Anyone tried Prohibition kits or those other spirit kits?

[RatboyOllie]

How do everyone,

im very intrigued by those Prohibition kits you see at the homebrew stores, or those kits that just make a spirit base on or around 20% and then you add whichever essence you like to flavour. Bit worried though, seems almost too good to be true, 6 bottles of 20% spirit for £5.99 then you just buy a little bottle of essence at £1.50 and its done. Surely cant be as good as the real thing?

Anyone had any experience with these and if so which would you recommend both spirit base wise and flavouring wise? The missus and her sister like to drink cocktails so for a couple of quid a bottle it seems like a great starting point.

Someone out there must've tried these kits, anyone anythin to report?

cheers everyone

Ollie

[b.all]

been considering doing it for a while also as i thought they'd made pretty good cheap drinks to give people. the cost is slightly higher than you've put down as to get that much alcohol you're going to need to give it a fairly large amount of sugar, i think the kit just includes the yeast and chemicals needed.

[robz77]

Got one myself, had it for about a year.

I drink Jack daniels normally and it's just the same as the real stuff.

From shop to drinking in around a week, payback takes around 10 weeks depending on how much your still was and so forth.

Best Christmas present I ever got!!

[Benson_JV]

payback takes around 10 weeks depending on how much your still was and so forth.

Hang on, for those kits, you don't need a still do you? You only use super yeast i thought, are you distilling?

[robz77]

payback takes around 10 weeks depending on how much your still was and so forth.

Hang on, for those kits, you don't need a still do you? You only use super yeast i thought, are you distilling?

Sorry, Thats what I thought you were on about, The essences I buy start at £1.50 so I assumed it was.

And me? distilling?? Never!!

[Kristoff]

I did the prohibition Gin kit, and no you don't have to distill, and whilst the gin tasted OK, a bit watery and sweet, but not too bad with ice, tonic and lemon.
It was a PITA as you had to keep adding different sachets of ingedients, and each time agitate the DJ or transfer.One of the additions, the carbon I think, you had to shake it 3 times a day for 3 days. It took about 6 weeks before I had something drinkable, and got aa ABV of 22%
I'd recommend doing one if you've got the kit and the inclination. TBH i'd rather spend my time and effort producing BEER

[RatboyOllie]

cheers lads, im a bit lost now

what kit is the Jack Daniels one???????

I also live off this stuff and if I can replicate it with a kit then I NEED to do it !!!

deffo gonna try one of these though, i quite like playin about with em so adding stuff here and there and shakin the shit out of it every day hasnt put me off, cheers for info though

[DREADSKIN]

If you want to make it stronger stick it in a plastic bottle and freeze it a bit

[lolarhamster]

Hi

I made the orange liquour about 15 year ago - it was very sickly - but we drunk it! They may have got better these days

L x

[Mitchamitri]

I'd suggest jacking - or dont they do it anyway with these kits? - which is freezing it then puring the unfrozen drink off - this will increase the alcohol content. Then add some neat cheap vodka to get closer to your 40%.
Obviously I didnt suggest this really - I dont know if jacking exposes you to the same risks that distilling does.

[arturobandini]

I thought this was illegal but then read recently that freezing alcohol in the manner of an Eisbock is legal here in the UK.

[adm]

Is it even really "spirit" if it's not distilled?

Wouldn't it just be essentially 20% ABV sugar based wine (wash?) after the yeast is done with it? Then if you were to distill that, you'd get spirit?

And of course, those handy dandy little water distillation units that the HBS sells......if you were to put the wash into one of those and press the button (which is of course highly illegal and not recommended by this poster in any way, shape or form.) then you'd end up with 40% or so real spirit ?

[Mitchamitri]

there are risks in actual distilling, so it wouldnt be recommended. ANyone inetrested could start by ordering The Alaskan Bootlegger Bible off amazon - from the point of view of this site I am sure that the risks far outweigh the benefits so its not a topic we'd discuss.

Whereas jacking - that's legal!!

[sparky Paul]

I thought this was illegal but then read recently that freezing alcohol in the manner of an Eisbock is legal here in the UK.

I thought it was always illegal to produce spirits in this way - I'm not sure what percentage of alcohol would constitute a spirit, or if it is process specific. The Alcoholic Liquor Duties Act states that "No person shall manufacture spirits, whether by distillation of a fermented liquor or by any other process..."

In any case, the main problem with freeze distillation is that you are concentrating the dangerous tops and tails, particularly the higher levels of methyl alcohols found in stuff fermented from fruit. I know it's only anecdotal, but I did know a retired gentleman who had, for many years, fortified his wines with spirit made this way... and yes, he ended up only partially sighted...

[Mitchamitri]

I havent heard anywhere that freezejacking is dangerous but that doesnt mean to say it isnt - I guess if you want to up your alc content its safest just to add some vodka (or 151 if you have some)