Absinthe recipe

[blanikdog]

My favorite liqueur was Southern Comfort. The problem with that, was that after the second liter of it, my pants always seemed to get lost, and it was hell to find them (along with cars and motorcycles). It was just way to easy to suck down a bottle in a very short time. too sweet, with no bite.

H.

Shit husker, I was just about to ask you for a date until I saw the tattoos


blanik

[MudDuck]

I hear absinthe is nasty tasting but for some reason it's the trendy drink these days.

Same thing in this part of the country, but here it seems like more of a novelty than a preferred drink.

[Zman]

Properly made absinthe is not nasty tasting. If you do not like the flavor of anise, then you will not like absinthe. Virtually everything made in the Czech Republic (Hills, King of Spirits, etc.) is NOT absinthe. They are poorly rectified alcohol with even poorer flavoring oils and artificial colors added. Many Americans do not care for the flavor of anise. If you like Sambucca, ouzo, raki, pastis, or other anise drinks, you will probably be able to appreciate a well-made absinthe. Absinthe is getting quite a lot of press as of late, but unfortunately what is now coming (legally) into the American market is not the finest examples of what absinthe is, or should be.

[CatharticusX]

Properly made absinthe is not nasty tasting.

I completely agree. Americans don't typically drink anise-flavored beverages so it's a switch for many, but the drink itself is a whole hell of a lot easier on the palate than most gin or tequila (a better analog would be 151 rum, since they are closer in proof.)

It's weird hearing people describe absinthe as bitter. In my experience the only bitter absinthe I've tasted is home-made, usually because the maker used grand wormwood instead of petite wormwood in the finishing.

If you don't like the taste of anise, use green anise instead of star and add a little extra mint to adjust to a more American palate.

-cx

[MudDuck]

I realize that good Absinthe is better than what is common over here, but it is the bitter stuff available here that these people are raving about. My comments are not so much in reference to Absinthe in general as they are to the people who are talking about poorly made Absinthe (usually from an internet Absinthe kit) as if it is something special. I apologize for any misunderstanding I may have caused.

[CatharticusX]

I realize that good Absinthe is better than what is common over here, but it is the bitter stuff available here that these people are raving about. My comments are not so much in reference to Absinthe in general as they are to the people who are talking about poorly made Absinthe (usually from an internet Absinthe kit) as if it is something special. I apologize for any misunderstanding I may have caused.

Yeah, that stuff is definately crap. I dissected a Green Devil absinthe kit not long ago and compared it with herbs I'd gotten from a local shop. I thought at first that Green Devil might be worthy if distilled, but it turns out they use Grand Wormwood in the second maceration, and a whole ton of green food coloring. Using Grand in the second maceration would make sense if you're not going to distill...but, that makes no sense on a greater level because it tastes like coffin juice and doesn't at all resemble the real deal.

There's no excuse for using food coloring in absinthe at all. It reduces the amount of herbs required for coloration, but the herbs themselves are, like, $1.20/ounce and you can color 2L of absinthe for under five dollars (unless you're using Petite Wormwood, which is a bit more expensive.)

The maceration bags they provide are pretty cool if you're going to do it yourself, but no matter how hard I try I can't get the Grand Wormwood bitterness out of the bag itself without using detergents or something.

You CAN distill Green Devil (etc) and get a reasonably tasty absinthe--comparable to LaFee--but the bitterness will always be there unless you use your own herbs for coloration. If you're gonna do that, you might as well use your own for the initial maceration as well.

I can't wait to give a bottle of Lucid a try for comparison!

-cx

[themoch]

So....

how long to you guys macerate both the wormwood and the other ingredients? I have literally found anything form 4 hours to 10 days.

just curious.

[CatharticusX]

So....

how long to you guys macerate both the wormwood and the other ingredients? I have literally found anything form 4 hours to 10 days.

just curious.

I do 7-10 for the first maceration in a jar in a cool place and for the second it's usually a day or two. Anything under a few days would require heat, but I haven't tried that.

Next time, I'm going to try throwing the tails and green anise in two or three days ahead of the wormwood and everything else just to give it a little more time. The last time, I just drew a small sample, added cold water and checked the louche to decide whether it was done.

-cx

[FAROM]

So....
how long to you guys macerate both the wormwood and the other ingredients? I have literally found anything form 4 hours to 10 days.
just curious.

Ciao, my suggestion is to hold in maceration 24 hours.
Recommended temperature 23°C-26°C (73,40°- 78,80° farenheit), I produce a good absinthe using these temperatures, you make a search on google: absinthe farom
Ciao.

[Jerolin]

My Absinthe has turned out awful all three times I've made it.

If I had never had good commercial Absinthe I might be inclined to think I was successful, but I know better.

