Cosmic.Distiller

On 6/22/2023 at 7:53 AM, kkbodine said:

I'm all for exploring but Barr Hill is made from GNS, at least according to the label. Sweetened with honey though.

Ah you're right, my mistake. When I heard someone say they use honey for the base spirit I did think that'd be pretty expensive for a base... 

Nope, doesn't need to be neutral. The main flavor just needs to be juniper, so you do have to make sure that is more forward than your base spirits. I know Todd Buckley I believe made his gin from apple brandy (correct me if I'm wrong), Barr Hill made their gin from honey base and famously won 100 points etc. I hope people begin to get more creative than just gns (nothing wrong with that, though! I just love gin exploration). I'm currently looking at some very fun bases 😁 

Hello Sue!

Not looking for an apprentice, but feel free to reach out to me with any industry questions you might have

Unless you have a lot of citrus, anise or other high oil botanicals, it's the fact that you are using a lot of crushed juniper. Juniper is high in oils (unless you get the sad overly dried stuff, which then throw it away!), and a three day maceration with a lot of crushed juniper will give you that cloudiness. I underline the three areas that contributed to it. As Dismal stated, chill filtering could get rid of it, but you will be altering the flavor. You need to change your recipe and SOP so it doesn't happen in the future. You could dial back the juniper, don't crush it, and shorten the maceration time, and I bet you might even like the flavor better. 

Edit to add: If you are concerned about the batch you just made not matching the flavor of future batches (which it won't, especially if you chill filter it), you could do a one-off "Limited edition" where you keep it cloudy and macerate colorful botanicals in it, such as butterfly pea flower to make it a nice sky blue (which cloudy would look pretty cool with, also obviously submit any changes to ttb). Just an idea. 

On 1/3/2023 at 6:35 PM, Jedd Haas said:

If anything exciting is happening, something is going wrong.

Lol this thread, I can't. This is the best advice on distilling I've ever heard. You deserve the thumbs up.

None that I know of, maybe it needs to be written. I'm sure if you do it we'd all buy a copy.

Just curious, do you have some gin from your previous batch on hand that you are trying it against?

Reviving this old thread for some fun. Everyone previously mentioned Juniperus Communis as the type of juniper to use, but keep in mind that the same plant will taste different in different regions (think coffee beans, Costa Rican vs Ethiopian, etc). The plants produce different flavor compounds depending on what the region is like (elevation, dryness, temperature etc). Dryer and warmer regions produce more resins, from what I have heard Italian is considered the best as it has a heavy pine flavor with less of the bitter tannins that are present in colder regions. I have yet to try my local Wisconsin juniper, but most people I've talked to say midwest junipers have a bad taste. That being said, Dancing Goat makes a great gin that has Wisconsin juniper, so there's that.

Personally I prefer Bulgarian, as it has a somewhat citrus note, like lemon, that brightens a gin. California also produces a decent juniper. 

It really boils down to (pun absolutely intended) what other botanicals you are pairing it with.

On 11/8/2022 at 3:01 PM, Handlebend said:

Thank you guys! This was super helpful! I was looking right over the fact that most people add the main botanicals in the boiler. Duh. I should have realized that!

Yup, basically think anything dried and hard, like various spices, generally go in the boiler, while more fragile botanicals (lavender definitely, and fresh herbs) should go in the gin basket to avoid an "over steeped" bitter quality or a gnarly cooked flavor (anyone have oversteeped lavender tea? yeah not good, don't do that to your gin). 

I do this *a lot* with a variety of people (both gin people and self professed gin haters, as well as your folks in between who just want a tasty g&t). My best advice for you is to have a set of questions ready for them to answer, or type up a sheet for them to fill out, that outline the basics of a good gin (does it taste harsh, hot, smooth or flat? What are the main flavors you get? Is it bitter, piney, sweet, funky or etc etc), ask them what they thought of it overall after they fill out those questions, then make them a good basic g&t the way you developed it to be served. I can't tell you how many people warn me before a tasting that 1. they hate gin, and 2. they hate tonic, only to be completely converted because it was done well. 

It can get frustrating, but at least if they fill out that sheet you'll get more out of it than your typical feedback of "it's strong".  

Most likely it's from having covid. I work a lot with and research flavors/fragrances and I have been seeing a lot of stories like "why don't lilacs have smell this year?" It seems to just be certain smells.

Just a big Thank You to all who I worked with that found me on here. It's been a pleasure to assist in your recipe developments!

My consultation business is now officially Craft Spirits Consultation LLC, website coming soon! Until then, feel free to email me at Cosmic.Distiller@gmail.com

I look forward to hearing from you!

-Cosmic Distiller

23 hours ago, LuckyGuy said:

I've done many different ways.    Ground and macerated.  Whole and macerated.   Ground and in the column.  Whole and in the column. 

Honestly, I'm not sure it mattered a lot.   That said, I did find out from all the different types of run that I don't really like coriander.

Have you tried Indian Coriander?

On 11/22/2021 at 2:31 PM, PeteB said:

 

Yep PeteB is right. In my experience it is better to extract at around 120 proof for this reason, unless I am making an extraction of a single herb/spice that I know extracts best at a higher percentage. Some of the flavors/oils are alcohol soluble and some are water soluble.

Do you mean like extracts? Are they distilled, macerated, vacuum distilled?

Might be too late as I see this was posted in May, but you should check out https://www.distillery-now.com/

I usually do the spices and most dried herbs in the pot, and the juniper and fresh herbs in a botanical basket. This way you don't have the juniper oils frying on the sides of your still.

Right it would be a bit more like a compound gin. I have yet to taste a gin doing this practice that tastes good, unfortunately.

I agree with kindred spirits there... to me it sounds like the partial condensers on the top of your columns are getting screwy, crashing it and disappearing at intervals. Let us know what you find!

I'm sure a dedicated whiskey distiller could give you better information, but for me I say it depends on how long you are planning on aging it. 

When I knew the spirit was only going to age for two years or less, I used two plates on a hybrid pot still. It separates it a bit more but the disadvantage is you have a product that will have less "character" in the end. In my experience, though, you can make up for that lack of character with interesting grains added to the mashbill. That being said, it does create a clean whiskey.

There's two options for a brewery and a DSP: as WhiskeyNwoods said you could either have dedicated equipment for each, separated by a partition (I know one place that just uses a 1 inch piece of wood along the floor), or you have it where they share equipment, but can only have either brewing activity or distilling going on, not both. 

On 4/4/2022 at 7:56 AM, Silk City Distillers said:

Glycerin in low concentrations is problematic, as you are basically adding sugar for bacteria to consume.

Right, which is part of the reason you add citric acid which doubles as a flavor. 

Hi Lokesh, 

Sounds like a botanical problem, imo. Chances are you have some oil heavy botanicals in there, and if you are macerating it for too long prior to distillation, that will be visible when you proof down. Try adjusting your recipe/SOP. 

Pleasure to meet you, Guillaume!  Looking forward to chatting!

I've played around with these for awhile. Essentially you macerate botanicals for a couple weeks in water and a little alcohol, distill (tossing the alcohol), and add a tiny bit of citric acid. Interesting to add some xanthan and other gums. If I was to try it again, I'll probably add a touch vegetable glycerin to give that feeling.