StillSmart

Hi everyone out there, and (belated) Happy New Year.

Got my first still late last year (just starting out using an AirStill - didn't want to lash out on expensive kit until I was sure - Oh, and I am now ) and have been looking at the various threads. All really interesting stuff, and I'm pleased to announce that today is Year zero for a Sputnik setup in the North Pennines!

Have found a few threads on flavouring gin, but wondered if anyone has experimented with using bases other than neutral spirits?

Cheers All

Welcome aboard.
The air still and the sputty will not disappoint.

Nuetral based spirits are popular because they are easy and clean.

The only other base I have used is carbon filtered failed gin on a second run. That works.

bases other than neutral spirits?

For Gin, I don't believe they exist, these days.

Robert.

Hi & welcome to the forum, I'm not a gin man myself so I'll leave that to those that are.

When you think about it tho....you need a neutral because you want the taste/flavour of the botanical to shine through...don't ya????

I'm a grog man and I think..nay know..if I used that as a base it would be bloody awful??

Technically I guess everything (grain, cane, beet or grape) is nuetral unless depending on your choice of stillin.

Thanks guys.
probably makes sense for neutral on Gin - will stick with it I guess.
Thinking about Rum / Whisky though - anything that really works when I don't have the space or time for 5,6,7,8 or more years of ageing? I may have missed a thread, but anything that more or less works - oak chips, spirals etc.?
Cheers All

Search in the top right hand corner for "nuke" or "nuking"

JD in minutes.

Ageing on oak, using JD chips and barrel staves has SO been discussed here.
Along with "nuking"
Search box,Top right of the page.
Help yourself.
YOU can be drinking wonderful homemade spirit tomorrow.
Why should I dig out the link for you?
Read some shit and learn some stuff.

Robert.

Off to investigate now - thanks for sharing the term "nuking" - CHeers all

No worries. Anyways seems harsh to reply "search for nn" but there really is a lot about this - enjoy.

Harsh? Maybe.
But I am taking Bastard lessons from an American forum.
The current kitten stuff is my alter ego.
My brain is fighting itself.

Robert.

Lol. Thank you.
Fires lit. Kettles on it.
First giggle of the day.

I am set.

FinnCo wrote:Have found a few threads on flavouring gin, but wondered if anyone has experimented with using bases other than neutral spirits?

Cheers All

Are you thinking of Genever?

It is the main non-neutral based gin that I can think of. Basically a whisky base. There are a few gins that use a fruit based spirit but I believe they are all "nearly neutral" by the time they are used.

All I can contribute here is that around the early 1800's, most whisky distilled in Scotland was shipped, un-aged, to England to be rectified into gin.
The rectification will have tidied them up a little and no barrel aging will have kept them green (not Oaked).
If I ever get a surplus of green spirit, I will try it, and report back.
Don't hold your breath.

Robert.