Have you ever screwed up?

[Moss]

I have been messing around with our hobby for something like 14 or 15 years now. At one time I was making an insane amount of grog, but after a lot of trouble from the local council & constabulary, I retired for a bit.

When my dad passed, I inherited his air still and have more or less been tinkering ever since.

My first issue was obviously a big, liberty risking screw-up, but on Sunday, I made a minor mistook that had me slapping myself in the face.

I am almost tea-total. I drink the odd fruit cider at special occasions and drink the very odd Courvoisier.

Her indoors is another matter! She does have me to put up with after all. Her Royal Cathness drinks copious amounts of Irish Cream and Coconut Rum - both curtesy of my air still and Alcotec essence.

The coconut rum is consumed in such quantities that I have started buying the essence in bulk - 1 litre makes 50 bottles at £1 each, rather than single bottles at £2 each.

I use a 20ml syringe to measure the essence, so when you get down the bottle a bit, you can’t reach. I simply pour some into a glass and measure from there.

Sunday, I finished the last of a batch of spirit and was cleaning away my gear, without thinking poured best part of half-a-pint of essence straight down the sink face

[Easydrinker]

I admit to some silly wastages of supplies/ingredients, but mine can usually be blamed upon 'operator error', ie. 'Working whilst pissed''!

Robert.

[Mash]

Omg. I would have to have sat down.

buying the essence in bulk

Really? Now I am thinking this is a belated April fool joke?

[Icefever]

I think we all have our moments Moss.. I sometimes slip into the Pillock classification.... or so Mrs Ice says


Ice.

[Moss]

Omg. I would have to have sat down.

buying the essence in bulk

Really? Now I am thinking this is a belated April fool joke?

Buying essence 50 bottles worth at a time is bulk for me!

[Mash]

Where from?

[Moss]

Where from?

Creative winemaking. First class customer service.

[gaza the instructor]

Moss this is payback for that bloody awful Abba joke.
"You can hear the drums from Nandos !!!".

[Moss]

Moss this is payback for that bloody awful Abba joke.
"You can hear the drums from Nandos !!!".

You think that was bad? Better than my normal stuff!

[Pots]

Being a noob i screw up at least once a run. Most annoying one though was chucking away backset I intended to save. I thought to myself I must save this and had a pot ready for it, and promptly tipped it down the sink.

[Mash]

Omg. I would have to have sat down.

buying the essence in bulk

Really? Now I am thinking this is a belated April fool joke?

Buying essence 50 bottles worth at a time is bulk for me!

How did the taste compare to the still spirits essence?

[Moss]

Omg. I would have to have sat down.



Really? Now I am thinking this is a belated April fool joke?

Buying essence 50 bottles worth at a time is bulk for me!

How did the taste compare to the still spirits essence?

Her Royal Cathness likes it at least as much as shop bought. Her favourite Baileys is is made from Prestige essence.
Don’t be thinking that Still Spirits is the gold standard, because it isn’t - there are others just as good.

[Moss]

It appears I have made a mistook.

It is Prestige essence I use, not Alcotec

BEAA0E03-507E-4F1A-B6DD-3D6451D99AE0.jpeg

[Mash]

Don’t be thinking that Still Spirits is the gold standard

I don't... But...
The still spirits dry gin is very good. I mean flavour and cost. £4 (ish) makes 3 bottles. So for the same (ish) cost as prestige you get more product.

[WelshGin]

Wonderful information from you all. Yes my Daughter likes the Prestige cocorum. I will not be showing her the picture above.

I really like tinkering with the SS Gin profile Kit. I did buy previously the Sipsmith's upgrade expensive Gin, I can now replicate it to the extent that my old friend blind tasted both and could not discern the difference. Within the SS recipe book there is a 'White swan recipe' that with slight tinkering really hits the spot.

Also within same kit is a juniper and coriander additive that I use within my macerated fruit gins. Saves adding the Gin.

Yes. I F*** Up regularly, how else do we all learn?

WelshGin.

[Moss]

Moss this is payback for that bloody awful Abba joke.
"You can hear the drums from Nandos !!!".

This better?

526F24BA-A9AC-4A0E-AAEA-90A59084CC86.jpeg

[Easydrinker]

It appears I have made a mistook.

It is Prestige essence I use, not Alcotec
BEAA0E03-507E-4F1A-B6DD-3D6451D99AE0.jpeg

I sometimes buy this size and brand of bottle from Amazon, various flavours, they all seem to impress when given as gifts.
Don't drink much of them myself these days.

Robert.

[Easydrinker]

I have been messing around with our hobby for something like 14 or 15 years now. At one time I was making an insane amount of grog, but after a lot of trouble from the local council & constabulary, I retired for a bit.

When my dad passed, I inherited his air still and have more or less been tinkering ever since.

My first issue was obviously a big, liberty risking screw-up, but on Sunday, I made a minor mistook that had me slapping myself in the face.

I am almost tea-total. I drink the odd fruit cider at special occasions and drink the very odd Courvoisier.

Her indoors is another matter! She does have me to put up with after all. Her Royal Cathness drinks copious amounts of Irish Cream and Coconut Rum - both curtesy of my air still and Alcotec essence.

The coconut rum is consumed in such quantities that I have started buying the essence in bulk - 1 litre makes 50 bottles at £1 each, rather than single bottles at £2 each.

I use a 20ml syringe to measure the essence, so when you get down the bottle a bit, you can’t reach. I simply pour some into a glass and measure from there.

Sunday, I finished the last of a batch of spirit and was cleaning away my gear, without thinking poured best part of half-a-pint of essence straight down the sink face

My biggest mistake,( I think), was acidentally breaking a glass container of 14 litres of cask strength smoked all grain whisky, which had taken awhile to produce.
Tonights boo-boo, simply dropping a full bottle of home made red wine pales into insignificance.
But that has prompted me to re-visit the beetroot wine that I made last October.
Not half bad/good.
Silver linings...

Robert.

[Mash]

Many moons again I had a tamijohn break in half in my hands. 54 litres on vino got free. Managed to save 1/2... Bugger.

I do fancy doing beetroot wine. Thank you for the reminder... To set more seeds.

Oh and more recently I had snail beer.

[Jennysgin]

Oh and more recently I had snail beer.

Seriously?! That sounds..... interesting?

[Mash]

Interesting isn't the word either

Mashed, boiled, fermented, got to bottling and there was a bubble on the surface. Hmm. Never mind.
Finished bottling and while cleaning down discovered snail in the bottom.

HTF did he get in there. It is a sealed container with a stainless lid. Puzzled over it for a few weeks.

Only on the next brew, did I discover a dried snail circle mark on the inside of my steam extractor - must have fallen in during boil.

[Jennysgin]

And there I was thinking that you were just taking "hedgerow" to extremes!

[Mash]

It's not clearing, but drinkable.

[Pots]

Resurrecting this because I have something I’d like to add that I didn’t initially but could help the newbies out.

I keep an ‘honesty’ sheet.

When I screw up, do something stupid, forget something, or just go full Dunning-Kruger…

I add it to the sheet. I find it helpful to look at before I try something new as a sort of cue to stop, step back, and think for a second. Plus I’m a great believer in owning my mistakes and learning from them, this is a great way (for me) of avoiding making a mistake again because it’s the way I did it last time!

[Jennysgin]

I like this Pots
I'd also go a step further. I find it helpful to share mistakes with others as well as it will hopefully avoid several people making the same mistake before it filters through. This is especially helpful at work! I recently took a bus of children to entirely the wrong sports centre as I'd assumed it was the same place as previous years. Apparently not! Thankfully they coped with the change quite well...