Help making sloe gin.

zendog

zendog

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Steve
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I'm going to use some of a bumper crop of sloes to have a first go this year.

Any pointers from the experienced?

The basic recipe seems easy enough and I'm going for freezer skin spltting.

Where I'm a bit unsure is where to store the brew until it matures. Googling got me everything from an unheated
garage to an airing cupboard. A cool dark place seemed to be favourite but my whole house is heated over the winter - warm
possibly but not cool.

Sorry no payment in kind for advice - if this works the output is fully committed!
 
zendog said:
Where I'm a bit unsure is where to store the brew until it matures. Googling got me everything from an unheated
garage to an airing cupboard. A cool dark place seemed to be favourite but my whole house is heated over the winter - warm
possibly but not cool.
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That reminds me, I must find time to pick some too, as I'm out!
I just leave it to one side, on the work surface in the kitchen.
Once bottled I then store the bottles along side the rest of the booze in a glass fronted cabinet.
But put it at the back so I am less tempted to sample it :D
 
The understairs cupboard is fine. A stable temperature and dark is the best. Not the airing cupboard though, that will be too warm.

Try a batch with dark muscavado sugar, it needs several months to mellow but is quite different to slow gin made with regular sugar.

Must bottle the plum gin I made coming up for three weeks ago, it's ready to come off the fruit. The remaining fruit should make a boozy crumble <hic>
 
Thanks - the understairs cupboard sounds good - I hadn't thought of that one.
Kitchen a bit too exposed to inibrieated daughter / friends possibly.

Cheers
Steve
 
Cannot help you make it but can help you drink it :)
 
zendog said:
Thanks - the understairs cupboard sounds good - I hadn't thought of that one.
Kitchen a bit too exposed to inibrieated daughter / friends possibly.

Cheers
Steve
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I have a recipe from my aunt, and she suggest a cool dark place, and also to give a good shake daily until the sugar has absorbed. Then leave for 6-8 weeks until a 'lovely red colour'.
She then suggest to put the sloes from the gin into a bottle of brandy.
 
I can save you the bother of making some, by sending you the litre or so I made in 2013 which as of yet has gone untouched!
 
I've got some gin, don't even like it but the bottle is pretty and it is locally distilled :)
Doubt it will ever be opened

product-1a.jpg
 
Put the gin on the sloes without any sugar and leave as long as you would have done anyway. Pour off the gin and add the sugar to the sloes, shake from time to time until all the sugar is dissolved then decant into the gin, mix thoroughly and bottle. That way you recover more of the alcohol.
 
sphexx said:
Put the gin on the sloes without any sugar and leave as long as you would have done anyway. Pour off the gin and add the sugar to the sloes, shake from time to time until all the sugar is dissolved then decant into the gin, mix thoroughly and bottle. That way you recover more of the alcohol.
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The sugar in the alcohol helps draw the flavour from the fruit (whichever fruit you're using).
 
Where does one find Sloes and is it too late?
 
Phil V said:
Where does one find Sloes and is it too late?
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Not too late - it's quite early actually,I usually wait until the first frosts. Found in lots of hedgerows. Like a small dark purple (almost black) plum, usually with a paler bloom on the fruit.
 
Alastair said:
Not too late - it's quite early actually,I usually wait until the first frosts. Found in lots of hedgerows. Like a small dark purple (almost black) plum, usually with a paler bloom on the fruit.
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Thanks
I think a walk out over the weekend then. :)
 
We've already had a couple of frosts this week, but the sloes have matured early this year and we picked some a couple of weeks ago, using the freezer to replicate frost.

Normally we'll mix the bottle by inversion every day for about 6 weeks, then leave it to settle for a couple of months before racking off, resettling and racking a second time. The gin is usually ready to drink after about 4-6 months, although best left for a year if you can.
 
ancient_mariner said:
although best left for a year if you can.
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And that's the problem isn't it? :D
I had some that I managed to leave for 4 years, it was like a liqueur very dark and syrupy.
(and probably about 120% proof :D)
 
Cobra said:
And that's the problem isn't it? :D
I had some that I managed to leave for 4 years, it was like a liqueur very dark and syrupy.
(and probably about 120% proof :D)
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I could do with some neat alcohol to boost the content. The gins that I'm willing to buy for this are only about 37.5% alcohol (you can get higher alcohol, but at twice the cost) and it produces a lighter liqueuer, rather than a slivovitz type drink. I do have pure ethanol for work, but there's regs around use of that for consumption and it's been in a biochemistry lab for several years now, so I'm not *completely* convinced consumption is a good idea.
 
mickledore said:
Interesting no doubt!
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I'm almost tempted to have a go at that ;)
even if its just half a bottle in case its a failure.
Well we can't go wasting a full bottle of Pernod now, can we? :D
 
Cobra said:
I'm almost tempted to have a go at that ;)
even if its just half a bottle in case its a failure.
Well we can't go wasting a full bottle of Pernod now, can we? :D
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I'd rather drink brake fluid than Pernod, but there's a company up here that produces Sloe Gin, Whisky, Vodka and others Sloemotion IIRC.
 
Everclear is a high-proof grain alcohol but not sold in the UK, I've read that you can buy high-proof alcohols from the chemist but that you need to explain you need a human-consumption version for making liqueurs.

Personally I find that 37.5-40% gin/vodka is plenty strong enough for all the liqueur recipes I make, some even require that to be diluted down with a sugar syrup.
 
