Absinthe SUCCESS! 5L Copper Alembic

[Ivanchuk]

Greetings!

This is my first post since my introduction post. I saw the show Absinthe in Vegas this past April and enjoyed my first taste of Lucid. I then tried La Clandestine and Vieux Carre (my favorite) and started reading about it. Thanks to Israel Moore's excellent E-book How To Make Absinthe at Home http://www.amazon.com/How-Make-Absinthe ... e+absinthe I have made 3 batches I am very proud of.
Here is the still pretty out of the box:

I ordered from http://www.copper-alembic.com/ns/ and I am incredibly pleased but I should have ordered the soldered version. The riveted version has a coating of gypsum chalk and linseed oil on the inside that has to be reapplied. I had it soldered to avoid the hassle. Very steampunk!

You may do better with an electric grinder but I really enjoy using this to grind the herbs:

The set up:

Coloring jar:

Batch #1 on the left around a month old, batch #2 on the right


Here is batch #3:



I followed the book for the 1st batch, listened to Kirk from http://www.absintheherbs.com and added more anise to batch 2. My plan was to slowly add new herbs and tinker with ratios taking careful notes along the way. However, I couldn't stand it and created a kitchen sink version for batch 3. The herbs you get from Kirk are incredible so it was hard not to:

75g anise
50g fennel deux
25g wormwood
3g elephantine root
3g angelica
3g spearmint
3g chamomile

Coloring
10g pontica
10g hyssop
5g lemon balm
5g spearmint
5g peppermint
5g Genepi

I have been making 1 litre batches but I think I will make a 2 litre of the last one before I go back to experimenting. I enjoyed it so much.

[Bushman]

Very nice Louche, now if you haven't yet you need to invest in or make an absinthe fountain. Here is the one Mash Rookie made for me.

[Beerbrewer]

I have one of the older types of this still, very pleased with it, mines a bit more weather worn than yours though Before anyone else says it I would suggest that you get rid of the plastic hose connecting out of the worm, ain't going to do your health any good.

[Grappa-Gringo]

how many liters is your still? ...
thanks
gg

[hoserdude]

It is really impressive to see some of the things that Mash Rookie has put together.

[Beerbrewer]

how many liters is your still? ...
thanks
gg

Mines 25ltrs, so the bigger brother of the one shown above

[Ivanchuk]

Bushman,

I noticed your fountain when I was devouring every piece of data I could get about absinthe before beginning. It is an amazing piece of art!

And thanks for the heads up on the plastic tube Beer Brewer, I did not know that was bad for you.

My still is 5 liters.

[toast860]

I think this might be a stupid question.. but can u get all these herbs delivered in the usa.. without a big red flag.

[Halfbaked]

my LHBS stocks them. Yea I was shocked myself.

[Bushman]

Here is a good supplier:
http://www.absintheherbs.com" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow

[Beerbrewer]

And thanks for the heads up on the plastic tube Beer Brewer, I did not know that was bad for you.

I usually put a bit of twig at the output end to control the flow, it does help quite a bit.