Odin's Easy Gin

[Rivver]

Any of the trees I've ever seen with berries are the Eastern Red Cedar, or Virginiana. They are the most common species of juniper where I'm at.

[Jimbo]

Sittin here at work, antsy to get the flock outta here and go home and run this Gin damn it!

that is all.

[Jimbo]

OK Gin is done. Not bad, a little more citrusy and a little less junipery than I would like, but Ill let it sit for a few weeks now.

A few changes from the original recipe, had to add my spin on it. I did a 4x batch from Odins recipe (4 liters 43%) I used 1/4 the tangerine skin qty recommended (1 instead of 4) but added the zest of 1 grapefruit to give another dimension to the citrus, and added 4 gr of ground fennel seed for a cool finish to the drink. Its nice. Hope the citrus mellows some. I used a coffee grinder on all the herbs and berries, and distilled on teh herbs after 3 days maceration

I call it Feral Gin, because its untamed and unrestrained.

Thanks Odin! Nice recipe.

[Odin]

Did you take the skins out prior to distillation, Jimbo?

Regards, Odin.

[Jimbo]

I distilled the whole shootin match. Prolly not a good idea with the citrus zest in there (note to others).

I tasted it again today. Its actually very nice, and all the flavors do come through. Ill bet it will be just fine after a bit of sitting to harmonize. I bottled at 96 proof. Have not tried with tonic yet, no got at the moment.

Tater, +1 on this for T&T. Easy recipe and delicious.

[ga flatwoods]

Jimbo you spelt feral wrong when you saved it to your computer.
Ga Flatwoods

[Odin]

Hi Jim,

Glad you like it. If you give it another 4 weeks of rest, results will get better still.

@All,

I intendedly upped the amount of fruit skin/zest in this recipe, since it is a macerated recipe and prior to distilling, or so the recipe proposes, you take out everything. I would not distill skins in the boiler. Another reason I did up the amount of fruit skin, relative to for instance a genever herbs bill, is that as an Easy Gin, ready to be poured in your Tonic, it will benefit from some extra fruit bite.

Odin.

[NZChris]

I've been macerating for about twelve hours then putting everything in the pot except for the zest in the gin basket when putting the still together. The grapefruit zest I used a while back was very nice, not overpowering.

I have heard, since, that a squeeze of grapefruit is some people's preferred citrus in a gin and tonic, so I'm looking forward to grapefruit season so that I can try it. I just hope it doesn't interfere with my meds.

[Odin]

Meds or Meads?

Odin.

[NZChris]

LOL. I've got a broken ticker so I'm not supposed to be eating grapefruit cos they can mess with you something terrible if you're taking statins.

I've just scored several kg of honey, so I'm putting down a couple of meads tomorrow. Never thought of putting grapefruit in it 'til now, but they are out of season here and I only have a few peels in my apothecary, so that will have to wait.

[Jimbo]

Jimbo you spelt feral wrong when you saved it to your computer.
Ga Flatwoods

LOL, ya dyslexai's a bitch. Thank you Flatwoods, not sure what we'd do without your profound insights around here

[Jday]

I will be running my first batch of this tonight. I'm going the 24 hour maceration then everything dumped in the boiler route. After 24 hrs it already smells better than any of the store bought stuff behind the bar. I'm very exited to see this one through. The weather is finally getting nice here in NW ohio and that means sippin gin n tonics on the patio to me . Thanks Odin

[Odin]

Take out the fruit skins prior to distillation.

Odin.

[Loosely]

Note for New Zealanders - look out for kawakawa leaves and dry some (the hot water cupboard for a few weeks works well) for inclusion in your gins. Lighthouse uses kawakawa as one of their botanicals.

I'm going to be making gin this weekend. Third batch but the first using Odin's method. Wish me luck.

(The other two batches have been pretty good, but I'm still aiming for perfection.)

[Rivver]

Just checked all my juniper trees at the farm and the birds cleaned off all the berries over winter.

[frunobulax]

I got my juniper berries in today to make this. I'm going to add the Berries and the coriander to the boiler. But,you say not to add tangerine skin to the boiler
'cause it can be overpowering. My question is, if I soak the skin for 12 hours, will that be long enough to get the flavor?
I got the berries here.. http://www.olivenation.com/Juniper-Berries-P531.aspx" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow and they were here in 2 days.
Thanks,

[Odin]

Put them in for 12 hours, take them out, squeeze by hand so that liquids fall back in the boiler, distill.

Regards, Odin.

[guysmiley54]

Hi,

I have my first batch macerating for 24 hours now, original recipe but scaled up 2.5 times. Only change was instead of tangerine I used mandarin peel because that's all I could get at the local shop. 24 hours later it's already getting bitter... Should I pull out some of the mandarin peel?