I think my problem just might be low quality herbs. Heck, I suppose it might be some other problem that I've caused though.

The first distillation I did, I used:

50 grams of Wormwood
75 Grams of Anise Seed
65 Grams of Fennel (indian is all I could afford, but I plan on getting some Florence fennel next time)
25 Grams of Star Anise
15 Grams of Coriander
10 Grams of Angelica

I macerated that in my still with 1 liter of 85% neutral ethanol for 24 hours at a constant 95 degrees Fahrenheit.

I then added 750ml of water (according to a recipe I found posted somewhere on here) and distilled it in a double boiler.

I cut the first 50ml, and kept the last 200ml as tails.

I was certain that would be a good Absinthe. - Nope. It tasted like the wormwood I used might have been either way too strong or just not very good at all, and the Anise seed must be really terrible quality too because it was FAR too weak tasting on that side of things. It was just really miserable tasting over all. It just tasted "off" if that makes sense. I really think the wormwood is the main culprit.

So the next distillation I upped the Anise to 110 Grams and the Star Anise to 75 Grams out of desperation.

It was closer, but still way too far off, and was barely drinkable.

I'm really at a loss here, any thoughts?

[FAROM]

The quantity of the herbs it goes very well, you must eliminate the starry anise, temperature maceration environment 23- 26°C, ciao.

EDIT: How seeds of fennel you can use very well the Foeniculum vulgare Miller

[Zman]

Cut your wormwood in half. Most classic recipes only call for 25 grams per liter. The Indian fennel is also not good for absinthe (way too much fenchone). I would go with your own suggestion of Florence fennel, or sweet fennel of Provence if you can't find the Florence. With that much anise seed you only need about 7-10 grams of star anise, if any. You also only need to macerate it at average room temperature. Only add 450ml of water to every liter of 85% spirits prior to distillation. If you are using clean spirits, no need to cut for heads if you are using a clean still. Keep in mind that if you are using second or third rate herbs, it will show in the final product. Hopefully you are using a pot still, you want to minimize reflux as much as possible.

[FAROM]

Cut your wormwood in half. Most classic recipes only call for 25 grams per liter. The Indian fennel is also not good for absinthe (way too much fenchone). I would go with your own suggestion of Florence fennel, or sweet fennel of Provence if you can't find the Florence. With that much anise seed you only need about 7-10 grams of star anise, if any. You also only need to macerate it at average room temperature. Only add 450ml of water to every liter of 85% spirits prior to distillation. If you are using clean spirits, no need to cut for heads if you are using a clean still. Keep in mind that if you are using second or third rate herbs, it will show in the final product. Hopefully you are using a pot still, you want to minimize reflux as much as possible.

Ciao, I repeat what I have said before, should be very well the seeds of fennel "Foeniculum vulgare Miller," Good and omit the use of star anise, too Burn his tongue.
The heads and tails must cut even if you use purity alcohol to 95%. The head (methanol) is issued by herbs and the top of the plants, it Not cut his head is nonsense and dangerous . It is very important to use a double boiler, or burn herbs and absinthe will be bad. A little is good having reflux. And wrong not to have a little reflux. The average temperature of maceration is 23-26 ° C, I am giving good advice to Jerolin, Read on: http://www.google.it/search?hl=it&q=abs ... arom&meta=" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow
Then as you want, ciao.

P.s. Sorry for my bad English

[Zman]

We're talking about 1 liter runs. If you use clean neutral spirits to begin with there will be virtually no methanol. Not dangerous at all. The old timers used to separate about less than a liter of heads, not because of methanol, but to clean the worm line (they were also running many hectoliter runs at a time). As for using the Miller variety of fennel, it will not provide the classic absinthe fennel flavor that you will get from the azoricum (Florence fennel) or the dulce (sweet Provence fennel). As for reflux, I wouldn't want any more reflux than what you get from a normal potstill.

[themoch]

So i have a question.

I used the recipe from the parent site:

Xneon writes :

I combed the web for a few days compileing all that i had found with a few modifications we have produced a GREAT recipie!!!
o Take 750ml 90+% alc.
o 2oz wormwood
soak for aprox. 7-10 days
strain (dont worry about leaving a small amounts in)
o 2 tbl ea anise & fennel
o 3-4t bl spearmint (light flavor but goes well)
o 1 tsp coriander
o 1/2 tsp caraway
o 1/4 tsp cardamon
o 1 tbl angelica root
o 1 tbl ea anise hyssop & hyssop
Soak another 7-10 days
add 750ml water and potstill for BEST results (i will not try it any other way

I used a 1 gallon stove top potstill
took a heads of 1/2 oz and then collected about 1000-1200ml
blended to 65% and added 1 drop of green food coloring for effect (i just havent steeped any woormwood for color yet)

so i went to do my distillation and it looked good, smell great, and when i went to add the water in the pot still it louched (?spell). it went from being really transparent, dark green to a creamy light green. i was really excited, but then when it came out of the still it wouldn't do it.

do i have to wait till after the "coloring" maceration before it will do it again? every recipe has said to NOT add water after it comes out of the still because it will make it milky, but all i have is a fine smelling alcohol.

maybe i've added too much water when testing a small sample?

[FAROM]

We're talking about 1 liter runs. If you use clean neutral spirits to begin with there will be virtually no methanol. Not dangerous at all. The old timers used to separate about less than a liter of heads, not because of methanol, but to clean the worm line (they were also running many hectoliter runs at a time). As for using the Miller variety of fennel, it will not provide the classic absinthe fennel flavor that you will get from the azoricum (Florence fennel) or the dulce (sweet Provence fennel). As for reflux, I wouldn't want any more reflux than what you get from a normal potstill.

Tu sei convinto che le erbe e le piante non creano metanolo, fai come vuoi, continua pure, ciao.

Do as you will, Since six convinced that herbs and plants to macerate not issue methanol Go well. I get good results Using fennel Miller, Let me know if anyone has ever used to florence, A small reflux is good if there You are not gone, at which I reported Otherwise you would understand the correctness of my suggestions, ciao.

[brewzz]

I can't seem to find artemisia pontica anywhere...Anyone have a source??

[themoch]

if you are in America there is a source i used... we just celebrated my birthday last night with a bottle of home made Absinthe.

i ordered from http://www.pennherb.com" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow

[brewzz]

Thanks for the link.They seem to have everything except for the Roman Wormwood for the coloring infusion...Anyone else??

[Zman]

http://www.cascadeherbs.com" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow
They have pontica. Ain't cheap, but they got it, and you don't need much per liter.

[brewzz]

So these guys don't seem to have an online catalog.You have to e-mail them to order?Seems kinda wierd...

[Jerolin]

it is a little odd, but I can vouch for them, they're stuff is awesome.

Thanks to everyone for their responses, but I have one more question. A lot of recipes I've seen (even old ones) call for diluting the Absinthe to lower the alcohol level. How on earth do you do that without louching it?

[Zman]

Just make sure that the total volume of spirit to water never goes below 55% AbV.

[Jerolin]

Just make sure that the total volume of spirit to water never goes below 55% AbV.

Yeah, I know that's the limit, but doesn't the distillate turn milky when you add the water? or is it just such a little amount that you can't notice

[Zman]

It'll turn milky when you go past the 55% AbV. Also, add water slowwwly.

[ccr523]

You can go lower than 55% without the distillate louching. Francois Guy comes clear in the bottle at 45%; it's not good but it's not louched.

[brewzz]

So,to any of you guys that have made decent Absinthe.Do you use a alembic pot still?If so,could you post pics of your setup?I am thinking of making a small,2000ml alembic from a 2000ml boiling flask.I will make a head and condenser from copper,been looking on ebay for glass condensers and think I can go cheaper with copper.I was thinking of suspending the flask in a boiler of some kind,not sure how yet.Any ideas?I also have checked out the herbs on Cascade and they ain't cheap!I would like to try to grow my own Pontica,but can't find a source for seeds and cascade says they are usually propagated from root division.Might just have to bite the bullet and buy from them and hope I can find some seeds in what I get from them.Do you guys start with neutral grain spirits,or do you distill wine for the alcohol?Ant help is appreciated....Brewzz

[brewzz]

Found some cool alembics for sale here:http://www.essentialoil.com/product_inf ... 3iigc9j7s0

[Jerolin]

I've finally ironed out my recipe by lowering the wormwood content in half and mine now tastes fantastic.

brewzz:
I used to use a double boiler, but I've tried it without and notice no difference what so ever. I also use 85%ABV wine spirits, as I believe it delivers a "smoother" taste.
From what I understand Pontica is extremely hard to grow. I would just go with Cascade. It's expensive but completely worth it.

[Zman]

For a good home-use alembic go with a soldered ten liter from these guys:
http://copper-alembic.com/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow
I always use a double boiler. Once your tails are built up you will notice a kind of funky flavor if you go with direct heat on the still. As for the pontica, remember a little goes a long way. You only need about 1-3 grams per finished liter. As for using wine spirits or NGS, feel free to use either. I've made great tasting absinthe with both. The only thing with the NGS is, you had better make sure you are using good herbs because there is no winey flavor to hide sub-par herbs. FWIW, I only use Cascade for my absinthe herbs and have never had a problem.