i leave my gin made from pure ethyl alcohol 96% ABV (corn mash) to age at least 1 month. Everything is really nice from aroma to flavor if you drink it from the glass, however, if you smell it directly from the bottle it still has a really strong alcohol smell, the one that fires up directly though the nose up to the brain if you u know what i think
Yes understandably big bottle more vapors, but for comparison, if I smell other gins directly from the bottle there is no present strong alcohol smell.
You guys have any ideas what could I do to bring this smell down a bit? Its at 43% ABV, maybe air it out a bit?
Foreshots are also removed when distilling.
hm yeah, that would be one explanation. But on the second tought a few months ago I tried also with 96% pure ethyl alcohol from a totally different distillery and If I smell it now its more or less same strong aroma as described before. There is a chance they were both greedy but...
bltom wrote:hm yeah, that would be one explanation. But on the second tought a few months ago I tried also with 96% pure ethyl alcohol from a totally different distillery and If I smell it now its more or less same strong aroma as described before. There is a chance they were both greedy but...
Yes, i did a fair bit of investigation Im quoting: "The base spirit must be of agricultural origin. Secondly, it must be distilled to an “initial alcoholic strength of at least 96%.” https://theginisin.com/regulations/what ... n-dry-gin/
Off course when you are redistilling it is diluted down to 35-40 ABV but initial number is 96 ABV.
Either way Im starting to collect at arox. 78 degrees Celcius so im avoding potentialy present methanol which boils at 64 degrees.
bltom wrote: ↑Tue Dec 29, 2020 12:46 am
Either way Im starting to collect at arox. 78 degrees Celcius so im avoding potentialy present methanol which boils at 64 degrees.
That one sentence indicates that you have absolutely no idea about distilling.
Might be a good idea to learn to crawl before you try to walk or run.
Read a little and learn a little before trying to distill anything.
Some easy to understand reading here http://www.kelleybarts.com/PhotoXfer/Re ... gMyth.html ......this explains in simple terms why you cant just take off different compounds in a wash as and when you please by trying to control the temperature of a wash.
Its a point that confuses many new distillers.....but something that you have to understand......or if you don't/ cant understand ....except it as fact because that is what it is.
As for Methanol its a whole different story and you cant just get it all out right at the beginning, or all of it ever for that matter.
The good news is that there shouldn't be enough in your spirit to blind or kill you anyway.
Just because commercials have to use 96% to be able to put London Dry on their bottles, doesn't mean you have to buy in 96% to make gin as good, or better, unless you want to go commercial. Also, even at 96%, as you are finding out, a greedy distiller can still leave enough ethyl acetate, etc., in it to clean out your sinuses and give you a headache.
Here is another thread that explains many things that you need to know. Read it all carefully. https://homedistiller.org/forum/viewtop ... 63&t=81065
The post by "Stibnut" and what he says about Methanol and separating it from Ethanol is also something you need to pay attention to.
Before I was experimenting with sugar wash and then vapor infuse, with all the cuts made..And yes I totally agree that this would perfectly work for a home made gin.
Just out of curiosity i went and try with 96 ABV.
So after reading this boilng myth conclusion would be that more or less every home distiller cannot avoid this unless you own a realy hi end equipment?
bltom wrote: ↑Tue Dec 29, 2020 2:04 am
conclusion would be that more or less every home distiller cannot avoid this unless you own a realy hi end equipment?
NZChris wrote: ↑Tue Dec 29, 2020 1:32 am
Just because commercials have to use 96% to be able to put London Dry on their bottles, doesn't mean you have to buy in 96% to make gin as good, or better, unless you want to go commercial. Also, even at 96%, as you are finding out, a greedy distiller can still leave enough ethyl acetate, etc., in it to clean out your sinuses and give you a headache.
Totally agree. It's perfectly possible (and in fact quite easy) to make nasty 96% ethanol. There's a bunch of congeners that have tiny taste thresholds, and you have 4% of non-ethanol adjuncts in that mix. 4.37%, actually, since azeotrope is 95.63%.
bltom wrote: ↑Tue Dec 29, 2020 2:04 am
conclusion would be that more or less every home distiller cannot avoid this unless you own a realy hi end equipment?
Avoid what ?
completley separating ethanol and methanol or any other?
Regardless of what your distiller prints on the bottle of whatever it is he is selling you, he is incapable of separating ethyl alcohol from everything else that is in his ferment when he puts his wash in his still. He cannot economically produce 'pure ethyl alcohol' from a grain wash any more than any of the distillers on this forum can with their fanciest reflux stills... and none of us claim to be able to do that.
