guys i read only macerate overnight, one of them just throws his his botanicals in when warming the still up!
their point being that the botanicals in the hot boiler extracts so much flavour as opposed to gin baskets.(hence taking citrus out).
their other point is, what can go wrong, if you find the flavour too strong, simply add more neutral.
louching is not bad, means you got everything out, adjust with neutral.
scorching is obviously a consideration, juniper and coriander straight in, the rest (leafy stuff) hanging in the charge in a hop bag(?) or similar.
this is only theory from me at the moment, but i have just finished re-reading a 33 page thread on gin.
hope this helps and good luck, i'll be joining you on the gin journey soon.
i have a 'small' amount of rum wash was to deal with at the moment, gin is very next on the list.

Hi Stig

Have a read of my Odin’s Gin thread. Really happy with the product that comes off the pot. So simple to run and the gin is a lovely, refreshing summer drink. Have used both TPW and TFFV for neutral with the latter being the better choice. The amount of citrus peel can be reduced slightly as the quantity of neutral used is increased. (Eg for a 5l run, citrus can be reduced to 4 or 4.5 pieces of orange or mandarine with the zest removed. That really comes down to your own taste preferences) As many have already said, remove the peel before distilling. I was going to say “good luck with it” but I’d be wasting my time. If you follow Odin’s recipe as a starting point, it really is fool proof.

Cheers

Les

Lesgold wrote:Hi Stig

Have a read of my Odin’s Gin thread. Really happy with the product that comes off the pot. So simple to run and the gin is a lovely, refreshing summer drink. Have used both TPW and TFFV for neutral with the latter being the better choice. The amount of citrus peel can be reduced slightly as the quantity of neutral used is increased. (Eg for a 5l run, citrus can be reduced to 4 or 4.5 pieces of orange or mandarine with the zest removed.

Cheers

Les

i noticed in that thread that the recommended amount of zest was 1gm/litre.
or the skin off a whole mandarin in 1 litre of neutral if macerating for weeks.
.
did your gin change it's flavour much over the resting period?

Hi Howard,
The initial citrus flavour was quite strong but it did settle down a bit over the first month or so. Being a basic recipe with only 3 ingredients, adjusting quantities slightly to suit your own taste becomes a simple task. Odin’s recipe is a cracker straight out of the box and requires no modification to give a good result. I’ve only tweaked it slightly to suit my gin snob daughters taste buds.

Lesgold wrote:Hi Howard,
The initial citrus flavour was quite strong but it did settle down a bit over the first month or so. Being a basic recipe with only 3 ingredients, adjusting quantities slightly to suit your own taste becomes a simple task. Odin’s recipe is a cracker straight out of the box and requires no modification to give a good result. I’ve only tweaked it slightly to suit my gin snob daughters taste buds.

yep, i think i will be trying odin's first, sounds bullet proof.
there is a good formula in that thread as a guide, for the ratios of adding extra botanicals to the basics.
i bought the whole range of botanicals, but i will be starting with only the 3 now. :mad:
grains of paradise works out at $750 a kilo, i'm in the wrong business :D
i'm sure they will all get used eventually.

How do you convert a recipe (like Odins) that calls for maceration into an amount of botanicals to load into the Carter head? Doc also mentions that you should be changing the basket every 25 mins.
I have run a few gin recipes through the turbo boiler with the alembic dome and they have worked well.

Am intending to run 40L of neutral spirt through the Carter head this weekend but need some help ;-)

May just have to suck it and see, worst case it tastes terrible and will need to run it through the neutraliser again.

Anyone have any experience converting recipes?

Cheers

HG

hgwells wrote:How do you convert a recipe (like Odins) that calls for maceration into an amount of botanicals to load into the Carter head? Doc also mentions that you should be changing the basket every 25 mins.
I have run a few gin recipes through the turbo boiler with the alembic dome and they have worked well.

Am intending to run 40L of neutral spirt through the Carter head this weekend but need some help ;-)

May just have to suck it and see, worst case it tastes terrible and will need to run it through the neutraliser again.

Anyone have any experience converting recipes?

Cheers

HG

there is a gin recipe on here called 'great gin by blond chap'
i think that is for running through a gin basket, so you might be able to compare ingredients.

:handgestures-thumbupleft:

howard wrote:

hgwells wrote:How do you convert a recipe (like Odins) that calls for maceration into an amount of botanicals to load into the Carter head? Doc also mentions that you should be changing the basket every 25 mins.
I have run a few gin recipes through the turbo boiler with the alembic dome and they have worked well.

Am intending to run 40L of neutral spirt through the Carter head this weekend but need some help ;-)

May just have to suck it and see, worst case it tastes terrible and will need to run it through the neutraliser again.

