Gin Class at Moonshine University

DocPorter

@CothermanDistilling forgot to mention the most exciting part of his gin class was having me in his group...

It was a great class and I definitely recommend it for anyone who is serious about making gin. The hands on and sensory evaluation is something that can't be learned on the internet.

CothermanDistilling

^^^^ hahaha true that!...

CothermanDistilling

@Kapea said:

I use my own neutral for the base spirit. 3X. A strip and two passes to azeotrope through the VM column. No stinky feet.

Stinky feet was a result of the glass. It dissipated with airing out... Like I said, they used the top-of-the-line GNS that cost more than double the typical GNS price.. Clay said it is the GNS that they use in their Gin at corsair...

This distillery/school has lots of goodies from lots of manufacturers, I think they have their choice of the best of the best at a really good price due to the hundreds of potential customers that pass through in a week...

CothermanDistilling

Also, you do not need neutral for gin, you just need clean... Webster says neutral, not the TTB... :-) many good gins from <190 proof clean spirit runs.. malt/wheat/grapes/apples/ even had one from whey..

Smaug

@CothermanDistilling said: Also, you do not need neutral for gin, you just need clean... Webster says neutral, not the TTB... :-) many good gins from <190 proof clean spirit runs.. malt/wheat/grapes/apples/ even had one from whey..

+1

Kapea

Confucius say:

One cannot make good tasting gin from shitty tasting base spirit, but one can make shitty tasting gin from good tasting base spirit!

:)

punkin

We have a milk factory in Victoria that does GNS, pretty popular in NZ too i understand.

CothermanDistilling

wouldn't that be MNS or NMS?

punkin

just NS i guess. :D

Kapea

Liebfraumilch! (Loving mothers' milk)
Oh wait, that's already taken...

Unsensibel

@kapea that stuff is nasty!

I think it's the worst representation of German wines. There's so many good dry Riesling back home and here you can only get the sweet stuff...

Kapea

Not true. There are some very tasty liebfraumilchs made. Most are QbA classified. Granted, they are not QmP class, but they are much better than insipid tafelwein or landwein.

Riesling should be at least semi-sweet. The higher you go up the QmP ladder, the sweeter they become.

Mickiboi

I went to bass and flinders distillery on the Mornington peninsula during my grape harvest and they use chardonnay wine for their base. Triple distilled through a copper pot. They also do master classes, I was going to do one but ran out of time. Next time I'm down that way I will pay the 120 for the day and do it.

punkin

Could you email me the info please mate. I often get startup's saying that the ATO want's them to have some training nd that sort of cheap stuff may have a place to appease them?

TheMechWarrior

@punkin, there's a 2 day "Distillers School" workshop down here in Tasmania that's been given the green light by the ATO.
If someone is trying to get licensed this is the course they'll need.

Here's a link.

It's not cheap, consuming several days of time for the distillery and delivering precious 1-on-1 training with the maltster and distiller himself. Serious contenders only need apply.

Cheers,

Mech.

Mickiboi

@punkin said: Could you email me the info please mate. I often get startup's saying that the ATO want's them to have some training nd that sort of cheap stuff may have a place to appease them?

Done

punkin

Thanks Mech. I'll keep that bookmarked.

BTW i toured a workshop today where they make brewery heat exchangers from scratch. You would have loved it.

TheMechWarrior

:(

I'm crying right now, you are right. Manufacturing of shiny things is my happy place.

punkin

The things were shiny, the workshop was definitely not. :))

Kapea

Guess it's kinda like not wanting to see sausage being made... @-)

CothermanDistilling

Prototyping - juniper extraction:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qla2Qcfq7R0

vooharmy

I don't know a great deal about gin but after looking at your setup cotherman it occurs to me that a really simple Gin still could be made with a stove top boiler and a gin basket inline or offset with a reflux condenser dropping it back into the boiler? (which is actually the collecting vessel aswell) No loss of flavour, really simple setup. Of course I don't understand Gin production that well and for all I know the constant boiling could totally destroy the flavours.

Caveats * Max spirit strength of 40%. * Need to start with a consumption ready spirit base as there is no scope for polishing.

CothermanDistilling

you are correct, this is mainly to prototype our blend of botanicals.... only 20 more to go...