How to make Gin at home

[@stamasd8500]

I am currently making a homemade kowenwijn. That's the higher grade of genever (Dutch gin) which typically has at least 51% malt-derived alcohol. Mine is 100% malt, made from a Munich malt mash. I double-distilled that and proofed down to 40% ABV. Then I separated it in 3 parts: one part I kept as is, one part I am currently infusing with some American white oak blocks (medium toast, light char) and the third part will be infused with botanicals and redistilled once the oak infusion is done. Then finally all 3 parts will be combined together. For the botanicals I will do a mixed distillation: some pre-infused in the alcohol and some will be vapor-distilled using a gin basket. My secret ingredient are the juniper berries, which I hand-picked in Sardinia last year and find them to be superior to the ones I can buy locally. :)

[@Bill-rm5lm]

Recently attended a Gin making experience locally and definitely want to try more as the gin I made was pretty good. Your video is a great simplified reminder and thoroughly informative. Thanks. Will be watching more 😁

[@thesimonien]

Great video ! Simon from Alchemist Distiller, here in Canada. Next time : Absinthe distillation ;-)

[@EddieShepherd]

Oooo I’d love to try absinthe distilling and love any tips if you’ve done it

[@Caffeine.And.Carvings]

Found it :) would you know if its possible to extract flavours if the forest, or at least the smells? Pine cones, moss after rain, pine needle. Basicslly like a spring early mornignhn forest walk in a glass

[@lemoncake3824]

Congrats Eddie, you've got 10k subs!🥳👑

[@EddieShepherd]

Aw thanks. Yeah it feels like an exciting milestone to reach :)

[@NicolaSyms]

This is a fantastic video thanks! Can I ask what you dilute the gin with to get it to the right ABV please? Is it just water? Also I notice you use a 3L still but only put in 1L alcohol, is there a limit to how much you are supposed to fill it? I was thinking of buying a 0.7L still to start off small but now wondering what volume of alcohol I could put in there? (Am I going to end up with only 20cl of gin?!) Thank you so much!

[@robbiegoodfellow409]

another grand video...thanks Eddie

[@robbiegoodfellow409]

accidentally hammered 😃

[@kareniandoli5132]

Great video! You are awesome at explaining

[@EddieShepherd]

Thank you so much

[@giteli_play3252]

Amazing video! (as usual) I really would love to get that little distillery pot, where did you get it?

[@EddieShepherd]

You can get similar ones here. They are great fun to work with - www.copper-alembic.com/en/

[@BrianBFS]

you deserve more likes! well done vid!

[@raccanello83]

Fantastic recipe

[@kareniandoli5132]

My husband bought me a 5 liter copper distill so that l can start making my own gin. I live in the USA , l have taken a class in the UK ( l am British Born( , but l have never learnt how to set the distill up & what plastic pipes l need. Do you have a video on the process ? Ty

[@Tele_Gattone]

Hi Eddie!! Your videos are very interesting!! A thousand thanks!! I would like to try your gin once!!! Best regards Alex from Italy

[@EddieShepherd]

Thanks! 😃

[@shadowremorse]

i see that all botanical are dry, is there a reason why you do not use fresh ones?

[@EddieShepherd]

Fresh and dry ingredients all behave slightly differently during distillation. There are other gins I make with other methods where I use fresh zest but for this the flavour of Dry works better and becomes surprisingly fresh and vibrant during the distillation.

[@rosejergens2279]

Where can I purchase this small cooper still??

[@EddieShepherd]

You can get similar ones here - www.copper-alembic.com/en/

[@JhenniaKL]

Hello. Very curious to explore gin distillation. Couple questions - what do you use to dilute the gin? Also where do you get neutral grain alcohol. Thanks!!

[@EddieShepherd]

Hi, so to dilute the gin to the appropriate finished strength you can just use filtered water. Buying neutral grain alcohol will depend on the county you are in, for larger amounts you need to be able to provide your rectifiers licence number often but also in the UK 'Masters of Malt' stock smaller amounts for home use.

[@mazjocas5914]

Could not find the link for the equipment? Could you please link in a comments :)

[@EddieShepherd]

sorry yes I've just added it to the video description, you can get them here - COPPER STILLS LIKE MINE CAN BE BOUGHT HERE - www.copper-alembic.com/en/products/

[@andymo7027]

Thank you. The video is very helpful especially as we are about to have a go at our first gin distilling at home (we did attend a class at a distillery to get us up to speed before buying our own still). One question for you... Which refractometer do you use? A search throws up so many options so a recommendation from you would be very helpful. Thanks!

[@EddieShepherd]

I cant find the link for mine but it was a fairly cheap option.

[@andymo7027]

​@@EddieShepherd - no problem :) I found one on Amazon and it seems to work well!

[@alexfalcone181]

Thanks for this great video, what do you think about distilling herbs and flowers using "vapour stream steam" instaed boiling, becasue they are delicate?

[@EddieShepherd]

Yes anything delicate I think you would ideally want to put in a basket if you have a still that has the ability to have one. I actually have a cold vacuum distiller that I have done some videos on, which is how I distil all my delicate herbs and flowers at low temperature, but for most people, steam basket would be probably the best option.

[@troycrawford6933]

Having watched this and the vacuum distillation video, could you not make the argument that this process is more or less extracting the essential oils from botanicals using a NGA base? Could you not achieve the same effect by adding food grade essential oils to your NGA?

[@EddieShepherd]

There's similarities between distillation and making essential its for certain ingredients, citrus oils can be made through distillation with higher amounts of fresh citrus zest, but there's lots of other complex volatile aromatics in the gin which dont behave in the same way. It might be interesting to play about with, and you could experiment with adding essential oils into a spirit, but I think it would be difficult to produce a good gin that way.

[@Dominikmj]

I suggest coriander, because real gin doesn’t have only juniper but always the pair of juniper and coriander! Also: Angelica is known to fix aromas. You need just a very little bit, but because of its characteristics it is in most gins. Most importantly: buy an airstill. It won’t be more expensive but not as romantic, but it is really easy to clean, doesn’t scorch, it doesn’t need a heating source nor a pump; it is plug and play- just an amazing peace of equipment! It can even be operated inside (copper pot still can be dangerous in non ventilated rooms!)

[@EddieShepherd]

Yeah there is coriander in the recipe. I’m a big fan of the classic pairing with juniper. On this recipe oris does the job Angelica can also do of fixing the aromatics. But I do like Angelica too. Yeah I’ll definitely have a look at the air stills. They sound cool

[@Sahilyadavful]

Will this get me drunk if I make this at Home?

[@BottleOfCoke]

Absolutely shit-faced

[@seanlaracy106]

Nah homemade alcohol doesn't get you drunk, you can have as much as you like

[@Sebastian-kr3re]

*promosm*