StillSmart

So with the pot head for my T500 being built this weekend, I feel it's only right I start planning my first gin.

From what I've read, please correct,

Get a wash on, strip and spirit run then make cuts to get hearts.

I plan on then using the pot head with the botanicals in the vapour path, I'll construct some sort of gin basket to sit in the bottom of my pot head. Suggestions are welcome on how to build.

The hearts go into the boiler and watered down to 30%ish and ran, does this need to be as slow as the spirt run?

Now from this everything should be drinkable, i.e. No heads. I want to collect all samples like I would in a spirit run and mix them at the end and water down to drinking strength.

Anyone have a good recepie to start with? Something simple but can be easily tweaked. Or advice on planning a recepie?

Where is the best place to get the botanicals?


I'm sure I'll think of some other question and thanks in advance for the reply.

Read through the "sputnik" recipes. They are all basket recipes and scalable.

If you have a look in the recipes section
there are some goodies.
You could use Odins method and masurate your
botanicals.
You could possibly hang a basket from the
big stainless nut on the end of the condenser
with a chain.
You need to channel the vapour thru your basket
or you will have no infusion.
Ebay good place for bots, Juniper and coriander
make up about 80% the total.

gaza the instructor wrote:You could possibly hang a basket from the
big stainless nut on the end of the condenser
with a chain.

The trick is to minimise the gap where vapour can bypass the botanicals.

Never done it myself but I have read the commercial guys put the basket at the top of the column.

Mash wrote:The trick is to minimise the gap where vapour can bypass the botanicals.

[/quote]
--------------------------
I agree with this, most likely to be more repeatable.
You are correct with a boiler charged with cut spirit everything should be drinkable, but I would start off real slow a few drips a second, and toss the first shot glass full, the reason being there are some oils that come off from the juniper and especially if you have used fresh citrus peel, it will cause your gin to go cloudy when watered down with tonic.

Here are my 2 gin baskets, small and large






I'm really enjoying making macerated gins right now, so the big-un hasn't had much use of late

That is quality... love it

Chipping in here, merely to reinforce the "throw a bit away".
Mine is used for fire lighting, so not even wasted.

Robert.

Great Thread, I have just posted that someone I was speaking to on another forum says that he strips out some of the saddles on hos turbo 500 and puts a kind of tea bag stuffed with botanicals in...think it would work guys?

Easydrinker wrote:Chipping in here, merely to reinforce the "throw a bit away".
Mine is used for fire lighting, so not even wasted.

Robert.

I throw mine into a glass and add a bit of tonic, just to remind myself why it's not going in the gin, it goes milky like absinthe, and tastes very piney, not nasty, but not refined either.