I plan to distill on the herbs, will I still need a 2 week maceration period?

Cheers

[NZChris]

My first gin, I distilled with everything in the pot. It only got to macerate while I set up the burner and flour pasted the pot together. Probably 20-30 minutes. It was fine and there wasn't much flavor left in the botanicals in the pot. The longest macerate I've done is 12 hours.

The bitterness from your mandarin probably won't carry over. I put the skins in the vapor path now.

[guysmiley54]

I could run it soon but I am keen to follow the recipe (re: maceration time) and I'm not happy with the juniper/coriander flavour intensity yet... I'm thinking I may pull the mandarin, dry it and take the white part out (I left too much in I think) then reintroduce it around day 7-8 and continue until the 14 day mark.

That should work right? (Real tempted to add a star anise or two also..)

EDIT: I re-read your comment... Are you saying that you don't think that macerating for longer will make much difference to the end product?

[NZChris]

Are you saying that you don't think that macerating for longer will make much difference to the end product?

The answer is in Oden's second post of this thread.

[guysmiley54]

The answer is in Oden's second post of this thread.

Indeed it is! I had read this thread several times excitedly preparing for my first gin and didn't take in that point somehow.... I'm using a still with an internal exposed element, any guesses as to whether I'm risking scorching the botanicals? I have toasted and fried spices before (including coriander seed) to no ill effect. Anyone have any experience here?

Thanks NZChris

[frozenthunderbolt]

The answer is in Oden's second post of this thread.

Indeed it is! I had read this thread several times excitedly preparing for my first gin and didn't take in that point somehow.... I'm using a still with an internal exposed element, any guesses as to whether I'm risking scorching the botanicals? I have toasted and fried spices before (including coriander seed) to no ill effect. Anyone have any experience here?

Thanks NZChris

You should be fine - i've done just this in mine and not had any problem.

[Jimbo]

Same here. I ran it at 2000W on a 5500W ULWD curvy style camco. No issue.

Pull the orange rind out first tho. Stilled it produces a bit much citrus flavor.

[Beerbrewer]

Was planning to do this today but alas I ended up with one litre of 39% Birdwatcher. Going to take your advice and leave it until I have some at 43%. Really want to do this one again, hopefully in a week or two.

[guysmiley54]

Thanks for all the info and help guys. Sounds like I'm right to still on the botanicals. Pulled the rind last night anyway because I won't have a chance to run it for a few days.

Cheers

[Odin]

Just to clarify: the originial recipe is based on prolongued maceration of herbs/skins/berries and filtration prior to distilling. If you can/want to distill "on the herbs", 12 to 48 hours of maceration is all you need. Do take the tangerine skins out prior to distilling, though, if you distill on the herbs. I added a lot of fruit skin to the original recipe. Good for prolongued maceration, but too much (with a possibility of getting bitterness over for an "on the herbs" run. If you want to distill with the fruit skins present, go for only a gram per liter, or do as NZ does ans put the fruit skins in the vapour path instead of into the boiler.

Hope this helps.

Odin.

[guysmiley54]

I ended up removing the larger pieces of mandarin peel, replacing with 1gm/litre of finely grated mandarin zest (absolutely no white!) and macerated for a week. I ran the gin today with all of the botanicals and zest in the boiler and I am sipping on a glass right now

It is very intense! I am hoping it will settle down in time as described by Odin and other posters. I am blown away at how much flavour carried over into the finished spirit. The mandarin zest was pretty much spot on at 1gm/L with the combination 1 week steep and distillation in the boiler. The juniper is very aggressive but I like my gins juniper forward anyway... I will age it and see how it goes over time. If it doesn't mellow out, I think I may end up adding a little 43% neutral to tame it and make a plan to only macerate for 12-24 hours next time...

Only thing I'm concerned about is that the final proofed spirit is cloudy. I used bottled room temperature spring water to dilute it down, not sure what happened? I did take more than the 400ml / litre out of the run as I had to dilute with 2L of water to safely cover my element when stilling. I actually collected 7 x 200ml samples (only used 6 in final cut...) and it was fascinating to taste the way the botanicals came across over each of the samples!

Much fun was had today, thanks Odin and everyone for a fun gin experience

[Odin]

Congrats! If it gets cloudy, it means you get all the taste oils over. If you dilute, they get out of solution. Add 43% neutral until it lifts. You will know when you get there, because the cloudiness lifts in seconds, when you add enough neutral. Then give it 5 weeks of rest. Okay, try sipping after a day or three if you can't wait that long.

Regards, Odin.

[Jimbo]

My take on this is 1 month old now. Very very nice. Sipping right now. Thank you Odin.

+1 for T&T. Anyone else?