The Big Gin Thread

grim · 3 July 2018 04:55PM

Seems fairly kludgy from an operational perspective, and agree - it's not elegant.

A single larger gin basket and a single condenser/parrot seem much more usable.

Rocky_Creek · 3 July 2018 06:43PM

is grinding in a blender just enough to break up the juniper ok in preparation for gb4 run? If not how do you treat your botanical before putting them in the basket?

grim · 3 July 2018 07:33PM

No grinding - you’ll increase bitterness tremendously. Straight in.

Moonshine · 3 July 2018 07:36PM

@geoff400 said: How about 4 gin baskets as seen at the Imbibe Show in London

It looks impressive and is made of StillDragon® standard components! :-bd

CothermanDistilling · 3 July 2018 08:51PM

@Rocky_Creek said: is grinding in a blender just enough to break up the juniper ok in preparation for gb4 run? If not how do you treat your botanical before putting them in the basket?

I use a 2-roller mill with a really big gap, 0.120 or 3mm, the berries barely look broken when they come out, but if you look closely, the skins are just torn a bit...

crozdog · 3 July 2018 10:55PM

@grim said: No grinding - you’ll increase bitterness tremendously. Straight in.

I don't grind juniper, coriander, liquorice, cassia etc but do chop up other botanicals such as black cardamon, all spice & black pepper

GD50 · 4 July 2018 12:24AM

I think you might need a bigger boiler. It must be just for concept and what about different extractions at different vapor concentrations. I guess as per the background sign it is for blending.

I just checked their website and it is a party or corporate event game. That is clever. You would ideally need a few more GB4's for a few more flavors.

Not sure about legals though. Move to New Zealand i guess.

richard · 4 July 2018 01:11AM

Just had a look to their web site re. the four GB. If I have it correct they are a function / speciality company and are presenting differnet options for a Gin run i.e. different types / flavours of gin being presented for the occasion, hence the multiple GB.

But it makes you think of what can be done.

geoff400 · 4 July 2018 09:25AM

I first came across them adverting their mobile still, you can see the green VW van in the background, that has a copper still on it they take to pubs and functions and do a 20l gin run tailored to the customers flavour requirements. Seeing them at the show with this configuration I had to ask how such a small capacity would service 4 parrots. The answer was there was a larger capacity hidden under the stainless facade. I am not convinced they have used this commercially yet but thought you all would be interested in having a look. I guess check their progress via their website.

grim · 4 July 2018 11:49AM

Ah, gotcha, interesting.

GD50 · 4 July 2018 01:36PM

My reading of it is that they have different botanicals in each GB4 and the participants then blend to try different combinations

Elvis · 25 July 2018 10:05PM

I can't believe the number of Aussie distilleries knocking out gin:

punkin · 25 July 2018 10:13PM

It's incredible how many of them are my customers too.

Kapea · 26 July 2018 07:41PM

Too hot up north for Gin there?

punkin · 26 July 2018 08:46PM

Sparsely populated.

Elvis · 26 July 2018 10:27PM

There is a bloke south of Cairns who will be looking to be up and running in the next 12 months. Not sure if gin is on his radar. though. It's rum country up there.

DonMateo · 29 July 2018 01:59AM

I just did a gin run with some Roiboos. I know its not native here in Argentina but it gives some very nice earthy/tabacoo type of flavors. Very complex. Anyway just a comment for the group in case anyone was curious. Tomorrow I am going to do another run with Pitanga, which is a amazonian local version of Lemon Myrtle, which gives a lemon/orangy with very slight minty tang type of flavor in a tea.

needmorstuff · 16 November 2018 08:45AM

I am coming to market in the next month and struggling with a flavoured Gin.. I have tried to extract flavours from fruit but it doesnt seem commercially viable.

