My first complete run

[grimlock]

After a vinegar / water run through I moved to my first sacrificial run using a 21 litre sugar wash starting SG 1.10, final stable SG a hairs width over 1.0.
Nutrients and using bakers yeast, fermentation took a little over 6 days at a constant 25C, crash chilled to clear, lost a little over 1.5litre in yeast drop out in the wash.

I was impatient as not everything I need for my pot still set up was in hand, however my reflux column was, why not!

Foreshots, oh yes, just as they have been described, these came over in the first 150ml

Heads, the transition from the first 150ml into head was far more noticeable than I expected, but again very clear on the nose and feel, I smelt and felt for the next 2 hours, ABV from heads at 95% continued for another 2500ml, before gradually dropping down. This gave me a chance to try and balance the still between my dephlegmator and liebig condenser.

Rather than let the sacrificial run go to waste, the foreshots did a splendid job at removing some stubborn adhesive residues from my bench, cleaned the whiteboard a treat, killed some weeds and then burnt. Nothing wasted.

I wanted to then try a different sugar wash and went with the Carbon triple pack, once and once only will I have bought this. Fermentation was fast, as advised, the addition of carbon and then clearing at the end of fermentation was a pain, clearing took nearly 4 days and left with a wash which had a sour like smell to it. A stripping run of this right down to 20% across the two batched I fermented gave me a 20 litre charge. Not a good nose on it and now had a sickly sweet, almost like vomit odor to it, the feeling of regret continued to grow right up to the point of when running the reflux column taking fore head heart and tails in 200ml cuts, asides from the funky I would not even try to clean something with that solvent twang and wet leaves at the start, whilst the hearts initially had a wrong smell to it, having left to air tor 24 hours, it smelt less wrong and more sweet. Final conclusion was that a lot of sweetness had come over in the sugar wash which was not expected.

I wont be going down the route of the carbon triple pack again having now tried Run-2 Birdwatchers recipe, woosh and off it went to ferment. Stripped to low wines and then through reflux column. Smelt much better than the previous efforts however learning point was the previous run had clearly left some funk behind which had not been cleaned before the run. I set this aside as a tainted run.

Thorough strip down, clean and as expected some residuals from the prior run, lesson leant.

Run-3 Birdwatchers 20L charge, lovely. I saw good conversion, my pot still is basic but works well enough, then into reflux column and slow run of 2.7Lites across 95%ABV down to 80% and then the tails collected down to 20% to test at a later point of adding the end of one run to the start of the next charge.

Collection was good, cuts is going to have a big learning curve to it, as an ex smoker my sense of smell is not great, some long covid doesnt help that either, so I tended to be more generous on where I smelt good to be and probably saw some cuts waste where others might have blended. All in I ended up with a very very clean 2.1L at 95%ABV, this had carried some sweetness over on the nose.

Run-4 using Ted's Fast Fermenting Vodka.

Good lord, in the time of pitching the yeast, cleaning up around me, making a coffee and returning to see what was happening it had gone WOOSH. This is the lava lamp equivalent of a fermentation and on multiple occasions I would sit and watch the rise and fall of the bran, much like a lava lamp, to only fall and return to the bottom of my clear fer mentor before accumulating CO2 again and repeating. I love this recipe and its going to be a favourite, I highly recommend to any new starters like me.

Two fermentations, stripping runs down to 20%ABV gave me a good low wines to charge my reflux column still. Sticking with 200ml cuts, the stroll through foreshots, heads, hearts, tails went smoothly. More time to practice fiddling with balancing and cooling, A total of 3Litres at 95%ABV collected and blended from end of heads, heats and a toe into tails.

Having then set aside to breath before the blending I was happy with the final product.

I then put this back into the pot, diluted down to 30% and tried my first vapor infusion through a gin basket, this was a simple old tom style gin. The first 100ml was oily and a smack in the face of DID YOU USE ALL OF THE JUNIPER BERRIES, which transitioned into a much nicer more i recognise this smell, to quite tasty on the nose aside from the 95% ABV coming off. I collected all that was good and into hearts, the arrival of tails came with a very clear this no longer smells good.

200ml jars set aside, aired and blended. 2.1L at 95%

From this, I mixed with 2.54 liters of water to produce 4.64 liters of gin at 43.00 %vABV.

I have just finished a gin and tonic and whilst it was not the best gin and tonic I have ever had, it was the first which I have made and that, is magic. Thanks folks here for sharing knowledge, experience and joy in the arts you practice. I hope to be able to contribute as much.

Cheers.

[grimlock]

P.S I have my first grain bill ordered and await delivery for Monday. My new 60Litre fermentor, box, insulation and blankets is sterlised and waiting for me to give the SCD's Crow Bourbon receipe a try. If I can mash in and get fermentation underway in the week it will be ready just in time for me to enjoy some PTO over Christmas

[Yummyrum]

Well done grimlock .Nothing better than enjoying a bevvy you have poured your heart into .
May I also suggest you try Shadys Sugar Shine . It is also a very clean neutral ideal as a Gin base

[sadie33]

congrats on your runs and learning. I feel like even when things go south, it's not all wasted time and effort if you learn and improve.

[grimlock]

Thank you. I am now trying some botanical mixes on on top of my base gin. 10 up so far and a very happy nose.I will be sure to document and share.