Odin's Easy Gin

[Archee72]

You might be right, I added several in one go? Might try adding one botanical at a time next.

[Rrmuf]

You might be right, I added several in one go? Might try adding one botanical at a time next.

.... That is what is generally recommended. Ditto for any alteration in maceration ABV. I have, however, been known to cheat once in a while.

[jonnys_spirit]

Just ordered and received Juniper berries and Coriander seeds and have some little tiny oranges or mandarins in the fruit bin already so am going to be trying this recipe out pretty soon. I'll be using brandy from wine as my base spirit however since I don't have any neutral and I do have some brandy - I'll dive into some neutral production later and figure running a liter or two with some smoothe brandy as the base spirit might just whet my whistle for a bit. Looking forward to this and thank you Odin for this recipe!

Cheers,
jonny

[Bushman]

Your going to enjoy it if you like gin.

[jonnys_spirit]

Thanks Bushman I do like gin so looking forward to it. This one is OEG botanicals from a smooth slightly nuke oaked brandy base spirit @ about 45% abv. Smells great from the get go! May run it tomorrow with the botanicals in the boiler but i’ll review the thread here again for further insight before running

Cheers!
-j

[jonnys_spirit]

This turned out very well btw! Mine louched a bit and adding some 120pf brandy cleared it right up. Love it straight and with tonic and a wedge. Ordered ingredients to make a dry vermouth so thats next!

Cheers,
J

[Mares]

I am novice hobby gin producer, have done so far 7 different spirit runs for the past 2 months (small 5 liter batches), I am basically following ODIN's formula with some recipe differences on each run. I am curious to add some honey in my next trail run, but not sure how much and when to add honey? Should I add it during maceration all together with botanicals and pour everything in a pot still for spirit run, or I should add honey after spirit run, when gin is diluted to drinkable abv? In case of running honey through pot still during spirit run, could it make leave some bad side-effects as I heard honey does not like high temperatures and cooking in general?

[NZChris]

Sometimes, you have to be the first, Mares. Try both methods. One will give honey flavor without sweetening, the other will give sweetness and probably make a cloudy gin liqueur that will be extremely difficult to clear.

[Mares]

Thanks NZChris for the support, I will try both ways, I am just worried about healthiness of cooking honey, could it release negative substances through vapor? Anyhow, I know people cook meals with honey, eg. honey smeared chicken cooked in the oven, I guess healthy elements are scraped this way but with no side effects....

On the other side, I have drinkable gin from previous trials, will try to add small amount into one bottle and taste the effect, louching does not bother me...however I would prefer macerating it with other botanicals prior distillation instead of adding it into drinkable gin.

[TwoSheds]

Thanks NZChris for the support, I will try both ways, I am just worried about healthiness of cooking honey, could it release negative substances through vapor?

Honey, at least pure honey, is almost entirely sugars and water. Additional components include pollen (unless very tightly filtered), enzymes (from the bee's honey stomach).

By nature it can contain wild yeast and if there's too much water content (above 18%) it can spontaneously ferment.

One nasty you do want to be aware of, but probably doesn't impact brewing, raw honey can contain trace amounts of botulism. Not enough to be harmful to an average adult but that's why it's not recommended to give raw honey to children under 1 or to someone who is immunocompromised.

All that said, you shouldn't have any trouble in this type of application. Mead makers frequently boil their honey and there is a mead style called a brochet that even take it up to a full caramelization. Honey caramel candies are often made and you can cook in all sorts of ways with honey.

Maximum health benefits of honey come from raw, local, fresh honey, but I don't think health benefits are anyones primary concern here...

[jonnys_spirit]

I've distilled various honey washes "meads" and I really like it as either a significant adjunct or straight honey shine - not cheap but worth it to have some in the cabinet. It would probably make a good base spirit for a gin style with Odin's botanical bill maybe slightly more subtle. Forgive me please for the OT comment! That should be a different thread...

I feel like unfermented honey in the boiler could possibly lead to sugary maillard reactions similar to a bouchet which might be good or not depending on how you cook it? let us know please!

Cheers!
-j

[Wozza]

Hi guys. So if I’m doing 12.4 litres of Neutral with this recipe do I really need the skins from 12.4 mandarins?

Or can I drop that number down a bit?

This is a couple of months old but...I can't get tangerines in Sydney so I started my Gin Journey using mandarins. I'm not sure there's a great deal of difference and I was very happy indeed with the result. I've since been changing the citrus bill and using different types of oranges and grapefruit with some lemon as well. Even a tangelo, which is as close as I could get to a tangerine (haven't seen them recently - they have a great aroma). I think the grapefruit gives the best results for me.

And I recommend weighing the peel after you've done the pith scrape. Some of the fruit varies a lot in size and some peel easily and I get a lot and some...not so much (especially with the mandarins). You'll have a more accurate figure to play with.

Per litre I use about 15g of juniper, about the same of citrus and about 4g of coriander. And about 1g of Angelica root. Steep for two weeks and then filter out the solids. It's not really OEG any more but I think Odin's original idea was - do this first and then slowly adjust each ingredient and experiment.

I do 7.0L each time at 43% and take 3.0L from that which cuts to 5.0L at 43%. I did try adding an extra two litres of water last time and taking an extra 800ml. But...there was definitely a difference in quality in that extra amount. I just tossed it. So it's back to the recommended 400ml/Litre (or a touch over).

[vonmighty]

Im about to start my first Odins gin... but I have a stupid question that I cant find the answer to...

Odins calls for 1L of 40% abv, but I have a 30L boiler... do I need to dump in water to reduce the chance of dryboiling at only 1L in the boiler?

