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I am quite new to distilling but I like to experiment t.I have a column reflex still,which I fill with raschid rings.My question is if I fit a basket in the column filled with botanicals instead of rings would it work to produce gin.Thanks for all the informative posts which I have read

Yes it would work but can be dangerous. You are best off just building a gin basket. Many designs out now, offset inline what ever you want really.

Not sure what kind of column you have, but I have a sight window section I put below my reflux and assemble it with a screened gasket. I put the botanicals right on the screen and am able to watch what is going on via the sight window. It effectively turns my entire sight window section into a gin basket. I macerate the botanicals also for about two weeks so it doesn't take a lot in the column.

bebilja,

The best way to vapor infuse your gin botanicals is in the vapor product stream...after the reflux column. If it were placed between the reflux condenser and the packing, the reflux will cause the essence to wash back into your packing. Putting the botanical after the reflux in the vapor product line will give you the pure neutral vapor to steam the botanicals and then the vapor will move on to the product condenser. This is the method most commercial gin stillers employ. And it works great.

Things to consider for this however, is that there may be some condensation of the vapor in the gin basket ast it comes up to temperature. That condensate can pool, or puddle in the basket. So you must design your basket so that the pooling liquid won't impede or block the vapor flow through the basket. Some commercial gin baskets therefore have a liquid drain valve to drain this liquid back to the column or collect separately.

I make Odin's Easy Gin (see the Tried & True recipe for this) in a small (16 quart) stock pot potstill. But I use clean neutral hearts to make the gin and for that I run my LM/VM reflux column. And before the spirit run in the reflux column, I strip the wash through a potstill. So the gin run is the third distillation...very nice and clean. It makes a wonderful gin...especially if you heed Odin's advice in the making. A great product does take time to make...and for me at least, that's triple distilling. It'll stand the test of any of the top shelf gins out there. Fact!
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