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Asante
Omnicyclion prophet
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today's distillation: Absinthe d' Pontarlier
#6489771 - 01/23/07 03:15 PM (17 years, 2 months ago) |
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I decided to loosely emulate a recipy for a historic absinthe found in this document from 1908 called Absinthe d'Pontarlier.
It is a "Holy Trinity" absinthe, in that it consists chiefly of the three herbs Wormwood, Aniseed and Fennel. It is extremely basic in composition, so easy to get right as a beginning absinthe distiller. Here's how I did it:
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ABSINTHE D' PONTARLIER
25 grams Wormwood 50 grams Aniseed 50 grams Fennel
this was steeped in 1.5 liters of 47% alcohol overnight
in the wok still it was distilled to draw off 900ml (aim was to draw off a liter)
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This resulted in a clear absinthe of 68% alcohol (87% yield) which can be drank as is, or colored with herbs.
I chose to prepare a glass of absinthe as it is now.
25ml Absinthe d'Pontarlier was mixed with 75ml sugarwater of ten percent.
Immediately a louche became appearant, which over the minutes gradually deepened until the glass became fully opaque with cloudiness.
Despite that I had cut some corners the absinthe has a really nice flavor, quite strong but not overly so, which lingers for a long time. The inebriation is equally pleasant.
To think this is fresh from the still, and hasn't ripened yet!
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Asante
Omnicyclion prophet
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Re: today's distillation: Absinthe d' Pontarlier [Re: Asante]
#6495493 - 01/25/07 10:51 AM (17 years, 2 months ago) |
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Oh for those in any way interested in absinthe (stilling, drinking etc) I found a great website: Oxygénée - the Online Absinthe Museum
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Muppet
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Re: today's distillation: Absinthe d' Pontarlier [Re: Asante]
#6498447 - 01/26/07 07:34 AM (17 years, 2 months ago) |
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ssooo...what exactly was the 47% alcohol you used to soak it in overnight?
I'm assuming it was some sort of homemade vodka or something, but would you care to elaborate?
-------------------- Ravings of a Madman
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Asante
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Re: today's distillation: Absinthe d' Pontarlier [Re: Muppet]
#6498470 - 01/26/07 07:48 AM (17 years, 2 months ago) |
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Basically "stock alcohol" or home-distilled alcohol.
In my now optimized recipy you can dissolve 12kg white sugar into 42 liters of water (in a clean thrashcan-sized fermenter of at least 60 liters capacity) and add a packet of Alcotec 24 turboyeast. Then let stand for 5 days at room temperature to turn it into 50 liters of 14% alcohol. Decant off the yeast residue, then mix with the whites of two eggs and let stand for 2 days to clarify further.
On the seventh day you can distill the 50 liters of 14% into 12.5 liters of 50+% = 100+proof alcohol using a wokstill.
This alcohol can be fined with activated carbon, but that is completely unnecessary with this recipy as the second distillation will make purity high enough even if the eggwhite clarification is ommitted, and distillation starts on the 5th day, after decanting off most of the yeast.
If you stretch Alcotec 24 to twice its fermentation, purity of the alcohol will be good enough for liquors upon the second distillation, without fining, even in a wokstill.