Who on here has a flavoured product in the market place and is prepared to help me out with flavour sources? personally I like to think we aren't all in competition with each other - but we are against the MASSIVE commercial players in the market - that is not a sentiment that my wife shares.. but each to their own.. I prefer to think we are a team :-)

DonMateo · 16 November 2018 12:28PM

@needmorestuff. Mate, you need to figure out what you want your gin to taste like. Gin is a really personal thing. Go to a gin bar and have 20 different gins and then figure out what you want your gin to taste like. Then make it. Or get a flavor wheel off the net and do it that way. You will find recipes for gin here and online but most versions of a london dry are the same or very similar. The interesting gins are the ones where people are making person statements. For example I was passing through London Heath Row and picked up a bottle of Gin Mare. Its called a mediteranean gin and it is basically a lighter juniper/coriander mix but with rosemary, thyme and oregano. I had in mind for a long time a similar sort of gin but never saw something that was similar, still up in the mountains of Armenian you can only get vodka. Ok so I tried this Gin Mare and thought thats it. But I want mine to have a bit more rosemary, because its really great in Argentina where I live, maybe some fresh basil and some lavender as I have some great lavender in my garden so I put it all together did a test batch of 1 litre. It worked and then I did a run of 25 litres. Bingo I call this gin my mediteraneo. Its also the name of a great movie as well by Botulucci. Personally I dont like fruity gins. I tried one in Lima made with fruit from the amazon and it wasnt great. The last ingredient I tried that was very interesting was sarsaparilla bark. Which is used in herbal teas so you can get it most places. That had some very interesting flavors combined with a lemon. Gin recipes are very personal. If you want to read about making gin read this thread and then read what you can find written by Odin. He is an expert in gin and recipe design.

needmorstuff · 16 November 2018 01:14PM

Hi @DonMateo - thanks for the reply. We already have our staple gin recipe locked down. We are looking to release other flavoured ones, such as cherry and that is what I need, flavours that can be quickly added to gins ontop of the botanicals.

DonMateo · 16 November 2018 01:21PM

Well, Good luck in finding a fruit flavor. I ahvent found one that I really like but maybe its just me.

GD50 · 16 November 2018 02:03PM

@DonMateo. A big gin in Australia is made using honey ants. Have not tried it but by reports it’s good. Floaters in the bottle like the infamous worm.

Northern Territory of course.

DonMateo · 16 November 2018 02:59PM

@GD50. Yeeehhaaaa. Only in the top end. I have heard from my brother who has done bush survival courses with ex SAS guys that honey ant honey is amazing. Like I said I tried a gin in Lima Peru the other day made from fruits of the amazon. Some German lass went to Tingo Maria or some place like that and started making Gin. I wasnt impressed. Honey Ants I will have to try.

needmorstuff · 16 November 2018 03:07PM

I'm not sure if you guys are serious or not ;-)

DonMateo · 16 November 2018 05:49PM

@needmorestuff. There is such as thing as a Honey Ant from the bush in Australia. Here is a link.

I just did a search on honey ant gin and appears that a few distilleries in Oz are doing using green honey ants as flavor.

needmorstuff · 16 November 2018 06:42PM

fantastic, organic and natural... i'd happily put them in my gin as I can find absolutely nothing else to put in it. The cherry flavour i recieved today just isn't "cherry enough" even at the maximum dosage.. and even then it becomes none viable economically.

DonMateo · 16 November 2018 07:18PM

@needmorestuff. A while ago I was stuck for alternative recipes so I started looking at tea ingredient suppliers and I came upon a couple of my key components of my recipes with alternative flavors from where I am located, in Argentina. Maybe there could be a source for alternative flavors. This way you dont have to import Australian honey ants.

Homebrew · 16 November 2018 08:20PM

@needmorstuff

Are you referring to post-distilled flavours?

i.e. you have a "all rounder" gin, which is good enough on it's own, and you want to create a flavoured gin that way?

I've been playing with pink gins. I tried grapefruit, hibiscus and rose. Not nice. Massively reduced the ingredients and still not nice.

I'm currently playing with strawberry and basil. These are fresh - the basil is still growing.

If I cannot make it work with fresh fruit or herbs then I won't bother.

One issue I have is that the strawberries are not very red. So they don't make the gin pink enough. Easily solved with a little hibiscus which turns a gin red very quickly.

needmorstuff · 16 November 2018 08:40PM

yes - post distilled flavours.. I have a lovely dry gin as a base that i dial down the juniper in order to allow the flavours to come through more.. but as per my other thread I am not really getting anywhere.

are you producing commercially? or just for home use?

I have just got my licenses and want to get to market now..

DonMateo · 16 November 2018 08:45PM

@homebrew. I have read that some pink gins use angostura bitters to turn them pink. I tried strawberry in a trial batch to not much success. Thanks for the hint on the hibiscus.

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