Odin's Easy Gin

[Odin]

And here is the first gold medal of our Chinese customers!

Highest marks Odin. Kudos.
ss

Thanks, Stilly! Yeah, all good here. Working on some new great innovations.

Tojim, first make a vodka from your turbo wash. Then do a potstill gin run, following my instructions on page 1.

Regards, Odin.

[Milestone]

Hi guys I tried making this recipe, read through the whole thread, having failed to produce anything drinkable on my first few gin distilling attempts. I used 1.75 litres of 43% vodka 21g juniper which I lightly crushed, 5g coriander seed and 1.5g lemon peel. I macerated it for 24 hours then distilled collected just over 600ml after discarding the first 10mls. Looks and smells fine after cutting back with filtered water but unfortunately it leaves an intense bitter taste at the back of the mouth and is not at all pleasant to drink.
I’m using a 5 litre alembic pot still. Any advice? I thought my previous attempts had failed as I may have been running it at too high a temperature so did this as low as possible on an electric hot plate. Could this be the issue maybe? Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Cheers.

[Expat]

Hi guys I tried making this recipe, read through the whole thread, having failed to produce anything drinkable on my first few gin distilling attempts. I used 1.75 litres of 43% vodka 21g juniper which I lightly crushed, 5g coriander seed and 1.5g lemon peel. I macerated it for 24 hours then distilled collected just over 600ml after discarding the first 10mls. Looks and smells fine after cutting back with filtered water but unfortunately it leaves an intense bitter taste at the back of the mouth and is not at all pleasant to drink.
I’m using a 5 litre alembic pot still. Any advice? I thought my previous attempts had failed as I may have been running it at too high a temperature so did this as low as possible on an electric hot plate. Could this be the issue maybe? Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Cheers.

I wouldn't think that your problem is with equipment, a basic pot still is all that's required.

Questions:

Did you allow the prescribed 5 weeks of rest? This really makes a huge difference to the balance in the flavors, and needs to be followed.

Why only a 24 hour maceration? OEG calls for 2 weeks...

Also, If you scaled the recipe for 1.75 liters you should also up the amount you are collecting.

Give your ingredients a taste, can you detect the bitter flavor anywhere in them? Else it might be contamination in your still, in which case perhaps a cleaning is in order.

OEG is really versatile recipe, following what Odin has written and you're certain to achieve a very nice result.

[Fills Jars Slowly]

Maybe you got some pith (the white stuff under the zest of a fruit) into your mix. That stuff is bitter. You also mention running your still based on temperature, which is not a thing unless you are referring to it as a proxy for distillate ABV (vapor temp) or wash composition (boiler liquid temp). You can’t run a boiler too hot, you can just make vapor faster than desired. Also you say your base was vodka. No clue if it is of your own make or store bought or what. Flavor can suffer if you use an alcohol base that is not good.

No offence to Expat, but for benefit of future thread readers, the 5 week mellowing period is not proscribed (discouraged) but prescribed (encouraged). Probably just a typo. I doubt waiting will make a bitter gin palatable, but rather a good gin better. It’s like stew or chili, if it’s good hot off the stove, it’ll be better the next day when the flavors have a chance to integrate and blend.

FWIW, I sometimes make a gin with no maceration time and little mellowing time that satisfies its drinkers just fine, though everything tends to improve with age.

Good luck.

[Expat]

Yup, auto correct for the fail. Fixed.

[Odin]

Distilling very fast can bring over tails associated tastes early on.

Odin.

[BadUlv]

Hey Everyone,

I have a couple questions on this, which I've searched through the forums and have been unsuccessful with finding a concrete answer. I recently made up about 25L of Birdwatchers neutral. AWESOME RECIPE. I made it with the creation of gin in mind.
My process was, I stripped down the wash into low wines using my 8Gal Dual purpose still https://moonshinedistiller.com/8-gallon ... eel-still-(dual-purpose-2" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow). Which was easy peasy, made up some low wines and then redistilled into about 22L of neutral, the neutral is currently separated into about 30 jars, I am ready to make some cuts, I have a clear transition of heads, hearts, and tails which were relatively easy to identify. I have two questions in my pursuit of this Gin.

The first question: If I am redistilling all of the neutral into gin, potentially with a vapor basket in my column, do I need to make the cuts to the neutral before redistilling? My thoughts on this were it would make tastier alcohol, distilling the low wines into 85% neutral, then making cuts focused around the hearts, then redistilling with my diluted neutral into Gin via botanicals into vapor path? I will be using Odin's Easy Gin Recipe.

