Arto's Easy Turkish Raki

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artooks
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Arto's Easy Turkish Raki

Post by artooks »

Hi Everyone,

This is my second recipe on Raki, because I thought it would be easier to make for some of you who do not like to mess with fermenting sultana raisins, and all the hard work comes with it. The main ingredient of Raki is Sultana Raisins and other fruits which we make the alcohol from, this is considered the first distillation, then we use anise seeds in the boiler to make the finished product, now for the last 15 years Raki made from Grapes is a special product, and you have to pay more to get it, nowadays the alcohol is made from beetroot so to make it simple we are just going to use a neutral made from "All Bran or Birdwatchers" to switch it with alcohol made from Sultana raisins which will make the recipe much easiser.


Arto's Easy Turkish Raki (Recipe for 1 Gallon Raki - 4 Litre)

Ingredients

• 7.5 Litres (7.92 US quarts) %45 ABV Neutral (without cuts)
• Anise Seed ( 100 Grams for every 1 lt of %45 ABV alcohol
• Raw Sugar ( 6 Grams for every 1 lt of %45 ABV alcohol

Distillation - Maceration with Anise Seed

• Our final Raki will be %45 ABV, we will have 4 litres of Raki after the cuts.
• Anise Seed amount calculation is based on the final Raki amount without the cuts. For every 1 lt of %45 ABV, we use
100 grams of anise seed, so in our case it will be 7.5 lt %45 ABV X 100 grams : 750 grams.
• Put 750 grams of anise seed in 7.5 lt %45 ABV and let it macerate at room temperature for 2 days.
• Cover the bottom of the boiler with marbles to avoid scorching , you will need a fine mesh basket to put over the marbles
to hold the anise seeds inside this, if you do not have a fine mesh basket than you can easily make one from bulk fine mesh
that they sell in hardware stores.
• Start distillation very slowly.
• Follow the cut fractions based on your still output ABV.
• Calculate the alcohol content, if we have 7.5 lt of %45 ABV it means we have 3.375 litre of %100 ABV, so from there we take
3% as foreshots, 17% Heads, %57 Hearts ( This is the part which will be used) and %23 tails, but the cut is done best at
smelling and tasting the spirit, but the above will give a rough indication.
• Also to help with the cuts amounts based on your still ABV output, the "Cut Fraction" guide will help you to know how much
to collect at a given %ABV.
• The main target here is to get the hearts, but that is not enough in order to get the anise oils, which starts to come during
the early tails, we have to get these in 100 ml collection jars until the taste becomes off.
• Aerate all the collected Raki for 1 day and taste, do not use the foreshots and heads, you will mainly use hearts and the good
smelling and tasting early tails. Blend these together.
• Early Tails is important because they contain much of the anise oils and also helps the spirit to go cloudy once it is diluted with water.
This is an important indication.
• Your Blended Raki will be around %70 ABV - %85 ABV, depending on your still setup diluate it to 45% ABV.
• Add 6 grams of granulated sugar for every 1 lt of %45 ABV and give it a mix, it will dissolve in a matter of minutes.
• Let it sit for 5 weeks.
• Enjoy - Raki tends to go cloudy if it is below 38% ABV - Rakı is enjoyed with 1 part raki and 1 part water - and plain water in another glass,
take one sip from raki then drink a little bit of water.
artooks
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Re: Arto's Easy Turkish Raki

Post by artooks »

Raki Fractions
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Raki Fractions
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Re: Arto's Easy Turkish Raki

Post by artooks »

Anise Seed
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Anise Seed
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Re: Arto's Easy Turkish Raki

Post by artooks »

1 Glass with raki and some water plus glass of water separate, this is the traditional way of drinking raki.
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Re: Arto's Easy Turkish Raki

Post by artooks »

Just Started a new batch, I used All Bran first stripped then refluxed and I have 2lt of hearts @ %92 ABV which I diluted to %45 ABV and added 429 grams anise, this will sit for 2 days like this, then it will be distilled with herbs in the boiler, I shake it once everyday, open the jar and smell gives me one of the best satisfactions in the World, I can presume that many of you maybe not tried and maybe find this spirit a bit strange but here in Turkey, we usually drink this spirit, with fish and meze in a restaurant near Bosphorus and I strongly believe that it has a magical touch which will make your soul feel like you are over the clouds, I may seem to be exaggerating but in reality that is what it is that I believe some spirits have that kind of touch. Anyway to drink raki alone is not very desirable, it would be better to accompany the drink with black olives, white cheese ( Feta chees alike) at least, but it is a drink well suited with a fish dish and some meze (appetizer).
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Re: Arto's Easy Turkish Raki

Post by artooks »

2 Day Anise Maceration
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Re: Arto's Easy Turkish Raki

Post by artooks »