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Muppet
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Re: today's distillation: Absinthe d' Pontarlier [Re: Asante]
#6498518 - 01/26/07 08:22 AM (17 years, 2 months ago) |
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yeah...I kinda had a feeling it was something like that
it's kinda like brewing up a batch of unflavored wine just so you can experiment with different flavorings (adding syrups and shit to it so you can make mint wines, or whatever)
I'm assuming it wouldn't be too tough to scale it down a bit to make it more workable for me (I don't exactly have the room for, nor the use for freaken gallons of this crap at a time) besides - this is more of something I'm just thinking about fucking around with in my spare time...I'm not even to the point yet were I'd even consider popping out 12 liters of anything
I guess I was just curious if anything fancy needed to be done with the standard stock alcohol (like certain types of grains that needed to be soaked for a freaken month beforehand, or some crap like that) or if it would be something realatively simple like suger/water and yeast
I guess I've just been avoiding distillation cause I've always thought there'd be a lot more to it then that...but the more and more I've been reading up on it - the more and more I'm realizing just how simple this actually can be
I dunno...I think I might just havta start fiddling around with this afterall
thanx for the encouragement by the way
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Asante
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Re: today's distillation: Absinthe d' Pontarlier [Re: Muppet]
#6498586 - 01/26/07 09:06 AM (17 years, 2 months ago) |
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Quote:
I'm not even to the point yet were I'd even consider popping out 12 liters of anything
For the record my entire alcohol consumption amounts to about a liter of whiskey's worth' in a month, it's not like I'm sitting by the stove drinking hot spirits as fast as they form
I'm one of those generous givers - if a friend of mine particularly likes a liquor they needn't ask for a sample, but tend to leave the house with a liter or more. I give more away than I actually drink, but at a cost to me of $1.25 for a liter of vodka, who's complaining? It's hobby, not necessity that I do this.
I hope one day to distill a liquor of exceptional taste, and sell the recipy to an established distillery to make me good $$.
It's not like I'm distilling 24/7.
I tend to convert big batches of wash into stock alcohol, once distilled, which is storage stable (doesn't spoil but even improves with age) and can be left alone.
This stock alcohol can then be "cleaned" and used as is in mixtures, or subjected to a second distillation with various herbs and fruits to provide liquors.
So basically the creation of stock alcohol is large scale and a bit of a chore once in a long while. (ripening with age) While the actual distilling of spirits occurs in 0.5-1 liter batches.
Quote:
I guess I was just curious if anything fancy needed to be done with the standard stock alcohol (like certain types of grains that needed to be soaked for a freaken month beforehand, or some crap like that) or if it would be something realatively simple like suger/water and yeast
Sugar/Water/Turboyeast is the best way to create stock alcohol. Turboyeast isn't just yeast btw but contains all nutrients the yeast needs beside sugarwater. It ensures best results for that specific yeast and is clean, fast and cheap too.
Quote:
I guess I've just been avoiding distillation cause I've always thought there'd be a lot more to it then that...but the more and more I've been reading up on it - the more and more I'm realizing just how simple this actually can be
I suggest you start out with a Wok Still. If you get the hang of that you might consider investing in a designated still, or simply leave it at that.
You might have the pots and pans needed for a wok still in your kitchen already.
Quote:
thanx for the encouragement by the way
Hey, it's an ancient art and its fun
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EquilibriuM
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Re: today's distillation: Absinthe d' Pontarlier [Re: Asante]
#6498643 - 01/26/07 09:39 AM (17 years, 2 months ago) |
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can you post a link to a wok still tek?
EDIT: Never mind, I just read about it in the other thread...
-------------------- HELP!!!!!!!!!
Edited by EquilibriuM (01/26/07 09:51 AM)
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EquilibriuM
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Re: today's distillation: Absinthe d' Pontarlier [Re: EquilibriuM]
#6498694 - 01/26/07 10:11 AM (17 years, 2 months ago) |
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-------------------- HELP!!!!!!!!!
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Muppet
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Re: today's distillation: Absinthe d' Pontarlier [Re: EquilibriuM]
#6498782 - 01/26/07 10:50 AM (17 years, 2 months ago) |
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yeah...that's what I was thinking of using myself
I'm still in the proccess of collecting all the shit I need for it though
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EquilibriuM
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Re: today's distillation: Absinthe d' Pontarlier [Re: Muppet]
#6498797 - 01/26/07 11:01 AM (17 years, 2 months ago) |
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I have an adjustable submerged water heater but at the max setting, its turning off at about 39 C. Is there an easy way I can get it to run a little hotter?
-------------------- HELP!!!!!!!!!
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Muppet
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Re: today's distillation: Absinthe d' Pontarlier [Re: EquilibriuM]
#6498934 - 01/26/07 11:39 AM (17 years, 2 months ago) |
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hhmmm...I dunno about that
I'm having trouble finding a worthwhile heater myself
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EquilibriuM
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Re: today's distillation: Absinthe d' Pontarlier [Re: Muppet]
#6499180 - 01/26/07 12:54 PM (17 years, 2 months ago) |
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Looks like its stabilized between 40 and 41 deg C. Any idea if thats going to be worth using, assuming I cannot get it any hotter?
