I’m the Distiller for a small operation in Country Victoria, Australia. I macerate all my ‘harder’ botanicals for 16hrs O/night in 40% GNS, and the true aromatics, citrus, rose petals, elderflower etc are vapour infused. This gives a full flavoursome, round body & mouthfeel, with bright citrusy / floral highlights. Lately I have also been playing with maceration temperatures, leaving the charge macerating in 70C overnight, this really brings out bigger, fuller juniper and coriander characteristics, Love your channel, Cheers. Nick
@@peterdavis4816 I macerate whole, because when you crush the Juniper & Coriander, you get too much variation in each batch, it’s easier to maintain some consistency when used whole. I believe it’s too hard to crush to exactly the same mix of particle sizes, each time you grind. Cheers
@@nicholasscleave thanks for this comment Nick sounds like a great method, I also wonder if crushing the juniper /corriander may release some unwanted bitterness, macerating whole seems like the better idea as you say.
Have you tried comparing macerated and non-macerated gins? I found that it made no detectable difference. You're boiling the hell out of all the botanicals in the pot anyway, so it makes no sense that you'd get anything more out of them by macerating. Vapor infusing of course is very different as you're not boiling off the more volatile elements that you can in the pot. I find that vapor infusing certain botanicals can give a brighter flavour and certainly more aroma.
I could even see splitting a ratio of the same ingredient between basket and pot, for instance dialing in the orange to a spot between the "bright" and the "cooked" flavors, much like mixing toasted and untoasted versions of the same spice.
But there's also the 3rd in-between technique where you macerate in alcohol then fish out the ingredient (using a tea infuser makes this easy) and then either place that botanica, or a fresh one or eliminate it completely when you're doing the distillation. This means it's been macerated, but not boiled (if boiling somehow ruins the flavor for you for that specific botanical)
I settled on this process which is very close to yours as I have an air still and a 50L pot/column. I found splitting the harder and softer ingredients produced a better result (for those I make it for, I dont like gin that much but love making it). The harder ingredients like seeds all go in the stripped spirit for a day to steep. The softer ingredients go into a "basket". Basically I don't add a bit of copper packing and put the botanicals there free, does the job. I found if I put the softer ingredients into steep they would lose their impact and freshness and would get this bitter taste, and visa versa for seeds. So recipe I just did. Macerated in 30l 45% stripped spirit. 25g juniper 8g Black Pepper 15g Coriander 15g Greed cardamom Soft in basket 10 Lime leaves 2 medium oranges zest
Sounds delicious! Love the lime leaf idea. Are they kefir lime or ones you picked from a tree? Also, what volume of finished product do you end the run, or do you judge based on ABV of the cut?
Hi Jesse I've tried both of those techniques but have a third option which I prefer. I make a grain mash, put it into the still in reflex mode and hang a muslin bag with the botanicals under the column. I go with a single spirit run (no stripping run) and it comes out at 90+%. It's all down to personal taste I guess. Really enjoying the channel...thanks
Awesome as always Jesse! Glad I watched to the end for your conclusion. My rule of thumb is seeds and roots in maceration and peels and petals in vapour path (whether in basket or hanging above pot). Going to give your recipe a try 👍
Distilling you can also macerate and vapour infuse in same run. We macerate juniper,angleica root,.orris root, corriander seed and in vapour basket fresh cut lemon, oranges. The vapou basket also works in this type of run with delicate herbs that give a bitter flavour when macerte such as fresh mint, rose petals, camamile.
Hi Nice vidéo. I always make infused gin, but will try the other way because I love juniper flavor. Here my recipe i perfect over time. Its really complex, and give a wonderful gin. Hope you will try this!!! For 2L of 40% spirit - 20g Juniper Berries - 10g Coriander Seeds - 2g cubeb berries (this is an African pepper corn) - 2g Grains of Paradise - 2g Cassia Bark ( you could use a cinnamon stick but i would use much less of it if you do) - 2g Powdered Liquorice root - 2g Angelica root - A splash of Almond Extract but make sure it was made with bitter almonds. Or 2g Bitter Almond if you can find it - 1g of lemon peel - 0.2g - 0.3g of orris root powder
MY MAN! Chasing down something that you enjoy at every level. I’ve only done macération, thank you so much to take the time to put all this together. I’ve always wanted to try vapour. I might safe my money and keep playing with with what I have. It would be nice to talk just a little bit about the History of each spirit. KEEP CHASING THE PASSIONS BROTHER, you are doing an amazing job!
Amazing timing for me! I also, because of you, followed Odin's way to the letter, and found it kinda okay. Just yesterday, I distilled another version ...this time my own recipe and wow...it made me proud. the very next thing waiting for me is the vapor infusion, which I have planned for tomorrow! and magically here you talking about my projects...sooo cool!!! Thanks man!!!
Thank you very much for the fun "Freedom Units" reference and your attitude towards it. ^_^ It's a refreshing change from folks that are elitist when it comes to cultural differences.
I made Odin's gin a couple of times with great success. Thanks for that Jesse! Some other great flavours I've tried and am fond of is grains of paradise and hibiscus flower (great for colouring your gin pink), and makrut lime leaves (the ones they use in Thai curries).
My go to for gin from a T500 was run through a column to get 92 to 93% abv, taking heads out and running to the end. I then infuse with my recipe with 30% in the pot as far as 40% abv out of the still. This has given me great results which I am happy with. The last run, i tried your suggestion on this video, what a difference! I need to wait a few days for flavours to settle, but I think I prefer my original recipe. Not a complaint, just an observation. I do need to experiment more I think, maseration brings a whole new avenue, although I wouldn't miss cleaning the boiler walls to remove the gunge after a maseration run.
I macerate at 43% for two weeks and then filter out the botanicals and run in my small pot still. Recipe based on Odin's Gin but I vary the citrus a lot. On version 9 at the moment and each one has been excellent. Drinking one now that's had a few rasberries sitting in it for a few weeks. Simply outstanding with a decent tonic. I've kicked the Schweppes and supermarket home brands into touch and now go with Fever Tree and there's a huge improvement (except that my tonic now costs more than my gin...). Keep up the excellent work, Jessie. Been following you from that time way back when you went huntin' for bits of copper pipe in that breakers yard. You've come a long way.
We made a 3 liter batch using your recipe last night. We macerated for 5 days and dumped the whole thing into a Chinese pot still ( similar to yours) and run it really slow on propane. Ended up with 3 liters of 46% with amazing flavor. Great recipe!
I have been under the impression that Angelica was toxic. So, that's where the hangover comes from. You're a wealth of information. Will be subscribing soon.
