Shoutout to poleslav for telling me to ignore the thermometer and giving general encouragement. My distillation efficiency was absolutely terrible and I got the balance of juniper and hibiscus way off, so it's sweeter than I intended, but it's definitely pleasantly drinkable.
For those that can't read my handwriting, it was a super basic barley mash to make the base alcohol, then juniper, hibiscus, rose, and elderflower as botanicals.
Thanks! I'm not planing on using hibiscus or rose, I'm wanting to produce a 'gin' with all botanicals grown on my property. Was thinking of using cypress and blue spruce boughs for the 'juniper' (hence the 'gin'), I've got a bit of coriander seed I grew this summer, dried lemon balm, and elderflowers. I've also got mugwort, rosemary, lavender, costmary, mint, and some other stuff. I'm not sure I'm gonna use any of those or not yet.
That sounds lovely. I've never thought about a spruce spirit before, but I am quite a fan of spruce beer and can definitely see how it would fit in that role
I've used it in a number of beers and it's always been a hit.