[dabluenoggin]

Hello,
I'm a Newbie & this is my first post.

I was looking for advice on how to make Absinthe. I have been attempting to mix some up, but can definitely use input and suggestions.

The 2 batches that I have made were effective but kinda nasty/bitter.

The process that I used was as follows:

1st batch
approx 60 grams of Grand/Common wormwood (Artemisia absinthium) harvested in late June '12 (flowering) and used mainly the leaf & flowers and were sun dried for 3 days
30 grams of fennel
30 grams of anise
few grams of Star of Anise
Let steep in 1 liter of 190 proof (95%) EverCLear grain alcohol for 30 plus days

Then added other goodies such as Roman wormwood, Lemon balm, mint, hyssop herb, etc. to 1/2 of the original batch and left the other half with only original holy trinity ingredients (wormwood, fennel & anise).

2nd batch:
40 grams of Grand/Common wormwood (Artemisia absinthium) harvested in late Mid Sept (flowering) and used mainly the leaf & flowers and was dried 14 plus days
40 grams of fennel
40 grams of anise
few grams of Star of Anise

Let steep in 1 liter of 190 proof (95%) EverCLear grain alcohol for 30 plus days

Both batches were mixed w/ equal parts of 80 proof (40%) vodka prior to consuming which brought the drink down to approx 135 proof

Both batches produced that nice Absinthe effect but a bit nasty/bitter on the tongue.

I do realize that true/quality absinthe is made by letting the main ingredients steep in the spirits for at least 14 days (the longer the better) and then distilling that brew. Then the secondary ingredients such as roman wormwood, mint, hyssop, etc are added. Also, the taste sould become extremely refined /improved after the distillation process.

Does anyone have answers to some or all of the following questions:

What percent of Thujone is lost when the steeped/macerated spirit mix is distilled?
(40%, 50%, 90%??)

When is the best time to harvest the wormwood to get the highest level of Thujone out of the plant?

What parts of the wormwood plant have the highest level of Thujone? I have heard that it was the stalk, but I would have thought it would be the flower & leaf.

Is it necessary to discard the first 10ml of spirits that come out of the still when distilling the absinthe. Not sure since starting the distillation process w/ almost pure spirits.

Can anyone suggest a simple still design (such as using a 20qt (20 liter) SS stock pot with a thermometer & 10ft (3m) copper tubing attached to lid then the coiled copper tubing is fed through bucket w/ ice H2O (in & out) to the end where the goodies are gathered.)?

Any idea on the amount of wormwood that can be added to 1 liter of spirits before the thujone levels become a real health risk (assuming that 2- 4 shots are consumed in one sitting)?

If distillation is not an option, then how much of an effect will running the macerated/steeped mix through an activated carbon filter (Brita H2O filter) several times have on the quality & taste?

Has anyone ever had any experience w/ smoking wormwood (Artemisia absinthium)?
I'm guessing it tastes NASTY NASTY/ terrible

.

I obviously have a lot to learn about the process, but any info, recipes and/or tales of past experiences will be greatly appreciated.

[xcj]

You should add dried catnip, it really brings out the tujone whether you smoke the artemisia absinthium or drink it.
It's the real reason why they were tripping on absinthe before the ban.

[Artemis]

First, there aren't many people here who can read English.

But I doubt anybody here would take 90% of those questions seriously in any case.

I will give you some answers that you can take to the bank. There are only two ways to make absinthe, by distillation and by mixing oils (that are also obtained by distillation) with ethanol. Nothing else is going to create absinthe no matter how you go about it. Thujone is completely irrelevant. Anybody who tells you differently is a fool or a liar, or both.

Ce message a été modifié par Artemis - Oct 12 2012, 08:59 PM.

[Marc]

I do realize that true/quality absinthe is made by letting the main ingredients steep in the spirits for at least 14 days (the longer the better) and then distilling that brew.

This is all wrong to start with, the longer is not the better, one night of maceration is enough before distilling.

[pierreverte]

How long has this been going on?

[pierreverte]

Ce message a été modifié par pierreverte - Oct 13 2012, 02:06 AM.

[EdouardPerneau]

This is all wrong to start with, the longer is not the better, one night of maceration is enough before distilling.

maybe not ™ some recipe call for 48 and early one call for a week