My second question is, and this probably already exists. I have read that you need to use significant more botanicals to go the vapor path infusion route, what I've read is that it produces a more gentle botanical taste, this also depending on the ABV of the neutral placed in the still. This recipe is for boiler infusion or the maceration process, is there any resources to get me close to how much of each botanical I would need to add to my vapor path to get a similar flavor profile?

It may be that I need to just go through trial and error, but I figured it couldn't hurt to ask the masters first. There is always the case that my end product isn't what I am looking for if that is the case will re-strip the product and try again.

Thank you in advance, you all are wonderful!

[Odin]

On the question which ends with a question mark: first cut your neutral in a finishing run, then do the gin run, making cuts again (for the gin).

Odin.

[steelmb]

...is there any resources to get me close to how much of each botanical I would need to add to my vapor path to get a similar effect....

I can't help but think that if you want a "similar effect", you should just follow the recipe. If you want something different, then do something different. I am not sure why you would want to complicate things.

[DSmith78]

I absolutely have to try this! If it's as good as the cornflake whiskey then I'm in for a treat. I'm not sure about you guys across the water but here in the UK we can get little jars of juniper berries in the supermarket with the other flavourings and herbs.

[Odin]

We can buy the same in the Netherlands.

Odin

[Dickdaniels]

Hi all just a quick question, will the gin botanicals smell or oils get stuck in the pot still condenser, like would it carry over into your next whiskey run? Would you have to do a vinegar run after doing a gin run to clean out the aroma of gin. Thanks

[DSmith78]

Should really do a vinegar clean after each run anyway. Bare minimum a rinse through.

[NZChris]

The foreshot should clean it out, but if you're worried, use foreshots and boiling water to flush it.

I've never run vinegar between products and don't recommend it.

[jonnys_spirit]

High proof hot ethanol vapor is an ok cleaning agent I guess ?

-jonny

[Dickdaniels]

Thank's for the replies, advice taken onboard, just have to wait now until it's ready to rock in the pot

[SaltyStaves]

The foreshot should clean it out, but if you're worried, use foreshots and boiling water to flush it.

Or a shiny Stainless Steel condenser dedicated for gin runs.

[NZChris]

It would be more important to clean a condenser before a gin run, especially after it's had a lot of fusels through it, which is one reason I have a dedicated SS gin condenser. Copper in a condenser doesn't have a flavor advantage for pot stilled spirit runs.

[SaltyStaves]

It would be more important to clean a condenser before a gin run, especially after it's had a lot of fusels through it, which is one reason I have a dedicated SS gin condenser. Copper in a condenser doesn't have a flavor advantage for pot stilled spirit runs.

I'm building one for that reason too. I needed a second condenser, so it made sense to go with SS.

[SaltyStaves]

It would be more important to clean a condenser before a gin run, especially after it's had a lot of fusels through it, which is one reason I have a dedicated SS gin condenser. Copper in a condenser doesn't have a flavor advantage for pot stilled spirit runs.

I'm building one for that reason too. I needed a second condenser, so it made sense to go with SS.

I have around 3L of OEG to run, so I'm hoping to finish it asap.

[MtRainier]

I just rinse mine under water after pushing gin vapor through it, and it seems to clear out the smells all right.

[Odin]

I just rinse mine under water after pushing gin vapor through it, and it seems to clear out the smells all right.

Amen. Don't over-complicate things. We rinse our iStills out with water after a run and never get taste transfer problems.

Odin.

[Saltbush Bill]

People are over thinking this.....a good rinse is all that is needed.

[DSmith78]

Man alive I've been wasting time...

[fizzix]

Man alive I've been wasting time...

You ain't seen nothin' yet!

[DSmith78]

This hobby is a killer... you think you've got to grips with one concept then another pops up and slaps you upside the head. My face is raw and I'm deaf in one ear!!

[Saltbush Bill]

Get used to it......the more you learn or think you know.....the more you realise you dont know.

[DSmith78]

Oh don't get me wrong - I love it! Weirdly it's one of my favourite aspects of the hobby so far.

[DSmith78]

And I owe an apology for the thread hijack...

[Dickdaniels]

This hobby is a killer... you think you've got to grips with one concept then another pops up and slaps you upside the head. My face is raw and I'm deaf in one ear!!