In Development - CH Gin Basket

Smaug

It is no problem to transition from the 8" to the 2" inlet. The system is set up for easy botanical cartridge re-charge.

Moonshine

That reminds me: Any progress on the GB Manual? We have announced it in the Manual Discussion a long time ago.

crozdog

@Moonshine, its almost there - just waiting on a reviewer to provide feedback

Lloyd

I am wanting to see your GB4 manual, even unfinished, because it will help me to run mine :)

Fluxed

Oh no...my wife is gonna kill me!

I do believe one or two solid runs of Green Fairy can justify this on their own. Everything else is Gravy.

Delicious, botanically infused Gravy.

I was gonna invest in a new boiler, but that might have to wait!

Also, does anyone have experience using this with a wash? I can't really add a VM valve and second column. Would you basically load the basket after the fores, maybe mid-heads?

I may have just answered my own question.

Lloyd

It's best to distill the wash as many times as you need to get a true neutral. Then use that as a ~40% boiler charge.
The GB4 Owner's Manual is due to be released soon. I've seen the draft and @crozdog has done a truly fine job.

He goes into great detail about the very subject that you are asking about.

cooperville

+1 Lloyd you should definitely produca a good neautral before running it through the GB then you don't have to chase head heart tails ;)

Fluxed

Indeed, the 40% charge seems to be the standard.

It might be nice for lighy diffused spirits though. If you get high proof reproducible runs on your column, you could put it back to reflux 1/2 way through the heads, load the basket, and let her flow.

If it works, it'll definitely be a selling point for the 'Dragon basket because it's pretty much the only commercial product that is accessible enough to load/change mid-run. I know these probably sell themselves, but still..."Make top notch gin directly from a 12% wash!" has a nice ring to it. :lol:

I will say, though, that I've done steam distillations in different contexts and it seems that it works best when steam is flowing through the essence (ie, a vapor basket works better than a maceration).

I'm only saying this because traditional Fairy starts from macerations, but I'd wager you can stretch out your botanicals and still get a quality product if you use a basket. Never tried a basket with the Green stuff though.

Not yet at least.

crozdog

@fluxed, As Lloyd says, in the gin head manual I have suggested a vapour infused absinthe could be possible, but as I haven't attempted absinthe before, I'm keen to hear more of your absinthe experiments - particularly if you could try your proven recipe on a new GB4 to do a side by side comparison.

As to doing a "top notch gin directly from a 12% wash!" it is possible, but IMHO you'd get better results from focussing on making top notch neutral first, then use that to make incredible vapour infused product. Doing a direct wash to product run would make cuts difficult (on the fly) and may not extract all of the goodness from the botanicals.

Where are you located anyway? PM me if you're in Sydney and want to play with your absinthe recipe on the gb4.

punkin

Good stuff.

punkin

Carter-head stills @ The barbore.com Speakeasy

I was looking to see if the term Carter head was trademarked and came across this thread.

Fluxed

You're right my friends...if you've got the wherewithal to make spirits in the first place, you might as well go the extra distance to start with a quality charge instead of a wash.

Unfortunately I'm not in Sydney. Otherwise, I would love to swap notes and run experiments in person!

As for the infusion, my experience is limited to 2 liter runs using glassware. It's all glass, but that shouldn't be much different from a larger boiler/still set as long as you can get your temps to the same points.

In a nutshell, macerations and vapor baskets do the same thing at the end of the day. The hot ethanol gets into the plant material and coaxes it to release volatile oils. It really is a mechanical action. The oils aren't dissolved in the steam once it's in vapor form; they are released and distilled along side the solvent.

Hell, you could even use water if you just wanted the plant oils. The only difference is that your product would be two separate phases: plant oils floating on top of water. With ethanol, the plant oils don't separate from the alcohol so you get an infusion. The plant oils are "miscible" with ethanol.

crozdog

@fluxed in the manual I also say you can use the GB4 to create essential oils and Hydrosols

crozdog

@punkin said: Carter-head stills @ The barbore.com Speakeasy

I was looking to see if the term Carter head was trademarked and came across this thread.

I read that a little while back. interesting stuff, however what got me excited was a link in 1 post (Moore’s Vintage Dry Gin) which talks about a guy near Gosford who is blending 7 single ingredient vapour infused distillates. The interesting thing is he is using Australian native botanicals. In the manual I describe making single ingredient distillates and blending as well as suggest the possibilities with natives!!

punkin

Yes found that too, might look him up next time i'm down that way.

Law_Of_Ohms

Eucalyptus, tea tree, mashed up witchty grubs, I can taste it now....yum!

punkin

Green ants are trendy.

NastySpill

If vapour velocity is important, then that exit choke washer will impede the vapour flow and slow it down. Just the same as putting needle valves AFTER the condenser to control flow.. So probably best to not incude it yeah? Or maybe make the second one have a different opening so you can play with different sizes on the entrance?

Smaug

Turn on the water hose an hold your thumb over theend of the hose. The volume is reduced but the speed of the exiting water is increased.

The analagy is irrellavent as some may find this behavior has not significantly improved the final product. Lloyd has supplied the option to choose asis our mission.

punkin

Set up a gin basket for some photos yesterday. There's some pics showing a couple of setup options, the first is running a 2" system with Big Baby Condensor for those who make neutral with a reflux still and don't have a dash.

You can always leave the condensor out and just turn heat off to the boiler and wait a couple of minutes to swap out baskets rather than using the condensor to throw it into full reflux which is just a little quicker.

The second shows it being used with parts that would be owned by a Dash user already. The only differences are that it uses 2 x 90 degree elbows rather than the custom 180, but a Dash can be ordered that way anyway. The other additional part is a 4" x 510mm TC pipe, gasket and clamp that most people who are using their Dash to produce neutral have anyway.

This shot does not show the 4" reflux condensor which could easily be added on top of the packed section to aid in swapping out baskets. The packed section could be added with or without packing to dial in precise collection ABV if required.

These kits are up on the Australian site ready to purchase now.

jbierling

What is the height of the basket from the center of the 2" tube input to the very top (4" end cap with handle)?

Smaug

It is 8" jbierling

jbierling

Including the handle? I'd have guessed 12" or so.

Smaug

@jbierling said: Including the handle? I'd have guessed 12" or so.

looks like 8.25 then.

Lloyd

@jbierling said: What is the height of the basket from the center of the 2" tube input to the very top (4" end cap with handle)?

It is about 12" from the center of the input to the top of the handle.

crozdog

Your wait is over..... checkout the manuals thread for the newly completed Gin Head manual.

Please post your results and recipes.

Lloyd

@crozdog, are you talking about the excellent and awesome Gin Head manual that's found here?

captainshooch

@crozdog fantastic job. Now I want one :-)

cooperville

B-)

crozdog

@Lloyd said: crozdog, are you talking about the excellent and awesome Gin Head manual that's found here?

Nah, I was referring to the one found here.

haha :))