Hi I'm in the process of making gin and when I get to distilling it with botanical I am wondering if it's best to use whole ingredients or powdered? I'm using whole dried Junipers and going to steep these in the spirit for 24 hours but the rest of the botanicals I'm going to use vapor infusion. The only reason I can see not to use powered is that it might stop the vapors passing through the powder when it gets soggy. I'm going to use muslin and using a pot distiller.
On a side note I want to make a raspberry gin so is it best to flavor it when distilling with the other botanicals or steeping the raspberry's in the gin afterwards?
Thanks for any help in advance.
Whole or Powder botanicals
Moderator: Site Moderator
Re: Whole or Powder botanicals
Neither really.
Powdered is going to make you a hassle to filter it out prior to distillation, isn't appropriate for vapour infusion and risks scorching. Whole, and you won't be extracting the entire flavour profile. Generally its advised to crush your ingredients with a mortar and pistil or coarsely chopped in a food processor.
IF, this is your first attempt at a gin, its strongly recommended that you give 'Odin's Easy Gin' a try before anything more complex. It'll give you a basic understanding of the essentials e.g. blending before you experiment.
Hope that helps, Best of luck
Powdered is going to make you a hassle to filter it out prior to distillation, isn't appropriate for vapour infusion and risks scorching. Whole, and you won't be extracting the entire flavour profile. Generally its advised to crush your ingredients with a mortar and pistil or coarsely chopped in a food processor.
IF, this is your first attempt at a gin, its strongly recommended that you give 'Odin's Easy Gin' a try before anything more complex. It'll give you a basic understanding of the essentials e.g. blending before you experiment.
Hope that helps, Best of luck
_____________________
EXPAT
Current boiler and pot head
Cross flow condenser
Modular 3" Boka - pics tbd
___________________
EXPAT
Current boiler and pot head
Cross flow condenser
Modular 3" Boka - pics tbd
___________________
- Saltbush Bill
- Site Mod
- Posts: 9674
- Joined: Thu Mar 17, 2011 2:13 am
- Location: Northern NSW Australia
Re: Whole or Powder botanicals
I use maceration for my Gin, as said above a course grind has given me the best results.
Re: Whole or Powder botanicals
I think I will give Odin's Gin ago and see how it turns out. Cheers for the tips guys.
- Still Life
- Site Donor
- Posts: 1545
- Joined: Fri Apr 22, 2016 4:24 pm
- Location: Great State Of Missouri
Re: Whole or Powder botanicals
Please keep us updated on how this turns out.mburke78 wrote:I think I will give Odin's Gin ago and see how it turns out. Cheers for the tips guys.
Being an Odin's concoction, I have all the faith.
Gin is one of the few things I haven't made. And like you, mburke78, I'm getting the gin bug.
- still_stirrin
- Master of Distillation
- Posts: 10337
- Joined: Tue Mar 18, 2014 7:01 am
- Location: where the buffalo roam, and the deer & antelope play
Re: Whole or Powder botanicals
Odin’s EZ gin recipe is very well formulated. That is, you can scale it according to your desired product size. He also addresses the proper ratios of often used botanicals (referencing Zymurgy Bob’s formula with the x/2, x/10, x/100, etc). It will produce an exceptional/acceptable gin the first time through provided you adhere to his process guidelines.
I’ve produced delicious gins with my own character multiple times repeatedly using the rigorous methods. I even have a purpose-built potstill for finishing the gins in “small batches”. Delightful.
ss
I’ve produced delicious gins with my own character multiple times repeatedly using the rigorous methods. I even have a purpose-built potstill for finishing the gins in “small batches”. Delightful.
ss
My LM/VM & Potstill: My build thread
My Cadco hotplate modification thread: Hotplate Build
My stock pot gin still: stock pot potstill
My 5-grain Bourbon recipe: Special K
My Cadco hotplate modification thread: Hotplate Build
My stock pot gin still: stock pot potstill
My 5-grain Bourbon recipe: Special K