Even before watching your video, I made a batch of gin with my Clawhammer, and ended up macerating juniper and coriander, and in the gin basket I put ginger, cinnamon, and citrus. The result is in line with your reasoning, there are ingredients that work better with steam where they release more of their aromas and other elements that, through maceration, release their flavor better. But at the end of the day, it's like you said: it's about personal taste. Thanks for the video. I thought I was the only crazy person to think like that;)
I've always prefered macerated gin. my current favorite method involves macerating enough ingredients for the whole batch in 1ltr of high proof neutral, then running that in a small lab-glass type rig with a fairly short vapour-parh) it makes an EXTREMELY ginny gin concentrate! which is then mixed into my (proofed down in advance) neutral. it's not as complicated as it sounds, makes a beautiful gin, and my single malts don't end up full of bloody juniper!
I'll definitely look at doing a mix of both techniques in the future I've primarily been a vapour infusion guy up to this point as I really like the bright crisp taste it tends to give. I've experimented with a lot of botanicals these past few years but my go to these days is juniper, coriander, angelica, cassia, orris root, black pepper, lemon zest and lingon berries. Although I've mostly been doing vapour infusion I've experimented a bit with other techniques and I think my favorite so far was the 5 minute cream whipper method, which is all sorts of weird and fun. Basically just take your spirit at 40-45%, dump it into a cream whipper, drop in your botanicals, close the whipper. Charge the whipper with a cream whipper charge (surprised, right?) shake a bit and leave to stand for 5 minutes. Release the pressure from the whipper then filter out the botanicals and you have a compound gin made in about 15 minutes. It's by no means a great way to make gin but it's tons of fun.
You should do a run of your dream gin. Oranges in the column and everything else macerated in the pot. I don't think I've ever seen somebody split themselves between two infusion methods.
I've always thought of the difference between steam distilled and macerated botanicals as perfume vs incense, not that one is smokey just the overall presence and duration. I would love to see you steam distill / macerate a whole range of botanicals(at least all the common ones used in gin) individually and then mix to taste, but that would be an enormous amount of work.
I’ve been playing around with fig leaves in my gin and I like it. It’s also free (I have 50 trees) and it tastes of cinnamon and vanilla. I also did a fig leaf (bath tub) liquor… that was great, you could even taste figs in it.
I have done maceration with the fermentation. Then distilled via stripping run. Next I taste the first run, proof down to 40%abv if needed and macerate again. Using botanicals which are perceived as missing or desired to be amplified. After this 24hr maceration I then run again and taste. On the third go around, proof down with water to 40%abv and then distill using a gin basket. Again using botanicals that you want to emphasize.
Hey man love your vids. Long term beer brewer looking to diversify my interests and has been interesting to see that so many techniques carry over between the two particularly ways to extract aroma and flavour from your botanicals. Really love the vids man appreciate it
You got it exactly right. :) A maceration gives you a "heavier" Gin with a good round mouthfeel. A vapor-infused Gin will be "lighter" and more subtle on the citrus and orange notes. It's really a matter of taste if you want a heavier Gin or a light one where all notes of your spices are more in the background and the nose is getting more fruits. :) My recipe is somewhat like yours but I skip the angelica seeds. Happy distilling.
I don't know much about distilling, but you might get the sharper orange flavour from the vapour infusion because it's in shorter contact with the hot liquid/vapour, which prevents the aromatics from changing too much chemically. The more burnt taste from the macerated still might be from the sugars that dissolved into the water overnight.
Agreed tried a couple of runs with maceration vs infusion last year and the peels and cardamom for me are now infused and the rest is soaked for 24 hours
Hi Jesse, good video. I have a slightly lazier way of doing this. I typically start with a birdwatchers wash. On a 25-ish liter batch, I use 20g juniper, 10g coriander, 15g sweet orange peel and 10g elderberries. I vapour infuse, but straight from the birdwatchers. Single run only. I run reflux (aiming for 80-ish abv). My gin basket is right below the dephleg. Works pretty well for me, flavours are not that in your face but pleasant for drinking neat or with tonic. Wifey loves it...
Botanical I add are Lemon zest Orange zest Juniper Cardamon Cumin Star Annese Cinamon And fresh mint for that fresh summery hit with the Citrus (Citrus and mint are all fresh rest are dried)
Jesse, Have you ever watched how George does his. I was amazed at how he controls the flavors of each batch through multiples batches. Worth the watch. Looking forward to trying both of your methods as well.
I quite like this experiment, I think that the time in contact with the solvent(spirit) probably makes a big difference as one might imagine, however I think that the temperature and time-temperature levels are probably also quite important, similar to strike temperatures and enzymatic temperatures work during the mashing/brewing process, and almost certainly why the orange tasted "marmalde-y" versus "fresh", because of the effective "cooking time". Perhaps there's also some things that need the water phase of the maceration in order to undergo enzymatic change, or just aren't soluble in a high-proof vapor. Definitely think that individualized experimentation would be really useful in dialing in recipes, maybe using all three techniques in sequence! Thank you for the video!
I know Bobby's (a Dutch gin producer), one of my favorite Gins, macerates and vapour infuses. Iirc they macerate dry spices, and vapour infuse fresh botanicals (in their case also Lemongrass).
Some gin baskets are offset, and condensed infused vapour will collect in the bottom of them, wherein you either have it piped back to the boiler so you'd end up with a product similar to yours, or you have a valve at the bottom and periodically drain it into a collection vessel. It would be interesting to drain such a setup, see what that tastes like, and possibly add some of it back in to the condensed product gin after you are finished distilling. I imagine it would collect a lot of the heavy, and oily, compounds that you find in a maceration, but don't find in large quantities, or any quantity, in a vapour infusion because they aren't volatile enough.
I don't think that stuff is drinkable. It's not even distilled. It's pretty similar to the lab apparatus known as a sohxlet extractor which is well known to effectively strip everything a sample can give, but that will definitely include non-volatile and colored compounds too. Personally, I dislike offset heads and think the simpler inline setups are superior precisely because you don't have to bother with the offset condensate nor do you loose it's contribution of aromatics.
@@MrJhchrist Probably not drinkable on its own, too concentrated. But it would be no different than what is present in a strictly macerated gin (undistilled), just not as diluted. Which is why if you wanted a stronger gin after vapour infusion, you could add that some of that condensate back into your distillate, in small quantities at a time, to taste. This is where I think an offset gin basket works in your favour if you want to try different things. You get a lighter vapour infusion if that is all you want, drain the condensate and toss it. But it also gives you the option to use that condensate to strengthen your gin, after the run, if the vapour infusion isn't enough. Then on top of that you also have the option of having the condensate drain down into the boiler while it is still running if you want to go that route instead, like an inline setup. You will need some extra parts if you want to run it like it is inline, of course, but you can do it. To top it all off, running it in any 3 of those ways, it is easier to clean your still afterwards, than having just an inline gin basket, because the oils won't be draining down through your column.
