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Absinthe recipe


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I was looking into trying out a absinthe batch. And would like to have a little more info on the process, I own a 2" reflux still, and a 3" one. Do you use a GNS to start with? And is the base of the GNS corn? What type of herbs? Are the herbs macerated in the GNS and then distilled, or are they placed in a bag like the production of Gin?

I know it's alot of questions, but I'm a quick learner and would appreciate any input.

Thanks.

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ok so traditionally absinthe is done via a maceration in GNS then re-distislation and possible a coloring step. The time, temp and alcohol concentration of this maceration will in turn all affect the final result. That being said it might be interesting to try producing it using Gin techniques. As long as the basic herbs are still there (mostly woodworm) then the character profile of your product should be close enough to still call it absinthe and it might give you that desired "stand out value"

as for the herbs used... there are a wide variety of absinthes out there and thus a wide variety of herbs that can go in them. Depending of the style you want/ exact flavor profile desired you will tweak exact amounts used. At home I have a book of classic recipes and will try to remember to load a couple of examples of different styles for you. They all seem to have woormwood (different types exist and they offer different characteristics) but they balance out that flavor with other herbs to get a well rounded complex product.

enjoy your experiments!

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here are some examples of recipes:

Absnthe of Montpellier

24kg Large absinth dries

6kg green anise

4kg florentine fennel

1kg coriander

500g angelica seed

95l NGS @ 85%

color with

750g dried hyssop

750g dried balm of Moldavia

1kg small absinthe

Absinthe of Nimes

22.5kg less absinths

22.5kg green anise

15kg fennel

2.5kg coriander

1.5kg roots of black alder

1.5kg angelica root

570l NGS @ 85%

300l water

(in this case they mean to do a maceration at a lower %)

color with

5kg less absinthe

4.5kg hyssop

1.5 kg balm

2.5kg veronica

2.5kg mint

anyways...there is an endless way to formulate it from there and so many more regional recipes. Find out what ingredients are reasonably available to you and tweak it to your taste.

Just remember that how you treat your ingredients at this point has almost as big of an impact as what ingredient you use. (as a tip most macerations last from 2-10days depending on temp) but the % of alcohol used will impact the extraction... The polarity of the "solvent" will affect what components get extracted and to what extent. Most aroma compounds/flavor compounds are lipophillic (not very water soluble) so higher percent alc extractions(macerations) tend to get more flavor out of the herbs (it may get too intense or harsh if too high or long)

so yia play around with some mason jars and figure the exact mixture that is your absinthe...there is no one way of production and that is what is beautifull

Good luck!

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Wow! You guys have an amazing amout of knowledge, I feel very humble, when I see the amount of information you guys share with everyone. Thank you. Perhaps one day it will be me who can share some of my experiences.

As for the recipes you posted in your post, Trois Clocher, for amount of GNS was this for? I'm working, a 15 gallon and a 8 gallon reflux. And where would you recommend to purchase the wormwood?

Thank you

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no worries Firefighter,

The sharing of knowledge is how we all learn! I love this stuff and crave outlets to talk about it and use my knowledge haha

sorry I used the wrong abbreviation haha the first recipe calls for a 95 litter batch @ 85%abv and the second for a 570 litters @85%abv plus 300 litters of water (you can calc the abv of that maceration)

since your in canada I would say I've had good luck working with ritchers http://www.richters.com/ for herbs. They are kinda expensive but good quality stuff. There might be a closer supplier to you though.

This summer we will be growing a large amount of spices for the use of alcohol flavoring (including wormwood among like 10-15 others depending on how they take to our soil/climat) . Since we are still in our development stages we aren't probably going to use it all so if you contact me around the end of summer I can sell you some at a good price.

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  • 3 months later...

Does that require using treated wormwood, or do you have to use very little of it? Or is it not very difficult to hit that number with 'garden variety' wormwood?

Below detectable limit, which is currently 10PPM

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  • 2 months later...

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