My First GIN

Many like to post about a first successful ferment (or first all grain mash), or first still built/bought or first good run of the still. Tell us about all of these great times here.
Pics are VERY welcome, we drool over pretty copper 8)

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Gsprod
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My First GIN

Post by Gsprod »

Hi every one,

I'm planning to distill a GIN.
I have a 2 pot distiller (see picture) ,
The plan so fare is Im going to use the following :

5 liters (1.3 US Gallon) of spirytus 96% (192 proof in the US- see picture)
In the Vapour Pipe
Juniper 175g (35g x5)
coriander 25g (5g x5)
liquorice branch 5g
a bit of lemon zest (fresh)

the questions are :
1) redistilling spirytus 96% (192 proof in the US) is that ok.. Or should I avoid it ?
2) are the quantity of Juniper/corander//etc good for 5 liter of spirytus 96% ?
3) do you guys have a recepe to use with Vapour Pipes (not infussed in the alcohol)

Many thanks,

GSProd
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markieb
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Re: My First GIN

Post by markieb »

please tell me your going to water that down first and foremost!!!!!!! distilling alcohol above 40% can cause problematic situations such as exploding or catching fire.looks like a pot and thumper with a condenser coil are those steel pipes rubberised inside?if so ditch them the plastic/rubber can leach into your likker.so your going to put the fruits/berries into the thumper and run the alcohol through the pot .... should work but please please please water the stuff down first to somewhere below 40%.im newish but been reading a while and if youve not read alot here then please read more than just jumping in and playing with explosive gases and toxic compounds.read some of the threads aimed at new guys it gives you good guidence its for your benefit not ours.sorry if i sound blunt but dayum
markieb
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Re: My First GIN

Post by markieb »

another solution would be to infuse the berries/fruits into the likker and you dont even have to distil anything if using that strength alcohol just put it into jars and top off with your required amount of berries and fruits leave untill desired flavour and then water down to a drinkable solution 40% is usual
Shine0n
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Re: My First GIN

Post by Shine0n »

I'm going to be as nice as possible, take anything that isn't stainless steel or copper and get rid of it, the gasket is more than likely silicone and is no good, distilling high proof likker is a good way to loose you're life, home and or freedom.

Slow down a bit and do some reading, you have found your way to this site and now have the best available information in the world. Use it to your advantage and don't skimp on the readin!!!!!!!!

At the top of the page in the novice section is a thread called a little spoon feeding for the novice distiller. Read it in its entirety and also the links provided by Cranky in it, there you find answers to questions you haven't even thought of yet and will get a better understanding of what you need to do to become successful in this hobby.

I'm glad to see a new member here and I'm sure others are as well but just from this post alone I see and other will too that you need to read some before you get hurt or hurt someone else.

don't take this as a bashing please but we recommend reading alot, I read everyday and still learn something I didn't know or if I do know I can pass down the knowledge I've learned here.

Your life isn't worth a quick fix, go buy a bottle of your favorite spirit, mix up a snort and have a read by the fireplace. You'll be glad you did and we'll help you every step of the way as long as you do yours first!!!!

Shine0n
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Kareltje
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Re: My First GIN

Post by Kareltje »

Read Odins Easy Gin about recipes and techniques for making gin:
http://homedistiller.org/forum/viewtopi ... 14&t=48594

I am not sure what you mean by Vapour Pipes. Are that the pipes from boiler to thumper and from thumper to condenser?
You need more space than that for the botanicals. You could place the botanicals in the thumper.

About distilling: distilling 96 %ABV alcohol is almost impossible, distilling starting at more than 40 or 50 %ABV is quite useless.
The vapour coming from 40 %ABV is about 77 %ABV, that coming from 50 %ABV is 80 %ABV, hardly worth the trouble. And at the end of a run you want still some fluid in your boiler, especially when you also have some other stuff too in it.

Macerating botanicals in very high alcohol tends to extract unwanted flavours.
For example: http://homedistiller.org/forum/viewtopi ... =4&t=67771
or: http://homedistiller.org/forum/viewtopi ... =4&t=57286

I think you need a bit more reading. Read till your head spins and you don't know what to do anymore. Than let it rest for some time, read again and make your own plan. There ar as many gins as there are makers and all deserve their place under the sun. Or in a glass.
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TDick
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Re: My First GIN

Post by TDick »

Gsprod wrote:Hi every one,
I'm planning to distill a GIN.
I have a 2 pot distiller (see picture) ,
The plan so fare is Im going to use the following :

5 liters (1.3 US Gallon) of spirytus 96% (192 proof in the US- see picture)
In the Vapour Pipe
Juniper 175g (35g x5)
coriander 25g (5g x5)
liquorice branch 5g
a bit of lemon zest (fresh)
the questions are :
1) redistilling spirytus 96% (192 proof in the US) is that ok.. Or should I avoid it ?
2) are the quantity of Juniper/corander//etc good for 5 liter of spirytus 96% ?
3) do you guys have a recepe to use with Vapour Pipes (not infussed in the alcohol)
Many thanks,
GSProd
Congratulations G!
I AM A NOOB
First, I want to welcome you down the rabbit hole.
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That being said, congratulations on not having your ass handed to you.
The folks here have let you commit Cardinal Sin #1 without chewing you out.
NO SPOON FEEDING HERE.