@@StillBehindTheBench Valid points, and highlighting my personal opinion. I just don't believe in compounded or macerated gin. According to my personal rule book if it's not distillate, it's not gin. Which I recognize isn't globally true. The cleaning point is definitely true. An alternative that works as well is the use of a small maybe dedicated thumper. Botanicals in the thumper work just like botanicals in a boiler, and a botanical vapor chamber above the thumper can't drip back down into the main boiler. Of course you gotta take the thumper into accord if you have a preferred abv still charge because it will affect that curve.
@@StillBehindTheBench Also meant to say that the offset gin basket with drain returning to boiler is effectively the same as a purifier in some scotch stills. The ability to play with that application is probably as useful as any gin application and it's something not often seen in hobby sized stills.
Ive done both ways too totally agree with you on all points, I've got a wash ready I need to strip but thinking the spice botanicals macerate and in the pot then loads of citrus in the vapour path lemon, orange, grapefruit
I've never tried vapor infusion, but I do my maceration a little different than yours. I macerate for about 2 weeks and then strain the liquid into my thumper and run clean water in the boiler for a steam distillation. The base spirit I use is a pot distilled rice vodka. Makes a decent gin.
I have made Odin's easy gin with overnight maceration and distill with botanicals, the flavor is big and not subtle. There are so many variables with gin that you could keep adjusting the recipe and process forever
Great video Jesse! I just made my first Gin using the gin basket method, and it was perfect. The crisp and clean flavors of all the herbs came through. Maybe you need to play with the recipe more to convince yourself that it will satisfy your tastes. This method is easier to do and takes less herbs to do it.
Did you crush juniper and hard botanicals? I have tried it a couple of times and the flavours have been insipid. I can see that with the most suitable botanicals it could produce an aromatic, elegant gin
@@larsnewbould456 I did just that, but for a 6 gallon run you don’t need much in the column. 1/2 oz of mixed botanicals is more than enough. You will have to experiment with it to get the taste you like.
@@brucekrisko4364 hi, that's interesting. You used a column still with basket? I just did a little experiment, adjusting a small recipe I had to 1.1 litres., then put everything in the Air Still. I put two little muslin bags in the basket: one with more juniper and coriander, one with rose petals and elderflower. The floral flavours were soft and fragrant. It was for my wife, who loves it.
This is an interesting comparison chemically speaking. The extracted botanicals in the maceration will probably react and "cook" inevitably, while the vapour infusion is far more diffuse and in the reacting state for shorter, hence the cooked oranges flavour. on the other side, the water is a strong solvent and you would carry less of the more polar stuff over in a 90-60% vapour extraction than that high abv maceration extraction. plus the vapour infusion only takes volatiles with it while some slightly less volatiles can carry over from the maceration. The bolder stronger flavours are probably largely due to the maceration time, comparitively. Interesting comparison. The only thing on both of these is the absence of extracted water soluble flavours. those would need to be steeped on aging (wood or tea or botanicals). We have a booming craft gin thing going inSouth africa with a few post steeped amper, pink and other colouered gins. These are post macerated with orange peel, wood, flower petals (pelargonium) etc.
Good video, and thanks for doing it. Hope your all safe and enjoying yourselves across the ditch mate. Now you have a T500 system as well I have to ask a question on vapour infusion. The T500 system I don't feel allows for the botanical basket use, yet it does have a basket available, it screws onto the bottom of the column which I would've thought counter productive with how it works... It also sits inside the lid and I don't see how there's enough head room for that. Only way I could see the T500 system working for vapour infusion is a botanical basket inside the column at the top and the saddles would have to be loaded after that, to keep it at the top. I've researched and I'm seeing some limitations of the T500. Looks to be an ok entry level but quite limited with what you can do with it when you compare to others systems.
I have a Speakeasy 5 gal with gin basket and made a whey wash run with fresh and dried mint added to the gin basket. My goal was minty vodka, but it only came out faintly minty. I think once the weather gets better and my mint grows, I'll try the maceration version and see what I get. Thanks, very handy video.
I think macerating all of your usual gin Ingredients, but putting the juniper in the basket would be a nice way to blend the two methods if you want to lighten the juniper influence but keep the richness of the others :) Thanks for the comparison this was super cool
As very much the newbie, this has been super helpful. I’ve been experimenting with this.Had a couple of big failures (think line needles in a cup😱), but we are getting there. Thanks.
I would recommend that you do half of all botanicals by maceration in pot and other half in basket and use angelica root rather than seeds. Gives a great balance of flavors in finished product. I also like some lime zest as well if you're planning on him and tonic or grapefruit zest if planning on drinks like a greyhound.
Thanks for another well presented, though out clip. I have tried a few gin technics over the past few weeks and must say I agree with what you found, for me I add the botanicals to my stripping run after tossing the forshots, steep for a day or two, then do a slow spirit run, that seems to work for me. I find if you use the first the "forshots" from the spirit run it makes the gin cloudy, my guess is some of the essential oils in the citrus are pulled out of solution at a lower ABV.
Great channel!!!! I macerate 2 days in 70% ABV from a strip run (usually sugar as a base): juniper berries, coriander seeds, fennel seeds, licorice root and lemon zest. All in a pot for the 2nd run and get a result I like (and friends). It is a little bit Ouzo style, with the fennel and licorice. Keen to do a hybrid and move the lemon zest in the basket and infuse. Also like to try with orange zest or a tangerine. See what the result is!
I vary my botanicals, but I crush the juniper and coriander, then macerate all the botanicals in 90% neutral for about 2 weeks. This makes a very dark liquid which I then redistil in my 1 litre stovetop still to create a clear concentrated essence. Then I find around 40-50 ml of essence to 1 litre of neutral makes a very nice gin.
This is a guy with a still spirits air still, I look out for 3 channels, and scale everything down to 4 litres and I'm having great success. Stick to the process, rewards fab cheers J. ps I don't use that turbo dung anymore X
Nice video, keep it up !!. I use a carterhead with less botanical than your example. The offset carterhead stops the oils draining back to the boiler as you can open the tap at the bottom of the carthead to release them. Those oils do not help a vapour infused gin.
I don't plan on doing distillation, but I love the content. I think I might have to do a video on adding flavors in Primary fermentation versus secondary fermentation for my meads.
I find anise flavours, grains of paradise and bitter orange (curacao) are better vapour infused. You can increase the amounts of other botanicals and put them in the gin basket, then adjust where you take your heart start and finish to round it out.
I wonder if you could do a blended gin from the two (or from that idea of various single-botanical-infused spirits) to dial down a flavor profile, like they do with blended whiskeys? Cool video, I'm sad that I live in the Protestant Nordics where home-distillation brings the local lawman with a truncheon, not with a cup in his hand.
