Positioning of Botanical/Gin basket

[Avo]

I use my sight glass as a botanical basket when I make gin. I am upgrading my still and thinking of getting a pupose made gin basket. Normal configuration is fitting in the column. I have found this very satifactory, with good strength of the distilate. After a run, you find evidence of botanical residues in the boiler which is a natural phenomenon. If one was to put the gin basket / sight glass on the opposite in line with the final product condensor what effect might this have. My own take on this is that there would be no botanical condensation running back down to the pot / boiler. It would seem that it could be more efficient at extracting the flavour. Or would the lack of some reflux action and re-wetting of the botanicals in the column not saturate and leech out all of the flavour Nothing to lose in trying it out in future.

I have just been given a reference to Gin basket placement, the answers I seem to have answered for myself.
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[Bushman]

viewtopic.php?f=15&t=37902

[still_stirrin]

I make my gin with neutral, that is, a spirit that has been refluxed and cut yielding the clean hearts only. I don’t reflux on the gin run.

So, I use a purpose built gin still, a stock pot boiler heated by a modified hotplate. The (gin) stillhead is a simple potstill. I place the citrus in the bottom of the riser, held in place with a light ball of stainless scrubby. The botanicals I macerate in the boiler.

Then, I collect the very first bit (10-20ml) first and the balance in a single collection jar. Remember, I use clean hearts so no additional “cuts” are needed. This follows Odin’s recommended processes and works quite nicely.

For you, I would locate the sight glass gin basket above the reflux condenser in the upward vapor path. What progresses through the sight glass will be the rarefied (hot) vapors. It is those vapors which will will carry the botanicals’ essence over to the product condenser. Moving the sight glass farther down the product path would only cause the vapors to cool somewhat along the way. This may not be too pronounced, but placing it above the RC will guarantee the vapors to be the hottest they can be along the path. Just my personal thoughts...
ss

[Avo]

[quote="still_stirrin"]I make my gin with neutral, that is, a spirit that has been refluxed and cut yielding the clean hearts only. I don’t reflux on the gin run.

Hi 'still stirrin'

I do this too; having plenty of time I carbon filter once or twice. I've have made my own concoction of 'Bombay Jewel' several times, I am up to recipe/formula no:4 making small 'tweaks' to my ten botanicals. I have made the last two runs on the new still. The sight glass has done me in good stead and holds more than enough of the botanicals I use. I am very pleased with the product. With positioning before the final condenser, this would have allowed me to reduce the height of the still. I do see the logic in placing the basket above the reflux condenser; I had been aware that the hotter the vapours the more extraction from the ingredients. I shall be able to do this with my new future mods'. In conclussion I believe I am getting the best out of the still from vapour infusion, rather than the maceration method. I believe I'm getting good strong flavour using minimum grammage of ingredients. Thanks, Regards, AVO

[still_stirrin]

... The sight glass has done me in good stead and holds more than enough of the botanicals I use... With positioning before the final condenser, this will allow me to reduce the height of the still.

Well, since you use neutral that you’d carbon filtered to clean up for your gins, then why not remove the reflux condenser in the riser all together? If you’ve got clean alcohol to start you shouldn’t need more reflux. And eliminating the RC will make the tower shorter.

But I still like the gin basket in the upward vapor path...or the horizontal path at the least. Gravity on the buoyant forces acting on the vapor flow helps with smoother flow and (theoretically at least) more uniform essence extraction.
ss

[Avo]

... The sight glass has done me in good stead and holds more than enough of the botanicals I use... With positioning before the final condenser, this will allow me to reduce the height of the still.

Well, since you use neutral that you’d carbon filtered to clean up for your gins, then why not remove the reflux condenser in the riser all together? If you’ve got clean alcohol to start you shouldn’t need more reflux. And eliminating the RC will make the tower shorter.

But I still like the gin basket in the upward vapor path...or the horizontal path at the least. Gravity on the buoyant forces acting on the vapor flow helps with smoother flow and (theoretically at least) more uniform essence extraction.
ss

[NZChris]

For a Bombay style, you could try doing what Bombay does and use a Carter Head. A Carter Head prevents components from the botanicals getting into the boiler.

I'm not recommending the off the shelf units misnamed 'Carter Head' that are available on the net as I reckon they are too small and I don't like that condensate and flavors remain in them at the end of the run. Something more along the lines of what they use at Bombay is better.

[Avo]

[quote="NZChris"]For a Bombay style, you could try doing what Bombay does and use a Carter Head. A (Carter head prevents components from the botanicals getting into the boiler. )

Hi NZChris,

Thanks for the input; this is worth considering.