Home Distiller

Hey Grappa-Gringo. What I call cold filtering is very similar to when you rack a wash after you ferment on the grain and let the trub settle before distilling. After I add and mix the vodka to my cooled ginger mix I put the whole thing in a 1/2 gal mason jar. Then put it in the fridge for 24hrs or so and the small particles that got threw the cheesecloth filter down and settle at the bottom of the jar. Then I carefully pour off the clear liquid not letting any of the stuff left on the bottom pour out. You waste about 1/2 to 1 inch of liquor left in the bottom of the jar but I think it looks nicer this way. And in my opinion the flavor isn't compromised either. I use this method when I make rice wine also.
Cheers
J.B.C.The

Just made a huge batch of this. Same recipe scaled up, except cut back on the sugar.

11 quarts water
5.5 lbs ginger
11 cups sugar
27 cloves
1/4 cup lemon juice
9 tsp vanilla

Bring to boil for 5 minutes.

Add 6.5 quarts 90% neutral.

WARNING: Dont be an idiot like me and be impatient getting the neutral in there. About 5 minutes after I turned off the fire I dumped the first half gallon of neutral in there. Anyone wanna guess what happened? Hint, alcohol boils at a much lower temp than 212.... Yes, flash boil. Luckily only about a quart roiled over on the floor, but a pretty impressive vapor cloud of ethanol rose up, and the pot made a horrendous noise for 10 seconds. I think I shite myself a little. Im just lucky it was about 5 gallons in an 8 gallon pot cause the boil up rose up well over the top of the pot lip.

Jimbo glad that you survived that one and that there were no open flames around!!

Be safe
OVZ

I forgot to mention I added a pound of honey this time also. Pretty subtle in a 4.5 gal finished batch but adds another nice little somethin somethin in there.

For those commenting on the heat, Yes straight up its definitely got some ginger spank. I drink it over a glass full of ice cubes. So after a few minutes its ice cold, watered down just enough but still packs a lot of flavor to the bottom of the glass. The recipe calls for a pound of ginger per finished gallon so if you like it a bit milder just scale back some.

I used a wire brush this time to get the skin off the ginger. Worked great, much easier than peelin with a spoon. Got 80% of the skin off 5.5 lbs ginger in 10 minutes. Then used a Cuisinart to shred it all up.

been too busy to build this recipe. Ok...too lazy... but really got to give it a go.

took the lazy man's way out and bought some ginger beer and made moscow mules...delish!

on reading the label on the ginger beer and even though it's de-alcoholized it is made with fermented ginger (ginger sugar water yeast) mixed with carbonated water and has cardomon, black pepper and clove for seasonings.

Thought you may not have considered the fermentation idea and maybe the spices would suit your fancy so here it is in case you want to play some more with this most excellent flavour!

sounds like they are using the backset and cabonating and spicing it.

Een even though I'm a newbie it's obvious most things associated with distilling a pretty complicated.
But let me offer a simplified suggestion.
Ginger liqueur. In the South we have Buffalo Rock a ginger ale that doesn't taste like any other ginger ale you have ever had. It's dark spicy even a little hot. Now I think it's only in cans and it is something of an acquired taste.
It is now available on Amazon and I understand it immediately sold out when first offered. You might want to order just a six pack and try it with your neutral and see if it's the taste you're looking for

Just finishing my second ginger liqueur and I have say: This is some fine stuff. This last batch I used the Cuisinart with the slicing attachment, not the shredding one. The end result is less heat. I think I still prefer the hotter. But it is still marvelous. What I love about this recipe is it's simplicity. There is nothing like this in the tried and true section. There should be.
JBC

I second the motion! Gonna have some right now!

I made some more of this lately. I have found that this really helps my arthritis. 1 small glass a night really helps!

I made some of this a couple weeks back, probably going to make more soon.

Bigbob wrote:I made some more of this lately. I have found that this really helps my arthritis. 1 small glass a night really helps!

I have a friend who I gave a bottle of this to. last week he came down with a severe cold. Fever, sore throat, cough, chills. His wife who mostly uses alternative methods to cure colds and other ailments used some ginger liquour in a recipe to ease some of his symptoms. The recipe goes like this: Squeeze Lemon, honey, ur favorite teas. Heat water real hot. Add to mixture to melt honey. Top off with ginger liquour. 1 or 2 shots. Hot Toddy! Now I have something to look forward to next time I catch a cold.
JBC

Cough, cough, I think that I need another glass

OVZ

Making more soon! This just never lasts!!

Recipe sounds good Jellybean! I think I feel a cold coming on.

Haven't done a neutral yet, but this thread sure makes me want to. Made a few ginger beers, but have yet to get one to come out "right". Thanks for sharing Jimbo. This should be good for all the adults in the family, including my mother who's a sweet and ginger fiend.

Bushman, I recently picked up that Homeade Liqueurs book. I have yet to even open it... too much other reading and building in progress. Glad to hear you like the recipes it makes.

