Home Distiller

Hello all - it should read southeast of England!
We have been successful homebrewers of wine and beer for some years now, and wanted to expand into the art of distilling.
We have built a pot still from a Prestige pressure cooker and have successfully made a 5 gallon wash and then distilled it, ending up with two bottles at 60% 6 bottles at 40% and 2 bottles at 20%. We also distilled a gallon of pineapple wine that did not taste as well as it should and turned out a good tasting spirit at about 45%.

We would like to get into making our own gin. I have watched a few videos online and from these have made a botanical tray from the trivet that comes with the pressure cooker that sits above the wash. I realise that I will probably need a muslin bag to hold the botanicals in but the steam should pass through the trivet nicely.

My question is on the quantity of botanicals needed. Do I need fresh botanicals each time I distil or will the same bag of botanicals be ok for a succession of distillations of the same wash?

Looking forward to hearing any suggestions.

cnk

Hi and welcome in

You do need to do some of the reading though.

We don't use Aluminium, Rubber or plastics in our equipment, and the subject of cuts is quite important too.

However as a brewer / winemaker, you have a good headstart over many new people

Hello from the southeast UK too. Good to see some more hobbyist on here.

Check out the Odin's gin receipe. It's very simple and good too.

Hi and welcome also from the UK good luck with your hobby and +1 on the comments already

Lee

Pikey wrote:Hi and welcome in

You do need to do some of the reading though.

We don't use Aluminium, Rubber or plastics in our equipment, and the subject of cuts is quite important too.

Welcome!
What he said ^
See below V

Thanks you to all who posted replies and to the advice. Being on holiday I have had time to read, read and read! Have learnt loads. Two more questions.

1. There is reference to a good recipe from Birdwash, but I cant find it anywhere! If someone could point me in the right direction, that would be awesome.

2. Do I need to clear a wash with carbon, or is this one of those things to do with using a turbo yeast?

3. (There had to be a third!) If I use bakers yeast (thinking of using Fleischmans) how much do I use for a 20ltre wash?

Looking forward to the replies.

cnk

cnk wrote:Thanks you to all who posted replies and to the advice. Being on holiday I have had time to read, read and read! Have learnt loads. Two more questions.

1. There is reference to a good recipe from Birdwash, but I cant find it anywhere! If someone could point me in the right direction, that would be awesome.

You’re mis-spelling, that is why you won’t find it using the HD Google Search (do use that instead of the search in the top left) - it is Birdwatchers sugar wash recipe. You’ll find it in the Tried And True Recipe Book subsection

cnk wrote:2. Do I need to clear a wash with carbon, or is this one of those things to do with using a turbo yeast?

No, it is one of those things you have to do when you’ve been suckered into using turbo yeast

cnk wrote: 3. (There had to be a third!) If I use bakers yeast (thinking of using Fleischmans) how much do I use for a 20ltre wash?

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