Aussiedistiller, Home Distilling, Moonshine, Home Brew

The Gin Genie has been running well of late, but something has been missing. I have enquired on here a fair bit about making or buying a gin basket that will fit the Boka. Oil residue isn't a big issue for me, as I clean everything thoroughly, from bottom to top after each use.

So... I built one from parts bought online. All up, the cost was about $40, and it connects inline, using triclamps.

What I bought were the following 2 items:

An inline glass viewing chamber, to suit a 2-inch reflux still;
A stainless coffee filter/strainer, that sits over and in a coffee cup.

I cut up the strainer, keeping the base intact, plus about 5mm of the sides. Simple tin snips made the job very quick. Next I made cuts down the 5mm side section, and hammered it out flat.

Then I partially disassembled the chamber, so that I could remove one side (now the bottom). I removed the steel base from the glass and the silicone o-ring, and I placed the newly flattened steel filter inside. Then I simply reassembled it all.

Looks fancy! How did it go?

Don't know yet! I literally finished it last night, and my current ferment is about a week away.

On the plus side, I now have a big bag of juniper, and some experimenting with ingredients is about to happen. Results to follow...

How do You plan to change out the basket mid run?
Or Re you just going to do 1 basket for an entire spirit run?
Thought I read on here somewhere that a basket of botanicals was good for 1-2L of alcohol before it needed changing.
I know doc recently mentioned a time frame that they (Dobsons) change their botanicals out at

I hadn't read that, but it makes sense that the efficacy would diminish over a run.

TBH, it is something I hadn't thought about. My first aim will be to get it to run, even badly. From there I can tweak my process.

I do have some heat-proof gloves, so I can always get into the heads, then slow the still to 1000W or so, add the botanicals then fire it up to 1800w again.

Anyway, thanks for the food-for-thought. Always learning, even if inadvertently.

Ok, so an update. I was finally able to give this a go the other day. The results were kind of mixed, but ultimately excellent.

I ran the gin basket empty, while doing a stripping run. Here is where the first issue occurred. The holes in the mesh were way too fine, and the condensate was unable to empty back into the keg. So the gin basket was filling, then I'd have to back off the juice, in order to let it drain.

The gin basket was removed from the stripping run, and stripping went on as normal. After cooling, I removed the mesh floor. I will be drilling 1mm holes, to see how that goes. The current holes are maybe 1/10mm... absolutely tiny!

Anyway, onto the main run. I ran the still as per normal procedure, with the viewing port in place, no mesh floor. The aim was to simply place a cotton bundle in there, with all of the gin-gredients. So, The Gin Genie was brought up to temperature, it ran through a 30 minute reflux, I removed the fores, then about 7 jars of heads, which were poured into my keep-all jar. From there, I backed off the heat, removed the outlet section (which connects above the gin basket), and inserted the cotton bag. It was a tight fit, as there were a lot of ingredients.

The Genie was fired back up, and I started taking more jars, each getting more and more yellow. It could easily have been me after a hard day's work, at one stage. At no point did I have any issues with fluid levels, like I did with the mesh floor in place. It was a very simple process, with some very thick, heat-proof gloves.

All up, I recovered 23x 150-ish ml jars at about 70% ABV average. Of this, I was able to make 4 jars of drinkable gin with a barest of yellow tint (at 40-45% depending on the bottle), and some not pleasant, watery stuff. Plus heads and tails, which I will keep to run through the Drunk Pelican for seasoning. I did run all of this gin through a paper coffee filter, to make sure nothing from the cotton bag made it through.

Not a bad outcome, and I will say that the cotton bag made inserting the ingredients very simple.

I have to say that I'm happy with how this went, and with some progressive modifications, this should be a good addition.

Don't bother drilling 1 mm holes, sieve plates have 1.5 mm holes and they hold a bath. I think you'd want 3 mm holes at least if you don't want it to flood. My packed section has a plate at the bottom with 1/4" (6 mm) holes.

Noted. And I agree about holding a bath. Sheesh!

These are definitely not 1mm holes though, they are significantly smaller.

The idea is to work my way up in size, to the minimum I'll need for good drainage.

Shano592 wrote:The idea is to work my way up in size, to the minimum I'll need for good drainage.

Be aware that the surface tension of the fluid in the column changes throughout the run so the minimum size during heads will be different to the minimum size during hearts and again in tails. Basically, you could have flooding during hearts while you didn't during heads if you don't get the size right. Perhaps a downcomer might be a good idea.

I would start experimenting with 6mm holes..or theres gunna be lots of experimenting :whistle:

Sorry for the extended nothingness. I have been busy with work, uni, renovating a house and distilling on the side.

To give this saga an ending, I'll detail my process with the Gin Genie.

What I ended up doing was putting the gin-gredients into a cotton cloth, and pouched it into a wad-ball. I then ran the still to - and through - reflux, then I would dial down the boiler and unclamp the outlet and condensor sections (using BBQ gloves). I would then stuff the wadded ingredients into the viewing port, and turn up the wick again, but only to 1400w.

As for the bottom plate I was toying with, it was not needed. The wadding is a bitch to get in, and is a very tight fit. However, this had a flow-on issue.

After every second jar, I would have to turn down the boiler, to let the condensate run back down into the boiler. The wadded mass was stopping the condensate from making it's way back down. A minor hiccup, that added maybe 30 minutes to the entire distillation process.

I can live with that, as the final results though have been nothing short of superb. I have a 5L demijohn, filled with 49% abv gin. It sits nicely next to the other one, with 45% abv rum that has been oaking since Boxing Day.

Isolation so far, has been great! It's only a pity that I have to work...

And I have been making my own tonic syrup to boot!

This thread has been great reading for a newbie like myself I must say. Thanks everyone. Should be getting my FSD 2" Boka this side of 'the pandemic' I hope :handgestures-thumbupleft:

Hi R2T2S

I m sure you will enjoy playing with your boka when it arrives. I love mine. I can make high quality neutral spirit very cheaply and then play with flavourings and infusions. Just the thing to pass the time while hanging around at home!

Cheers
Carol

RT2Ts wrote: Should be getting my FSD 2" Boka this side of 'the pandemic' I hope :handgestures-thumbupleft:

Shouldn't be long, looks like its being delivered today :happy-partydance: :happy-partydance: :happy-partydance:

Andrew wrote:

RT2Ts wrote: Should be getting my FSD 2" Boka this side of 'the pandemic' I hope :handgestures-thumbupleft:

Shouldn't be long, looks like its being delivered today :happy-partydance: :happy-partydance: :happy-partydance:

Whaaaat you're kidding ? Thought it would be another week at least ?? Haven't even bothered to check the tracking as yet ..... lol :))

Carol wrote:Hi R2T2S

I m sure you will enjoy playing with your boka when it arrives. I love mine. I can make high quality neutral spirit very cheaply and then play with flavourings and infusions. Just the thing to pass the time while hanging around at home!

Cheers
Carol

Yes you've been a 'guiding light' for me so far.....Cheers Carol :handgestures-thumbupleft:

Fast delivery till it hit Sydney ....think it took the 'tourist scenic route' for 3 days around town ??
Well packed !! Suppose I can started editing my 'equipment' notes now heh heh.. :dance:

Enough bubble wrap ?
Did the digital thermometer survive ?

Andrew wrote:Enough bubble wrap ?
Did the digital thermometer survive ?

Looks ok to me ;-)

Yep all good just checked ...18c here. Just noticed the Chupa Chups didn't survive though, they're gone already :sad: