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In this Discussion
- CothermanDistilling May 2019
- crozdog February 2019
- DonMateo February 2019
- Fiji_Spirits May 2019
- FloridaCracker May 2019
- GD50 February 2019
- grim May 2019
- Kapea February 2019
- MaKa February 2019
- N_D May 2019
- richard February 2019
- Smaug February 2019
- Sunshine February 2019
- TheMechWarrior May 2019
Comments
Refering to last post, have you guys macerated volatile botanicals and strained off before adding it to the tank with the other botanicals? Keep getting a bitter taste midrun, not sure if it could be botanicals getting burned on the elements or if its volatile botanicals that gives it a bitter taste.
Planing to do lots of test next week in different ABV / times again and run in the rotorvap for quicker answers. Also try some 'infusions/macerations' in a siphon using n2o.
Going to guess that trying to rotovap nitro extracts will be really interesting. Lots of dissolved gas to come out under vac.
I did just the opposite; Got an empty barrel from Corsair that previously held their barrel aged gin. I used it for spiced rum that I put up about 3 years ago. Guess it's about time to check it........
I have a sickness called "Gotta buy another barrel". Up to 7 now with all kinds of shit in them.
FC
ran three gin runs today to dd to a few runs I had airing out that were just a bit low on the juniper aroma compared to our last bottling.. First one with 1KG in a 4" spool above a screen and not using the no-drainback function of the GB4, and switched to the proper use for 2 more runs... Also tweaked my BruControl automation to start heating in my uni-keggle at 16.5KW(3x5500W), then lower to 11kw at 160F boiler temp, and 5.5kw at 180F. It shuts off when vapor reaches 170 and tells me to load the basket, I hit start when I am done and it runs... Instead of draining the keggle, I just add 2.5gal of 190 and 2.5gal of water, take out the spent b asket and hit start... you can see on the graph how much it reduced the delay between batches... using 2x 2" condensers, about .5g/min flow giving 140F output, and my outdoor HX is cooling it to a few degrees above ambient, 97F... it is a hot one today in Florida, 93F... I am completely sold out of Gin, so hope to have this batch end up at about 16-18 cases worth and aired out by next week to bottle..
Wait, you are not draining between runs and you can still add 5 gal of mix back in? How big is that keggle?
Can’t tell you you how many times I wish I could automate startup. Seems like I miss the roll over point about every other run then have to play catch up for a bit.
Keggle, 15 gal/60L... I did 2 runs on the same water.. If you don't have drainback, the only worry would be minerals and such int he water... I think I could do 4 runs no problem.. basically if you take x gallons of x proof out of the still, replace it... , do the math to see how much 190 and how much water it takes to make that, and have it ready to dump in... but leave the basket lid off when adding, the first time I added 190, it chuffed a lot back up the funnel... (I used a 45 degree elbow and a 12" spool to make a funnel holder.. it works so well, I want to automate my little 2L lab still .
@CothermanDistilling I assume your 1kg charge was all juniper? Do you find the first spirit off is particularly astringent? ie overly high in terpenes etc? I'm finding I need to cut out the initial distillate as no amount of ethanol can take that bite and heat that comes from the "gin heads". It's worth pointing out that my still is a pure pot still, steam jacketed. It may give different results to others.
Cheers,
Mech
not astringent that I can tell, I do toss a bit (50ml-100ml) that comes out before I put the basket in... bottled 14 cases yesterday in the blistering heat...