Folks here WILL help, but not until you've provided evidence that you've put in a little work on your own.
I read and study here and a couple of other forums almost every night and that's just for a couple of things I want to accomplish.
And I'm sure my work is a FRACTION of most of the guys here.

I believe these men & women are glad to help a SERIOUS student, but as they've pointed out, "Not gonna spoon feed you here."
So please consider this constructive criticism.
1. Read the ENTIRE HOMESITE as study what pertains to your interests. Beginner, Pot Stills, Gins and if it doesn't seem pertinent, read it anyway.
2. If you don't understand it, read it again.
3. THEN read everything on the Beginner's Forum. At LEAST twice! (You're still not ready to post a question.)
4. THEN go to Tried & True Recipes, look for Gin recipes. I believe you will find most will be discussing methods of flavoring a neutral spirit.
Once you have found a recipe/method of interest, study it until it's rattling around in your head when you go to sleep at night ( Mine does EVERY night!)

Once you've done that, I believe you will STILL have questions, but you'll be surprised at how intelligent those questions are.
Best of luck and if you Old Farts think I went too far, just let me know.
Thick skin here.
CHEERS!
:mrgreen:
Gsprod
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Re: My First GIN

Post by Gsprod »

Reading.. reading... clearly, I have to admit: I didn't do much homework..I was worried to be overwhelmed by too much information.
Things will get clearer in few days. Many thanks.



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Gsprod
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Re: My First GIN

Post by Gsprod »

Hoawww.. there is indeed a lot of information out there... :crazy: ...

I wanted to thank you guys for your comments, I would add:
I will indeed bring the alcohol that I will distill to 40-45'ich %.
Now I have to possibility to buy (it is legal to sell in Luxembourg) alcohol at 96% (Spirytus): Do you think it will be better to use this as a base, dilute it to 40-45% or should I buy Vodka, distill it and dilute it to 40-45 before distilling it again.
In other words: is the 96% spiryitus better and a good vodka ??? for the first batch I'm not looking to do the cheapest....

regarding the comments made by ShineOn: you are totally right, I should have bought a proper copper alambic day one.. I thought that I should try with cheap equipment... Anyway, I have changed the flexible tubes by copper tubes. Now there is indeed 2 pastic'ish gaskets: one for the main pot ; now for the botanical pot.... What would you suggest? Should I try to get this working or should I accept to cut the loss here?


Thanks again guys.

GS.
The Baker
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Re: My First GIN

Post by The Baker »

Hi, Gsprod,
For the time being (and maybe longer) you could use a soft dough made of flour and water, a bit of salt and a fair bit of oil. I use the dough on my stock pot lid as of course it did not come with a gasket.
Roll it out, rest it a bit covered with plastic wrap while you prepare everything else, roll it out more, and again...
Then thumb it into place. (I do it on the lid, and if I put it firmly into place and leave a short while I can turn the lid over and place on the pot without the dough falling off).
Or some people use a flour paste (same but thinner) but I have not tried that.
Another thought is you could spread the paste over the offending gasket to keep the alcohol vapour from it. Simple.
Even better would be to wrap the gasket (round and round, takes a while but lasts and lasts) with the pink (the white is too thin, more difficult to handle and would not work as well) ordinary plumber's tape. They wrap it around threads on taps and such to seal the joints and it is made of PTFE which is good for stills.
Certainly DO NOT cut your losses just for the gaskets...

Geoff
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Danespirit
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Re: My First GIN

Post by Danespirit »

Now, first of all, I assume you have read the spoon feed thread by now...if not the link is in my signature.
It contains everything we consider as absolutely mandatory reading.

For that still of yours..I really hate to tell you, but we've seen that kind of still frequently on this site ..unfortunately I must say.
Before you make anything at all with that contraption, there are a few issues to be addressed here.

