My best Absinthe so far...

[Otun]

Hi Guys I'm a noob... I want to make my absinthe and here I have quick and might be a dumb quetion... I am also making my ethanol for this... what'd be better for absinthe ethanol made of sugar only or grain? thanx in advance

[Marionette]

If you're using a reflux still for the base alcohol, it won't matter particularly, unless you deliberately allow some of character through. So: whatever is cheapest, if you're making neutral alcohol, and if it'll have some flavour, whatever you prefer.

There are some absinthes made using alcohol from the fermented skins of grapes (after they've been pressed), which is essentially the same thing as grappa, or French marc brandy, and this adds an interesting flavour. Having said that, it isn't always necessarily better than neutral alcohol. It's easier to make a balanced absinthe with neutral alcohol.

[Otun]

Thanx marionette ... well I tried this recipe and it sure is a great one and I've got great results.... I used all fresh herbs and neutral alcohol I obtained myself... here I want to share some pics of my absinthe making... sorry I had to use my cell phone for the last pics so they are not as clear..
Wash fermenting


Distillation


Herbs - I could not find hyssop ..so no hyssop in this one...


Herbs maceration in neutral alcohol


Macerate distillation


Coloring


First green -- way too green had to tone it down


Final result after a month... 100% Colombian green fairy 68% aprox.



by the way this was my very first spirit as well ...

[HookLine]

Looks a success to me!

Good pics too.

[Hawke]

Those are some snazzy sneakers in that first pic

[Otun]

Looks a success to me!

Good pics too.

Thanx, I'm not quite sure if I made any mistakes since this was my very first try... but it sure tastes very close to the absenthe I got in Europe

[FAROM]

When you put herbs macerated in alcohol, it is very important to seal the container, ciao.

[Otun]

When you put herbs macerated in alcohol, it is very important to seal the container, ciao.

thanx FAROM... yes indeed the glass jar was sealed.. you can see the cap next to the thermic glass jar in the picture

[Otun]

My 2nd attempt color and taste comparison with a famous brand


Louche comparison (clouds)




I'm extremely happy with my 2nd attempt - I like it even better than the absente brand ..

[rainman]

Just did a batch of Absinthe. Could not afford many ingredients (almost none), but used 3/4 OZ wormwood & 1/4 OZ dried mint. Maserated in 200ml. 108 proof corn liquer for 10 days. Ran through 5 Gal. system with 1 gal. Hard cider & 1 gal. redistill. collected 3200ml. 146 proof, clear(slight green tint).POWERFUL STUFF!! Might try to color it with Hyssop or mint?? any suggestions??

[Sbeghan]

Just did a batch of Absinthe. Could not afford many ingredients (almost none), but used 3/4 OZ wormwood & 1/4 OZ dried mint. Maserated in 200ml. 108 proof corn liquer for 10 days. Ran through 5 Gal. system with 1 gal. Hard cider & 1 gal. redistill. collected 3200ml. 146 proof, clear(slight green tint).POWERFUL STUFF!! Might try to color it with Hyssop or mint?? any suggestions??

I can't believe its been a month without any comment on this. This post above is just wrong.

I hope you could afford to build a safe still... Please read the safety articles and forum.

[mbz250sl]

For the recipe at the start of this thread it calls for 10 liters of 85% ethanol - what are you using as the base recipe for the ethanol? Thanks in advance

[skow69]

Marionette gives good advice. The question was, Which is better for absinthe, a sugar wash or all grain?

If you're using a reflux still for the base alcohol, it won't matter particularly, unless you deliberately allow some of character through. So: whatever is cheapest, if you're making neutral alcohol, and if it'll have some flavour, whatever you prefer.

There are some absinthes made using alcohol from the fermented skins of grapes (after they've been pressed), which is essentially the same thing as grappa, or French marc brandy, and this adds an interesting flavour. Having said that, it isn't always necessarily better than neutral alcohol. It's easier to make a balanced absinthe with neutral alcohol.
Marionette

[Prole]

(shaking head) It doesn't matter what kind of base you use if you don't have good botanicals or a good recipe. I use a blend of grain neutral spirits and brandy reduced though I have made my own brandy. There are some good historical recipes here: http://www.feeverte.net/recipes.html. You can buy Hyssop plants and grow your own. Use mostly the flowers. You can also grow your own wormwood and lemon balm. Good fennel is harder to find but you want sweet fennel of Florence or Provence.

You don't need to macerate your herbs longer than 24 hours and I've had success just throwing them in the pot sans maceration. If the distillate is anything but clear you're doing something wrong. As for the coloration, in warm distillate, 20 to 45 minutes is fine. You don't want the finished product to be dark green. It's more about flavor than color and your coloration should not be overpowering. It takes at least a month to know how it turned out.

[devotus]

The base for absinthe is often discussed, some say absinthe made from a wine base neutral is the best because it imparts a fine flavour to the product. It is argued about the level of flavour remaining from the wine wash in a 95% neutral, nevertheless some say that the taste receptors can pick up flavours in the part per millions. Then you have the sugar wash to grain neutral with arguments saying that grain is better because it is tasteless and hasn't any sweetness left in it like a sugarwash, this again is very debatable.

