Odin's Easy Gin

[Odin]

So let's make some gin and let's not make it complicated. I know a complex gin or genever herbs bill can be pretty intimidating, but why make a gin with a herbs bill longer that the State of the Union? Okay, it sounds interesting, but does it taste interesting? Probably ... not so much. I mean, the more ingredients you add, the less "space" is left for other tastes. Distinguishing between more than 4 or 5 herbs ... I don't know many people who can do that. Another reason to keep it simple? Well, because many people use their gin to make a gin-tonic. So ... let's just make that. An easy gin that may well be perfect for your tonic. A starting point. Why? Because there are many people out there who like gin and/or gin-tonic. Yet, I do not see many easy gin recipes on HD. Especially no simple ones.

I think gin, as a world drink, deserves a recipe. A tried and true one. Well, that's my thinking. If you don't agree, we will find out soon enough. I mean, if nobody joins in on my goal to provide an easy recipe, it will never be a T&T recipe. Is that a problem? No. Because if there is no need for it, why bother? But if there are people out there interested in gin (and statistically there should be), know that I will make it easy for you.

Here we go:
- Take 1 liter of 43% neutral (made from the hearts of a BW, fractionated all bran, etc. fermentation);
- Eat a tangerine and keep the skin;
- Mildly crush 12 grams of juniper berries;
- Mildly crush 3 grams of coriander seeds;
- Add the tangerine skin, the berries and the seeds to the one liter of 43%;
- Let it macerate at room temperature for two weeks;
- After two weeks, filter out the herbs, berries, skins, whatever;
- Distill your one liter of macerated gin in a potstill, do it relatively slowly as in a spirit run;
- Discard the first 10 mls, collect the next 400 mls;
- You will end up with 400 mls at around 70 to 80%;
- Dilute to 45%;
- Give it up to 5 weeks rest in a glass demi-john;
- Drink it!

This recipe is perfectly scalable. If you want to "do" 5 liters, just multiply everything by 5. You can also go for 10, 20, whatever you like.

The only thing that does not need to be scaled up, is the first 10 mls cut. It can stay 10 mls up until 10 liters of 43% gin maceration. If you distill over 10 liters in one go, enlarge this first cut to 20 mls.

What juniper berries to buy?

Try these ones: http://www.amazon.com/Juniper-Berries-W ... B0001VWGK0" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow

What coriander seeds to buy?

Try these ones: http://www.amazon.com/Frontier-Coriande ... B001VNGH4I" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow

What tangerine to use? Does not really matter. Try to find a sort where the skin is relatively loose. Saves you work and will not give you excessive "inside white".

Now, go get them and start making it, so you can make those gin-tonics!

Regards, Odin.

[NZChris]

Have you tried just throwing the herbs into the still without any maceration time?

I just need some coriander seeds & I'm ready to try out the new mini pot that I made after watching Oz & James Drink to Britain. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K1vyhhqSSwA

[Odin]

Yes, with herbs in the boiler goes faster. I didn't put it in, since most have an electrical elelement, but if you can heat indirectly, macerate for just 12 to 24 hours and distill with herbs in the boiler. It will get you over a bit more taste compared to maceration (2 weeks) and filtration.

Odin.

[F6Hawk]

I'm in!! Been working more on rice lately, but it sounds good!!

[F6Hawk]

I'll see your berries, and raise you this... http://www.amazon.com/Frontier-Whole-Ju ... er+berries" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow

[Odin]

F6Hawk,

I think that's an excelent addition. More berries for less money? Let's go that way!

Regards, Odin.

[NZChris]

Mine got about 20 minutes maceration while I messed about setting it up. I don't think it's going to get it's 5 weeks, we've drunk half of it already. Very nice.

[Odin]

So ... you macerated for a few minutes and then started drinking? Wow. If you distill with the herbs in the boiler, 24 hours of maceration prior to distillation is needed.

Glad you liked it!

Odin.

[NZChris]

20 minutes maceration, in the pot, before I fired up the gas stove. After the first 10 mls were discarded, distillation took 30 minutes. Plenty of flavour came over and nobody seemed to think it needed any more.

I didn't have enough juniper to make a second batch to leave macerating for longer for comparison. I'll fix that next time I go to town.

[Odin]

NZ,

Wow, so you did get from nil to 60 in ... just minutes? Thanks for the update and clearification. If you like it fresh from the still, wait until you give it some rest!

All,

Since the boiling with herbs in the boiler part imparts lots of taste, a very short maceration is fine. 24 hours prior to distilling max. If you have to filter botanicals out before distilling, maceration benefits from 2 weeks.

Nice to see this pick up with speed.

Odin.

[NZChris]

I'm back out in the brewery now, cleaning up. Had a chew on the dregs and there really isn't a lot of flavour left to be had.

There is a LOT of flavour in the few mls I got after turning the heat off, but I do think your 400ml cutoff point was spot on.

[Odin]

Thanks NZ. Yes, you could collect further, but the tastes will deteriorate after that 400 mls.

Odin.

[Cardinalbags]

I need to make myself a smaller pot still for the gas stove.... I definitely want to give this a try. Thanks for posting it Odin.

