Pastis/Arak/Ouzo Recipe Discussion

[SBB]

This thread has been started for any one wishing to discuss the making of Pastis/Arak/Ouzo
The original Tried and Proven recipe can be found
HERE In the Tried and Proven section of the forum.



Bought most of the gear today to have a crack at making this recipe using Drainos Gin Still.
I'm wondering if its possible to put to much fennel in ??.......I have a whole bulb of the stuff and was going to use a bit more than the "2 sprigs of fresh fennel" recommended?? Can anyone for see problems if i use a bit more??

[R-sole]

You don't want to throw so much in your undoing the balance is all. I just use a bit of dry fennel spice as that's all i usually have.
It's mostly driven by the star anise, be careful also of the cinamon not to use more than the recipe (although as this comes over last it can be cut out if it's too strong)

You'll love this and so will your ouzo drinking mates. Made with neutral it's a clean tasty drink, just doesn't have the licorice that the bought stuff has.

[devotus]

Yes it is possible to use too much fennel. If it's too fennel heavy then it will be very overpowering in both aroma and taste. If however you're just going to do a couple of shots then a fennel bomb probably wouldn't be that bad.

This recipe calls for a tonne of star anise which is strong in flavour and oils so if you go crazy with the fennel also you'll have a heavy mix. If you're just adding a little extra fennel then with the anise bill you'll probably hardly notice. Just a waste of fennel really.

Oh yeah (like 5Star said) and use dry fennel, un-dried will impart a grassy flavour.

cut your fennel up a little and wrap it in paper towel then stick it in a drawer for a couple of weeks. then you'll have some nice flavourful dried fennel to play with.

Also what kind of fennel did you buy?

[SBB]

Thanks for the input fellas
Devo I really cant say what sort of fennel it is .....its just the standard one you see sold in supermarkets or fruit and veg shops in Australia. Used in salads mostly as far as I know.
5Star after reading what you have both said I think Ill just stick to the original recipe first time around.

just doesn't have the licorice that the bought stuff has.

Have you ever tried putting a bit of licorice root in to see how it affects the final taste???

[R-sole]

No mate. Because it's good, and i'm never after clone, just the same category that's good or better than if you know what i mean.


It'sJustPlainGoodPunkin

[SBB]

Know exactly what you mean 5Star. ;-) ........hopefully run a batch of this tomorrow or Sunday.......pretty sure it gunna need sampling straight from the still to get the cuts right :laughing-rolling:

[SBB]

Ran this today out at Drainos in his little pot still......stuck pretty close to the recipe but cut the netural back to 2L and added 500ml of cheap white wine.
Original Recipe
2.5L of neutral at about 45%
2 fistfuls of star anise
1 stick cinnamon
3 cracked cardamom pods
pinch of white and black pepper
2 sprigs of fresh fennel
half a nutmeg, cracked
4 cloves
Threw out the first 400ml to be on the safe side .......then collected till it statred to go cloudy.
At different stages of the process The flavors leaving the still changed quite a bit.......to be honest some of them tasted pretty wierd and not a lot like Ouzo.
In the end i bit the bullet and just mixed all the jars together.......have just mixed some with cold coke and ice and its pretty bloody good......I'll definately be making more of this in the future.
After this success Sambucca is next on the list of to do's.
This recipe gave almost 3x 700m bottles

[Cane Toad]

Was the cheap goon left over from last night hey :laughing-rolling: :laughing-rolling:

[R-sole]

Definately no need to toss 400ml, 50-100ml may have been left over heads from the neutral plus some from the wine.


You lost a fair bit of produvt, but you probably lost the best part of two of the flavour compounds too.


Cool how it comes across one at a time hey?

[SBB]

Whoops fucked up there.....dunno why I typed that....maybe cause thats what i throw from most stripping runs and spirit runs.
It was more around the 100ml that got chucked out.
Yes it is pretty cool how it all comes across at differnt times...to start with I was thinking "This isnt gunna have enough Anise type taste'.......then the anise flavour got stronger and stronger...it just keeps changing each time ya stick ya finger under it........cinnimon and nutmeg toward the end.
I still wasnt to sure about the smell of the stuff until after I diluted it back to 50%.....didnt want to push my luck and have it go cloudy.
Diluted down it started to smell like the real McCoy..........then mixed down further with coke or another mixer it really starts to get good.
Its a neat recipe......easy to do......and a great example of whats possibe with a simple pot still.......in short an excellent learning tool.