Tomorrow morning 2 day maceration will be over, and I will be distilling the herbs in the boiler, I will share the photos.
Fraser
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Re: Arto's Easy Turkish Raki

Post by Fraser »

Looks great. Following your progress here.
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Re: Arto's Easy Turkish Raki

Post by artooks »

There is also one thing that I need to mention, as I said earlier this is an easy way to make Raki, normally in order for a spirit to be called Raki. It needs to be made from grape alcohol and then distilled with aniseed, this is the original recipe, so in our recipe we will not have the aroma of grapes as we are using a neutral alcohol, but it is still as good as Raki one of the reasons being aniseed is very dominant by nature. Lets continue our journey.
just sayin
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Re: Arto's Easy Turkish Raki

Post by just sayin »

Hey Artook, good to see you are still active! Your posts are very clear and well written. Thank you for sharing your expertise! I am looking forward to your continued posts.
artooks
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Re: Arto's Easy Turkish Raki

Post by artooks »

Hi Everyone,

I have finished distilling today, I want to share my experience so that it may help you, if you decide to give it a go.

I started with 2000 ml of Neutral @ 92%ABV, prior to maceration I diluted this alcohol to %45ABV by adding 2,089 ml water and kept it like this for 2 days shaking everyday once. Today, I take out my small 3 Gallon boiler added marbles at the bottom and I also put 2 stainless steel filter basket to hold the aniseed, I used 430 gram aniseed here divided between the baskets equally, than added more water until I see all the aniseed was submerged in water so that was 4000 ml so my overall volume now is 8089 ml and now I have %22.75 ABV. For this distillation I did not use my internal heater, instead, I cap it and used my hotplate, also I cut a new plate from aluminum on top of this hotplate, so my boiler will fit perfectly, and does not move or shake during the distillation.

One other thing to mention, Raki needs to be distilled in a copper pot still, as my still was %100 SS I did use 15 copper scrubbers and some copper saddles in the column to benefit from it.

In this distillation as I started with a neutral with all the cuts made I decided to collect 10% foreshots + Heads - %80 Hearts + 10 Tails.

Fired up the hotplate %100 Power which is around 800 Watts, it took almost 90 minutes for the vapour to reach the top of the columns, once the parrot filled I read %93 ABV at first in the Alcohol meter , which is more than better anyway I collected 210 ml as Foreshots + Heads, than I collected 1,750 ml hearts and 100 ml tails, I decided not to collect more tails.

will aerate them for a day and taste and smell tomorrow than I will decide which ones to blend.
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Re: Arto's Easy Turkish Raki

Post by artooks »

Added Marbles in the bottom of boiler
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Re: Arto's Easy Turkish Raki

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Put over the two SS filter baskets and added Aniseed equally
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Re: Arto's Easy Turkish Raki

Post by artooks »

After filling the boiler with water and alcohol
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Re: Arto's Easy Turkish Raki

Post by artooks »

Boiler over Hot plate in action.
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Re: Arto's Easy Turkish Raki

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Distilling Raki
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Re: Arto's Easy Turkish Raki

Post by artooks »

Aniseed state after distillation.
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Boiled Aniseed before going to the trash :)
Boiled Aniseed before going to the trash :)
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Lucazzu
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Re: Arto's Easy Turkish Raki

Post by Lucazzu »

Wow! That's an awesome work m8!
A really awesome guide, perfect made and perfect explained! I've some grapes strips , I'm about doing your raki since I've also some anise star! Will it be the same?!

Don't u think that 3% of foreshot and 17% heads are too much? I'm new to distilling and I'm not able to take all that quantity!
I mean, from 6lt I taked 100ml foreshot+200ml head and almost 500/600 heart! Your 57% Heart will result in 3420ml heart!I'm I right?

Greets and keep up the good job!
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Re: Arto's Easy Turkish Raki

Post by artooks »

Lucazzu wrote:Wow! That's an awesome work m8!
A really awesome guide, perfect made and perfect explained! I've some grapes strips , I'm about doing your raki since I've also some anise star! Will it be the same?!

Hi thanks for the kind words, well Star Anise is a different kind of anise that is not used in Raki because what we use in Raki is “Pimpinella anisum”, so all I can say is I do not have experience, with it but you can try this is all about experimentation.

Don't u think that 3% of foreshot and 17% heads are too much? I'm new to distilling and I'm not able to take all that quantity!
I mean, from 6lt I taked 100ml foreshot+200ml head and almost 500/600 heart! Your 57% Heart will result in 3420ml heart!I'm I right?

No it is not too much it is the right amount, I suggest you read "Novice Guide for Cuts (pot still)" written by Kiwistiller here is the link:

viewtopic.php?t=11640

The main thing about the cuts in Raki is the tail part is important because you get all the oils of Aniseed in that area so it is better to take in small quantities aerate for a day smell and taste if its ok than add it to the blend if not do not add.

