MaKa wrote:There is no simple answer to your question. Broadly you can either macerate your botanicals or vapour infuse them. The answer mostly depends on your preferred style of gin and the botanicals that you are using.
Macerated Gins
In my opinion this generates a much more flavoursome gin that is packed with oils. In this technique there are again a couple of ways of making it. You can either macerate for 12-24 hour and then add the botanicals to your boiler and distill the macerated liquid or you can macerate for about 2 weeks, filter off the botanicals and distill the filtered spirit. Too many botanicals in your macerated alcohol and you end up with louching in your final product.
Vapour infusion
This sort of gin doesn't run the same risk of louching as you may risk with a macerated gin but also results in a lighter flavoured gin.
The answer is not as black and white as you may want and the only way to determine what suits you is to experiment. It really land somewhere in the middle where you can use a combination of the two techniques.
I personally macerate for about 23 hours and then add some of the more delicate botanicals to the vapour path. Things in the vapour path include florals, sometimes you can put your citrus there etc.
A final note is if you are adding botanicals to the boiler you need to be careful they do not touch your heat source and scorch. I hand my botanicals in a hop bag when they are in the boiler
Excellent advice,
I've made gin in many different ways, the last being botanicals in a cheesecloth in the boiler along with the gin basket in the vapour path. Fist bottling there was a very subtle juniper presence, now after two weeks there is a full blown juniper when you uncork the bottle. I guess it comes down to the way you like to make it and have the most fun in doing so, there are many ways to skin cats, but I would never do that, they keep your feet warm. :laughing-rolling: