Gin Basket

[beelah]

I took too long the first time so I will try to be quicker this time.

These are pictures of a new gin basket I made

[beelah]

This is a new gin basket that I have made to be placed inline when I want to make soem gin.

From my reading I understand that a number of Gin makers do it this way.

The basket is made of 2 stainless bowls, the same size, with a hole cut in one and a nuberer of smaller holes in the other.

The small holes are on the bottom and the larger one on the top.

My plan is to just use a flour and water seal between the two bowls and use alegator clips to hld it together

The column is 11/2 in copper soldered with silver solder.

The paln is to place the basket in the column as the vapour rises and fill the basket with botanicals and aromatics and hoepfully I wil get a nice flaoured gin on the take off side.

On question I have is should I do this on a spirit or a regular run?

It seems to me that a spirit run woudl give me a cleaner gin,but has anyone done it on sugar wash?

[kiwistiller]

my two cents would be to do it on a run charged with finished neutral spirits (ie cuts already made), that way you don't lose any flavours through the heads or what have you. Some will probably disagree though
Also, I'd say that if you're shooting for vapour infused gin, which is generally lighter in flavour, you'll be aiming to maximse smoothness, so you may even want to do another distilation after vapour infusing. I've got to get me a smaller pot for that sort of carry on, my 50l isn't really that efficent for smaller charges it seems

[Pikluk]

Gin is a spirit whose predominant flavor is derived from juniper berries (Junipers communis).
Whereas several different styles of gin have existed since its origins, gin is broadly differentiated
into two basic legal categories. Distilled gin is crafted in the traditional manner,
by re-distilling neutral spirit of agricultural origin with juniper berries and other botanicals.
Compound gin is made by simply flavoring neutral spirit with essences and/or
other 'natural flavorings' without re-distillation, and is not as highly regarded. The minimum bottled
alcoholic strength for gin is 37.5% ABV in the E.U., 40% ABV in the U.S. [1][2]

There are several distinct styles of gin, with the most common style today being London dry gin - a type of distilled gin.
In addition to the predominant juniper content, London dry gin is usually distilled in the
presence of accenting citrus botanicals such as lemon and bitter orange peel, as well as a subtle
combination of other spices, including any of anise, angelica root and seed, orris root, licorice root,
cinnamon, cubeb, savory, lime peel, grapefruit peel, dragon eye, saffron, baobab, frankincense, coriander,
nutmeg and cassia bark. London dry gin may not contain added sugar or colorants, water being the only permitted additive.[3]

Some legal classifications of gin are defined only as originating from specific geographical areas
(e.g. Plymouth gin, Ostfriesischer Korngenever, Slovenská borovicka, etc.), while other common descriptors
refer to classic styles that are culturally recognized but not legally defined (e.g. Old Tom gin).

from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gin" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow


The process of making gin is relatively straightforward. It starts by taking a “neutral grain spirit"
(ie, Alcohol distilled to an extremely high proof, usually around 96% alcohol by volume), and then soaking
in it a collection of different botanicals. Each gin brand has their own (and often secret) recipe, with juniper
being the primary flavoring ingredient. To this they might include lemon peel, orange peel, anise, orris root, angelica root,
cardamom, coriander, licorice root, cinnamon, and cassia, along with sometimes various other flavorings.
After their chosen soaking time, this mixture is then distilled at least once more, the alcohol level reduced
to a “bottle strength” of about 80 proof (40% ABV) by adding water, then bottled.

from http://thespiritworld.net/2006/11/27/gin/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow


from memory there's the soaking and redistil, the basket in the vapor route and the tumper with soaking material in it(thats from search i made on how to make gin).
unless you have a still that will bring clean alcohol vapor to a basket or tumper i would use already distilled product "ready to drink stuff".
meaning putting a basket in a reflux column is not a good idea since the purpose of such a still is to remove any flavor.
of course those last few lines where pure speculation since i never made gin... yet its on my list.

i know that beefeater and bombay sapphire use different method and slightly different recepie.
and if memory serve me well one use the basket method and the other use a tumper but both use already disted product,
and redistil in a pot still to get those flavor tru.

[beelah]

Thanks a lot for that great tutorial on the history and making of Gin.

I will let you know how it turns out.

I will try the two approaches of using "drinkkable " product and run it a second time, and I will aslo try it with a first run and see if there are any differences.

[kiwistiller]

the biggest advantage of a second distillation IMO is the chance to tweak your cuts again. even if you start with finished neutrals, you probably aren't going to want the whole run. cutting heads controls the juniper citrus bite, and tails controls the long nutty, aromatic flavours. I'd suggest small jars, on a small charge of finished spirits tails comes in a hurry, you'll blink and the things pumping out 30abv instead of 70. well on my equipment it does anyway

[GrayGull]

I use my thumper. All the botanicals (junipers, herbs, citrus zest) are crushed with a coffee grinder and macerated and held at room temperature in about a litre of previous gin feints for just a few days, then put in the thumper with enough feints to cover the inlet tube. A single run of 25 litres of (a 4 kg raw sugar wash) through my potstill and thumper gives me nearly 2 litres of 70% abv nice gin.
Costwise, this is my least expensive quality product - and I am producing single malt(barley) and bourbon(corn) variants as well. No wonder Gin was the drink of choice in 17th &18th century London. Presumably due to the availability of Caribbean sugar.