Until now Ive been making the cleanest neutral that I can and then adding an essence for Gin. It is spot on to Bombay Sapphire, but at $5 a package of essence (1 package per bottle) its 2.5 times the cost it was to product the bottle of hooch. It's still only 1/6th the cost of a bottle from the liquor store even given that, however, my goal is to be as independent and in control of the product as possible.

[Schmicter]

Excellent recipe Odin. I recently did a gin, macerated for 2 days in 60% then diluted and ran with herbs in the boiler, and was pleased but had to simplify my own because most other recipes had exotic herbs and such. I will give this one a try next runs. You are absolutely correct about the tried and true recipes. If everyone discounts a recipe and refers only to a tried and true one, how does it ever get tried enough to be verified.

[F6Hawk]

Odin, if you are using 43% of a neutral, macerating it 2 weeks... why distill it again? Why not just macerate it a while (until flavor is to your liking), filter, and drink?What do you gain from the extra distillation?

[Odin]

I you lilke it like that, please do! Problem you can have is twofold. First, filtering will not take away all particles, so you will have a product that will continue to develop, and normally not in a good direction. Secondly, it is to the liking of many (especially for mixing with tonic), that a drier gin is better tasting. The extra distillation at 43% will take away any particles AND make a drier product.

Odin.

[frozenthunderbolt]

I didn't have enough juniper to make a second batch to leave macerating for longer for comparison. I'll fix that next time I go to town.

Chris: Where the heck are you finding Juniper berries and how much are they per 10gms? I'm struggling . .

[Odin]

For New Zealand, please look here:

http://www.thespicetrader.co.nz/product ... rries.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow

Odin.

[NZChris]

Moshim's Discount House, 504 Cameron Road, Tauranga

$50/kg in bulk bins, I got 40g for $2 yesterday. They have quite a few gin and absinthe botanicals.

There are Moshim's in other cities too.

[frozenthunderbolt]

Awesome Thanks guys!

[Boda Getta]

This is where I get mine

http://www.penzeys.com/cgi-bin/penzeys/ ... rries.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow

BG

[elektrosport]

Odin,

Thank you for sharing. I'm going to take a crack at this, I've got all the ingredients down for the fine genever you recommended, but this one seems like a good starter. One thing though. I'm not sure I can source mandarines now, can I substitute lemon or orange peel?

Also, I've considering hanging a bag of citrusy good hops for vapour infusion during distillation, any thoughts on this?

Cheers,
Elektrosport

[Odin]

My fine genever recipes may be more developed, but the advantage of this easy recipe is ... it is easy (to do and to find the ingredients) and it gives a baseline from which - maybe on a second run - people can say: "let's add some of this or that!"

Orange will be fine, but make sure you get as much of the inside white out as you can.

Botanicals in the vapor path are fine, especially the fruity ones. But ... nothing beats distilling with everything in the boiler!

Regards, Odin.

[elektrosport]

Thanks! Everything is planned to go in the boiler, but I'm hesitant about adding hops in there as well.

I've heard bad things about distilling hopped beer but I really want the aroma of fresh hops - I'm a hop head - so I'm thinking hanging it in the vapour path may get me somewhere closer?


Cheers,
Elektrosport

[frozenthunderbolt]

Started 2 L macerating now. Just got 3x20gm packets from 'the pantry shop' on trademe (a nz auction site) pretty cheap and look and smell good.
Lovely mandarin skin of the fruit of my own tree - better than bought ones - more flavour.
I'll run it next week. I'm currently trying to get a stainless steel 'Rice ball' colander that i could suspend inside my boiler from the column, either to vapor infuse or boil the botanical's without risking scorching on my (internal) element

[frozenthunderbolt]

Hey Odin,
What do you think will happen if i dilute it with some extra water before distilling? I need to cover the element inside my still, even when I've distilled the 400/1000 ml off.
Will i loose too much flavour, or are the oils hydrophobic and likely to come over more strongly . . .

[Odin]

If you lower abv from 45 to 30% prior to distilling, that's no problem. You will get a softer, less dry product. Diluting a bit further shouldn't cause problems as long as you distill slowly.

Odin.

[lampshade]

Odin,

Your recipe calls for using neutral. But from what little research I have done on genever, it is made with a "malty alcohol". Would a more traditional genever recipe be based on a light whiskey instead of a neutral? Or am I confusing old-style with young-style genever?

I do like your recommendation to use only the first 400 ml from a 1000 ml wash. My limited experience with off-the-shelf gin has been unpleasant.

Lamp

[Odin]

Hi Lamp,

This is a gin recipe and not a genever recipe. That's why the neutral is chosen as the base likker. In a genever, the base would be maltwine indeed. A young, fermented on the grain, distilled on the grain young whiskey with lots of malt taste. But with that, I would use a slightly different base herbs bill. Like cut the amount of juniper in half.

Regards, Odin.

[thepatchworkdoll]

Hi Odin
Running your Easy Recipe as I type. Lovely smell not that different from my Vapour infusion method. Are you experimenting with additional botanicals or are you staying with the 3 as per your original thread. Can you advise where the 5 week resting period comes from or is that just your own take on it.
regards
Patch