Pure juniper
Gin sets for home: With these tips your first creation will be a hit
Gins that are created in your own four walls are also known as “Bathtub Gin”. In contrast to the gins that are then distilled, they end up golden-yellow in the glass.
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As a congenial partner of tonic, gin has been one of the most popular spirits worldwide for years. But even pure, the power of the juniper shines with a variety of aromas. And so you can create the classic with the unique taste yourself at home.
Hardly any party mixed drink goes into the glass quicker than the good old gin and tonic. A good sip of juniper schnapps, topped up with fizzy tonic, with a slice of lemon (or cucumber) and a handful of ice cubes. It’s a hit at every party. You don’t have to be a professional bartender to serve your guests a refreshing “GT”. A standard gin from the supermarket and a few bottles of tonic are enough for a fun evening. The more sophisticated fans of the schnapps with the distinctive, slightly needle-like juniper aroma, on the other hand, prefer to tinker with the spirit itself. You can tell that this isn’t rocket science from the fact that the shelves in the supermarkets are practically bursting at the seams with so-called craft gins in smaller distilleries from the Black Forest to the island of Rügen by hobby distillers fancy bottles be filled.
In this article you will find out how you can create your own juniper schnapps in just a few days, what ingredients, tools and botanicals you need and what else you should consider when macerating. A Gin test 2023 with eight different creations can be found here.
Make your own gin: Before you start
To make gin yourself, you don’t need a still or other professional equipment. In contrast to fruit brandies, the alcohol in gin is not obtained through distillation, but is mixed in ready-made. Clear and preferably tasteless spirits such as vodka or Korn are suitable for this. But the gin can also be included Spirit of winealso called ethanol or Primaspirit known, should be set. Spirits usually have an alcohol content of at least 95 percent. You can find out why this is important below.
1. The preparation
- Before the gin experiment can start, the ingredients must be obtained. In addition to the prima fuel already mentioned, you first need whole fuel Juniper berries. For two 0.5 liter bottles of gin, 15 to 20 grams of the small black cones, which are not botanically berries at all, are sufficient.
- Should be used for later bottling clean glass bottles are available, which can be tightly closed with a grip cork.
- In order to give your first gin a distinctive taste, you also need various botanicals. The more you like to experiment, the more unusual the spices can be. Considered classics cardamom, Coriander seeds, dried bay leaveslicorice, Pepperberries and dried citrus peels. But as already mentioned: there are no limits to your imagination when it comes to the gin approach.
- To ensure that the “brew” ends up in the bottles unclouded and completely, there are a small one Stainless steel funnela household sieve and a handful of ordinary filter bags are important.
- If you want to give the “home made” gin as a gift, you can label the bottles creatively. For example with these waterproof acrylic pens.
2. The Approach
- First pour the vodka or grain into one of the glass bottles. Remember that the juniper berries and other spices will have to be added to the bottle later. (You can find out what you need to pay attention to when using pure alcohol below)
- Crush ten to twelve grams of juniper berries in one mortar lightly and place them in the alcohol (the other botanicals will follow later). The more juniper berries end up in the bottle, the more intense the special juniper note becomes.
- Close the bottle and store the vodka-juniper macerate in a dry place away from light for at least 24 hours. Shake the bottle lightly several times in between to redistribute the berries.
- Open the bottle with the now golden-yellow gin mixture and add more spices. For a classic gin, cardamom, coriander seeds and a little citrus peel are enough.
- Close the bottle again, shake the macerate vigorously again and let the whole thing steep for another twelve hours.
- Pour a small sip into it Tasting glass and try your creation. Now it depends on your taste. Add botanicals if the gin isn’t intense enough for you and give the macerate a few more hours to develop.
- Once you are happy with the aroma, the spices and any suspended matter need to be filtered out of the gin. To do this, place the funnel on a second glass bottle. Now carefully pour the macerate through a sieve equipped with two filter bags. Repeat the procedure if you still discover suspended particles in the finished gin.
- Then let the gin sit for about a week and give it time to let the flavors settle.
- For the benefit! Enjoy your first own gin composition.
Mixing gin with pure alcohol: This is important
Instead of vodka, gin can also be made with pure alcohol (ethanol). However, this must be diluted in order to achieve an alcohol level of just over 40 percent by volume, which is typical for gin. To do this, use one of the numerous alcohol calculators on the Internet. You feed them the alcohol value of the ethanol, the desired alcohol value of the gin and the amount of liquid before or after dilution. The calculator now determines the amount of water with which the ethanol must be diluted.
An example: Your ethanol has an alcohol content of 95% vol and the gin should have 43% vol after maceration. In total you want to make one liter of gin. The result: Measure 450 milliliters of alcohol in a measuring cup and mix the ethanol with 550 milliliters of water. Your gin later has an alcohol content of 43%vol. The advantage of the slightly more complex mixing: you can determine the alcohol content of your gin yourself. If you work with vodka there is nothing wrong with it.
We have good news for anyone whose shopping list of ingredients for home-made gin is too long. There are practical ones Gin building sets, which contain everything a gin lover’s heart desires. From botanicals to bottles and a funnel to self-adhesive labels. You only have to get the alcohol yourself for the slightly more convenient version of gin maceration.
Sources: Eat Drink; ginspiration.de; schnappsbrenn.at
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