There’s an essential trinity to focus on when distilling gin. The charge, the hearts cut, and the grams that are going into the recipe.
Understanding and mastering them allows you to create a unique, harmonious balance that defines your profile and allows you to make a world class product consistently. Here’s a few of the big factors to consider in gin distillation.
Distilling gin – the charge
The “charge” is the liquid in the pot at the beginning of the gin distillation process. The term is derived from the process it stems from – a still is “charged” (supplied) with the components it needs.
Assuming you have a classic pot still and are macerating the botanicals, the charge will have Neutral Spirit, water and botanicals. The question new distillers ask is in what amount should they be?
If you have a simple alembic pot still, a good place to start is 50% ABV as it makes the math incredibly easy. You simply need to add in Neutral Spirit at 96% ABV and water in equal amounts and you’ll end up in the sweet spot.
More modern hybrid still designs with side mounted columns and added dephlegmators or other ways of forcing added reflux will recommend starting lower, around 35-40% ABV.
Top tip for those macerating
The charge is often not the same ABV as overnight infusions (aka macerations) to extract the flavours from the botanicals. Some choose to do that at a higher ABV than their starting charge.
In the case of distillers with modern hybrid designs, there are many who macerate around 55% ABV (e.g. 100L spirit, 75L water) as they feel this is the optimum for flavour extraction, and before starting the distillation add a further amount (in the e.g. above, 90L) of water to reduce it down to close to 35%.
For more on why they do this, see our articles on Flavour Saturation, Flavour Sequencing and Flavour Extraction for more specific gin-related insight.
The hearts cut – keeping yield in mind
The heart is the desirable, flavourful middle part of the distillation, sandwiched between the heads and tails. As a distiller, the is a need to maximise the hearts cut to get the most from your distillation, and a compromise to be made…
When to make your hearts cut is flavour based. That ought to be the only consideration for your cut. That said, distilling is a business and when developing a new gin, a good aspiration to begin with is to try and create a recipe that allows you to have as wide a hearts cut as possible.
It’s better to try and design that into the recipe, than it is to make an overextended cut in order to boost your yield.
What to aim at for your yield:
A good yard stick to begin from is for your desirable hearts collection to be of similar amount to the amount of neutral spirit you added to the charge. The result is not likely to be as mathematically convenient nor be as broad as that (even with the aid of plates and dephlegmators), but it’s a good ambition for obvious commercial reasons.
You are likely to collect more fluid that the overall amount of Neutral Spirit you placed in the charge, but not all the alcohol content it contained. (This why it’s important to look at ways of using heads and tails for by-products)
The recipe’s grams and the starting ABV will play as bigger role in making that possible, as how you operate the still. Adjust accordingly and consider how both could lead to a better yield if your first attempts result in tiny cuts.
Following the example given in the section about Charges above (a 275L charge at 35% ABV in a hybrid still making use of side mounted columns), a realistic quantity of foreshots is 1L, heads would be around 2L, the hearts cut should aim to be around 120L, distilled tails a further 35L and the rest stillage – some 117L or so.
That’s a hearts collection that’s around 120L, from an initial charge of 100L of Neutral Spirit. More volume, but at less alcohol, as the Heads & Tails will contain a lot.
Again, it should be flavour based not purely on yield, but setting your expectations properly at recipe stage is vital for those who want to run a business, not a hobby operation. Put simply, it adds up to substantial cost per unit savings when you run multiple times a week.
Dosing botanicals – where to start when distilling gin
Creating a recipe is based on many practical and subjective variables – let alone the vision one has of the type of gin they want to make and what kind of botanical story they are telling. With thousands of gins now being made, there are recipes that defy every rule one can set. That’s the joy of gin today – you can be as creative as you want.
With this in mind, the following is pragmatic advice and a way to begin your journey.
A good starting point for a one-shot gin recipe is for the total grams per Litre of Pure Alcohol (understood to be 96%ABV in practical terms) to be between 30-35g.
For distillers figuring it out, many start typically dosing in around 15g of juniper, 10g coriander seed, and 2g angelica root.
Moving up or down from there depends on so many factors, and you’ll definitely need to calibrate. There is no Fibonacci sequence to follow here… That said, if you are running a trial run and have literally no idea of what your recipe’s grams will be, it’s a good place to begin.
It’s helpful to focus on the core components of your recipe. Begin by honing the classic backbone of your gin: juniper, coriander seed, angelica, and citrus.
By focusing on these core elements first, you can become intimately familiar with how they interact with each other, and how they behave in your still during the distillation process.
Once you’ve achieved a satisfying balance with these foundational elements, begin to introduce additional botanicals into your recipe. Consider this stage as painting intricate details on a well-prepared canvas. Each new botanical will add unique accents, depth, and nuance to your gin.
Advice on what to focus on when distilling gin recipes
Less is more
When starting to adjust a recipe, remember that less is often more. It’s far easier to add additional flavours than it is to remove them. If a particular flavour seems too strong, you might be tempted to reduce it. However, reducing doesn’t necessarily subtract a flavour; it can also reveal hidden ones.
By adding more grams and new botanicals in small increments you’ll need less test batches to reach perfection.
Precision and consistency
Gin-making is both an art and a science, and precision in measurement is crucial in this equation. Note everything—every change and every outcome. It’s important to develop a process you can replicate consistently.
Avoid impractical measures like a 1.23-hour or 16-hour maceration. That’s impossible to replicate (or makes for mad shift patterns) when you’ll need to distil every day for commercial purposes. Develop a process that is efficient, effective, and easy to duplicate.
Master the still operation
Operating the still efficiently and consistently is as important as the recipe itself. This is where the raw ingredients transform into the final spirit, where the magic happens. Each action, each parameter, your heat and your tempo has an impact on the final product.
Therefore, focus on achieving replicable results by closely monitoring and recording your actions during the distillation process. Time, temperature, cut quantities etc.
Every gram matters
Precision is paramount. It might sound excessive to measure every gram, but in practice, it makes a significant difference. Even a minor 1% adjustment can substantially alter the flavour profile of your gin. So, be diligent in your measurements, especially when dealing with citrus even when adjusting ingredients in small amounts.
To create great gin, all distillers must master the charge, the hearts cut, and the grams in their recipe. Understanding these components helps create a balanced product that will appeal to all consumers and delivers above and beyond their expectation.
Remember though, the flavour of your gin may begin with practical considerations about recipe formulation, but so much of it is influenced and refined by the way you operate the still. The need for precision and consistency is the only universal trait all recipes have in common.
