just want advice

[MARBAKER]

can anybody tell me when you mix any essence with the base packs to cold alcohol does it affect the mix. ie clowdy.many thanks mark

[MrCat]

I\'ve done a few different base packs/essences and they\'ve not turned out cloudy.
However I have had cloudy spirit but it came from the water I was using to cut the spirit back to 40% and not from the spirit.
I filter the water that I use to mix with the spirits to get 40% abv. I normally filter a couple a gallons at a time, use some and store the extra filtered water in glass demijohns for the next time I need some.
I filtered the last batch of water, used some and put some to one side like normal. A couple of weeks later I looked at the water and it looked like there was a cloud (seriously) half way up the demijohn so I gave the demijohn a good shake. The entire gallon of water then took on a hazy white apperance. I checked the spirits that I had cut to 40% but hadn\'t put essence in and the same cloud was evident. I gave the bottle a good shake and the whole bottle went slightly cloudy.
I just ran the spirit through 5 stacked coffee filters and it filtered the haze out leaving a nice clear bright spirit.

[hic52]

I had that happen twice and couldn\'t track it down, once when i had stored the base in a really cold place and another time after adding as MrCat says, was never sure why, maybe something in the water or the water was too cold, not sure.

Now I usually filter the water for knock back and my base spirit goes through an essencia filter.
Although it all tasted ok.
Hope that helps - only worry if its happening all the time!

[MARBAKER]

thanks hic52 iv sorted it now simple its the base pack that reacts with the essance,so what you do is use normal granulated sugar if it says use base pack A which is 220 grams,instead use 110 grams of granulated sugar (half ) desolved in 200 mils of warm water.mix well untill completely desolved and clear,then add that to your alcohol then add the essance,you can\'t tell the difference.i wont be useing the base packs again,iv done it with the amerreto as well,look at the money you save,the base packs are between £1.65 and £2.80,granulated sugar about 10p and 20p....