GB4 use other than gin

Thinking of getting a GB4 for use to make various types of whiskey. I have had Darek Bell's book for a while and would like to try some of his techniques. Any of you guys use the carter head for flavored whiskeys or rums?

FC

Comments

  • edited May 2019

    I feel like I've mentioned this before, but orange zest in the vapor path allowed me to go a bit deeper into the (rum) tails end of the pool without carrying over funk.

    Did it mask or mitigate? I dunno? I love orange and orange infused rum. Maybe I'm just easy to trick?

    If copper and H202 can sequester sulfides, then it seems reasonable that orange/citrus oils can also do so.

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  • Sounds reasonable. I'm thinking of possibly trying apples and or blueberries during the hearts instead of just soaking them in the final product. The wheat/oats whiskey will be my first attempt. Guess I need to buy a GB4 first, lol.

    FC

  • edited May 2019

    One of the fellas roasted corn and put in the vapor path. Sent a small sample. Had a green quality. The "roast " didn't really come over. Dunno how proofy he ran it across his roasted corn?

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  • Did some strawberries. Also came over very green and medicinal.

    StillDragon North America - Your StillDragon® Distributor for North America

  • Maybe I won't do the blueberries; didn't have very good luck fermenting and distilling them a number of years back. In the vapor path, I guess anything can happen. The great thing about having the dephleg is that I can try a few different things during one run. Was thinking of the apples and possibly some cinnamon for an apple pie moonshine. I've done it by soaking the apples/cinnamon before with OK results but would like to up my game now that I am 100% AG. DEFINITELY want to try making pumpkin spice moonshine this fall. Bell's results really piqued my interest and they won an award for theirs.

  • I feel like I just didn't have enough fruit in the vapor path and also ran way too proofy

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  • edited May 2019

    Rotovap’ed a lot of fruit.

    Fruit is funny. Some extracts nicely, some doesn’t. Depends on the volatiles and non-volatiles, and how important the non-volatiles are to identify the flavor, will determine if it works or not.

    Most berries I’ve tried, don’t work with extraction. The initial macerations were nice, the distillates were totally lacking berry flavor. There was plenty of flavor - green, grassy, vegetal.

    High terpenes and oils work.

    Fruits defined by acidity usually don’t.

  • yeah, I did rhubarb, the stuff left over was better than the distillate... thinking of it to make reductions rather than extractions... maybe make the reduction so high gravity it can't spoil, like honey or molasses... then dose before bottling...

  • edited May 2019

    Why don't you try something like this for fruit and other delicate botanicals. Flow from PC to extractor and then syphon back to kettle.

    This is what I have built for my still, a 90L extractor.

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  • edited May 2019

    @CothermanDistilling said: yeah, I did rhubarb, the stuff left over was better than the distillate...

    Well, therein lies the real use case for the rotovap, not the kind of backwards stuff we're doing.

    The product of a rotovap is what's left over in the boiling flask. The receiver is only to collect the "waste" solvent, for future reuse or disposal. Distillation under vacuum, with the thin-film evaporation effect produced by the flask wall - only point is to be able to extract the solvent from the product with as little thermal decomposition as possible.

    Well, maybe another way to look at it, it's not always the stuff that's being boiled off that's the good stuff.

  • edited May 2019

    Think solvent extraction. Perhaps a series of techniques similar to the way CBD oil is produced? Then add to finished product?

    StillDragon North America - Your StillDragon® Distributor for North America

  • I'd love to try a supercritical co2 extracted gin.

  • @grim why C02?

    StillDragon North America - Your StillDragon® Distributor for North America

  • edited May 2019

    Ultra-cold extraction, zero potential for thermal decomposition, almost no potential for oxidation. CO2 is also very clean from a solvent perspective. Achieve temperatures far below what's possible with vacuum distillation.

  • I'd be curious for "our" purposes if there is a measurable improvement on perceived quality on a side by side taste test?

    StillDragon North America - Your StillDragon® Distributor for North America

  • just looking to follow in the footsteps of Jean-Baptiste Grenouille (without that whole being eaten in the end)

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  • @grim said: Something like: Supercritical carbon dioxide extraction of vanilla @ ScienceDirect

    Supercritical Carbon Dioxide Extraction of Vanilla? (PDF)

    For those of you who don’t know about sci-hub a lovely Russian lady decided she was tired of restricted paywall access to public funded research papers at universities so she devised a system to access using other folks help. If you search for sci-hub you can enter the link to the paper and it’ll give you access.

  • @grim said: I'd love to try a supercritical co2 extracted gin.

    I’ve been super interested to get into this space for CBD but Fiji is a ways off from that.

    I’ve always thought stilldragon would be a natural entrant into the cbd space.

  • I used the carter with citra hops for a whiskey, it worked great for a gin and I am planning a vodka with rose petals. "Gin the StillDragon way" was a great reference !!

  • I was also thinking about coffee beans, cacao beans. Anyone tried either?

  • @FloridaCracker said: I was also thinking about coffee beans, cacao beans. Anyone tried either?

    Opens up some thoughts as to what to do with the juice from the bottom of the basket there....

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  • I can think of at least one idea...

  • @FloridaCracker said: I was also thinking about coffee beans, cacao beans. Anyone tried either?

    I have thought about using coffee beans and / or cacao nibs

  • I just bought a couple of bottles of a new release coffee rum. Oh shit delicious. The only thing that could improve it would be a hint of chocolate. I plan to give it a try.

    FC

  • edited May 2019

    @FloridaCracker said: I just bought a couple of bottles of a new release coffee rum. Oh shit delicious. The only thing that could improve it would be a hint of chocolate. I plan to give it a try.

    Who's?

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  • It's his. He bought it he told you that.

    StillDragon Australia & New Zealand - Your StillDragon® Distributor for Australia & New Zealand

  • @punkin said: It's his. He bought it he told you that.

    Ok Mr. Smarty Pants Punkin Head.

    StillDragon North America - Your StillDragon® Distributor for North America

  • @CothermanDistilling said: Siesta Key

    Yep.

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