Odin's Easy Gin

[NZChris]

Thanks for the info.

I am doing a straight OEG for the first try and will leave everything in the boil, but just got a 4" carter head in the mail today, so I'll try a variety of things in the vapor path once I see what the OEG tastes like. It's heavy as heck. I should have gotten a 2" one, I think, with the small botanical quantities I'm going to be using. I could also do it less complicated and just put it on a screen above the boiler, maybe.

The smaller the diameter of the botanical basket, the higher the vapor speed and the smaller the volume so if you got adventurous in the future you would probably regret getting the 2".

[The Baker]

Brace it if balance is a problem.

Geoff

[NZChris]

I leave my peel whole so that it's easy to find to put in the gin basket.

Chris, I had missed this comment. Do you pull and put in the gin basket for extraction enhancement purposes or to get them out of the boiler so it won't burn or what? Do you leave the rest of the botanicals in the boiler rather than basket?

Looking at the first page of this thread, I see I started making gin over five years ago.

Looking at my latest gin notes, I see I made my latest gin very similarly to an OEG, except lighter on citrus, with all of the botanicals in the boiler and nothing but some extra copper in the gin basket. It has made a very nice gin. Not having a gin basket isn't really a problem unless you want to make something like a Bombay Sapphire with all of the botanicals in the basket and you are prepared to stretch your run out to several hours. Not exactly Odin's Easy Gin and probably not a subject for this thread.

[MtRainier]

Ran it tonight. The ratios came out exactly as Odin said. I had done a 2L batch and collected 800 mL pretty slowly over the course of an hour with 650W on the hot plate under the boiler. After dilution I ended up with right at 1550mL of gin at 45%. It started to cloud up, (louche?) as I diluted under 50%, but it does smell and taste good. Can't wait to see what it will be like in a few weeks.

[NZChris]

If the louche annoys you, you can do what Odin suggests and add 45% abv neutral until it disappears. I seldom bother as I like the intensity of flavor in my undiluted OEGs, but sometimes I do dilute them just enough that they are cloudy on cold mornings and clear in the afternoons.

[NZChris]

Can't wait to see what it will be like in a few weeks.

Don't.

The improvement isn't so outstanding that you need to wait that long to try it. As long as you haven't run out before five weeks is up, you will get to taste it at five weeks old, meanwhile, put another batch through so that that has a chance of reaching five weeks old before you run out of your first effort.

[MtRainier]

Can't wait to see what it will be like in a few weeks.

Don't.

The improvement isn't so outstanding that you need to wait that long to try it. As long as you haven't run out before five weeks is up, you will get to taste it at five weeks old, meanwhile, put another batch through so that that has a chance of reaching five weeks old before you run out of your first effort.

Seems like this will happen to me by default. I'm already a few ounces in. I'm kind of stunned that it was as easy as this to get nice tasting gin.

[MtRainier]

One quick question I forgot to ask. When I was warming up I did have some condensate start coming out when the vapor temp was still between 60-80. It ended up adding up to around 15ml or so, more than the initial 10ml that is called for in the discard instruction.

Is that low temperature stuff what Odin is saying to discard before the "real" stuff starts coming out with a vapor temp more like I'd expect to see from an 80% alcohol vapor? It didn't really have a lot of smell or taste, so I figured it was more like a pre-boil water vapor that was coming off and condensing.

What I ended up doing was collecting that in my smaller container that I'd planned for the first 10ml and then once the temp of the vapor stabilized at around 82C I collected another 10ml before switching to my main container.

Next batch will have some centennial hops in it.

[Expat]

No the pre run drips aren't the discard that Odin is referring to. Very likely it's just leftovers from cleaning or a previous run. I've had it before, just discard it.

When you smell the true first 10ml, you'll know it. Massive citrus juniper blast. Unmistakable.

[MtRainier]

OK. I might have ended up including them in the product by not tossing enough at the beginning, then.

Out of curiosity for what would happen I aired out the cloudy new gin last night with coffee filters on top like I'd do before cuts. They cleared up. The temp hasn't changed in the basement. So letting them air let out enough of something (or absorbed enough of something from the air) that the louche went away. I hadn't heard that would happen.

[Expat]

I don't think airing is desirable. Starting with a clean neutral there shouldn't be anything to air, and the botanical flavor you just infused may be lost. Let stand for 5 weeks (sealed) as suggested. If louching is an issue, dilute the product with 45% neutral as indicated.

[NZChris]

Out of curiosity for what would happen I aired out the cloudy new gin last night with coffee filters on top like I'd do before cuts.

You would have angels & demons partying up large snorting the flavors and alcohol out of your jar. Put your new make in glass with about 1/3 headspace for some O2 and put the lid on.

[Taxy]

In the thread "Making pure whiskey" (recipe development) Odin talks about making whisky with a reflux (LM) column.

Would the same principles apply to his Easy Gin recipe?

[still_stirrin]

In the thread "Making pure whiskey" (recipe development) Odin talks about making whisky with a reflux (LM) column.

Would the same principles apply to his Easy Gin recipe?

Hey Taxy,
I suggest you read the start of this thread. There is a lot of discussion of the processes and toolset here. Your question will be answered as you read.

Of note, many commercial gin producers use a variety of different processes and tools. But you’ve asked about Odin’s EZ gin recipe here. So, look for the answers within this thread. No need for additional redundancy here as well.
ss

[The Dark Alchemist]

Just tasted some of my 2nd batch of this nectar.

I was pushed for glass space, so let the scaled up quantities for 10L of final product, juniper, coriander and tangerine peel sit in 5L of 91% for a couple of weeks, before diluting and running through the still.

Got a lot of cloudy gin at 50% ABV and think I may not have discarded enough at the start of the 2nd distillation run. So I added some 42% neutral, as well as some 42% juniper, coriander and tangerine, I had prepared earlier for a bit of blending fun later, until I got a clearer product.

That got rid of the cloud and let it settle for a week.

The 2 glasses last night were sensational, after only a week of rest.... Looking forward to the 10L of product to come

Doubt I could replicate it though, given the additions, but next time, will strip off a bit more at the start of the 2nd distillation run.

[NZChris]

To get rid of louche in Odin's Easy Gin;

Make up 100ml at 45% of your finest neutral.
Put 50ml of your cloudy 45% OEG in a 100ml measuring cylinder.
Add the neutral to the OEG a few ml at a time until the OEG sample clears.
From that, calculate how much neutral you need to make up to dilute your batch of OEG to where it doesn't louche.

[fizzix]

In the thread "Making pure whiskey" (recipe development) Odin talks about making whisky with a reflux (LM) column.

Would the same principles apply to his Easy Gin recipe?

I know respected member still_stirrin offered his input, but your question reminded me of
how the gin flavor is completely throughout heads, hearts, and tails. I really have to watch cuts because of that.
Seems that infiltrated flavor is a terrible thing to waste.
That alone is why I think Odin's Whiskey method just may work for you. Give her a shot.

[NZChris]

In the thread "Making pure whiskey" (recipe development) Odin talks about making whisky with a reflux (LM) column.

Would the same principles apply to his Easy Gin recipe?

I know respected member still_stirrin offered his input, but your question reminded me of
how the gin flavor is completely throughout heads, hearts, and tails. I really have to watch cuts because of that.
Seems that infiltrated flavor is a terrible thing to waste.
That alone is why I think Odin's Whiskey method just may work for you. Give her a shot.

There shouldn't be any significant heads and tails present in the gin still if you have followed Odin's method. They should already be in your feints jugs and only the hearts should be in the maceration. It would be similar if you ran it in a reflux. They're not a great tool for the job, but it is pretty hard to stuff up making gin unless you do something like putting heads and tails in the boiler with the botanicals then attempting to do whiskey style cuts.

[Taxy]

I should have clarified my question in more detail: in Odin's 'pure whisky' method, he distills a first batch of whisky with a reflux still, uses the hearts for a white dog (or recycling as neutral) but keeps the heads and tails and adds them to a second batch 'pure whisky' distillation. In the reflux distillation of the second batch, the additional hearts and tails will "spill over" in the hearts section, so you get a full-taste whisky even though one is using a reflux and is distilling close to azeo.

I was wondering whether one could do this with Odin's Easy gin recipe.

More in particular by following his recipe to a tee (10ml heads, collect 400ml as per his original post) but then keep on collecting the tails. I imagine the first reflux distillation will result in a more subdued gin than with a pot still. But you have the heads and tails for a - perhaps - more full-flavoured next batch of reflux distillation.

According to Fizzix (thanks for picking this up, even though my question was pretty 'condensed'), it seems that the same spill-over effect would work.

If so, you 'recycle' the tails past the first 410ml of Odin's recipe and you can get a full-taste gin in the second batch reflux distillation.

I know respected member still_stirrin offered his input, but your question reminded me of
how the gin flavor is completely throughout heads, hearts, and tails. I really have to watch cuts because of that.
Seems that infiltrated flavor is a terrible thing to waste.

There shouldn't be any significant heads and tails present in the gin still if you have followed Odin's method.

For me, the 'heads' and 'tails' in this context are the heads and tails of the gin flavour, not the off-flavours in a neutral.

[fizzix]

You're certainly correct NZ~
But when I made 8 gallons of the stuff, the accumulative gin-taste tails were considerable.
I obsessed whether that "lost" flavor could be recovered. The "LM Whiskey Method" seemed plausible.

[NZChris]

The flavors I get after taking my OEG keeper are mostly very strong and sometimes unpleasant citrus, so I've never bothered adding them back. What I do, is add the 10ml foreshot to 70-100ml taken after the OEG which usually flashes into a milky white louche and is then used for a variety of small experimental gins and liqueurs that are filtered through my liver or tossed out the door. I often like their intense citrus blast, but they are never something a distiller would want to present to a visitor.

