Today it was time to distil my pastis.
Here are some photos.
This was my starting point. About 1 1/2 litres in total.
Bit first I had to filter it. I started with a coffee filter...
But that was going very slow and I realised I could just use a fine-meshed sieve.
I used my column in my configuration this time.
It took quite a while before any distillate came off, but here we go.
As usual I filled my jars about 100ml at a time before swapping them out and then testing them.
My initial fraction was 94ml at 83% ABV.
I also took a small sample to taste, diluting it with filtered water. There was a nice sweet aniseed flavour right from the start.
After a while, my cooling water reservoir got quite warm so I had to top it up with some more cold water.
My 7th jar had an ABV of 49% so I didn't use any more after that - switched off the heat and discarded what I had collected in my 8th jar.
In all I had collected 620ml @ 72%. I used my calculator spreadsheet to work out I had to add 285ml filtered water to get to my target 50% ABV. It tastes pretty good.
Now it needs 3 more days maceration with some fresh botanicals (15g star anise + 10g aniseed + 10g licorice). This is what it looks like now.
On Sunday I will filter it again and bottle it. Meanwhile I have ordered some little bottles so I can give some away as presents. More anon!
No comments:
Post a Comment