I have watched your videos for so long and finally i'll aply to school what teach alcohol making. In Finland distilling is illegal if you don't have lisences so it's almost impossiple to do this kind of things at home but maybe after i have done my school and i have experience from Job where i can make whiskey etc. After that i'll be able to make my own company and start producing own drinks 👌🏼
I use the maceration technique but use a stir plate for 24 hours and then remove the citrus prior to distillation. I also use a similar Chinese still and do 3 litres at 40% works really well. I take off 1475ml and there is no cloudy product. :)
x12 (makes 3+ gallons) 405.6 fl oz of 80 proof vodka / neutral - 3.169 Gallons 6 oz of juniper 1.3 oz of coriander seeds 3.4 oz of orange zest 0.22 oz of cardamom 3.2 oz of angelica seeds
I’m wondering if has to to with the availability of essential oils. Berries and seeds have their oils pretty locked up. By macerating and boiling in the pot, it allows those oils to be come more accessible. With citrus and herbs, those oils are very easy to get to and therefore vapour infusion will allow for a “fresher”, lighter profile.
I've got all my ingredients ,except for the coriander and it's on it's way! As soon as it gets here, I'm going to macerate it all and distill it while it's still in the pot. As you asked ,ill be sure to tell ya how it goes
Fascinating mate! Not the expert, (by a long shot, but I know what i like) but I would lean to similar conclusions to you Anything large and bold like Cardamom, Juniper, Coriander etc and (for my taste) any peppers I would macerate - but the florals and delicates as I call them (Citrus, Hops if you use them, elderflowers, hibiscus, or any blossoms etc., ) I would think vapour would be kinder to them The reason your orange zest might taste more marmaladey (?) is you've basically boiled it, which is basically what you do when you make marmalade (albeit with a crapload of sugar) - whereas if you use vapour you are just using the ability of it to act like a solvent taking the essence without cooking it (as much) For fun try some blood orange zest and a bit of lemon with maybe just a smidge of black pepper corns (Pepper can compliment a flavour - look at strawberries and black pepper) For a good Oriental gin try a bit of Schezwan and/or Red pepers and if you can get it Japanese cherry blossoms (Sakura powder)
I run Odin’s recipe and remove the citrus peel before running. Pepper corns, Angelica root and lavender flowers are then added to the vapour path. Makes a very good gin.
Enjoyed the video, thanks, read through comments and can’t find what ABV you distilled the macerated and the vapour infused at, as in final product ABV before proofing down to 45%
It seems logical that the orange flavor comes off a lot easier than the juniper and coriander seeds, but my guess is that crushing and macerating the herbs in advance in some water or alcohol would help bring out the flavors once you put them in the gin basket.
I'm planning a gin day with some mates soon using two gin baskets (one at a time). I will charge the still to capacity with netural and get it up to temp. Then I'm putting my botanicals in and running off a couple of litres. One of my mates will then put his choice of botanicals into the spare basket and we'll run off another couple of litres. A third mate will do the same with the original basket (cleaned and rinsed of course). We each have very different tastes in gin so I really hope this method works.
Another fantastic video Jessie! Hey by the way; is there any chance you can be a bit more verbally descriptive in your videos? In this video; you kept referring to each different gin as “ this one” or “ that one”. It would really help out this ordinary average blind guy. Keep up the great work my friend and stay safe!
Hi Jessie great content as always. I am in Christchurch and would like to know where you get your juniper berries. I have just started doing the TPW and need to do start doing gin originals rather than using commercial essence,. I also want to do bourbon all grain mash and a Southern comfort style or honey liqueur if you are keen on doing something different. Made your Limoncello and got a heap of keen consumers. So thanks for your great help and videos.
I did this using an Dairy in line Sight glass extension inserted between my dephlegmator and over hang to heat exchanger. You can insert a Copper Mesh between any thing you'd like to infuse in this dairy sight glass. Your basically making a space between your effervescence and vapor stream. Bio-Engineer 38 years we like whisky too.
Mate I love your stuff, big fan and appreciative learner from the beginning you got me into the craft. I can see the reasons why but not very like V like on the science (different stills ect)
Love the channel. Been watching for a few years now. Quick question: can you pour botanicals into a air still or should filter first? Santa delivering air still in a few days and want to do a boxing day gin 😁
Lol I just watched a Doctor Gradus vid on making gin. I'm not a big fan of juniper but I'm sure I could dial in the flavors to my liking or ditch certain ingredients and sub in others. I wonder how many distillers are also cooks? Lol.
If someone likes the orange from the vapour infusion method. Using the components in both ways could be an anwser. Do a combo run of macerated and vapour infused at the same time. You might come up with a recipe that has the best of both worlds.
Hello Jesse, I found this video very interesting - I make gin using both methods at the same time balancing maceration between vapour depending on the flavor profile I want. What I have to say is I always macerate the Juniper and when I make my SinnerGin (cinnamon flavour) I always vapour infuse the Cinnamon. I do use a 100% copper still with a 80L boiler, am wondering what difference that could make to the booze? P.S. I never use citrus in my gin's just a personal taste issue :-)
Hmmm, any benefit to do both? ie macerate and vapour to get a really big flavour? Also can you do this with hazelnuts? How do they make hazelnut spirit? (not liqueur) Is it macerated first?
I’m the Distiller for a small operation in Country Victoria, Australia. I macerate all my ‘harder’ botanicals for 16hrs O/night in 40% GNS, and the true aromatics, citrus, rose petals, elderflower etc are vapour infused. This gives a full flavoursome, round body & mouthfeel, with bright citrusy / floral highlights.
Lately I have also been playing with maceration temperatures, leaving the charge macerating in 70C overnight, this really brings out bigger, fuller juniper and coriander characteristics,
Love your channel,
Cheers. Nick
Thanks Nick. I use a similar process using a carter head offset rig. I was wondering if you crush your 'harder' botanicals or macerate them whole?
@@peterdavis4816 I macerate whole, because when you crush the Juniper & Coriander, you get too much variation in each batch, it’s easier to maintain some consistency when used whole. I believe it’s too hard to crush to exactly the same mix of particle sizes, each time you grind. Cheers
@@nicholasscleave thanks for this comment Nick sounds like a great method, I also wonder if crushing the juniper /corriander may release some unwanted bitterness, macerating whole seems like the better idea as you say.
Have you tried comparing macerated and non-macerated gins? I found that it made no detectable difference. You're boiling the hell out of all the botanicals in the pot anyway, so it makes no sense that you'd get anything more out of them by macerating. Vapor infusing of course is very different as you're not boiling off the more volatile elements that you can in the pot. I find that vapor infusing certain botanicals can give a brighter flavour and certainly more aroma.
Hi Nick as a distiller in Vic as well love to see your set up.
I could even see splitting a ratio of the same ingredient between basket and pot, for instance dialing in the orange to a spot between the "bright" and the "cooked" flavors, much like mixing toasted and untoasted versions of the same spice.
I like the idea of using both techniques to dial in the flavors. Cool video brother:-)
i'm gonna do both! thank you BB!!
I love the great comparison! Thanks Jesse!
But there's also the 3rd in-between technique where you macerate in alcohol then fish out the ingredient (using a tea infuser makes this easy) and then either place that botanica, or a fresh one or eliminate it completely when you're doing the distillation. This means it's been macerated, but not boiled (if boiling somehow ruins the flavor for you for that specific botanical)
Amazing video. Id love to see your methodology for Absinthe.
Hey Jessy, If i make a gin, I'll macerate everything over night, then sift it out and pop it in the basket for distillation.
Best of all worlds
the only thing you might want to optimize is making a good tasting spirit instead, as gin is complete trash that tastes like cologne
@@penguiin12 no
@@penguiin12 You just have a trash palate my friend.
@@crabmansteve6844 haha i dont care what you think. cologne is for smelling nice, not drinking
@@penguiin12then you’re clearly on the wrong channel goon. Take the L
I settled on this process which is very close to yours as I have an air still and a 50L pot/column.
I found splitting the harder and softer ingredients produced a better result (for those I make it for, I dont like gin that much but love making it). The harder ingredients like seeds all go in the stripped spirit for a day to steep. The softer ingredients go into a "basket". Basically I don't add a bit of copper packing and put the botanicals there free, does the job. I found if I put the softer ingredients into steep they would lose their impact and freshness and would get this bitter taste, and visa versa for seeds.
So recipe I just did.
Macerated in 30l 45% stripped spirit.
25g juniper
8g Black Pepper
15g Coriander
15g Greed cardamom
Soft in basket
10 Lime leaves
2 medium oranges zest
Sounds delicious! Love the lime leaf idea. Are they kefir lime or ones you picked from a tree? Also, what volume of finished product do you end the run, or do you judge based on ABV of the cut?
I’m starting a small distillery this summer and I watch your content religiously. Thank you!
How did the distillery go?
Hi Jesse
I've tried both of those techniques but have a third option which I prefer.
I make a grain mash, put it into the still in reflex mode and hang a muslin bag with the botanicals under the column. I go with a single spirit run (no stripping run) and it comes out at 90+%.
It's all down to personal taste I guess.
Really enjoying the channel...thanks
Awesome as always Jesse! Glad I watched to the end for your conclusion. My rule of thumb is seeds and roots in maceration and peels and petals in vapour path (whether in basket or hanging above pot). Going to give your recipe a try 👍
Distilling you can also macerate and vapour infuse in same run. We macerate juniper,angleica root,.orris root, corriander seed and in vapour basket fresh cut lemon, oranges. The vapou basket also works in this type of run with delicate herbs that give a bitter flavour when macerte such as fresh mint, rose petals, camamile.
Jesse, as a U.S. citizen; your use of "Freedom Units" cracks me the F up! I need to find a way to use it more often.
Hi
Nice vidéo. I always make infused gin, but will try the other way because I love juniper flavor.
Here my recipe i perfect over time. Its really complex, and give a wonderful gin.
Hope you will try this!!!
For 2L of 40% spirit
- 20g Juniper Berries
- 10g Coriander Seeds
- 2g cubeb berries (this is an African pepper corn)
- 2g Grains of Paradise
- 2g Cassia Bark ( you could use a cinnamon stick but i would use much less of it if you do)
- 2g Powdered Liquorice root
- 2g Angelica root
- A splash of Almond Extract but make sure it was made with bitter almonds. Or 2g Bitter Almond if you can find it
- 1g of lemon peel
- 0.2g - 0.3g of orris root powder
MY MAN! Chasing down something that you enjoy at every level. I’ve only done macération, thank you so much to take the time to put all this together. I’ve always wanted to try vapour. I might safe my money and keep playing with with what I have. It would be nice to talk just a little bit about the History of each spirit. KEEP CHASING THE PASSIONS BROTHER, you are doing an amazing job!
Amazing timing for me! I also, because of you, followed Odin's way to the letter, and found it kinda okay. Just yesterday, I distilled another version ...this time my own recipe and wow...it made me proud. the very next thing waiting for me is the vapor infusion, which I have planned for tomorrow! and magically here you talking about my projects...sooo cool!!! Thanks man!!!
Yes please experiment!
Thank you very much for the fun "Freedom Units" reference and your attitude towards it. ^_^ It's a refreshing change from folks that are elitist when it comes to cultural differences.
I made Odin's gin a couple of times with great success. Thanks for that Jesse! Some other great flavours I've tried and am fond of is grains of paradise and hibiscus flower (great for colouring your gin pink), and makrut lime leaves (the ones they use in Thai curries).
My go to for gin from a T500 was run through a column to get 92 to 93% abv, taking heads out and running to the end. I then infuse with my recipe with 30% in the pot as far as 40% abv out of the still. This has given me great results which I am happy with. The last run, i tried your suggestion on this video, what a difference! I need to wait a few days for flavours to settle, but I think I prefer my original recipe. Not a complaint, just an observation.
I do need to experiment more I think, maseration brings a whole new avenue, although I wouldn't miss cleaning the boiler walls to remove the gunge after a maseration run.
By the way, great videos and great opportunities to change, experiment and improve!
I macerate at 43% for two weeks and then filter out the botanicals and run in my small pot still. Recipe based on Odin's Gin but I vary the citrus a lot. On version 9 at the moment and each one has been excellent. Drinking one now that's had a few rasberries sitting in it for a few weeks. Simply outstanding with a decent tonic. I've kicked the Schweppes and supermarket home brands into touch and now go with Fever Tree and there's a huge improvement (except that my tonic now costs more than my gin...).
Keep up the excellent work, Jessie. Been following you from that time way back when you went huntin' for bits of copper pipe in that breakers yard. You've come a long way.
We made a 3 liter batch using your recipe last night. We macerated for 5 days and dumped the whole thing into a Chinese pot still ( similar to yours) and run it really slow on propane. Ended up with 3 liters of 46% with amazing flavor. Great recipe!
I have been under the impression that Angelica was toxic. So, that's where the hangover comes from.
You're a wealth of information.
Will be subscribing soon.
Even before watching your video, I made a batch of gin with my Clawhammer, and ended up macerating juniper and coriander, and in the gin basket I put ginger, cinnamon, and citrus.
The result is in line with your reasoning, there are ingredients that work better with steam where they release more of their aromas and other elements that, through maceration, release their flavor better. But at the end of the day, it's like you said: it's about personal taste.
Thanks for the video. I thought I was the only crazy person to think like that;)
I've always prefered macerated gin. my current favorite method involves macerating enough ingredients for the whole batch in 1ltr of high proof neutral, then running that in a small lab-glass type rig with a fairly short vapour-parh) it makes an EXTREMELY ginny gin concentrate! which is then mixed into my (proofed down in advance) neutral. it's not as complicated as it sounds, makes a beautiful gin, and my single malts don't end up full of bloody juniper!
