Odin's Easy Gin

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NZChris
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Re: Odin's Easy Gin

Post by NZChris »

B_Stilling wrote: Sat Nov 21, 2020 10:29 am
NZChris wrote: Thu Nov 19, 2020 3:03 pm Newly made OEG doesn't taste bad, so rather than wait, I make enough that there is still some left after 5 weeks.
Maybe this is where the leftover first 10mls and the cuts after the 400ml collected come in; get us trough the resting period :ebiggrin:
I'm having one of those now and I have made it into something that is sort of ok, but it's not something I would let anyone else taste.

if you don't want to be drinking younger than 5 week old OEG, make the next batch in plenty of time.
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Re: Odin's Easy Gin

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NZChris I like your advice and do similar, so my go too drinks I am always checking my stock to see what my next run will be to make sure I don’t run out. With aging that is usually whiskey.
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Re: Odin's Easy Gin

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I cheat and make essence strength gin runs, often with five times the botanicals, then all I have to worry about is having enough nice neutral to make up a bottle or two.
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Re: Odin's Easy Gin

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NZChris wrote: Sun Nov 22, 2020 11:34 pm I cheat and make essence strength gin runs, often with five times the botanicals, then all I have to worry about is having enough nice neutral to make up a bottle or two.
Do you make an essence per botanical and experiment with blending? or do you make essence strength gin with a bunch of botanicals in it?
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Re: Odin's Easy Gin

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I've done both in the past week.
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Re: Odin's Easy Gin

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NZChris wrote: Mon Nov 23, 2020 11:48 am I've done both in the past week.
So that may be the best way to "store" juniper berries then!? Have you perceived any down-side asofar as the end result is concerned?
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Re: Odin's Easy Gin

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Rrmuf wrote: Tue Nov 24, 2020 4:22 am
NZChris wrote: Mon Nov 23, 2020 11:48 am I've done both in the past week.
So that may be the best way to "store" juniper berries then!?
You go first. I don't hoard so much that it's a problem.
wrote: Have you perceived any down-side asofar as the end result is concerned?
No.
Making OEG as a concentrate lets you use relatively rubbish spirit for the gin run, but you do need very neutral spirit to dilute it with.
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Re: Odin's Easy Gin

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NZChris wrote: Tue Nov 24, 2020 12:11 pm
Rrmuf wrote: Tue Nov 24, 2020 4:22 am
NZChris wrote: Mon Nov 23, 2020 11:48 am I've done both in the past week.
So that may be the best way to "store" juniper berries then!?
You go first. I don't hoard so much that it's a problem.
LOL. The harvesting is an annual thing here: October then ..... next October. There was a separate thread on freezing juniper berries and how long they last vs fresh vs dried. .... I just thought you were brilliantly introducing another alternative: store the essence in ethanol. I always tell my friends: Kiwis are alot smarter than they realize :lol:

I think I accidently created an 'essence' with my very first gin batch: I put way too much Cassia Bark and it was all you can taste..... so I kept a few liters of it, and when I have wanted to add a bit of that to a subsequent batch, it was there. I *still* have enough for 5 more batches! It's a toss-up as to what will last longer: My frozen juniper or my 'essence of cassia' :roll:
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Re: Odin's Easy Gin

Post by Saltbush Bill »

Cassia will always dominate toward the end of a gin run if you go to far into the run imo.
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Re: Odin's Easy Gin

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Saltbush Bill wrote: Wed Nov 25, 2020 4:11 am Cassia will always dominate toward the end of a gin run if you go to far into the run imo.
That is good to know, although my records show that I only used the front 45% of the total collection. Hmmm. But that is ancient history now.
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Re: Odin's Easy Gin

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Rrmuf wrote: Wed Nov 25, 2020 3:57 am LOL. The harvesting is an annual thing here: October then ..... next October.
You are very lucky. There very few trees here in NZ and I don't know of any that produce berries. I suspect imported berries are irradiated at the border as none of the seeds I've tried have germinated.
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Re: Odin's Easy Gin

Post by Virandell »

Another batch of Odin easy gin amazing :clap:
IMG_20201124_145700.jpg
IMG_20201125_203751.jpg
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Re: Odin's Easy Gin

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NZChris wrote: Wed Nov 25, 2020 12:22 pm
Rrmuf wrote: Wed Nov 25, 2020 3:57 am LOL. The harvesting is an annual thing here: October then ..... next October.
You are very lucky. There very few trees here in NZ and I don't know of any that produce berries. I suspect imported berries are irradiated at the border as none of the seeds I've tried have germinated.
Bummer! There are fields of juniper bushes about a five minute drive away from me. All frozen now though. I suppose mailing you a whole bush would be frowned upon too?
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Re: Odin's Easy Gin