If I found myself with a worthwhile quantity of OEG feints, I'd experiment with making up a still charge with the feints, some neutral and a typical OEG botanical bill except low in citrus.

[Expat]

As an experiment I used the gin tails as a base to macerate another batch, it definitely made the tails stronger but I didn't notice any off flavors in the keep. YMMV of course.

[The Dark Alchemist]

To get rid of louche in Odin's Easy Gin;

Make up 100ml at 45% of your finest neutral.
Put 50ml of your cloudy 45% OEG in a 100ml measuring cylinder.
Add the neutral to the OEG a few ml at a time until the OEG sample clears.
From that, calculate how much neutral you need to make up to dilute your batch of OEG to where it doesn't louche.

Nice and simple; thanks Chris.

[MtRainier]

No louche on the second batch. I'm loving it.

I did the initial juniper cut correctly this time, which might have helped. I had put 2g of Centennial hop pellets in the wash in addition to the OEG ingredients, and it's intense.

It's an India Pale Gin.

[sphaleron]

A year ago I made a batch of Odin's easy gin exactly as the recipe states and I was very pleased with the result. Exactly as Odin described the flavour mellowed out perfectly over a few weeks The feedback from my gin snob friends was very positive.

After producing some more neutral spirit this year I decided to give gin making another go. I wanted to experiment with the recipe so I went to the parent sire for more information. One thing I am confused about is the parent site calls for a total weight of botanicals of 20g - 35g per litre of 43% neutral, macerated for 24 hours and distilled with botanicals in the boiler. Odin's recipe only requires 15g per litre.

For this year's batch I decided to increase the quantities to 30g per litre (20g juniper and 10g corriander) following the parent site. I slightly crushed the berries and seeds in a pestle and mortar and macerated for 24 hours prior to distilling. The distillate was diluted to 45% ABV and instantly louched suggesting a high concentration of oils. The juniper flavour is far too strong to the point of being undrinkable. What have I done wrong? Why is Odin's recipe seemingly correct and the parent site not? I intend to let it rest for a few weeks before re-assessing the flavour. If no improvement I'll have to dilute it with some neutral to try mellow it out.

Feedback appreciated

[kiwi Bruce]

What have I done wrong? Why is Odin's recipe seemingly correct and the parent site not? I intend to let it rest for a few weeks before re-assessing the flavour. If no improvement I'll have to dilute it with some neutral to try mellow it out.Feedback appreciated

You may not know that Odin is a master distiller who runs a distillery in Holland. He is, if not THE most experienced distiller on this site...he's got to be way up there!
I found that you've got to go easy on the orange with this recipe, the first time I made an "Oden's Easy" it was over powering...I drank it anyway...I did better after that, by taking the orange peel out early. As for the home site's Gin I don't know who made it...I just felt Oden's was better and RAN with that...excuse the pun.

[Odin]

Thanks for the kudo's. Yeah, I guess I designed some 170 professional gins over the last 7 to 8 years. Most of them winning awards. And for sure most of them pretty much always better than the big boys. The success is humbling and makes one proud at the same time. Distilling has brought me a lot.

What goes "wrong" with the high amount of juniper berries from the recipes does not need to be seen as a mistake.

You dilute to 45%, so what happens? Solvency goes down. At the same time you had more oils due to the higher amount of herbs (especially the berries) per liter. Oils come out of solution. The solution is easy. Dilute some neutral to 45% and mix it in with the gin. Add so much as to when the haze lifts. You now have maximum taste saturation gin.

Regards, Odin.

[sphaleron]

Wow, a reply from the master himself Yes, I've been reading Odin's posts for many years and am well aware of his credentials. Thanks for the advice guys. Im gonna dilute with some neutral to try reduce the juniper note.

Odin,
I would love to get you opinion on crushing berries and seeds versus not crushing. There seems to be a lot of conflicting information on this. Your Easy gin recipe asks for crushing. Your "How to make the perfect gin" youtube video shows you putting the berries into the still whole. Does it make a difference? Are there different recipe approaches to crushing and not crushing?

[Odin]

For home distillation size batches crushing is fine. But imagine you have to crush 100 kilo's for a professional run. So, for pro sized runs I do an overnight steep at 60% abv, before (the next day) diluting to 30% and doing the run. A steep just on the berries.

Regards, Odin.

[sphaleron]

I experimented today by adding 45% neutral to my cloudy gin. I added it slowly to find the "taste saturation" threshold at which it clears. Just as Odin suggests the colour dissappeared very quickly at the threshold. The odour also reduced significantly. To 1 litre of cloudy gin i added 300ml of 45% neutral. If the cloudy gin was distilled from 20g of juniper per litre then my gin now at taste saturation is the equivalent of 15.4g juniper per litre. This is fairly close to the 12g amount in Odin's easy gin recipe. I guess this is very dependent on the strength and oilyness of the juniper berries used.