I'll definitely look at doing a mix of both techniques in the future I've primarily been a vapour infusion guy up to this point as I really like the bright crisp taste it tends to give. I've experimented with a lot of botanicals these past few years but my go to these days is juniper, coriander, angelica, cassia, orris root, black pepper, lemon zest and lingon berries.
Although I've mostly been doing vapour infusion I've experimented a bit with other techniques and I think my favorite so far was the 5 minute cream whipper method, which is all sorts of weird and fun. Basically just take your spirit at 40-45%, dump it into a cream whipper, drop in your botanicals, close the whipper. Charge the whipper with a cream whipper charge (surprised, right?) shake a bit and leave to stand for 5 minutes. Release the pressure from the whipper then filter out the botanicals and you have a compound gin made in about 15 minutes. It's by no means a great way to make gin but it's tons of fun.
You should do a run of your dream gin. Oranges in the column and everything else macerated in the pot. I don't think I've ever seen somebody split themselves between two infusion methods.
I've always thought of the difference between steam distilled and macerated botanicals as perfume vs incense, not that one is smokey just the overall presence and duration.
I would love to see you steam distill / macerate a whole range of botanicals(at least all the common ones used in gin) individually and then mix to taste, but that would be an enormous amount of work.
I’ve been playing around with fig leaves in my gin and I like it. It’s also free (I have 50 trees) and it tastes of cinnamon and vanilla. I also did a fig leaf (bath tub) liquor… that was great, you could even taste figs in it.
Gin is the reason i want to start home distilling. And this video just reinforces those thoughts. Great videos good sir.
I have done maceration with the fermentation. Then distilled via stripping run. Next I taste the first run, proof down to 40%abv if needed and macerate again. Using botanicals which are perceived as missing or desired to be amplified. After this 24hr maceration I then run again and taste. On the third go around, proof down with water to 40%abv and then distill using a gin basket. Again using botanicals that you want to emphasize.
Hey man love your vids. Long term beer brewer looking to diversify my interests and has been interesting to see that so many techniques carry over between the two particularly ways to extract aroma and flavour from your botanicals. Really love the vids man appreciate it
You got it exactly right. :)
A maceration gives you a "heavier" Gin with a good round mouthfeel. A vapor-infused Gin will be "lighter" and more subtle on the citrus and orange notes.
It's really a matter of taste if you want a heavier Gin or a light one where all notes of your spices are more in the background and the nose is getting more fruits. :)
My recipe is somewhat like yours but I skip the angelica seeds.
Happy distilling.
I don't know much about distilling, but you might get the sharper orange flavour from the vapour infusion because it's in shorter contact with the hot liquid/vapour, which prevents the aromatics from changing too much chemically. The more burnt taste from the macerated still might be from the sugars that dissolved into the water overnight.
I hope you and the fam are safe and happy after the earthquakes you all just had in NZ. Congrats on being awesome again ...
Love this awesome video! So thankfull for your inspiring videos and thoughts...Keep it coming man! Cheers!
Agreed tried a couple of runs with maceration vs infusion last year and the peels and cardamom for me are now infused and the rest is soaked for 24 hours
Hey Jessie! Another GREAT video covering the important things!! THANK YOU!!
Hi Jesse, good video. I have a slightly lazier way of doing this. I typically start with a birdwatchers wash. On a 25-ish liter batch, I use 20g juniper, 10g coriander, 15g sweet orange peel and 10g elderberries. I vapour infuse, but straight from the birdwatchers. Single run only. I run reflux (aiming for 80-ish abv). My gin basket is right below the dephleg. Works pretty well for me, flavours are not that in your face but pleasant for drinking neat or with tonic. Wifey loves it...
Doing a jalepeno gin in a week or so. Plan to vapour infuse and perhaps add some jalepenos after the fact if called for.
Botanical I add are
Lemon zest
Orange zest
Juniper
Cardamon
Cumin
Star Annese
Cinamon
And fresh mint for that fresh summery hit with the Citrus
(Citrus and mint are all fresh rest are dried)
Jesse,
Have you ever watched how George does his. I was amazed at how he controls the flavors of each batch through multiples batches. Worth the watch. Looking forward to trying both of your methods as well.
I quite like this experiment, I think that the time in contact with the solvent(spirit) probably makes a big difference as one might imagine, however I think that the temperature and time-temperature levels are probably also quite important, similar to strike temperatures and enzymatic temperatures work during the mashing/brewing process, and almost certainly why the orange tasted "marmalde-y" versus "fresh", because of the effective "cooking time". Perhaps there's also some things that need the water phase of the maceration in order to undergo enzymatic change, or just aren't soluble in a high-proof vapor. Definitely think that individualized experimentation would be really useful in dialing in recipes, maybe using all three techniques in sequence! Thank you for the video!
Thank you for this video. Couldn’t have come at a better time
I know Bobby's (a Dutch gin producer), one of my favorite Gins, macerates and vapour infuses. Iirc they macerate dry spices, and vapour infuse fresh botanicals (in their case also Lemongrass).
Some gin baskets are offset, and condensed infused vapour will collect in the bottom of them, wherein you either have it piped back to the boiler so you'd end up with a product similar to yours, or you have a valve at the bottom and periodically drain it into a collection vessel. It would be interesting to drain such a setup, see what that tastes like, and possibly add some of it back in to the condensed product gin after you are finished distilling.
I imagine it would collect a lot of the heavy, and oily, compounds that you find in a maceration, but don't find in large quantities, or any quantity, in a vapour infusion because they aren't volatile enough.
I don't think that stuff is drinkable. It's not even distilled. It's pretty similar to the lab apparatus known as a sohxlet extractor which is well known to effectively strip everything a sample can give, but that will definitely include non-volatile and colored compounds too. Personally, I dislike offset heads and think the simpler inline setups are superior precisely because you don't have to bother with the offset condensate nor do you loose it's contribution of aromatics.
@@MrJhchrist Probably not drinkable on its own, too concentrated. But it would be no different than what is present in a strictly macerated gin (undistilled), just not as diluted. Which is why if you wanted a stronger gin after vapour infusion, you could add that some of that condensate back into your distillate, in small quantities at a time, to taste.
This is where I think an offset gin basket works in your favour if you want to try different things. You get a lighter vapour infusion if that is all you want, drain the condensate and toss it. But it also gives you the option to use that condensate to strengthen your gin, after the run, if the vapour infusion isn't enough. Then on top of that you also have the option of having the condensate drain down into the boiler while it is still running if you want to go that route instead, like an inline setup. You will need some extra parts if you want to run it like it is inline, of course, but you can do it.
To top it all off, running it in any 3 of those ways, it is easier to clean your still afterwards, than having just an inline gin basket, because the oils won't be draining down through your column.
@@StillBehindTheBench Valid points, and highlighting my personal opinion. I just don't believe in compounded or macerated gin. According to my personal rule book if it's not distillate, it's not gin. Which I recognize isn't globally true.