Was the cheap goon left over from last night hey

No cheap goon drunk last night BD.......Twas classy stuff all the way......Drainos excellent gin with tonic to combate the afternoon heat......then moved on to my McStill Rum later in the evening.........night caps of Drainos 2 week old Hook Rum.............twas a good day and a lotta laughs.
After the night caps things got pretty interesting.......Mrs draino found a snake in the kitchen......midnight ...pissed......all galloping around with long handle posthole shovels :laughing-rolling: :laughing-rolling: ........thirsty work that was.......had to have another drink after the snake erradication program.

[Woodsy71]

Gday all,

Id love to have a crack at this recipe as i reckon it fits my taste profile nicely :handgestures-thumbupleft:

However i noticed the guys used small potstills when running this through. My kit consists of a T500 reflux with a simple homemade copper potstill head thats been modified to fit the lid of the 30 litre boiler....and therein lies my query. Do you think i can get away with running the small amount of ingredients required for this recipe through such a large boiler? :think:
I considered doubling or tripling the recipe to beef up the quantity but thought i would ideally prefer to "try before i buy", so to speak.

Any advice for this newbie would be much appreciated :smile:

Cheers
Woodsy

[DaveZ]

I reckon you'll be pretty right, the T500 boiler has the element concealed in the base, so as long as there will be enough liquid left in the boiler to keep the base covered you should be ok. Maybe add a little extra water just to be sure, or like you say, just do a double batch.

I reckon I'll have to get some more neutral on the go and have a crack at this recipe soon. Why are there never enough bloody fermenters :angry-banghead: :laughing-rolling:

[Woodsy71]

Great stuff Davez :handgestures-thumbupleft:

Thanks for the reassurance!!

Yeah, i love an ouzo and have been looking for something just a little off the liquorice path for a change, i reckon this might be just that.

Im off to the markets to grab me some spices :happy-partydance:

Cheers again

[SBB]

Late reply here but your T500 will do this no problem, thats what I use to make it, with a home made pot still head attached, The recipe makes a great drink, as good or better than the real thing in my opinion. As you said , doubling up the recipe helps in a boiler that size, Start with best neutral you can, you wont need a voltage controller, just run it as is. One thing I have learned is not to go to far into what could be termed the tail end of the run. The nutmeg will get really overpowering if you do. Leaned that the hard way and ruined a 10L batch. Better to pull up on your run to early rather than to late.

Edit: use cut jars to collect, that way if you go to far you can leave the last few jars out. I thought I knew what I was doing and ran it all into one big container, went to far and buggered the lot up.

[Woodsy71]

Well i finally got round to whipping this up.

What a damn fine drop this is :-D

The kudos given to this recipe is deserved.

Its a keeper for me. :handgestures-thumbupleft:

I wonder if a gin can be achieved by using the same method ?? Just changing the botanicals to suit the tipple :think:

[SBB]

Good to see someone else playing around with this recipe Woodsy.....good stuff isnt it, and a bit of a learning experience too, the way the different botanical s come through at different times.

I wonder if a gin can be achieved by using the same method ?? Just changing the botanicals to suit the tipple

Very good gin can be made the same way, just slightly different, you need to soak your botanicals in the neutral for 24 hours before distilling.
Ive never done it myself, but have tasted the results... they were excellent to say the least. After tasting that gin I often wonder why people go to all the trouble of making gin baskets, in my opinion you don't need them. Good neutral, the right recipe and a pot still is all that is required to make an outstanding gin.

[Woodsy71]

Yeah, spot on SBB. I love that theres some scope to jig this recipe to suit your personal tastes. And its handy to have another use for neutral too.

Re the gin, i've been looking for recipes that go down similar lines to this method and came up with this page.


http://homedistiller.org/flavor/gin

Towards the bottom of the page theres some recipes from "The book of gin and vodkas". Here , the bloke mentions maceration in neutral then distilling. The quantities of botanicals per litre seem a little heavy for me, but i suppose, nothing ventured nothing gained.

[Fed]

HI all,

Quick question, would this work if all the ingredients were thrown in at the wash stage then run through the pot still?

Cheers,
Fed

[Woodsy71]

HI all,

Quick question, would this work if all the ingredients were thrown in at the wash stage then run through the pot still?

Cheers,
Fed

Do you mean fermenting the ingredients in the wash?

I don't think it would work. The flavours would not carry through and may not taste the best.

My understanding is that you need to use a neutral spirit to macerate the botanicals prior to distilling. The neutral will best draw the flavours out.

With luck SBB might chime in.He has a pretty good handle on this recipe. :handgestures-thumbupleft:

Cheers

[Fed]

Hi Woodsy,
Yes, I meant fermenting the botanicals with the wash. I've macerated fruit of course, one went wrong and I ran it through the pot still, turned out amazing and that's how I do most of my fruit now. Except banana which I still ferment in a wash with honey. A noice little panty dropper for the girls. :happy-partydance: