Brewed Gin and Tonic

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Richie_asg1

Richie_asg1

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I am going to have a go to see how close I can get to brewing a gin and tonic drink.
It doesn't have to be exact. Something close will do.

My theory is this; I don't want to brew and distil alcohol and make Gin, only to stick a load of water with it that brings it back down to 5% ABV.

I can brew an alcoholic beverage that uses sloes and ends up at 5% without distilling anything.
If I used a lemon and lime marmalade as a fermentable with the sloes then it will have a citrus angle. Or straight sugar, citric acid and lemon juice at the end.
If I used bottled tonic water as the water content to bring the OG to the correct level, then it will also have the quinine flavour from the tonic.

Has anyone tried this before I head off into the unknown? :-?
 
They laughed at the Wright Brothers....
you could be on the verge of greatness:pray:
But seriously, whiskey is made from malt, so a scotch & dry ginger brew could be on the cards as well.
 
Good idea if it comes off.

Two points.

1. The quinine element of tonic kills off the malaria bug so what it will do to a fermenting yeast is anyones guess. If they kill the yeast then maybe the quinine flavour can be added after fermentation has taken place. I take prescribed 500mg quinine sulphate tablets to stop leg cramps after long bike rides. This means that they are available from chemists but I'm not sure whether or not they can be bought without a prescription.

2. To get the "gin" flavour a fair number of juniper berries will be required either in the brew itself or as a "tea" adjunct before bottling. They are readily available in good food ingredient shops. (I use them in venison stews in the winter.)

Whatever happens, please keep us posted on progress. :thumb: :thumb:
 
First lesson learned. Sloe gin is made with sloes and gin.

....Gin is made with Juniper. :doh:
:mrgreen:
 
Found a recipe for Juniper wine - https://books.google.co.uk/books?id...nepage&q=white grape and juniper wine&f=false
In Mackenzie's 5,000 Receipts 1829

" Juniper - Berry Wine.
Take of cold soft water 18 gallons, Malaga or Smyrna raisins, 35 lbs. Juniper berries, 9 quarts, red tartar, 4 ounces, wormwood and sweet marjoram, each 2 handsful, British spirit. 2 quarts or more, Ferment for 10 or 12 days, This will make eighteen gallons."

They seem to use Red Tartar, which I found is the lees from making red wine so is essentially trub or yeast hulls probably to serve as yeast nutrient. They also use "British Spirit" which is sadly in short supply.
Wormwood is also toxic, but maybe not in the concentration used of a handful in 18 gallons remembering that Gin was supposed to be medicinal. It is banned for use in foods in the US - but not in the UK.
 
Tried looking at Indian Tonic waters from many places - but most had saccharin or acesulfame k and sucralose in them.... as well as sucrose, and this wasn't even their diet types. I think they are trying to poison us. :-(
Then I found that Sainsbury's own brand - at 40p a litre didn't have any! So will be using that.

My pear cider has turned out very pale, so pear juice could be a cheaper starting point than white grape.
Raisins and Juniper berries have turned up, so next quest is for tonic water. Pears in Juice are 410g for 75p in Asda and Tesco's.
 
Richie_asg1 said:
Tried looking at Indian Tonic waters from many places - but most had saccharin or acesulfame k and sucralose in them.... as well as sucrose, and this wasn't even their diet types. I think they are trying to poison us. :-(
Then I found that Sainsbury's own brand - at 40p a litre didn't have any! So will be using that.

My pear cider has turned out very pale, so pear juice could be a cheaper starting point than white grape.
Raisins and Juniper berries have turned up, so next quest is for tonic water. Pears in Juice are 410g for 75p in Asda and Tesco's.
Click to expand...

Thanks, wanted a G&T recently and couldn't find anywhere selling it without artificials in so gave up.
 
I do believe that gin is just vodka with juniper berry to flavour, it so in theory a clean alcohol base with the right flavours would work a treat.
I will follow this with interest :thumb:
 
Soton said:
I do believe that gin is just vodka with juniper berry to flavour, it so in theory a clean alcohol base with the right flavours would work a treat.
I will follow this with interest :thumb:
Click to expand...

Modern gin is probably just that as most of the gin and vodka industry in the UK uses straight ethanol and just adds water and flavouring to produce the rubbish it sells.

On the other hand, I was in a place call Poltava in Ukraine back in 2000 where the local vodka factory was celebrating "100 years of uninterrupted supply".

This in itself is amazing considering the history of Ukraine (which seems to have been invaded on a regular basis) but the vodka was something else again.

It was an absolute pleasure to drink on its own. It was like a "sipping whisky" ... :thumb:

... and it tasted nothing like the watery and almost tasteless stuff that we get here in the UK. :nono::nono:
 
Well I bought 8x 1L bottles of tonic so I'm all set to go.

Does anyone want to suggest a recipe as a starting point before I concoct my own?

I am thinking of brewing mini batches in 2L water bottles till I get close, with a couple of ciders using the same yeast and nutrient as a direct comparison to see if the tonic water affects things.
 
Richie_asg1 said:
Well I bought 8x 1L bottles of tonic so I'm all set to go.

Does anyone want to suggest a recipe as a starting point before I concoct my own?

I am thinking of brewing mini batches in 2L water bottles till I get close, with a couple of ciders using the same yeast and nutrient as a direct comparison to see if the tonic water affects things.
Click to expand...

For a first pass at a 2 litre brew I would try 500 grams of sugar, wine yeast and juniper berries.

Hope it goes well.
 
One of the British bake off contestants recently make a g&t flavoured cake. His trick was to boil and reduce the tonic down to the syrup and apply that to the recipe. I imagine that technique might work better for the beer than merely adding tonic straight to the wort.
 
Just wondering if you'd managed anything worth sharing yet?

The idea is brilliant and would be perfect for the summer!
 
Well I'm still alive although my brewing has dropped off :-?

I split the batch and tried both a boiled tonic water and a straight out of the bottle fizzy tonic water. The fear was that already being carbonated would inhibit the yeast.
Fear was dispelled as both batches were soon going as well as each other so seems to make no difference. Therefore will be using fizzy tonic water from now on.

The original recipe turned out well - very nice but a little too yellow. Drinkable but a lot stronger in juniper than I expected and had some body to it. It could do with half measures on the berries, and a bit more sugar.

I had a thought that we could go away from the traditional gin and tonic and instead go for a rose or pink colour that will hide the yellow tinge. This would make it more of a cocktail summer drink.

To this end I think I will try a few damsons or elderberry which should add a colour tint without invading flavour.

It makes a nice drink for summer.
 
Angostura bitters is added to gin to make the classic pink gin cocktail, it might be worth adding it to give the colour you want along with a twist on the taste, it should be available from most supermarkets.
 

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