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...but it is possible to search for whisky.

The following words in your search query were ignored because they are too common words: gin.
You must specify at least one word to search for. Each word must consist of at least 4 characters and must not contain more than 14 characters excluding wildcards.

Just a funny ambiguous HD forum quirk I came across in my search for Gin related topics.

I was able to produce the search by using the Google site search

site:homedistiller.org gin

.

Al

The HD Google search is the best one to use, It's the one I always use.

Searching genever or by author Odin will yield some good stuff too...

Try "jenever", "geneva", "genever" or "Dutch Gin" as search keys.

Or read and make:

http://homedistiller.org/forum/viewtopi ... 47&t=22111

It will make you shit thru the eye of a needle from 40 feet away!



Some tweaks to make it even better (to my taste): get rid of the lemon, orange & mango. Instead use 1 gram of Saint John's worth and 0.5 grams of linden blossom instead. And a tiny bit of cardemon.

Fruits are better for vapour infusion, not for distilling "on the herbs". Still, if you want them in, I would add: take them out of maceration before distilling.

Another tweak: do throw away the first 5 mls, since (if you can find really good juniper berries) there will be too much juniper oils there, clouding your drink too much.

I will make an updated version of this drink in a few days, because I did change it. For the better. Use the new recipe and you can reach 50 feet without problems.

Odin.

PS: This is a very fine gin. Both recipes are. If you are after a gin, because you like your gin & tonic and that is it, maybe even chilling your gin, because that's the way to drink a gin & tonic, you can make it easier on yourself. 10 grams of juniper berries per liter of 35%, mildly crushed, 5 grams of coriander seed, 1 gram of cardemon. Everything else you add will be "lost in translation", when adding it (cooled) to a tonic.

Thank you guys. A fantastic response.

What I am investigating is how different setups affect gin output with the view of constructing a gin still. In the past I had dabbled in using a tea strainer in the column to extract flavour by vapour but I was not entirely successful in producing the nice light juniper flavour (like a Bombay Sapphire or Tanqueray). With time and recipe changes I'm sure i would have got closer but time has moved on and circumstances changed and i like constructing.

So my current plan I am working on is to construct/convert a 50mm stainless steel 600mm column into a gin vapour still. Draw out the vapour from the top of the column and then before the vapour condenses it passes through the botanicals in a downward direction then through the condenser - thus avoiding some of the heavier juniper oils from not coming out. As per following pic...
I'd also construct the botantical basket and condenser as single unit (made of copper) that would screw onto the vapour faucet. A circular piece of copper mesh would stop the botanicals from falling through.

I'm not worried about using this as anything else but a gin still.

A

It will make you shit thru the eye of a needle from 40 feet away!

Odin, I will defiantly be careful. I'll go for the 50 mark.

Al,

See if you can contact PrairyPiss / Mr. P. He is working on a similar design.

Odin.

Thanks Odin, I found the thread you are referring to http://homedistiller.org/forum/viewtopi ... &start=180 and I have posted a question. Many thanks for pointing me there.

Geez his build is impressive.

More than welcome, Al!

Love to see people dive into gins and (better) geneva.

A favour I ask in return (I am sure on behalf of all of us around): when you start your build, show us the pics!

Odin.

Sorry I will post it here too. I have not ran or used the gin basket as of yet. So I can't give you any information on its outcome. Wish I could sorry. I plan to as soon as I get up and running again. Waiting on finishing this build. Then will be firing her up and doing some serious running. I will try to remember to let you know my findings.


For searching. Sometimes I find that if I'm doing a general search I get that message. So I change it to topic titles only. And sometimes I get better results. If not then I Google it.

Thank you Odin and Prairiepiss - following are pics:
So this is the redundant column - the condenser was far too small and the reflux pipes at the bottom should have been at the top. Happy to see the stainless being used. The copper condenser has the gin receptacle at the top. When complete the whole condenser is unscrewed from the column and botanicals can then be added at the top.

It is also a lot longer than originally planned but i had the copper so more condenser.
The size of the botanical receptacle is 200mm deep by 27mm inner diameter. I am hoping that the stripping performance is good even though the vapour path is narrower.
Need to produce a disk of this mesh and press fit it in the bottom so the botanicals do not fall through.

Still need to add water in and outlet nipples to the condenser and then acid clean up.

alyeomans; your drawing shows the botanicals basket filling the vapor path. there is a potential your botanicals could plug the vapor path and create a pressure hazard if there is not a clear and unobstructed vapor path.

Cob has a good point. My basket has about a 1/4" spacing between it and its housing. I will have some larger holes around the top of the basket. That will low vapors to go around the botanicals. In case they get to saturated and compacted. It may reduce the amount of vapor that is made to go through them. But I was thinking more about safety then anything else.

So a vapor bypass of some sort would be a must. Just in case.

Excellent point, safety first! I am thinking a bypass tube through the mesh to above the botanical fill level work? The tube would also act as a self centreing mechanism for the mesh.

I think I'll also add a pressure value that was it will also act as an indicator of a blockage.

Al

Excellent points, safety first! I am thinking a bypass tube through the mesh to above the botanical fill level work? The tube would also act as a self centreing mechanism for the mesh.

I think I'll also add a pressure value to activate if there is a blockage.

Al

I don't know how I have managed to get off topic in my own post in an off topic category but am going to post some more pics as I'm a little further along.
I am not particularly happy with this as the basket surface area is now quite small but it will not blow due to the bypass tube.
So providing this now fits enough botanicals it should work 'just' like a new one.

Won't the vapor take the path of least resistance and just flow through the bypass tube and not through your botanicals? Or am I missing something?

Quite so Braz, but the risk of blockage is high and I do not want it to blow up or have to fix a blockage when it is running. What is needed is a method of getting in the vapour path but not blocking it. Any ideas?

I run this simple gin basket. It fits into my pot still head and the rising steam goes through it and the botanicals with no problem. I do insulate the column because unintended reflux can cause flooding in the basket (acting like a sieve plate) and I don't want that.



My method is to run the cleanest neutral I can get in my reflux still, make the cuts, and then dilute to 30%. Rerun this in the pot with the gin head and keep pretty much everything. I keep the botanicals loose in the basket, not packed in obviously. I collect in pint (400ml) jars and blend later. It seems some of the flavors come over earlier in the run and some later in the run so with the small jars I can somewhat blend to taste.

Looks nice Braz. Also thank you for the running tips. In my plan as I am trying to get the goodness from the botanicals in a downward direction, the botanicals act as a one way valve - it is like a piece of plastic blocking a drain.

So to safely use the vapours they must pass up through the botanicals and so it seems that sticking with the basket in column is a pretty good idea rather than messing around with bypasses and pressure release valves.

Ow well, the column can still fit the basket so not all is lost.

Take care all
Al