[Sporacle]

Im about to start my first Odins gin... but I have a stupid question that I cant find the answer to...

Odins calls for 1L of 40% abv, but I have a 30L boiler... do I need to dump in water to reduce the chance of dryboiling at only 1L in the boiler?

No mate, 1 L is the recipe value scale up to suit your boiler, remember head space and ensure you don't boil dry and to discard the amounts Odin mentions for the scale up, good luck

[NZChris]

Im about to start my first Odins gin... but I have a stupid question that I cant find the answer to...

Odins calls for 1L of 40% abv, but I have a 30L boiler... do I need to dump in water to reduce the chance of dryboiling at only 1L in the boiler?

No, he doesn't call for 1L of 40% abv. Read the OP again.

If you put 1l in your boiler and take out 400ml, will the remaining 600ml keep your element covered?

Why do you want to do 1l?

[vonmighty]

I dont want to do heaps tbh, without knowing how its going to taste, I dont want to waste a heap of neutral making it...

What do you reckon is the minimum I can do?

[vonmighty]

Im about to start my first Odins gin... but I have a stupid question that I cant find the answer to...

Odins calls for 1L of 40% abv, but I have a 30L boiler... do I need to dump in water to reduce the chance of dryboiling at only 1L in the boiler?

No, he doesn't call for 1L of 40% abv. Read the OP again.

If you put 1l in your boiler and take out 400ml, will the remaining 600ml keep your element covered?

Why do you want to do 1l?

I dont have an exposed element.. and my bad on the recipe, 43% ABV.

[vonmighty]

Im about to start my first Odins gin... but I have a stupid question that I cant find the answer to...

Odins calls for 1L of 40% abv, but I have a 30L boiler... do I need to dump in water to reduce the chance of dryboiling at only 1L in the boiler?

No mate, 1 L is the recipe value scale up to suit your boiler, remember head space and ensure you don't boil dry and to discard the amounts Odin mentions for the scale up, good luck

Thanks mate! just dont want litres and litres as I want to experiment with smaller amounts to begin with...

[NZChris]

I dont want to do heaps tbh, without knowing how its going to taste, I dont want to waste a heap of neutral making it...

What do you reckon is the minimum I can do?

I haven't seen your still. Pour 500ml of water in it, is the bottom covered? Turn the heat on and watch it boil.

[vonmighty]

I dont want to do heaps tbh, without knowing how its going to taste, I dont want to waste a heap of neutral making it...

What do you reckon is the minimum I can do?

I haven't seen your still. Pour 500ml of water in it, is the bottom covered? Turn the heat on and watch it boil.

good idea! its just a 30l beer me stainless steel boiler....

[NZChris]

Put some copper in it.

[Sporacle]

I dont want to do heaps tbh, without knowing how its going to taste, I dont want to waste a heap of neutral making it...

What do you reckon is the minimum I can do?

I got some great advice from Chris and built a mini still, cost me less than 5 dollars and I have so many experiments lined up 750ml capacity and a minimal heat up

[vonmighty]

I dont want to do heaps tbh, without knowing how its going to taste, I dont want to waste a heap of neutral making it...

What do you reckon is the minimum I can do?

I got some great advice from Chris and built a mini still, cost me less than 5 dollars and I have so many experiments lined up 750ml capacity and a minimal heat up1_20210730_150419_compress31.jpg

This is amazing! Have you got a build thread on the forums somewhere that I could read?

[Sporacle]

Nah mate I don't have a thread, basically it was a copper pitcher I found at a swap meet with a 75mm blank cap soldered on top to make the boiler 1 inch pot still head with a inch over three eight liebig I think its 15cm long (will knock down enough) I've got another inch hole in the lid with a ptfe bung to fill it and empty it. Honestly I just used stuff I had lying around. There a plenty of little designs using stainless steel pots, just keep your eye out at second hand stores

[Manic Mechanic]

Well. I have a 15 gallon kettle and a 38" copper column (Ian Smiley design) running on propane. What is the smallest quantity I can run in this and still make it work. One gallon is only 1.250 inch deep in my kettle. Will that work?

[jonnys_spirit]

Ian Smiley design

Did you ask Ian?

1.250 inch deep in my kettle. Will that work?

If you run 40%ABV (of which 60% is "water") the remainder left in the boiler will be something less than 0.75" - Maybe 0.5" - 1.250"x60% = 0.75" subtract a little more because the distillate doesn't come out at 100%ABV - Sounds a little close to comfort me!

Got a pic of your boiler with a ruler next to it?

Are there any soldered items close to the bottom? The liquid in there keeps it cool enough and prevents any solder from melting - I'd recommend not distilling with only 1.250" of 40% ABV in your boiler..

Cheers!
-j

[NZChris]

Well. I have a 15 gallon kettle and a 38" copper column (Ian Smiley design) running on propane. What is the smallest quantity I can run in this and still make it work. One gallon is only 1.250 inch deep in my kettle. Will that work?

Put water in it, watch it boil until you think it's just about too low, then measure how much is left. Calculate your minimum charge from that.

[Manic Mechanic]

thanks guy's. i may just need to run a 3-4 gallon batch of low wines.

[NZChris]

thanks guy's. i may just need to run a 3-4 gallon batch of low wines.

Unless you like drinking bad gin, don't use low wines for the gin run.

[whitestar]

has anyone ever used gin backset in their next run seems like there would be a lot of flavour left in it maybe more useful in a 3 or 4 gallon run - i do make odins once a year i make 3 or 4 bottles was thinking with backset i could do a larger run