This was the jar after an initial shake.
By this morning the infusion had turned a nice pink colour as before.
This time I used my still in alembic configuration - i.e. without the column full of copper mesh between the pot and the head. And here I am already to go; notebook and jars to collect fractions of the distillate at the ready
My condenser is fed water from a little pump in this reservoir.
The temperature is rising...
I had my hydrometer and measuring cylinder to measure each jar's collection when I swapped jars.
Each jar was also subject to a taste test using a little pipette to add a few drops to a little glass in which I added the same amount of water to taste.
I turned the heat off once the temperature was at 98 degrees and the distillate very low in alcohol. The majority of the time I was collecting with the temperature between 80 and 92 degrees. The alcohol strength after the heads started at 79% ABV with the hearts finishing at 64% ABV.
Here you can see the coil of my condenser in its gentle flow of water coming in at the bottom and leaving at the top.
In total I collected 14 fractions. This time I discarded a bit more of the heads, about 65ml (well I've actually kept it to use as a solvent). Now to blend. I kept all of jars 4 to 12, the last, at 52% tasting quite spicy, plus about 30ml of jar 13 and 15ml of jar 14 to keep the liquorice, fennel and cinnamon flavours. That left me with 810ml @ 66% ABV. Diluting this with filtered water to 40% and bottling left me with this...
The verdict? Better than last time (where I think I kept too much of the heads). Still quite strongly flavoured and lovely neat on ice as well as with tonic. Compared to commercial gins, it's closest to Opihr, I think, and compares quite favourably. Jane and Nicky - I think it's good enough to give you a sample now. Next time a little less tails I think, but 7/10 for this one.
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