The cleaning point is definitely true. An alternative that works as well is the use of a small maybe dedicated thumper. Botanicals in the thumper work just like botanicals in a boiler, and a botanical vapor chamber above the thumper can't drip back down into the main boiler. Of course you gotta take the thumper into accord if you have a preferred abv still charge because it will affect that curve.
@@StillBehindTheBench Also meant to say that the offset gin basket with drain returning to boiler is effectively the same as a purifier in some scotch stills. The ability to play with that application is probably as useful as any gin application and it's something not often seen in hobby sized stills.
Ive done both ways too totally agree with you on all points, I've got a wash ready I need to strip but thinking the spice botanicals macerate and in the pot then loads of citrus in the vapour path lemon, orange, grapefruit
You always make the video I need, when I need it! Cheers!
I've never tried vapor infusion, but I do my maceration a little different than yours. I macerate for about 2 weeks and then strain the liquid into my thumper and run clean water in the boiler for a steam distillation. The base spirit I use is a pot distilled rice vodka. Makes a decent gin.
I have made Odin's easy gin with overnight maceration and distill with botanicals, the flavor is big and not subtle. There are so many variables with gin that you could keep adjusting the recipe and process forever
Great video Jesse! I just made my first Gin using the gin basket method, and it was perfect. The crisp and clean flavors of all the herbs came through. Maybe you need to play with the recipe more to convince yourself that it will satisfy your tastes. This method is easier to do and takes less herbs to do it.
Did you crush juniper and hard botanicals? I have tried it a couple of times and the flavours have been insipid. I can see that with the most suitable botanicals it could produce an aromatic, elegant gin
@@larsnewbould456 I did just that, but for a 6 gallon run you don’t need much in the column. 1/2 oz of mixed botanicals is more than enough. You will have to experiment with it to get the taste you like.
@@brucekrisko4364 hi, that's interesting. You used a column still with basket?
I just did a little experiment, adjusting a small recipe I had to 1.1 litres., then put everything in the Air Still. I put two little muslin bags in the basket: one with more juniper and coriander, one with rose petals and elderflower. The floral flavours were soft and fragrant. It was for my wife, who loves it.
This is an interesting comparison chemically speaking. The extracted botanicals in the maceration will probably react and "cook" inevitably, while the vapour infusion is far more diffuse and in the reacting state for shorter, hence the cooked oranges flavour. on the other side, the water is a strong solvent and you would carry less of the more polar stuff over in a 90-60% vapour extraction than that high abv maceration extraction. plus the vapour infusion only takes volatiles with it while some slightly less volatiles can carry over from the maceration.
The bolder stronger flavours are probably largely due to the maceration time, comparitively. Interesting comparison. The only thing on both of these is the absence of extracted water soluble flavours. those would need to be steeped on aging (wood or tea or botanicals). We have a booming craft gin thing going inSouth africa with a few post steeped amper, pink and other colouered gins. These are post macerated with orange peel, wood, flower petals (pelargonium) etc.
Super cool video, thank you for the video.
Love the side by side tests
Good video, and thanks for doing it.
Hope your all safe and enjoying yourselves across the ditch mate.
Now you have a T500 system as well I have to ask a question on vapour infusion.
The T500 system I don't feel allows for the botanical basket use, yet it does have a basket available, it screws onto the bottom of the column which I would've thought counter productive with how it works... It also sits inside the lid and I don't see how there's enough head room for that.
Only way I could see the T500 system working for vapour infusion is a botanical basket inside the column at the top and the saddles would have to be loaded after that, to keep it at the top.
I've researched and I'm seeing some limitations of the T500.
Looks to be an ok entry level but quite limited with what you can do with it when you compare to others systems.
I have a Speakeasy 5 gal with gin basket and made a whey wash run with fresh and dried mint added to the gin basket. My goal was minty vodka, but it only came out faintly minty. I think once the weather gets better and my mint grows, I'll try the maceration version and see what I get. Thanks, very handy video.
Great info! Thanks for working that one out for us.
I enjoy all your videos . Thank you
Stuck in !!! While at work on Break....
woooooooo ... thanks for your time Bro!
I think macerating all of your usual gin Ingredients, but putting the juniper in the basket would be a nice way to blend the two methods if you want to lighten the juniper influence but keep the richness of the others :) Thanks for the comparison this was super cool
As very much the newbie, this has been super helpful. I’ve been experimenting with this.Had a couple of big failures (think line needles in a cup😱), but we are getting there. Thanks.
I would recommend that you do half of all botanicals by maceration in pot and other half in basket and use angelica root rather than seeds. Gives a great balance of flavors in finished product. I also like some lime zest as well if you're planning on him and tonic or grapefruit zest if planning on drinks like a greyhound.
Gin and tonic not him and tonic
Thanks for another well presented, though out clip. I have tried a few gin technics over the past few weeks and must say I agree with what you found, for me I add the botanicals to my stripping run after tossing the forshots, steep for a day or two, then do a slow spirit run, that seems to work for me. I find if you use the first the "forshots" from the spirit run it makes the gin cloudy, my guess is some of the essential oils in the citrus are pulled out of solution at a lower ABV.
Great channel!!!! I macerate 2 days in 70% ABV from a strip run (usually sugar as a base): juniper berries, coriander seeds, fennel seeds, licorice root and lemon zest. All in a pot for the 2nd run and get a result I like (and friends). It is a little bit Ouzo style, with the fennel and licorice. Keen to do a hybrid and move the lemon zest in the basket and infuse. Also like to try with orange zest or a tangerine. See what the result is!
I vary my botanicals, but I crush the juniper and coriander, then macerate all the botanicals in 90% neutral for about 2 weeks. This makes a very dark liquid which I then redistil in my 1 litre stovetop still to create a clear concentrated essence. Then I find around 40-50 ml of essence to 1 litre of neutral makes a very nice gin.
Great video Jesse thank you again. I wonder what a coconut infused rum and be like with the gym basket?
This is a guy with a still spirits air still, I look out for 3 channels, and scale everything down to 4 litres and I'm having great success. Stick to the process, rewards fab cheers J. ps I don't use that turbo dung anymore X
Nice video, keep it up !!. I use a carterhead with less botanical than your example. The offset carterhead stops the oils draining back to the boiler as you can open the tap at the bottom of the carthead to release them. Those oils do not help a vapour infused gin.
I don't plan on doing distillation, but I love the content. I think I might have to do a video on adding flavors in Primary fermentation versus secondary fermentation for my meads.
I find anise flavours, grains of paradise and bitter orange (curacao) are better vapour infused. You can increase the amounts of other botanicals and put them in the gin basket, then adjust where you take your heart start and finish to round it out.
I wonder if you could do a blended gin from the two (or from that idea of various single-botanical-infused spirits) to dial down a flavor profile, like they do with blended whiskeys?
