Juniper Berries

[Ballast Point Spirits]

Seems pretty basic, but can't find a whole lot of literature on whether to crush the berries or leave them whole when making gin. Any thoughts? Going to be using a vapor ditillation technique, not a soak.

[Paul G]

If nothing turns up, you might try a small batch each way and see which one ends up the way you like it. Might simply boil down to (no pun intended) a matter of taste.

[Jonathan Forester]

Not having any experience in using a gin basket or trays yet, I'm just talking from what I have read and heard. Mild crushing exposes more surface area and volatiles in the berries to the vapor path. Whole berries are ok on maceration before distillation, but I have heard that mild crushing works better there as well.

Seems pretty basic, but can't find a whole lot of literature on whether to crush the berries or leave them whole when making gin. Any thoughts? Going to be using a vapor ditillation technique, not a soak.

[DISTILLERnhas]

We've done gin both ways, soaking and with a basket. A gentle maceration or crush seems to work best with both techniques. Your just exposing more of the berry so you can use less and get the same results of using more un-macerated berries. Either way will work. Let us know what you decide on and how that works for you. Good luck and cheers!

Ben

[Ballast Point Spirits]

Did a run today and will definately cut down on all the botanicals next time. I crushed the berries in a small roller mill set wide to gently break them open. With even small amounts of other botanicals (like 100 times less than the juniper) there is still more than I wanted. I am considering the soak method and there are definately some botanicals I will leave out next run.

[Rich Morgan]

Seems pretty basic, but can't find a whole lot of literature on whether to crush the berries or leave them whole when making gin. Any thoughts? Going to be using a vapor ditillation technique, not a soak.

We run ours through a small grain roller, with the gap set wide enough to just split the berry, but not completely pulverise it. It important to use crushed berries immediatly as the oils oxidise very quickly.

rich..

[bluestar]

We run ours through a small grain roller, with the gap set wide enough to just split the berry, but not completely pulverise it. It important to use crushed berries immediatly as the oils oxidise very quickly.

rich..

We mild crush using a large mortar and pestle, both for overnight maceration followed by filtering, and to add to the boil.

Anyone done any comparison of commercially bought dried juniper berries from different countries? We see a mild difference between what we have from Albania versus Bulgaria, but much different than Wisconsin.

[BadAl]

Does anyone have a good supplier for botanicals such as Juniper and even others like wormwood, both types for absinthe, annis, star annis. I can get locally in New Zealand but quality is poor and it is expensive as buying from spice suppliers here. I want to go direct to the source.

Many thanks all.

Cheers

Al

[Rich Morgan]

Does anyone have a good supplier for botanicals such as Juniper and even others like wormwood, both types for absinthe, annis, star annis. I can get locally in New Zealand but quality is poor and it is expensive as buying from spice suppliers here. I want to go direct to the source.

Many thanks all.

Cheers

Al

We grow our own wormwood, its very hardy and virtually immune to pests. As for the others, we found a couple of local fresh herb growers that were insterested in meeting our demand. You can NOT make a decent Absinthe from 2 year old, dried, dessicated dusty herbs. I feel your pain mate. It seems that nothing of any quality gets to the Southern Hempisphere.

rich..