Get a Dedicated Gin Still: Why Your Gin Design Isn’t Working

Gin stills are very near and dear to our hearts since most of us here at StillDragon are gin enthusiasts. Producing gin can have some challenges that make it a little more difficult to effectively add it to your production rotation but thankfully they’re not insurmountable. The simplest way to get around most of these challenges is to have a dedicated gin still but like with most things in life there’s a cost benefit analysis you’ll want to do before deciding what’s best for you.

Dedicated gin stills are a wonderful thing but it can be painful to sacrifice your limited floor space when you’re first getting started in addition to adding expense. They have so many advantages though that if you’re planning on making gin at any kind of volume past a test batch they are normally well worth the space and the money.

Oils from the botanicals that give gin its distinctive flavors and aromas are wonderful in the gin bottle but they can be difficult to clean off of still parts and they’re not so great when they contaminate other products. Since vapor infusion comes so late in the distillation process you may be able to get away with a dedicated gin product condenser instead of an entire dedicated gin system.

This can be a great cost savings method for vapor infused gin but it won’t work for maceration. For macerated gins there are still some cost saving methods you can take to make adding a dedicated gin still more palatable.

One method is to use a fairly basic set up with a single walled kettle to save money. Single walled kettles are much less expensive than the jacketed variety but you run an increased risk of scorching any residual solids or proteins in the kettle charge. You can mostly get around this with maceration by using muslin bags or filtering the solids before distillation but different ingredients can react differently to high heats.

Another benefit of using a dedicated kettle, especially if gin isn’t your primary product, is that it can double as a recipe development still depending on the volume you want to make. Testing recipes and controlling quality will be crucial to trying any new product, especially something as complex as gin.

Quality control issues can cost customers. Most people who aren’t gin drinkers don’t want their favorite spirit to taste like gin. In fact most gin drinkers don’t want other spirits to taste like gin either! By not having dedicated gin stills you could be turning away potential raving fans of your brand by not putting your best foot forward with every bottle.

We’d love to be a part of you making your best spirit and being a wild success so please reach out to us and let us know how we can help!