Aussiedistiller, Home Distilling, Moonshine, Home Brew

Koonya 7187 wrote:Hi everyone,
I have recently ordered a 120 litre still to make only gin & vodka.
I have seen on this forum some great recipes for gin and what botanicals to use but how do I know the quantity of each botanicals to use in a 120 litre still.
I am a newbie and would appreciate so advice from an experienced distiller.
Peter from Port Arthur in Tassie.

agree with nathan, that's big.
ok for making the neutral/vodka you will need (i assume it's a reflux still?)
but you probably need to experiment with a small still to play with different recipes and gin styles.
for the past 18 months,i am still mainly doing 2L runs in a glass still, playing with about 6/7 different recipes, tweaking them as i go along.
good advice to me, was to start with OEG and use this as a kind of starting point/benchmark.
then continue with more botanicals as you wish.
there are some charts with suggested juniper/litre, coriander/litre and other botanicals at x/10 and x/100 (x = juniper weight).
have you made neutral/vodka before?

Hi Koonya
Making gin is good fun.
I have a small setup - 25 litre boiler - 2" FSD reflux and pot still.
My method is to make a good quality neutral and add a gin extract ( see Zymurgy Bob's gin extract on this site).
I can play about with different botanicals and make gin of different strength ( flavour not ABV). So if I am making gin for friends i can make a strong gin flavour if I like or less so for those who like a weaker gin taste.

So I guess step one is to make a good quality neutral.
I use TPW ( tomato paste wash) but others prefer a cereal based wash.

Once you have that sorted you can think about the botanical side of things. Gin preferences are often a matter of personal taste so I guess the place to start is thinking about what sort of gin you like - and that might help you decide on a flavour profile.


Odins Easy Gin (OEG) is a good starting point.

Cheers
Carol