Has Anyone got a great gin recipe?

[Jonqs20]

Hi,

A few weeks back I tried to make some gin. I found a very basic recipe in a book. Basicly rye, yeast and water for the fermentation. Then for the typical gin taste, juniper berries (at least 50-90%, depending on the book) and a lot of other spices. They recomend a thumper for getting tha taste into the gin. Now, I don't have a thumper but I do have a column still. So I put all the spices into the column before the distillation and I thoight it worked but afterwards, the taste wasn't that good.
The first run I kept the heads and tails.
So I don't know if it's the recipe, the amount of spices or the column still instead of a thumper that it didn't work.
Anyone got any ideas?

Regards,
Jonas

[jedneck]

Odin has an easy gin in tried and true or recipe development.

[still_stirrin]

+1 to Odin's Easy Gin.

They don't get better than that. Start simple (minimum additional botanicals) and then add if desired on subsequent batches. I've got one aging now (my first gin) and it is getting better by the day. Odin's recipe is very well formulated and well described. All the risk is gone...read and succeed.
ss

[Jonqs20]

Thanks, I'll try it!

[skow69]

It sounds like you're trying to make your infusion with the same run as distilling the wash. I would highly recommend that you make a neutral spirit first and then infuse your botanicals into the neutral.

[Alchemist]

I love Odin's Gin. I've tried to 'improve' on it a couple times....and failed

That said, I've given it to a few gin lovers and they say it's a great sipping gin but doesn't taste right for mixing. I think (but don't know) that Odin's 'gin' may be more of a genever.

That said, I'm trying the following as a Bombay Sapphire Gin. One run with the mix in the vapor path, one run after having macerated 24 hours.

20g Juniper Berries
10g Coriander Seeds
2g cubeb berries
2g Grains of Paradise
2g Cassia Bark
2g Powdered Liquorice root
2g Angelica root
2g Bitter Almond
.2g Lemon peel
.3g of orris root powder

[Braz]

Alchemist, keep us posted on how this works out. What, and how much, is your boiler charge for this botanical recipe?

[Alchemist]

Will do. Oh, and yeah, sorry about that. The short answer is however much I get from a 5 gallon wash at 45%. About 3-4 L or so. I'll do a stripping run of an AG malt run, then a spirit run keeping pretty well to the center 1/3.

[kiwi Bruce]

Alchemist what is your volume of spirits? You end with 3-4 liters, got it?

[Alchemist]

Alchemist what is your volume of spirits?

See above

[kiwi Bruce]

Odin's Easy Gin

Take 1 liter of 43% neutral (made from the hearts of a BW, fractionated all bran, etc. fermentation);
- Eat a tangerine and keep the skin;
- Mildly crush 12 grams of juniper berries;
- Mildly crush 3 grams of coriander seeds;
- Add the tangerine skin, the berries and the seeds to the one liter of 43%;
- Let it macerate at room temperature for two weeks;
- After two weeks, filter out the herbs, berries, skins, whatever;
- Distill your one liter of macerated gin in a potstill, do it relatively slowly as in a spirit run;
- Discard the first 10 mls, collect the next 400 mls;
- You will end up with 400 mls at around 70 to 80%;
- Dilute to 45%;
- Give it up to 5 weeks rest in a glass demi-john; or 12 hours plus and then distill with the botanicals however, remove the orange skins first.

Odins Gin is a simple, classic, beginners gin. An excellent mixer for gin and tonic's.
This next gin doesn't need to sit around on the botanicals, and is made using the same methods the commercial distillers use.
I’m told this recipe comes very close to duplicating the taste of “Sapphire Gin”
Juniper berries: - 10 grams
Coriander seeds: - 0.5 grams
Grains of paradise: -0.5 grams
Angelica root: - 0.5 grams
Liquorice root: - 0.5 grams
Ginger root: - 0.25 grams
Orange peel: - 0. 25 grams
Crack, don’t crush, all of the ingredients with a mortar and pestle.
Load them into the botanical tower and distill, using a wine run of 2 quarts 190 proof spirit, and 2 quarts, of spring water. Collect 2 quarts of distillate as the product, but continue and collect 1 quart more to be used as the set-back next distillation, in place of part of the spring water. To the collected product add 1 fluid oz of white wine and 1 fluid oz of glycerin. Check the proof with a P & T and adjust. Let this sit in the fridge for a week to blend, then bottle.
This will give you a first class London style Dry Gin at 40 proof.

[Alchemist]

I love Odin's Gin. I've tried to 'improve' on it a couple times....and failed
That said, I'm trying the following as a Bombay Sapphire Gin. One run with the mix in the vapor path, one run after having macerated 24 hours.

20g Juniper Berries
10g Coriander Seeds
2g cubeb berries
2g Grains of Paradise
2g Cassia Bark
2g Powdered Liquorice root
2g Angelica root
2g Bitter Almond
.2g Lemon peel
.3g cardamom

I did this both ways. In a surprising twist to me, the one in the vapor path was the more flavorful, and more to my liking. In hindsight, I guess I understand why. That said, the 24 hour infusion was closer to Bombay Sapphire, mostly because both are so mild. The ease of the vapor path method was really nice, and that I liked it better is a bonus!