I've got a couple of litres of sloe gin on the go from this year as well as some blackberry whisky, which I can't recommend too strongly!

It is said that if you don't keep the fruit in the jar dark the colour will be affected, although not the taste. I have mine in a cool dark cupboard in the house.
 
ancient_mariner said:
I could do with some neat alcohol to boost the content. The gins that I'm willing to buy for this are only about 37.5% alcohol (you can get higher alcohol, but at twice the cost) and it produces a lighter liqueuer, rather than a slivovitz type drink. I do have pure ethanol for work, but there's regs around use of that for consumption and it's been in a biochemistry lab for several years now, so I'm not *completely* convinced consumption is a good idea.
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If it's been in a lab for a few years, chances are that it's been diluted several times. An easy check is to try lighting it - if it lights easily, it's overproof, if not, it's not.
 
It's sealed in a winchester and won't have been diluted - my concern is that a pipette that wasn't perfectly clean may have been dipped in it, though in theory that should not have happened. Can one ever be too careful?

Good point about pernod - I like pastis, and that could be very interesting. Be aware there is already a lot of sugar in pernod etc.

In Austria one can buy inlander rum at 80% alcohol. :eek: It makes an excellent cough syrup with honey and lemon. :D
 
ancient_mariner said:
It's sealed in a winchester and won't have been diluted - my concern is that a pipette that wasn't perfectly clean may have been dipped in it, though in theory that should not have happened. Can one ever be too careful?

Good point about pernod - I like pastis, and that could be very interesting. Be aware there is already a lot of sugar in pernod etc.

In Austria one can buy inlander rum at 80% alcohol. :eek: It makes an excellent cough syrup with honey and lemon. :D
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"In theory" is just that - theoretical! Unless it's a brand new bottle with an intact seal, I wouldn't trust it to be as pure as the label says. Not sure which pathogens can survive a 100% Ethanol environment.

In Crete, they brew a "brandy" called Raki which is basically the same as French Marc or Italian Grappa but has fewer pesticide residues (lower chance of evil hangover!) and has a variable %age ABV. I bre it into Rakomello by bringing it to the boil with cinnamon and honey, makes a great cough syrup (or at least it removes the tickle for a while!!!)
 
Nod said:
In Crete, they brew a "brandy" called Raki
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Ah so that's what its classified as I often wondered, I thought it was for cleaning the drains TBH.
 
Takes the colour out of lots of things!!! Since it's fermented from a wine made from the leftovers of proper winemaking (stems and skins etc.) before fermenting, it qualifies as a brandy. Not being left to age in smoky barrels keeps it clear and with its distinctive flavour. It does vary hugely in quality (and strength) depending on the source; the commercially available stuff is generally relatively weak and tasteless while some of the home brewed stuff is delicious and sometimes somewhat stronger! Very occasionally, you get a taste of protoraki which is the early stuff out of the still so far stronger than what is served as a digestiv after most meals (other than breakfast!). Much research has been done into the offerings from multiple sources and we have been known to decide where to eat on the basis of the stuff.
Other uses include as a mosquito repellent, tar remover (from skin and car bodywork), indigestion remedy, cough syrup, bite itch reducer and it gets you p***ed too!
 
Nod said:
Since it's fermented from a wine made from the leftovers of proper winemaking (stems and skins etc.) before fermenting,
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I was told that it was the left overs from Ouzo ?
( but the ingredients were the same Stalks pips skins)
 
Nah, the decent ouzo is made on Lesvos. The Turks call their equivalent to ouzo raki which could be a source of confusion. (LOTS of research into ouzo has been conducted too! IOO, Ploumari is the best but the Lidl own brand is pretty good too (and easier to get over here than Ploumari. Luckily, we don't drink that much of it so haven't run out over the winter yet.)
 
This thread seems have to drifted slightly off topic ouzo - UGH.

Anyway I've gone with the BBC recipe and after some messy moments have three pounds of Sloe's, 600g sugar and three litres in a gallon demijohn.

It's already gone an rather pretty colour - roll on Christmas.

Cheers all

Steve
 
Nod said:
Nah, the decent ouzo is made on Lesvos
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Well thats what the monks told me, and I'm sure they don't lie :p
 
It's a good time for sloes now. I froze them overnight then used a spiky meat tenderizer to prick them. One batch is getting sugar now ,the other I'm going to add in 3 month's after racking off- see if that makes a difference.
 
The best ouzo (and most varieties) is made on Lesvos - unfortunately we've almost run out of Barbayannis now. I may have met Raki too. ;)

I should get some more SG going soon - the first bottle changed colour within a couple of days using frozen berries, and should be well on the way.
 
stumeech said:
I can save you the bother of making some, by sending you the litre or so I made in 2013 which as of yet has gone untouched!
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How have you managed that? Wouldn't last a week in my house!

Will have to get around to giving it a go myself sometime.
 
ancient_mariner said:
The best ouzo (and most varieties) is made on Lesvos -
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It was quite a few years ago, so I can't remember but it may have been on a day trip ( from Crete) to Lesvos.
Is there a monastery there?
 
Cobra said:
It was quite a few years ago, so I can't remember but it may have been on a day trip ( from Crete) to Lesvos.
Is there a monastery there?
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There are a couple: Pithari monastery just outside Eressos was the frst that sprang to mind.
 
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