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Very frowned upon. There is a project to get some producing here, but I haven't heard how it's going.
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Re: Odin's Easy Gin

Post by howie »

Virandell wrote: Wed Nov 25, 2020 1:05 pm Another batch of Odin easy gin amazing :clap:
IMG_20201124_145700.jpg
IMG_20201125_203751.jpg
i think thats cardoman pods in one of those jars.
how much did you use, and in what state were they macerated?
i ask because i use them a lot in curries, and there is one hell of a difference in taste just chucking in a whole pod, or extracting the black seeds first and crushing them.
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Re: Odin's Easy Gin

Post by Virandell »

howie wrote: Wed Nov 25, 2020 6:35 pm i think thats cardoman pods in one of those jars.
how much did you use, and in what state were they macerated?
i ask because i use them a lot in curries, and there is one hell of a difference in taste just chucking in a whole pod, or extracting the black seeds first and crushing them.
I used 0.1g per L so for 8L it's been 1 pod with seeds and skin I crushed it with mortar macerated for 24h
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Re: Odin's Easy Gin

Post by Dathhu »

Odin, thanks for the easy recipe! Didn't have the exact amounts of everything on hand when I tried it, but still came out great!

Everyone that's had some has liked it, which is better than a lot of the beers I've brewed, but gin is probably a different beast to those that like it :D

Definitely not going to go as easy on the juniper next time, (local prices were a bit much) but overall I'm impressed. I'm definitely gonna have fun experimenting with this. Awesome starter recipe, be proud mate :)
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Re: Odin's Easy Gin

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Virandell wrote: Thu Nov 26, 2020 12:29 am
howie wrote: Wed Nov 25, 2020 6:35 pm i think thats cardoman pods in one of those jars.
how much did you use, and in what state were they macerated?
i ask because i use them a lot in curries, and there is one hell of a difference in taste just chucking in a whole pod, or extracting the black seeds first and crushing them.
I used 0.1g per L so for 8L it's been 1 pod with seeds and skin I crushed it with mortar macerated for 24h
Right, so I put one cardoman pod in 6 l of neutral (TFFV) 2 mandarin skins and 1 lime skin (second mod) and macerated for about 4 days in 92% Neutral.
Diluted to 40%, poured everything into the boiler and off we go!
Love the cardoman, what a great addition, loved the lime, gave it a lift also IMO.

Thank you Virandell!

Took about 5 litres in the 80+ ABV that tastes sensational and kept running down to 40%, and here is what happened next.

I checked the ABV in the pot and it was about 8% so I thought I would put the reflux still on and strip what was left (in what I am calling the backset) for use later in something else.

I thought the 50% to 40% (about a litre) tasted a little average so I threw that back in with the backset thinking what am I going to do with that in the near future.

Well, I ran that all through the reflux and I got what I can only call the most sensational dry gin I think I have ever tasted (if I say so myself).

It had a great smell, taste etc but most significantly, it was the pureness, the completely dry taste that stunned me.

I expect I am going to be told that is the product of double distillation but I pot stilled the first run and refluxed the second. I expected to lose a lot of flavour but no. Maybe it mitigated what might have been an overbearing flavour from the concentrated backset I don' know.

All I can say is thank you Odin and thank you all for helping me, am really, really enjoying the stuff that is coming out of my still.

All the best
Taking a break while I get a new still completed....
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Re: Odin's Easy Gin

Post by Saltbush Bill »

Am I right in thinking your using a T500 reflux for that last part Coogee?
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Re: Odin's Easy Gin

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Saltbush Bill wrote: Fri Dec 18, 2020 2:59 am Am I right in thinking your using a T500 reflux for that last part Coogee?
Yes I did young man.

Hoping I will upgrade to something more substantial next year, it is way too slow.
Taking a break while I get a new still completed....
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Re: Odin's Easy Gin

Post by Saltbush Bill »

Interesting , never heard of anyone taking that approach to the tail end of a gin run before, kinda makes sense that it could work.
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Re: Odin's Easy Gin

Post by CoogeeBoy »

Saltbush Bill wrote: Fri Dec 18, 2020 4:07 pm Interesting , never heard of anyone taking that approach to the tail end of a gin run before, kinda makes sense that it could work.
Thanks Saltbush. I was figuring why lose the alcohol, I was going to accept the loss of the flavour to recover some neutral from the remaining wash and I thought clean up the tails at the same time but it came through at 92% with great flavour.

