Homemade Absinthe Question

[justinkl75]

Has anyone who has ever made homemade absinthe by steeping wormwood and other herbs in alcohol ever soaked their wormwood in water first? I heard that soaking the wormwood in water for a few days to a week helps to get rid of the absinthins which are water soluble from the wormwood and leaves the thujone behind because it is only alcohol soluble. I recently tried this but was worried because after 4 days of soaking the wormwood in water in a sealed jar it started to smell a bit weird so I thought it was going bad or something. Durring the time it was soaking I mixed it a bit here and there with a wooden spoon, changed the water once and then also squeezed it a tiny bit when I strained it to get the water out of the wormwood. I am worried that this might of gotten rid of some of the thujone from it if I messed with the herbs too much, hopefully most of it was left behind. Has anyone ever tried doing this before soaking the wormwood in alcohol? If so how exactly did you do it with steps and for how long, and did it make any difference in the bitterness of the final product? And did it still yield an absinthe with a strong thujone effect even though you steeped it in water first?

 

[Asante]

Don't. Even. Try. That.

The result will be utterly unpalatable and undrinkable. It would be like drinking pure bile.

Instead, use a wok still. A wok still is a contraption you can slap together in your kitchen from a wok, a big soup pot, a smaller recepticle jar and a stand.

It goes like this:

1)put a soup kettle on the stove.
2)put in the soup kettle: 2 liter/quarts flavorless vodka, 25 grams/1oz wormwood herb, 25gr/1oz anise seed, 25gr/1oz fennel seed and cover with a lid.
3)let sit for 24-48 hours.
4)put a stand in the soup kettle and the smaller receptacle, that can receive 1 liter/quart on top of it, just above the vodka and herbs.
5)put a wok on the soup kettle as a lid and fill the wok with water.
6)light the stove and let it boil. (takes about 15min on full blast)
7)refresh the water in the wok every 10min with cold water.
8 )let a liter/quart collect in the recepticle (this takes about 40min) put the stove out when you check!
9)pour the liter/quart absinthe in a glass bottle. Add 10ml foodgrade glycerin if desired. Aerate.
10)flush the contents of the soup kettle and recharge with new vodka+herbs. Cycle of 1 hour produces 1 liter/quart of 70-80%/140-160 proof absinthe.

Thats how you make a fine Absinthe that rivals stuff you buy for top dollar.

Mods, this a steaming cooking technique, not a synthesis.