Hiya

This is one of my favourite recipes and I have done this one more than most. One small trick I stumbled upon. Boiling the ginger for longer seems to result in a much clearer product (after racking). My first attempt was tasty, but stayed cloudy. My latest I boiled for 20+ minutes and it settled out nicely, ending up crystal clear after a cheesecloth filter and a rack. The ginger flavour seems much more intense as well.

Interesting thanks Pap, I'll try it that way next time

Jimbo wrote:Interesting thanks Pap, I'll try it that way next time

Hi Jimbo!
Always glad to see you posting!

Was thinking about your observation tdick and I think Ill do a ginger vodka with that approach, no sugar. I dont mind the cloudiness in the sweet ginger hooch, but a stronger bite falling out into a clear drop sounds like a nice spicy vodka for a Sunday morning Bloody Mary with a left hook punch surprise. I made a habanero vodka once that was damn good in a bloody too. Just between the two of us, Habanero Ginger Vodka might be something worth putting in a bottle and selling to the bloody mary crowd.

Cheers and thanks again.

Perhaps not applicable to your sugar free version Jimbo, but in my experience a couple of teaspoons of brown sugar seemed to make everything drop. Clear straw color resulting.

I made this today with my first ever neutral and it is fantastic! Thanks so much for the recipe.

Moonshine is a trendy thing right now, at least around where I live, but most of it is undrinkable junk. With the knowledge I've gained from this site, I was able to make a good neutral (Birdwatchers) and this ginger recipe is perfect for it. We had a tasting tonight with everyone bringing something they made and mine was the only one that got polished off.
I made the syrup recipe exactly the way it's written and then used it to dilute my neutral down to 80 proof. Most of us drank it on the rocks but a couple of people preferred to mix it with 7-up.
Thanks again for the great recipe!

congrats, happy you enjoy it.

Jimbo,
Saw this recipe today and couldn't wait to get home to try it.

Had some OEG,mixed with ginger beer (awesome new discovery if you haven't tried) as I made it, and was a perfect starter for this Ginger Liqueur........ Not sure how long this will last in my cupboard, but I now have about 2L of this. I am finding it getting better as it cools down, as my first drink was cooled by the ice; then next was cold and then chilled even further by the ice......... May try with some mixers, but well done and kudos on a simple awesome recipe. Looking forward to sharing this drink with some friends.....

Made this several months ago, pretty heavy on the ginger with about a week soaking if I recall.

It was very good shortly after I made it, I think the ginger came through the freshest at that time. A couple of months later it had faded to something I wasn't generally reaching for to drink neat.

But, the other night my son made some orgeat (almond simple syrup), and I whipped up a cocktail of 2 parts UJSM (first batch, not truly soured, 6 months aged in oak), 1.5 parts orgeat, 1 part Ginger Liqueur, and 1 part fresh lime juice. I loved it! Been trying a lot of mixed drinks with UJSM ilo whiskey, some work, some don't, but this one has been my favorite so far.

Thanks Jimbo, I'll be making more... eventually.

Thanks for this Jimbo. I've just whipped up a batch and it's some powerful stuff. I really like my fiery ginger so this definitely does it for me. Only made 1 litre this time around. Given my other half's reaction, I don't know that it'll last that long.

I'm still too lazy - it's much easier to mix a cocktail with Buffalo Rock Ginger Ale - see previous post.
That said, the only reason I have something to add is that SWMBO brought home Ginger Snaps from Trader Joe's a couple of days ago.
These aren't ordinary snaps.
As the label says, it includes "Crystallized ginger, ginger puree and ground ginger"
All I know is they are pretty damned hot, with a bite unlike others I've tried.

I did a quick search and TJ also stocks Crystallized AND Uncrystallized Candied Ginger.

This is just what I have been looking for. Question on the recipe. Do you filter it at all or just boil and bottle all that grated ginger? When you say that you are not going to leave it on the ginger long are you talking about filtering it at that point?

NormandieStill wrote: ↑Sun May 16, 2021 11:01 am Thanks for this Jimbo. I've just whipped up a batch and it's some powerful stuff. I really like my fiery ginger so this definitely does it for me. Only made 1 litre this time around. Given my other half's reaction, I don't know that it'll last that long.

Astonishingly the bottle I made is still going. We've rattled through a few bottles of gin in the last year and some HBB white dog and a gumbalhead. I still have a sip from time-to-time. Now the sun's out I can see this become popular again.

Vurumai wrote: ↑Mon May 16, 2022 11:26 am Do you filter it at all or just boil and bottle all that grated ginger? When you say that you are not going to leave it on the ginger long are you talking about filtering it at that point?

If you take the trouble to at least read the whole of the first page you will find the answer.........read all of the pages you will know even more.

Saltbush Bill wrote: ↑Mon May 16, 2022 1:43 pm

Vurumai wrote: ↑Mon May 16, 2022 11:26 am Do you filter it at all or just boil and bottle all that grated ginger? When you say that you are not going to leave it on the ginger long are you talking about filtering it at that point?

If you take the trouble to at least read the whole of the first page you will find the answer.........read all of the pages you will know even more.

Apologies for not reading three pages of comments before asking a procedural question not addressed in the post. Thank for your help!