Cool video, I'm sad that I live in the Protestant Nordics where home-distillation brings the local lawman with a truncheon, not with a cup in his hand.
Things are only illegal if you get caught.
@@ffwast problem these days is that with all the Karens' in the world the chances of being caught are heightened.
Fantastic video. As usual.
I have watched your videos for so long and finally i'll aply to school what teach alcohol making. In Finland distilling is illegal if you don't have lisences so it's almost impossiple to do this kind of things at home but maybe after i have done my school and i have experience from Job where i can make whiskey etc. After that i'll be able to make my own company and start producing own drinks 👌🏼
I use the maceration technique but use a stir plate for 24 hours and then remove the citrus prior to distillation. I also use a similar Chinese still and do 3 litres at 40% works really well. I take off 1475ml and there is no cloudy product. :)
Great experiment, thanks for the video
x12 (makes 3+ gallons)
405.6 fl oz of 80 proof vodka / neutral - 3.169 Gallons
6 oz of juniper
1.3 oz of coriander seeds
3.4 oz of orange zest
0.22 oz of cardamom
3.2 oz of angelica seeds
Looks like ya added a couple new additions to the shop(7:33time stamp).....good stuff 🥃
I’m wondering if has to to with the availability of essential oils. Berries and seeds have their oils pretty locked up. By macerating and boiling in the pot, it allows those oils to be come more accessible.
With citrus and herbs, those oils are very easy to get to and therefore vapour infusion will allow for a “fresher”, lighter profile.
I've got all my ingredients ,except for the coriander and it's on it's way! As soon as it gets here, I'm going to macerate it all and distill it while it's still in the pot. As you asked ,ill be sure to tell ya how it goes
Fascinating mate!
Not the expert, (by a long shot, but I know what i like) but I would lean to similar conclusions to you
Anything large and bold like Cardamom, Juniper, Coriander etc and (for my taste) any peppers I would macerate - but the florals and delicates as I call them (Citrus, Hops if you use them, elderflowers, hibiscus, or any blossoms etc., ) I would think vapour would be kinder to them
The reason your orange zest might taste more marmaladey (?) is you've basically boiled it, which is basically what you do when you make marmalade (albeit with a crapload of sugar) - whereas if you use vapour you are just using the ability of it to act like a solvent taking the essence without cooking it (as much)
For fun try some blood orange zest and a bit of lemon with maybe just a smidge of black pepper corns (Pepper can compliment a flavour - look at strawberries and black pepper)
For a good Oriental gin try a bit of Schezwan and/or Red pepers and if you can get it Japanese cherry blossoms (Sakura powder)
Glad to see you back, was a little worried for you and your family with all the earthquakes 🥺
maybe not gin, but what if you put malted barley in the gin basket would it bring more malty goodness to your whiskey?
Now there is something worth trying!
I run Odin’s recipe and remove the citrus peel before running. Pepper corns, Angelica root and lavender flowers are then added to the vapour path. Makes a very good gin.
Enjoyed the video, thanks, read through comments and can’t find what ABV you distilled the macerated and the vapour infused at, as in final product ABV before proofing down to 45%
It seems logical that the orange flavor comes off a lot easier than the juniper and coriander seeds, but my guess is that crushing and macerating the herbs in advance in some water or alcohol would help bring out the flavors once you put them in the gin basket.
I'm planning a gin day with some mates soon using two gin baskets (one at a time). I will charge the still to capacity with netural and get it up to temp. Then I'm putting my botanicals in and running off a couple of litres. One of my mates will then put his choice of botanicals into the spare basket and we'll run off another couple of litres. A third mate will do the same with the original basket (cleaned and rinsed of course). We each have very different tastes in gin so I really hope this method works.
Another fantastic video Jessie! Hey by the way; is there any chance you can be a bit more verbally descriptive in your videos? In this video; you kept referring to each different gin as “ this one” or “ that one”. It would really help out this ordinary average blind guy. Keep up the great work my friend and stay safe!
Would love further ingredient comparisons, would be very interesting.
Not a gin drinker but my interest is perked, thanks.
Hi Jessie great content as always. I am in Christchurch and would like to know where you get your juniper berries. I have just started doing the TPW and need to do start doing gin originals rather than using commercial essence,. I also want to do bourbon all grain mash and a Southern comfort style or honey liqueur if you are keen on doing something different. Made your Limoncello and got a heap of keen consumers. So thanks for your great help and videos.
Hi, do you add your botanical charge after you have dumped the first 250mls?
I did this using an Dairy in line Sight glass extension inserted between my dephlegmator and over hang to heat exchanger. You can insert a Copper Mesh between any thing you'd like to infuse in this dairy sight glass. Your basically making a space between your effervescence and vapor stream. Bio-Engineer 38 years we like whisky too.
Can these video be moved to Rumble? The playback problems are not apparent there.
I would love to see you do the vapor basket style, but take small cuts to try and dial the distillation technique for the different flavoring style.
With the vapor version you should crack the juniper and cardamom so the vapor has more surface area to pull the oils and flavors out.
Mate I love your stuff, big fan and appreciative learner from the beginning you got me into the craft.
I can see the reasons why but not very like V like on the science (different stills ect)
Love the channel. Been watching for a few years now. Quick question: can you pour botanicals into a air still or should filter first? Santa delivering air still in a few days and want to do a boxing day gin 😁
Lol I just watched a Doctor Gradus vid on making gin. I'm not a big fan of juniper but I'm sure I could dial in the flavors to my liking or ditch certain ingredients and sub in others. I wonder how many distillers are also cooks? Lol.
Interesting...
I think doing both often has helped me become more bold with my ingredients...
Good stuff.👍🥃
Very interesting video, I am beginning in this new world :-) what equipment are you using in the video? I can't find it in the links, thanks!!!
If someone likes the orange from the vapour infusion method. Using the components in both ways could be an anwser. Do a combo run of macerated and vapour infused at the same time. You might come up with a recipe that has the best of both worlds.
Hello Jesse, I found this video very interesting - I make gin using both methods at the same time balancing maceration between vapour depending on the flavor profile I want. What I have to say is I always macerate the Juniper and when I make my SinnerGin (cinnamon flavour) I always vapour infuse the Cinnamon. I do use a 100% copper still with a 80L boiler, am wondering what difference that could make to the booze? P.S. I never use citrus in my gin's just a personal taste issue :-)
Do you leave the bubble plates in when running a maceration or vapour run ? Brilliant channel
Still keen to see what u think of taking some of the infused and masserating some healthies tea in after. Blood orange or pomegranate
Hmmm, any benefit to do both? ie macerate and vapour to get a really big flavour? Also can you do this with hazelnuts? How do they make hazelnut spirit? (not liqueur) Is it macerated first?
Awesome video Jesse! Which clawhammer still did you use and do you have a link to share for it? Thanks man!