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Asante
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Re: today's distillation: Absinthe d' Pontarlier [Re: EquilibriuM]
#6500039 - 01/26/07 05:43 PM (17 years, 2 months ago) |
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The temperatures recommended are 45-55'C, but your 41'C is so close to that that you'll probably get an interesting yield nontheless.
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Nalim
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Re: today's distillation: Absinthe d' Pontarlier [Re: Asante]
#6501227 - 01/27/07 01:59 AM (17 years, 2 months ago) |
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I like this thread thanks wiccan. And thnx to you EquilibriuM for the still-plan
-------------------- Rodney Brooks on Robots Nalim said: "Quoting yourself is retarded."
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makaveli8x8
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Re: today's distillation: Absinthe d' Pontarlier [Re: Nalim]
#6501627 - 01/27/07 06:48 AM (17 years, 2 months ago) |
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yah so how do you get rid of all the bad stuff that can kill or make a person blind?
how do you know you get it all out?
-------------------- We were sent to hell for eternity Øh® We play on earth to pass the time Over-population the root of all Evil-brings the Elites Closer to the gates.
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EquilibriuM
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Re: today's distillation: Absinthe d' Pontarlier [Re: makaveli8x8]
#6501741 - 01/27/07 08:31 AM (17 years, 2 months ago) |
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Read the link I posed in this thread, it talks about those myths...
and Nast, no problem. Just trying to figure it out myself, I thought others would be interested as well.
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lequebecfume
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Re: today's distillation: Absinthe d' Pontarlier [Re: Asante]
#7284648 - 08/11/07 01:35 PM (16 years, 7 months ago) |
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One question, does it louche or turn milky when water is added like a true Parisian Absinthe.
Haha.
Nothing in Absinthe will cause madness or blindness.
A fun boost to cannabis use.
LEQ
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Asante
Omnicyclion prophet
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Re: today's distillation: Absinthe d' Pontarlier [Re: lequebecfume]
#7287242 - 08/12/07 10:50 AM (16 years, 7 months ago) |
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Quote:
does it louche or turn milky when water is added like a true Parisian Absinthe.
Quote:
Immediately a louche became appearant, which over the minutes gradually deepened until the glass became fully opaque with cloudiness.
It louches very strongly.
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Seuss
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Re: today's distillation: Absinthe d' Pontarlier [Re: EquilibriuM]
#7293172 - 08/14/07 06:08 AM (16 years, 7 months ago) |
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> http://homedistiller.org/Amazingstill.pdf
From the above pdf:
Quote:
One cannot become blind from drinking home distilled. That is to say one cannot become blind from drinking spirit distilled at home from mash. It is a myth that stubbornly lives on. A distilling apparatus does not create any products, it only separates different products.
I hate it when people gloss over safety issues. The "myth" isn't a myth. In the prohibition days when alcohol was illegal in the US, many people used car radiators as part of their still. Unfortunately, the materials used in the radiators and soldier contained heavy metals, such as lead. People would distill alcohol and pick up heavy metal contaminates in the process.
To make a claim that "a distilling apparatus does not create any products, it only separates different products" is completely inaccurate. It depends upon the construction materials of the still and the substance being distilled.
The blindness bit comes from drinking methanol rather than ethanol (or drinking excessive amounts of concentrated ethanol).
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makaveli8x8
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Re: today's distillation: Absinthe d' Pontarlier [Re: Seuss]
#7307948 - 08/18/07 03:13 PM (16 years, 7 months ago) |
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and methanol is in small amounts in all beer/mash you make to distill.
when you start distilling methanol comes off first. if you drink that stright im guessing you would go blind/be bad for you.
so how can you be sure when it starts and stops while distilling....any sure fire way to know that its all gone and your getting stright ethanol?
-------------------- We were sent to hell for eternity Øh® We play on earth to pass the time Over-population the root of all Evil-brings the Elites Closer to the gates.
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