Greets and keep up the good job!
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Re: Arto's Easy Turkish Raki

Post by artooks »

Raki is relaxing in 8 250ml Erlenmeyer :) Tomorrow is tasting smelling and blending day, once I decide which one to keep and discard, I will water it down to %45 ABV and then will calculate how many litres I will have at that alcohol strength and will add raw white sugar, I will need 6 grams for every 1 lt @ %45 ABV, why we are adding these is it will take away the bitterness of the aniseed.
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Re: Arto's Easy Turkish Raki

Post by artooks »

Hi,

After aerating for a day, I did taste and smell each jar and discarded the last tail jar, and I left with 1.750 ml Raki, blended all jars in a jug and
gave it a swirl, then calculated the %ABV with my alcohol meter and it was %82 ABV, than I calculated how much water I needed to bring this to %45ABV, and added 1,439 ml water, the total volume reached 3,189 ml, the final step is to add 6 grams of sugar for every 1 lt of %45 ABV so in my case: 6 gram X 3.189 lt = 19.134 grams, added to raki and mixed well until all the sugar is dissolved, Well that's it now I only need to wait 5 weeks which is the hardest part of this journey I guess :) Cheers
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desert_distiller
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Re: Arto's Easy Turkish Raki

Post by desert_distiller »

I know this is an older recipe, but I'd like to thank Arto for posting it. I have a dear Palestinian friend who introduced me to Arraki, or holy water as he refers to it. I've thought about giving it a try for awhile and finally got around to making a batch. I made a few changes from Arto's approach. Here's how it came down:

I made a white whine using grape juice, fresh grapes and sugar to boost abv. Some wine was bottled, after cuts the distillate was split between a few liters for brandy and a gallon set aside for the raki (change number 1). When the raki portion was proofed to 45% I had a touch over 5 liters. 500 grams of anise seeds were macerated in the 5 liters of 45%. After two days the still was filled with water to cover the element then the distillate filtered through cheese cloth to remove the anise seeds. I didn't have anything to put the seeds in the boiler that I trusted would keep them from scorching so decided to pack as many as I could in the column (change number 2). I distilled slowly and collected the heads in a few jars, used two liter jugs for the heart cuts then went back to smaller jars for tails. After choosing cuts and proofing down to 45% I had 4.25 liters of final product, and added 25.5 grams of sugar per Arto's recipe.

Even though I haven't allowed the 5 weeks to age, I had to pour a dash over an ice cube. The smell is spot on, it has a nice milky louche and after having just returned from a two week vacation in Greece I'll take Arto's recipe over most commercial products (yes I know ouzo and raki aren't the same, but they are close)

Bottom line, this is a great recipe and if you like raki and want to make an authentic one, this will do it. Now I just need to find a fired clay pot to traditionally age it.
artooks
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Re: Arto's Easy Turkish Raki

Post by artooks »

desert_distiller wrote: Tue Nov 30, 2021 12:11 pm I know this is an older recipe, but I'd like to thank Arto for posting it. I have a dear Palestinian friend who introduced me to Arraki, or holy water as he refers to it. I've thought about giving it a try for awhile and finally got around to making a batch. I made a few changes from Arto's approach. Here's how it came down:

I made a white whine using grape juice, fresh grapes and sugar to boost abv. Some wine was bottled, after cuts the distillate was split between a few liters for brandy and a gallon set aside for the raki (change number 1). When the raki portion was proofed to 45% I had a touch over 5 liters. 500 grams of anise seeds were macerated in the 5 liters of 45%. After two days the still was filled with water to cover the element then the distillate filtered through cheese cloth to remove the anise seeds. I didn't have anything to put the seeds in the boiler that I trusted would keep them from scorching so decided to pack as many as I could in the column (change number 2). I distilled slowly and collected the heads in a few jars, used two liter jugs for the heart cuts then went back to smaller jars for tails. After choosing cuts and proofing down to 45% I had 4.25 liters of final product, and added 25.5 grams of sugar per Arto's recipe.

Even though I haven't allowed the 5 weeks to age, I had to pour a dash over an ice cube. The smell is spot on, it has a nice milky louche and after having just returned from a two week vacation in Greece I'll take Arto's recipe over most commercial products (yes I know ouzo and raki aren't the same, but they are close)

Bottom line, this is a great recipe and if you like raki and want to make an authentic one, this will do it. Now I just need to find a fired clay pot to traditionally age it.
Hi,

Thanks for your positive comments, I am happy that you liked it, I do it from time to time, "RAKI" it is like a national drink in my country, many people enjoy it with small side dishes, some people even like drinking it with only olives, but where it shines is when you drink it with seafood, melon and white Turkish cheese.
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