Every single gasket probably has to go as it is very likely it's silicone..if it even is that at all.
The use of the proper material is essential for safety reasons, but also for the product quality...who likes spirits that smell like plastic or rubber.
I don't know, but to me, the hoses look like some shower hose with rubber material in them..ditch them and get some copper piping.
Be aware of your flake stand needs to be refilled a lot of times during the run as it is on the small side. So distill where you have access to water.
What about the heating...if you plan on using your stove in the kitchen, forget about it. You won't be able to control a flying fart that way and the whole run will be a disaster.
What you need are a hotplate and a controller. Take a look at one of mine here. http://homedistiller.org/forum/viewtopi ... 85&t=58011

Vodka as a base CAN be made in a pot still, but you'll have to run it twice after the stripping run to get a decent product...at least.
A reflux still would be the right tool for making neutral.
The best option you have to get a decent Gin by now is to buy the spirits you've mentioned and dilute it prior to the run.
On the other hand, if you like to experiment make a cheap sugar wash..look for the birdwatchers recipe.
The amount of juniper and coriander, are waaaaay too high for just 5 liters. I'd use 50 g of juniper and not more than 10 g of coriander....the choice is yours, however.
DO NOT use this apparatus as it is by now. It's a dangerous piece of crap...sorry for the hard words, but it's the way it is.
When you've done the modifications to it, it's time for the cleaning procedure. Please have a look at the thread about this subject.
At this point, the cheap sugar wash or some crappy wine will come handy.
If you don't know how to do the modifications, please open a new thread. I'm sure a lot of guys in here want to help you with the issues.
Remember, safety is paramount.
Gsprod
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Re: My First GIN

Post by Gsprod »

Many thanks for all,
So I did my first GIN, but I still have few questions.
Used as based :
1 litter of 96%ABV Neutral Alcohol (as described above)
3 liters of vodka
a bit of water to bring it around 50%ABV
Added the botanicals (vapour).
Ditch the first 50ml (smelled like Ether) and the tail.
Mixed the distill with water to bring it to 37%ABV...

My question are:
Do I have any risk of Methanol if I use as based some commercial Neutral Alcohol and Commercial Vodka?
If I distillate the above, what should be the size of the head, of the heart and the tail?
I had 50ml head (95% smelling bad), 1.5 litters of Heart and ditched the rest.
Finally producing with it around 3 litters of GIN... is that right? should I ditch more head , more tail ?

Many thanks again for your help.

G.
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Still Life
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Re: My First GIN

Post by Still Life »

It is time, Grasshopper, to read Making Cuts.
Stick with us. You're going to be bombarded with reading, but it's all worth it.
We want you to succeed.
Gsprod
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Re: My First GIN

Post by Gsprod »

Thanks "StillLiffe",
I actually read http://homedistiller.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=11640...
But I not totaly certain to understand...
I have to remove the foreshot (??)..
but not sure that there is a head to remove (do we produce Methanol if I my base for the run in pure commercial vodka ?)

GS
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Corsaire
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Re: My First GIN

Post by Corsaire »

Look, you can't make cuts with a gin run.
And I'd be surprised if your pot still got you 95%
As a matter of fact, did you do the proper cleaning for your still?

I know there's a lot of new stuff to take in. But you can't rush things here. Try to make some birdwatchers or all bran first. Then do a strip run. Smell it. Ferment some more. Strip some more. Do a spirit run. You'll notice different fractions without the botanicals messing with you. Run it all again. And another time, and then use some of the produced spirit to make Odin's Easy gin. I know, it'll take time. But you need to learn to slow down. You'll be able to answer a lot of your own questions, IF you start working with the basics.
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Danespirit
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Re: My First GIN

Post by Danespirit »

Like Corsaire wrote...you can't possibly get 95 % from a pot still...it's somewhat "hard" to get such numbers on a reflux still.
Test your alcoholmeter, to be sure it is calibrated. When put in plain water, it should show 0 %.
Please have a look at the link in my signature...it will provide you some basic information about said alcoholmeter.
In a lot of commercial spirits, there are traces of Methanol (cheap booze will have some of it). As you tossed the part that smelled bad, you should be fine.
There are a lot of oils in the heads part of the Gin...how much you want to come over in your product, depends on your taste.
There are a few threads about Gin in here, so the information is available.One of the threads is Odins easy Gin...which I can recommend as a beginners guide to Gin.
Finally...
a bit of water to bring it around 50%ABV
Do NEVER ever distill anything over 40 % ABV..! Safety is paramount in this hobby.

Take care..
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Corsaire
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Re: My First GIN

Post by Corsaire »

You coukd also redistill some vodka or spyritus if you don't want to ferment anything yourself. Just dilute to 40%, do a slow run and collect in small containers.
You don't need to worry about methanol, there isn't any in vodka or gns. You'll probably discard the first jars anyway, based on smell and taste.
You want to make the cleanest possible base for a gin. If you have some decent product, try to make some odin's easy gin.
By then you'll have a couple of runs under your belt, and you can start a trip down vapor lane. There are many threads here on that subject.
Let us know how it turns out!
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