How It's Made: Gin

[Music] gin is a distilled alcoholic spirit it's flavored primarily with juniper berries in fact the word gin is believed to come from genever the dutch word for juniper it's the base for many popular mixed drinks such as the martini the singapore sling and of course gin and tonic this microdistillery produces gin in small batches using the slower distillation process they don't add any sweeteners artificial flavoring or coloring at this distillery everything is done by hand starting with the main ingredient juniper berries then spices are added dried angelica plant roots [Music] coriander seeds [Music] lemon peel and cardamom all these ingredients go into a 90 gallon copper still a spirit distilled from fermented grain is already in the still it's completely tasteless but has an alcohol content of 95 percent to lower the alcohol level to 40 percent they've diluted it with spring water now they prepare to redistill with the spices this gives the spirit its distinct chin flavor to do this they slowly heat the bottom of the still in about an hour the alcohol boils and begins to evaporate they continue distilling for about six hours constantly monitoring the temperature if the temperature reaches 212 degrees the water will also evaporate ruining the batch the alcohol steam rises up and out of the still through pipes leading to a chilled stainless steel tank when the hot steam hits the cold it condenses back to a liquid creating gin [Music] throughout the distillation process they take samples to measure the density and temperature these readings reflect the current alcohol level they adjust the distillation speed as required to produce a target alcohol level of 76 percent [Music] only the middle of each batch known as the heart of the distillation is collected [Music] this particular distillery adds another step they infuse the gin with raw parsnips this gives it an earthy flavor and subtle floral aroma they peel and slice the parsnips place them in a tank then pump in the gin [Music] after a couple of days they pump it through filters on the way to a storage tank then they dilute the gin with water to lower the alcohol level to 43 before bottling the distillery draws samples for quality control testing they examine the color the aroma and of course the taste there will be slight variations in flavor based on the freshness of the parsnips this micro distillery has no automated bottling line they fill the bottles by hand only six at a time they cork each bottle individually with a hand operated press they apply a plastic sleeve which they heat shrink tightly over the neck [Music] the consumer pulls a small gold tab to remove the seal and uncork the bottle [Music] this hand operated machine labels one bottle at a time the machine removes the backing to expose the adhesive then presses the label onto the bottle [Music] this is a london dry gin meaning it's made with the traditional ingredients and contains no added sweeteners or colorings this distillation process is how gin was made before the age of large commercial [Music] distilleries you

Channel: Science Channel

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Keywords: How It's Made, production line, factory made, mechanical production, how do they do it, everyday items, how it's made full episodes, how its made, how it's made episodes, how to make

Id: 7X-3DF_CbU0

Length: 5min 25sec (325 seconds)

Published: Sat Oct 17 2020