-
Refining my new hobby: seeking guidance and improvement
I tried some absinthe a few years ago which blew my mind. It was the strongest taste I ever tasted just a small drop exploded in my mouth and brain. It was 100 dollars for a 16 oz bottle. I swore I would make my own. A year and a half later I have collected all the things I needed and I made 1 liter of absinthe. It’s pretty good but not nearly as good as the professional stuff I tried. To make my own in followed the recipe in this bookhttps://books.apple.com/us/book/how-to- … d508338901The recipe was for the Pontarlier recipe. It was to make 1 liter of absinthe. It calls for…25 grams Artemisa Absinthium50 grams anise50 grams Florence fennel950 mls 85% alcoholColoring 10g Roman wormwood10g hyssop5 grams lemon balmQuestion 1Is the Pontarlier recipe a good recipe?Question 2What is your favorite recipe? Liter recipes with gram weights would help. ThanksQuestion 3I am not sure if I got the right kind of fennel. The ebook said I needed Florence fennel but I could not find this specifically anywhere. I got fennel but I’m not sure if it’s Florence fennel. Where do I get “Florence Fennel”?Question 4The ebook said to use 95 percent ahcohol Everclear, which I did, but it also said to use “Marc” which is a “grappa-like alcohol derived from grape skins”. Where do I get that?Question 5The ebook said to use a copper alembic. I didn’t use one because they are 290 dollars https://a.co/d/2ClYhaKAnd because I had already bought a pot still. This is the one I used https://a.co/d/57gnXTfThis one worked but you are supposed to use a vessel which floats in cooking oil so the herbs in the macerate never rise above the boiling point of the cooking oil (around 400f) and therefore never singe. Question 6I converted a 2l Erlenmeyer flask into a still. Can you think of any reason why this would not work? I tested it by distilling a bottle of wine. The glass flask is cool because I can see inside unlike the stainless steel pot still. Only problem I can see is maybe the rubber stopper will melt into the distillate. Question 7How do you measure the temp inside your still? The ebook said the distillate would start coming out at 78c and end at 100c. My still never got that hot. I had to go by weight of distillate collected instead. Do you go by weight or by temp?Question 8What’s an amazing bottle of absinthe I can buy so I know what to shoot for?Question 9How do you know when you made amazing absinthe?Question 10What ABV is best for absinthe?Thanks for reading my post. Tell me any of your wisdom and I will try applying it to my lifelong love of absinthe.
-
3 Replies
-
Hey there Jacobacro, I’m going to suggest that you start reading and researching here on this site. Here’s a good link that will lead you down a few rabbit holes. viewtopic.php?f=15&t=52975I’ve not done an absinthe yet but there should be some recipes in the tried and true recipe section. I’m gauging by your questions and comments that you are pretty new to distilling. Yes, you can make marc or grappa to use in your absinthe. You can also use neutral as your base spirit but grappa does have a certain flavor that would be part of the recipe. Since you have the still already, i’d suggest selecting a recipe from the tried and true section (the simpler and more straightforward the better for now) read up and research until your eyes bleed then wipe away the blood and keep reading lol – paying special attention to the safety protocols. Keep it simple until you have a few runs completed. Then start branching off onto other recipes. If you like gin there are a couple good gin recipes. Whiskies and rums too. The thing about following a tried and true recipe from HD is that there is a ton of notes and documentation from other stillers and you can also add your notes and experiences to the pool if you like to. If you want to troubleshoot a recipe from elsewhere you’ll most likely either need to be at a point where you can do that mostly yourself, get in touch with whoever made that recipe, or just wing it. Cheers,jonny————i prefer my mash shaken, not stirred————
-
Here are some absinthe links on this forum:viewtopic.php?t=42601viewtopic.php?t=25864For New and Novice DistillersHow to Organize and Manage ForumPosting Photos
-
Start by planting the botanicals in your garden so that you can use them fresh.
Log in to reply.
English 
Spanish 
German 
French 
Russian