PS keep safe from that COVID!
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Re: Odin's Easy Gin

Post by artooks »

There is one thing that I am really wondering, if I choose to macerate all the herbs @45 ABV for 24 hrs and if I choose to distill @30 ABV would the 400 ml collections still counts or in that case I have to check the distillate abc for example 45 ABV I shut the still, basically what I am asking is if I distill at 30 or 35 or X how will I determine the end of the run, would it be ok if I choose to do it with smell and ABV ?
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Re: Odin's Easy Gin

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I made a run of 5 liters of odins easy gin with good neutral, all the ingredients to the letter and ran it in my potstill as instructed. Ive had it in a demijon for a week now and I can't say that the smell replicates a nice gin profile, am I expecting too much as many say it blends and matures over 5 weeks. My concern is that this mix ive done is so far removed from the real thing, I must have made a boo boo somewhere.
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Re: Odin's Easy Gin

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sampvt wrote: Sun Dec 20, 2020 2:49 pm I made a run of 5 liters of odins easy gin with good neutral, all the ingredients to the letter and ran it in my potstill as instructed. Ive had it in a demijon for a week now and I can't say that the smell replicates a nice gin profile, am I expecting too much as many say it blends and matures over 5 weeks. My concern is that this mix ive done is so far removed from the real thing, I must have made a boo boo somewhere.
It changes A LOT over the weeks, it really does, to the point that I didnt recognise it after 4-5 weeks.

One question that I would ask is what did you use to dilute the gin? I have been using distilled water but am thinking of using a flat italian mineral water, my view is the distilled water is too flat or lacklustre.
Taking a break while I get a new still completed....
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Re: Odin's Easy Gin

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Mine improves, but it improves from already being a good gin that can be enjoyed new.

If yours isn't a good gin, check your neutral and your botanicals. If a botanical is a bit old or inferior, you might have to use more next time or buy better quality. If one is too strong, use less. You can repair a gin by blending it with a second batch that makes up for the botanical mistakes in the first batch, or by making essences to add.
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Re: Odin's Easy Gin

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CoogeeBoy wrote: Sun Dec 20, 2020 8:44 pm
sampvt wrote: Sun Dec 20, 2020 2:49 pm I made a run of 5 liters of odins easy gin with good neutral, all the ingredients to the letter and ran it in my potstill as instructed. Ive had it in a demijon for a week now and I can't say that the smell replicates a nice gin profile, am I expecting too much as many say it blends and matures over 5 weeks. My concern is that this mix ive done is so far removed from the real thing, I must have made a boo boo somewhere.
It changes A LOT over the weeks, it really does, to the point that I didnt recognise it after 4-5 weeks.

One question that I would ask is what did you use to dilute the gin? I have been using distilled water but am thinking of using a flat italian mineral water, my view is the distilled water is too flat or lacklustre.
I had a reverse osmosis system put in last week so I'm using RO filtered water to mix with.
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Re: Odin's Easy Gin

Post by sampvt »

NZChris wrote: Sun Dec 20, 2020 10:12 pm Mine improves, but it improves from already being a good gin that can be enjoyed new.

If yours isn't a good gin, check your neutral and your botanicals. If a botanical is a bit old or inferior, you might have to use more next time or buy better quality. If one is too strong, use less. You can repair a gin by blending it with a second batch that makes up for the botanical mistakes in the first batch, or by making essences to add.
The neutral spirit I used was from an old batch of Kale wash that turned out pretty good, not to be confused with the latest turbo crap that I am trying hard to save, lol. The botanicals are all brand new and only delivered this week. Im going to have to wait, there is nothing else for it and I'm glad it will change.
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Re: Odin's Easy Gin

Post by NZChris »

Taste your ingredients. Why doesn't your gin taste like what you expected? What is missing? What is too strong? Is your neutral coming through and spoiling it?

AFAIK, OEG was only intended to be an easy starting point for our gin adventures, not a recipe for the finest gin you will ever make. Keep good records and tweak your botanical bill and method every time you make a new batch.
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Re: Odin's Easy Gin

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To add to what NZChris is saying. I posted a reference that I got to the percent of botanicals you add to make your gin that I got at a national conference seminar. This is mainly a starting point, you would not use all the botanicals and you might adjust the proportions to your liking. If I am going to add a different botanical to my maceration and I am not familiar with it’s taste I google the plant to find out and see if I think I will like it.
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