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Offline liquidmusic42  
#1 Posted : Tuesday, April 14, 2009 2:30:19 PM(UTC)
liquidmusic42


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"Hello, all. I'm new to the forum here, and I'm curious if anyone has experience making gin? I've been going over the readings I've found on homedistiller.org and some other places, but I still have a few questions.

I have an Essential Extractor II with which I've done a sugar wash which I did a stripping run on, and then distilled in refulx to about 92%. A couple of thing s I'm considering:

- The distillate still has plenty of flavor from the sugar--I kind of like it, but I don't really want it to color the gin, because it's kind of sweet tasting. It's not intense, but it's definitely not neutral. Do you think I should carbon filter it first, re-distill first, or will running with the herbs clean it up enough?

- I'm thinking I'll go for the cotton satchel route, with the herbs suspended either right at the beginning of the head, since it's got the screen there which would be handy for suspension. Above that I'll keep some copper scrubbers in. Or should I go scrubbers first, and satchel right at the top of the head?

- Also, it seems that I could instead macerate and then re-distill. Or maybe both maceration and then re-distill through herbs, maybe with different herbs in each part of the process. This sounds like a huge amount of experimentation, though...

- Residues? If I macerate, or keep the herbs right in the liquid while distilling, would that taint the still with the oils from the herbs? Could this be cleaned? Could I clean the still, but then replace the scrubbers for other uses? This point is of greatest concern to me, as mostly I'm going for whiskey in the still, and I want to be sure that I can clean everything well enough. I don't see a lot of information on this.

If anyone has any experience with this, any info would be much appreciated.

Thanks in advance for any ideas/comments!"
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Offline BarrysHomebrew  
#2 Posted : Wednesday, May 06, 2009 5:48:02 AM(UTC)
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"I made a fantastic gin last weekend! I figure I should share.

We started with a dextrose wash. 1.130 OG with lalvin Ec-1118 yeast and some fermax nutrient/energizer.

We added some heads and tails from the last batch, but I don't think that is a significant point.

We packed our EEII with copper mesh through the whole portion of the first column and had just one copper wad near the condenser and then a cheesecloth bag stuffed with flavour and then another copper wad to hold it in place.

The cheesecloth had 1 oz of dried junniper berries, 1/2 oz of dried sweet orange peal and 1/2 oz of corriander seeds.

We pulled close to a full gallon of 92% from a 5 gal wash. The first runs were incredible and the flavour did not start to diminish until we got to about 3/4 of a gallon, and even then it just might have been us ""over sampling"" our wares. We watered back with walmart distilled water to 100 proof and had just short of a gallon by days end.BigGrin

The reason we put the fruit at the top was just this: Since we were using dried fruits (brewers garden brand available at your local homebrew store), I did not want any water to rehydrate the fruit and figured the higher up the column, the less water and congeners would pass my flavouring agents. I know this is a hotly contested practice and every distiller will swear by his own method, but I almost broke my arm patting myself on the back with my very successful first run.

Next time we will go lighter on the juniper and pack with rose hips and cumber peels.
I LOVE this hobby!"
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Offline BarrysHomebrew  
#3 Posted : Wednesday, May 06, 2009 6:10:10 AM(UTC)
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Just read a PM from mtnwalker2 which is good advice. After making gin, wash very thoroughly the still and all the copper wadding. I just set my copper in a light vinegar solution and will be very clean for the next use. I don't want gin flavours in my whiskey this weekend. I'll post about that when we are done.
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Offline liquidmusic42  
#4 Posted : Wednesday, May 06, 2009 7:15:56 AM(UTC)
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I forgot to post my results. I ran in a similar way, but packed the column just about full, with a cheesecloth satchel wrapped with herbs from this recipe I found on the homedistiller page on gin:

Quote:
Gin botanicals for 20L turbo-sugar wash/ Reflux column

* juniper berry - flat Tbsp
* coriander - flat tsp
* cloves - 1/2 dozen
* anise - 1/2 tsp
* fennell - flat tsp
* cardamom - 1/2 tsp
* lemon - 1" rind
* lime - 1" rind
* cassia / cinnamon stick - 3/4" fragment


My source material was from a turbo sugar wash, I had a bit less than half gallon of 92% abv, which I diluted with reverse osmosis filter water (which they now have instead of distilled at the store by my house) to 30%.

And that's, I think, where my problem was... The turbo sugar "neutral" tasted strongly of sugar. I figured it should clean up running in reflux, and I pulled at 94% for most of the run. At the end, though, the overpowering flavor was still of the sugar wash itself.

The botanicals came through nicely, though I'll probably put them lower down in the column. Someone on the homedistiller forums warned against a cotton bag for safety, concerned that the botanicals would mush up and melt into the column, causing blockage and pressure build up. However, my botanicals were all still quite whole after the several hour run, so I'm not terribly concerned about that.

Despite the herbal flavour, it tasted like sugar, which destroyed it. I should have carbon polished the neutral before running it. Instead, I put it on carbon and shook it every now and then, at 50%, and now most flavor is gone. It's got a bit of juniper, and more importantly, none of the sugar flavor.

I'm going to run it again, but this time I'm going to try macerating. At some point, I'm going to do two equivalent batches to compare flavors.

Rose hips and cucumber, eh? I've been planning that as well, and will be picking me up a bottle of Hendricks for comparison purposes.

As for the cleaning, yeah, I soaked my scrubbers in citric acid, and a good cleaning of the column got all the smell out.
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Offline Mark83  
#5 Posted : Tuesday, May 19, 2009 4:21:29 PM(UTC)
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I can't wait until my sugar wash finishes fermenting. I so want to enjoy this hobby also. I am one week new to this hobby
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Offline GinGinGin  
#6 Posted : Friday, June 05, 2009 5:22:56 PM(UTC)
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"You can clean system pretty well, even the condenser. The brew supply store on clement has a small brush, I use to live in SF. :)

I also make Gin. I have found that making a concentrate gin flavor is a good way to prefect recipes. I have made over 10 variations till I found one I liked. At first I used the tea bag method to make the concentrates them mixed it into neutral base, or whatever you want to call a neural base. The other issue you have to tackle is what strength to make the flavor. At first I make it too strong and it caused it to burn when drinking and after cutting the flavor down it got better. Also you need to determine what proof to make the alcohol, I have found Gin rum from 80 to 110 proof.

I small batched mine in 375mL bottles and got people to try it.

Some other question I played around was did I want a gin for martinis or gin and tonic? Also do you want it to be really botanical or juniper (Pine) flavored?

Also I used weights instead of tsp?"
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Offline mroe  
#7 Posted : Friday, July 24, 2009 2:31:43 PM(UTC)
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I have a reflux still, can I put the ingredients in the with the copper mess jar and have it do the same thing?
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Offline GinGinGin  
#8 Posted : Sunday, July 26, 2009 6:43:30 PM(UTC)
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"Sound like you talking about a thumper. There are two reason I first distill the alcohol then I flavor it. One, I can polish the neutral base to remove the odor from the vitamin B, or whatever that smell (wet cardboard) is caused by. Second it gave me the ability to adjust the flavor in the bottle. If the flavor is too strong it will be harsh for the drinker. At first my flavor was too strong. I now only owe half the flavor per bottle.
Also it give you a little flexablity, since I have neutral base I can also make special request for people with out having to do another run.
Fo you orginal question I have not used a thumper but some still use them so they must work. I would also have a concern that it may turn your gin yellow, same as the tea bag as the thumper would not redistill it. Let us know how it goes."
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