Anyone have any experience converting recipes?

Cheers

HG

there is a gin recipe on here called 'great gin by blond chap'
i think that is for running through a gin basket, so you might be able to compare ingredients.

So, heres my starting point. I may have time this weekend or next.
Please critique before I go head long down this slippery slide.
Note I have no lemon or lime zest in here at the moment, that may change in time
Cheers

The Stigs Great Gin Starting Point

2 lt of 45%

20 grams Juniper
5 grams Coriander
2.5 grams Cassia
2 grams Angelica
2 grams Orris Root
1.5 grams Lemon Myrtle

Crush berries.
Soak for 24 hours
Water back to 40%
Run through pot still, botanicals in boiler

this is formula mentioned a couple of times, odin among them.......
"The total amount of botanicals used is about 20-35 grams/litre. If we take the dominant botanical juniper as 'x', the proportions of the botanicals used is:
x = juniper
x/2 = coriander
x/10 = angelica, cassia, cinnamon, liquorice, bitter almonds, grains of paradise, cubeb berries
x/100 = bitter & sweet orange peel, lemon peel, ginger, orris root, cardamon, nutmeg, savory, calamus, chamomile.
If we use x = 20g then x/2 = 10g, x/10 = 2g, x/100 = 0.2g (200mg) "

so your list
20gms juniper base
10gms coriander
2gms cassia
2gms angelica
0.2gms orris
lemon murtle ?
that would get you 34.2gms(+murtle)
so it's just in the range of 20-35gms, but only enough for 1 litre.
so your orris looks too much and too little coriander.
but i've not seen your orris close up :))

The Stig wrote:So, heres my starting point. I may have time this weekend or next.
Please critique before I go head long down this slippery slide.
Note I have no lemon or lime zest in here at the moment, that may change in time
Cheers

The Stigs Great Gin Starting Point

2 lt of 45%

20 grams Juniper
5 grams Coriander
2.5 grams Cassia
2 grams Angelica
2 grams Orris Root
1.5 grams Lemon Myrtle

Crush berries.
Soak for 24 hours
Water back to 40%
Run through pot still, botanicals in boiler

I'd cut out either the Angelica or the Orris. They're mainly there as a fixative. No need to have both. Orris won't add any noticeable flavour but Angelica will add some sweetness or front of mouth.
I noticed you don't have any citrus peel and I don't think the lemon myrtle will serve as a substitute, it will just add some bitterness.
The cassia will give you some back of mouth. If you're planning to mix with tonic be careful you don't use too much or it may be overpowering. Otherwise it's good as a sipper or with soda.

Method is OK but I'd just lightly crush all the botanicals and soak all for 24 hours at 45% then dilute to 30% before you run it.
Running at 40% will give you a slightly dryer gin, also if you run at 30% you'll be able pick when it starts tasting "tailsy" off the still easier, especially if you leave the cassia in there

Oh and don't forget to toss the 1st 10mL of bitter juniper oils, it should come out cloudy

How did your gin turn out Stig?

I'm putting one down now and realised that I only have ground coriander powder, not whole seeds. Odin's recipe calls for 'mildly crushed' seeds, and I'm wondering if the fine powder might impart a different/unwanted flavour
Anyone had any experience with the fine powder?

WhiskeySour wrote:How did your gin turn out Stig?

I'm putting one down now and realised that I only have ground coriander powder, not whole seeds. Odin's recipe calls for 'mildly crushed' seeds, and I'm wondering if the fine powder might impart a different/unwanted flavour
Anyone had any experience with the fine powder?

in the interests of science, i have just chewed on a seed and popped a bit of freshly opened powder :smile:
very similar, but the seed has some fresh aromas and taste that is missing in the ground.

it may be worth getting some seeds.
especially as it's one of only 3 ingredients.

Haha great commitment Howard, appreciate the experiment

I was thinking the same thing, with only 3 ingredients it will be obvious if something is missing / too much. Couldn't find any seeds at Woolies and I'm away for work for a couple days so relying on wifey to track some down, thought I could avoid some argument if she could just put in what is already in the kitchen

TBH i had trouble sourcing them as well
ended up going into an Indian grocery store.
but now i have 1 kilo of seeds :roll:

I get mine from Woolies. Normally a stock item.

WhiskeySour wrote:How did your gin turn out Stig?

I'm putting one down now and realised that I only have ground coriander powder, not whole seeds. Odin's recipe calls for 'mildly crushed' seeds, and I'm wondering if the fine powder might impart a different/unwanted flavour
Anyone had any experience with the fine powder?

Try austral herbs:

https://www.australherbs.com.au/?rf=kw&kw=Coriander