needmorstuff

This is true, experimentation is one of the best parts.

Normally I simply do not have the time for experimentation. With a day job, a gin business and events most weekends, strange time we find ourselves in. I pity the person who had the task of isolating cucumber seeds.

best result for me came from roasted cacao simply potstilled, nice taste, less nose than extracted but none of the bitterness.

I would imagine the addition of sugar would cure a lot of problems. I pay about £10 for 1kg of cacao for small quantities, maybe 30% cheaper for bigger - so yes, it aint cheap, Feel free to message me with your recipe and protocol - save me some time 😉

Oh, I ditched the stillage, but I did taste it, it tasted empty and bitter. Not chocolaty at all. I find it strange the distillate tasted sweet, maybe this is just the ethanol. Very possible that I got Maillard reaction during extraction, both in the boiler and column. The extractor column was very hot. I should be more patient and reduce power maybe.. more hot extractions don't necessarily work better than less cooler ones. But then how much cooling takes place through the column walls is questionable. As a rule I am finding citrus is very volatile and distills across great. Fruit such as berries I don't have much experience with but read that raspberries come across ok.

the tincture has been pot stilled to create an extract, then proofed to 47.5% (same as the tincture) The tincture has a smell of warm hot chocolate when opened up with warm water, the taste is intensely chocolate but very bitter The extract doesn't to me have the same warm hot chocolate smell, to my nose it smells vaguely of chocolate and if smell could have colour, it would smell green. I realise that doesn't make any sense. The taste, less intense bitterness, less chocolate but much much sweeter. My wife thinks the extract and tincture smell more of less the same! but maybe she isn't being critical enough. I will ask 2 more peoples opinion later. I am currently mascerating more cacao in 70% neutral for 8 hours and will then pot still that to see the different between using the soxhlet to first capture the tincture and potstilling that to an extract and just the straight pot still. i.e. soxhlet > tincture > pot still > extract mascerate > potstill > extract When I find my preferred protocol I will repeat that protocol but first roast the nibs for 15 mins.

freeze, or chill until fats solidify and filter, or freeze thaw.. *update* 8 hours of extraction and I have a dark mahogany liquid that has a very pronounced chocolate odour, the taste is a very dark bitter chocolate flavour. Tomorrow I will pot still half and compare.

1st batch extracting as I type, I didn't roast them though. They are raw organic cacao nibs. Is roasting an essential step? I could try that next time. I had planned on pot stilling after extraction to leave fats in the boiler. I could however potstill half. The other half winterize to remove fats and do a comparison. I think I will discard the cocoa powder experiment as cacao nibs can be had cheaper than good quality cocoa powder.

Going to try 500gm cacao, 1l NGS @ 96% - then potstill the tincture to make the extract then compare that with 500gm cacao with 1l ngs @ 96% straight potstill then compare 500gm good quality coco powder with 1l NGS @ 96% potstill as cacao is damn expensive.

I have a bench still, I have a soxhlet extractor, I have cacao beans on their way to me. I plan on using the soxhlet to extract the beans and evaluating what I have at that point. I will then decide if what I have is ok or if i should then distill the tincture to an extract. I imagine it will be a brownish coloured bitter chocolate flavour tincture with fats. Anyone care to share their experiences or thoughts? Would you roast the cacao first?

You didnt say what you charge your boiler with.. I'm after hard data

thanks, I'm not in the high proof multi shot camp and never will be.

I know you aren't in europe @Silk City Distillers but is your still rated atex or similar?

apologies I thought that being in the Gin topic would be enough. I am making gin, starting with 96% neutral spirit i buy in.

I am at 30%, someone who is making stills atex rated is saying industry standard is 50-60% abv.

Looking for opinions from people with knowledge of UK atex requirements. I am looking into a new still when we scale, the person I am currently dealing with is saying all equipment should be atex rated and that their still takes a 65% abv charge. I admit to being surprised on both counts. Who charges their still with 65% nuetral? Is your still atex rated?

update, I got rid of the gin basket and just put the lesser botanicals in a bag suspended inside the still away from the heating elements. The gin basket just isn't necessary for me. I run on about 2.5kw for a vapour sped of 9 inches per second. I know that seems crazily low but the run finishes in 8 hours or so from cold, if i were running outside of a working days length then I would experiment more. I do wonder if the 2 or 3 bubble plate sections I see on soooo many gin stills are there to hold back those heavier "earthy" notes and allow a higher takeoff rate.

creating the path for the liquid to drain was the key, it works like a charm now. I have ordered a hop spider for it which will be a more elegant solution.

would you care to share your experience in this field? or offer any advice.

perfect for my small extractor.. 29x7cm https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Homebrew-Beer-Stainless-Steel-Dry-Hopper-Filter-Strainer-Mesh-Hop-Spider/264451797603?hash=item3d928e3263:m:mW9tRBRCUNVihc2BNmesvhg

ooh, great idea. I like the hop spider thinking. I will see what I can find in the UK. I did think of using my 4" gin basket but the extra bits i needed to buy would cost more than a custom built one with a 1.5 litre capacity. It set me back like $130, whereas obtaining SS Spool parts for me is expensive. what are you extracting? that seems very small for your kettle..

I have replicated this in a more controlled environment (kitchen) with a soggy bag of fruit over the drain hole it doesn't syphon with the drain hole protected by a drilled copper disc then a soggy bag of fruit over it syphons very very slowly. with the drain hole protected by a drilled copper disc and a relief channel running the length of the chamber atop the disc then a soggy bag of fruit over it syphons perfectly fine. Protect the drainage path is the answer.. easily solvable by an L shaped piece of steel drilled full of holes running the length of the chamber in my case.

Hopefully.... I don't have a "thimble" either, so the hop bag of fruit can essentially create a "plug" - I may need to add something to run vertically the length of the chamber to create a path to drain from and further stop the plug.. maybe a piece of 90 degree steel with holes drilled the length

I think maybe I need a disc of metal on top of the siphon tube for the cotton filter pad to rest on.. I think the cotton pad and bags of fruit are stopping an effective siphon action by slowing the flow rate of the draining action. Will test tomorrow.

what is strange is that when I tested it with just water it siphoned just fine now with 2 x hop bags full of fruit on top of cotton pads it doesn't syphon unless I move the "u" bend down 60mm from the top of the liquid level, the total height of the chamber being 320mm. Even then I wouldn't call it a syphon.. more a constant trickle.