I think pretty much along the same lines as Prole. As long as you have a good reflux still that can make your 92+ % neutral then it doesn't matter much. Especially between sugar washes and grain. I have had great absinthes made with a wine base and maybe there was a small difference but if there was then it was so small that I doubted my own judgement and questioned whether it was my imagination telling me so.

The arguments are also accompanied with theories on why certain bases were used historically and geographically with good points being made about availability of sugars, wine and grain.

Lastly I'll just add to Proles assertion that it takes a month to know if you made something good or not. I sort of agree but not You can tell if you have something good pretty much out of the still but you'll be surprised how much better it becomes after a while sitting in the dark. A mediocre effort can taste fantastic after a month.

[FAROM]

Ciao a tutti, follow the suggestions of Marionette, is a good thing!
To make a good absinthe is recommended to use neutral alcohol taste, use spirits of wine will never understand where the error was made, when you become experienced you can use alcohol wine(grappa). Ciao!

[Prole]

I agree that the blank slate of Grain Neutral Spirits is a good idea at first. As for age, freshly distilled absinthe can be wonderful with fresh coloration herbs up front but it changes a lot in the first month and hopefully for the better.

[Kas]

Sounds amazing and looks great in the photos. Been thinking about making absinthe for a while now but can't find wormwood anywhere... Where do you get it from?

[skow69]

http://www.absintheherbs.com" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow. [Kirk] Professional quality herbs and you will never find a better guy to do business with.

[Kas]

Looks great for herbs, although they don't do wormwood. I'm also living in the UK.
(google chrome also tells me that that site is potentially malicious? )

[skow69]

You must have hit the wrong website. They live and breathe wormwood. I was just there. Absinthium, Pontica, and Genepi ready to ship. And malicious is laughable.

[Hiwatt]

Hi

I've been searching and reading throughout the forum. But just to be 100% certain that SWIM(someone who isn't me) won't kill hiself/go blind;
SWIM has macerated the herbs for a week in 1L of 96% Ethanol. After that SWIM added 500ml of water and macerated for another 2 days. If SWIM goes on and distillates this, will there be mythanol in the outcome?

Anyway how does one know what's the head(mythanol) / body / tail during the distilling process?

Cheers!

[frozenthunderbolt]

Short answer no, there wont be, so long as you made good cuts on the alcohol used in maceration, and even then it would be minimal AND ethanol is the natural antidote to methanol.
Long answer: Read more - you question indicates you may not fully understand distillation, this is dangerous. Read: http://homedistiller.org/forum/viewforum.php?f=46

[Expat]

This thread got me thinking about making some absinthe of my own, so I started investigating where I could get some of the ingredients.... Unbelievably I have Wormwood growing in my back yard!! (Artemisia vulgaris) LOL Funny world

Now to find the others.

[Hiwatt]

i'm pretty sure vulgaris is not what you want to make absinth with. What you're looking for is Arthemisia ABSINTHUM.
Anyway i got EVERYTHING from these guys; http://www.gekruid.be

[Expat]

Actually, Artemisia vulgaris is listed on the HD parent site as an acceptable substitute for artemisia absinthium.
Ref: http://homedistiller.org/flavor

[Zman]

Artemisial vulgaris (Mugwort), is not a good substitute for Artemisia absinthium (Grand Wormwood) for making an absinthe. The flavor profiles of the two plants are completely different.

[sparky marky]

Hi guys!
Thinking of trying my first absinthe in a coupla weeks.
Iv done a but of reading around the forums absinthe threads and have come up with a simple/basic recipe. Im looking for recipe approval from anyone who has succeeded with the drink

5 liters of 90% all bran neutral

Maceration for 24 hrs:
250g artemisia absinthium
400g anise seeds
200g fennel seeds
50g coriander seeds
30g Angelica root
50g star anise

Then il add a couple of liters of water and distill with herbs in pot slowly until I get 5 liters of distillate.
Do I need to make cuts/collect in small jars and blend later to get the flavour I want? (I probably will anyway just to see what flavours come over as the run progresses)

Then for colouring I was gonna take a pint of distillate and use 10g each of dried hyssop and Melissa. Will this give me a vibrant emerald green even thOugh the herbs are dried? Can't seem to find artemisia pontica in the uk

[Kirko]

You must have hit the wrong website. They live and breathe wormwood. I was just there. Absinthium, Pontica, and Genepi ready to ship. And malicious is laughable.

Thanks for the plug Skow. My site was attacked by a virus and I had to burn it down to the ground and start over, it's now a secure website, on the upside, according to Google no one was infected and the site performed no malicious task.

[Kirko]

Hey Sparky, you need to add more water than that before you distill. Don't use star anise, it's not a pleasant flavor and considered to be a way of cutting corners.
For 1 liter of alcohol try:
25 grams A.a.
75 grams or more fennel
75 grams or more green anise
3 grams coriander
3 grams angelica
spent coloring herbs;
Genepi
hyssop
pontica
Lemon balm
etc
1 liter or more of water.
Collect a few drops of heads and discard
collect half the volume of your charge as distillate and set aside as fine
collect the second half of distillate and return it to the still,
start again as above.
For coloring try
10 grams hyssop
10 grams (or less) pontica
10 grams lemon balm
3 grams genepi
1 gram peppermint (piperita)
Heat clear distillate to 55 C and pour over the whole, dried herbs, steep for 5 minutes and strain.