StillSmart

For what it's worth, I'm having a bash at gin as well at the moment, but I'm trying Odin's Gin recipe which I'm sure many here will have experience of. My first litre is sitting on the shelf right now, but in the light of this thread, I'm beginning to wonder how it will turn out.

Recipe is as follows (blatantly copied from where I found it!)

- Take 1 liter of 43% neutral (made from the hearts of a BW, fractionated all bran, etc. fermentation);
- Eat a tangerine and keep the skin;
- Mildly crush 12 grams of juniper berries;
- Mildly crush 3 grams of coriander seeds;
- Add the tangerine skin, the berries and the seeds to the one liter of 43%;
- Let it macerate at room temperature for two weeks;
- After two weeks, filter out the herbs, berries, skins, whatever;
- Distill your one liter of macerated gin in a potstill, do it relatively slowly as in a spirit run;
- Discard the first 10 mls, collect the next 400 mls;
- You will end up with 400 mls at around 70 to 80%;
- Dilute to 45%;
- Give it up to 5 weeks rest in a glass demi-john;
- Drink it!

and I have followed it to the point where it's macerating..

Anybody tried this one?

Sort of.....

My first 2 batches were 12g Juniper and 3g Coriander with other bits but they came out very strong. I think it may be because I have been throwing the whole lot in the still.....berries and all. Odins recipe says distill without. Maybe distilling with the berries and herbs makes the flavours multiply.

I think you may have hit that one on the head - I read Odin's entire thread on the site I found it, and while you can do it the way you have (and I'm going to try that as well) the maceration times people were talking about seem to be a lot lot shorter..

Cheers

Hampk

I've been making gin using Odin's methods for a few years now and so far I have not made a batch I didn't like, even though I was previously not a fan of gin. However, if you are going to distill with the botanicals in the boiler, your maceration should only be several hours, not several days. If you've been macerating for a few days, you should strain out the botanicals before charging the still.

Agreeing with wormwood here re: distilling with botanicals in the boiler.
I have only ever tried Odin's Easy Gin as a recipe,and it is good,from there I go my own way,with a bit of this and a bit of that added.
Some work well, some less so,all drinkable, after learning not to steep longtime and distill everything,which caused me some unpaletable ones.

Robert.

Well, several attempts further on and my education continues. I have 2 batches that are drinkable, and a few others that could only be described as Windowlene, dry cleaning fluid, and something that is probably banned under the Geneva Convention. I tried Chucks method and yes it is drinkable although I am not getting much of the juniper through....I think it needs more. I will put down a few batches to macerate for a while and distill without the bits. I think my impatience is my undoing.

Onwards and upwards.

Loving the Geneva(Genever)Convention bit,it made me smile!
Keep going,the end product is worth it.

Robert.

So this evening my litre of Odin's which has been macerating for the last fortnight was strained and then run through the airstill.

I have to say that the results are extremely pleasing and how we are going to be able to leave the stuff to mature for five weeks I have no idea.

This will be drunk neat over ice - it would be criminal to go near it with a bottle of tonic water!

Cheers

Hampk

That will be my next try....just doing a spirit run now.

I think my days of distilling WITH the botanicals in the brew are over.....way too variable results.

mikew41 wrote:That will be my next try....just doing a spirit run now.

I think my days of distilling WITH the botanicals in the brew are over.....way too variable results.

Goddamn,switching colours on quotes is nearly as dodgy as leaving them alone,and I am supposed to know my around the site.

But my humble advice is to strain botanicals before re-distilling.That has so far given me best results.

Robert.

this is a brillaint recipe - the only diffenrce I make is to add grains of paradise. Without I find the glorious flavours fade after a couple of months.

Hi Guys
Some great Gin recipes out there. Ive been making Gin for over five years nowand think I have thev recipe nailed as good as it gets. thought Im would throwit in here for anyone thats interested.
Vapour Infused Gin.
Crush lightly the following ingredients and place them in the Vapour Path of your still.
4 tablespoons Juniper berries
1 teaspoon corriander seeds
1 green cardamon pod
1 reaspoon liquorice root
4 almonds
1/4 quill of cinnamon
1 single clove
1/4 teaspoon angelica root
1/4teaspoon orris root
Zest of a 1/4 lemon
Add 5 litres of 40% neutral to still.
Distill slowwly chucking the first 50 mils and still down to 95 - 96c you will know when to stop when theres no morw flavour coming over.
Dilute the distillate to 40 - 45% depending on your own preferences
Voila great gin
regards
Runningman

I guess this doesn't do well in an air still then?

Hi Mashy
Im afraid nor
Regards
runningman

Back to Odin for a version that is air still-able is no real loss.

Robert.