Aussiedistiller, Home Distilling, Moonshine, Home Brew

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 usually macerate overnight (12-24 hours) and distill with the herbs in the boiler.

I don't think it matters what you macerate in as long as it's sealed. I use my boiler and clamp a cap on the still mount.

Be careful with citrus zest, it can be a bit overpowering if left in the boiler when distilling.

:text-+1: on everything proffesor said. I am very much a newbie too only just doing my 3rd batch yesterday.. :handgestures-thumbupleft:

I macerate in 70% neutral overnight (around 12-18 hours) in my 10L stockpot. Add more water to bring ABV down to 35%. I remove any citrus peel, then distill using the same pot.

Thanks guys.
So is maceration at higher ABV recommended ?
That’s another confusing area, some say 40% others say 90% and then everything between.

Odin the master of gin says 50% ABV for 12 -18 hours :handgestures-thumbupleft:

Sweet too easy , thanks Sam.
I’m going to aim for a nice refreshing gin similar to Sunny Hills world famous world beating perfection :music-deathmetal:

I would say don't macerate on your recipe development runs, and if you feel the need to intensify/get slightly more out of a particular flavour then look to macerate the botanical. 99% of the commercially available gins i've worked to develop on behalf of other people have no maceration, just straight into the pot when you load it to run.

BSC_Kilby wrote:I would say don't macerate on your recipe development runs, and if you feel the need to intensify/get slightly more out of a particular flavour then look to macerate the botanical. 99% of the commercially available gins i've worked to develop on behalf of other people have no maceration, just straight into the pot when you load it to run.

Probably because they have no intent of macerating the botanicals to pump it out quicker

For any first timer trying their hand at gin I'd thoroughly recommend forgetting everything else you read online and following Odin's Easy Gin. This will give you a good foundation where you can then add botanicals according to taste and the recipe you want to develop.

I've done it in a T500 boiler with the over-priced alembic pot from the HBS many times and it comes out great. Just make sure you pull the citrus peel out before you distill it (or distill with much less of it in the boiler)

How did you go stig? Mine came out good will let it sit few weeks for flavours to settle :handgestures-thumbupleft:

Haven’t had time , things got hectic yesterday .
Oh and the botanicals arrived minus the coriander seed so need to find them next week.
I’ll probably start soaking Thursday with a view to run Saturday

I get coriander seed at Coles. https://shop.coles.com.au/a/national/pr ... nder-whole

ThAt works out to $28.25 for 250g and the place I was getting it from was only $13/250g

Hit up an Asian/Indian grocery if you're desperate. They probably won't be as fresh as from somewhere like Austral Herbs but will still do the job.

The Stig wrote:Haven’t had time , things got hectic yesterday .
Oh and the botanicals arrived minus the coriander seed so need to find them next week.
I’ll probably start soaking Thursday with a view to run Saturday

Sweet :handgestures-thumbupleft:

Eh Stig if you need some herbs for your gin run just holler mate and I can send some up, SWMBO is a garden guru with herbs and over the years I've very nicely ^:)^ to grow some for me. She recently got some angelica plants as I did ask bery nicely and it won't take too long for them to goto seed either. Now licorice root is one herb you really to put in and I have kilo's of it sitting here as it has become a weed in the vege patch. I get asked everytime I'm in the vege patch to pull up some licorice roots and man by the time I get them up they are 6' long or longer. I also have a heap in my shed just hanging around if I feel inclined to go go crush some in my corona mill and to cut the roots up I just use a paper guillotine I scored at the local auction for $5 :happy-partydance:

Cheers Bryan

Thanks for the offer Bryan, I might hit you up later for some licorice and Angelica .
Cheers

this excites me allowing to following when I get my arse into gear.

The Stig wrote:ThAt works out to $28.25 for 250g and the place I was getting it from was only $13/250g

Something wrong with ya maths Stig. $1.15 for 25g would work out to be $11.50 for 250g