StillSmart

Thanks guy's. Time to experiment!

Gin has to be one of the easiest experiments,and virtually every result is drink-able!

Robert.

oh yes. It's so good. The next thing you will need is a recipe for tonic.

I think it worth keeping a bottle of each run. Good for comparison but also they do change with time.

Okay. Im about to start a run. One question...

I dont filter after my first stripping run, but I do filter after my second. Should I still do this if I'm adding the Gin ingredients on the second run?

Only if you want to filter out the gin taste! I filter after the second run, then run that a third time to make gin.

+ 1 with chill here,carbon filtering at 45% after the second distillation.

Robert.

Well what can I say? Done my first batch... Its way better than the Spirit essence!

Only mistake I made was I miss-read it and put 3 grams of peppercorns in (around 20 of them!) where I think it states just 3 peppercorns in total. Still very nice though. Wont be going back to the little bottles now.


Cheers guys.

Yes, that might be a bit peppery but that could be an interesting gin. Also go easy on any cloves or cinnamon you might use - a little goes a long way.

Now - experiment! And enjoy! There is a whole world of gin possibilities out there.
http://www.seriouseats.com/2015/01/gin- ... eview.html

I have a bottle of Gordon's Dry London Gin I won at a school fair, I decided to try it tonight so I went and bought some Indian tonic water.

About half way through my glass I decide it was absolutely vile shit, I still finished the glass though

After a beer I decided to give it another go, I had another couple of glasses and actually thought it was alright in the end, just needs to be a little sweeter and or spicier for my liking, anyone ever sweetened it a little? Or is it better to spice it a bit if you don't like it so dry?

Having read this post and knowing what I know, I would defiantly use filtered neutral or vodka as a base spirit, I think that would bring out the best flavours without having to worry about any cuts, in fact I think that's how many small scale Gin makers go about there business, it's much easier to buy in neutral spirit and obtain a rectifiers licence than a distillers licence.

Anavrin wrote: I think that's how many small scale Gin makers go about there business, it's much easier to buy in neutral spirit and obtain a rectifiers licence than a distillers licence.

It is also a popular practice in commercial vodka.

Mashy wrote:It is also a popular practice in commercial vodka.

Having delivered IBC's full of 95.6% NGS, I can confirm that this.....

Of course. Cripes that must be a tough job!
I bet you never get any returns :-)

Done a second run and after a bit of internet searching decided to experiment...
I think Ive got what I would accept as a London Dry Gin taste using this...

Twice distilled filtered spirit @ 30%
Slice off the end of a lemon (the actual end of the lemon cut at the thickness of a slice)
5g Juniper berries
1tsp Coriander seeds
1/4 tsp fennel seeds
1 pepper corn
2 green cardamom pods

Hoyed it all in me air still and fired it up.

Comes out like a poor mans Bombay Sapphire. Nice and bright with sharp & crisp undertones.

3 bottles of very nice gin to compliment the other three with a different but equally nice flavour and all at around 2p for the lot!

There will be no stopping me now!

How many litres of spirit @30% do you use? Do you crush or grind the botanicals? Do you macerate them in the spirit for distilling? If so how long? All of these are variables.

Chuck

I do a strip run, water down to 30% then follow AidanMac's method for the second run and water down to 30% again.

Then for the gin run I put 4 litres (@30%) in my smart still with all the ingredients not crushed or Macerated - Just thrown in - and fired it up. Collected as per AidanMac's method again and watered down to 40% Yield = exactly 3 bottles.

Probably amateurish compared to the experts on here but is turned out very good.

I did the above for both recipes. Both different but v nice.