Home-infused gin takes days rather than weeks: our standard Gin Making Kit infuses in under a week, the Ultimate kit gets there in a couple of days, and the colour-changing infusion is done in about twelve hours. The more useful answer, though, is that gin is ready when it tastes right to you, which is why every kit includes a pipette and why the clock is only ever a guide. This piece explains what governs infusion time, how to tell the moment has arrived, and what to do if you overshoot or come up short.
Infusion is not a chemical reaction with a fixed end point. It is an extraction, and extraction keeps going for as long as the botanicals sit in the spirit. That means there is no moment at which the gin is finished and no moment at which it is spoiled. There is only the moment you decide to strain.
How long does each infusion take?
As a rough map of the territory:
- A standard botanical infusion: under a week. Long enough for the juniper to establish itself and the citrus to soften into it.
- A generous botanical blend: a couple of days can be plenty. More botanicals in the same volume of spirit means faster extraction, which is why the Ultimate kit, with its thirteen premium botanicals, gets there quicker than you might expect.
- Blue pea flowers for colour-changing gin: around twelve hours. You are extracting a natural pigment rather than building a flavour profile, and it happens fast.
- Sloes: months. Sloe gin is a different animal, best made in two steps by finishing your gin first and then steeping washed sloes and sugar in it for a few months, tasting now and then.
Notice how wide that range is. It is not inconsistency, it is the difference between pulling colour from a flower and pulling flavour and sugar out of a hard, tannic winter fruit.
Why does infusion time vary so much?
Four things move the needle, and understanding them makes you far better at judging your own batches.
Surface area. Anything crushed, cracked, sliced or peeled gives up its flavour faster than something whole. Juniper berries lightly crushed will infuse noticeably quicker than berries left intact. Fresh citrus peel cut into long strips with a vegetable peeler releases oils very readily indeed.
The botanical itself. Delicate, aromatic material such as flowers, leaves and soft herbs gives up almost everything it has in a matter of hours. Hard, resinous, woody things like juniper, allspice, coriander seed and spices take days. Roots and barks take longer still, and they are the ones most likely to turn a gin bitter if left indefinitely.
The ratio. More botanical in less spirit is simply a stronger brew. If you have bought a 500ml bottle of vodka rather than a 700ml one, add the full sachets as normal and expect it to be ready sooner, since the same quantity of botanicals is working on less liquid.
Temperature and light. Room temperature is right. There is no need for a pitch-black cupboard, just somewhere out of direct sunlight with the lid on to keep the dust out. Warmth speeds extraction slightly, which is not something worth engineering.
How do you know when it is ready?
You taste it. That is the whole method, and it is far more reliable than any timetable.
Use the pipette to draw off a few drops each day, dilute them with a splash of tonic or water if neat spirit is hard to judge, and ask two questions. Is the juniper clearly present, that clean, piney, faintly resinous note that makes gin gin? And is anything shouting over everything else? A well-balanced infusion tastes layered, with citrus and spice arranged around the juniper rather than competing with it.
The moment it tastes right, strain. Pour it through the metal sieve or a filter bag into a jug, and if you have used a bag, let it drip and give it only the gentlest press. Squeezing hard pushes fine sediment through and clouds the gin. Then funnel it into a clean recycled spirit bottle or a swing-top, label it with the date and blend, and store it sealed and out of sunlight. It will keep for twelve months, though that is an optimistic estimate of how long any bottle survives in practice.
A practical note on vessels: infusing straight in the vodka bottle works, but fishing the botanicals back out through the neck afterwards is a genuine faff. A large jar or any wide-mouthed container makes straining much easier, and you decant into the bottle at the end.
What if you leave it too long, or not long enough?
Both are entirely fixable, which is the reassuring thing about infusion.
Too weak. It needed longer, or a touch more botanical. Put the botanicals back in and give it more time, and on the next batch simply steep for longer and taste as you go until it lands where you want it.
Too strong or harsh. It infused too long. Soften this batch by topping it up with a little more plain vodka, which dilutes the botanicals without diluting the character, and strain earlier next time.
Cloudy. A slight haze from natural botanicals is entirely normal. Strain again through the sieve or a filter bag without squeezing, and chill it. It does not affect the taste.
Sediment in the bottle. Also normal. Let it settle, then decant the clear gin off the top.
Does the same timing apply to your own botanicals?
Broadly yes, with two rules worth taking seriously. Use whole ingredients rather than powders, because ground spices are very hard to filter out and will leave you with a permanently murky bottle. And go easy on dried ingredients, no more than about a teaspoon, since dried material is concentrated and can flatten a blend in a single day.
Beyond that, experiment freely. Different citrus, different spices, different quantities: the pipette is there so you can follow what is happening rather than guess. Once the kit's own botanicals have run out, a good starting blend for a 700ml batch is the peel of a quarter of an orange, the peel of half a lemon, half a teaspoon of allspice and half a teaspoon of coriander seeds, alongside 10g of juniper berries. Fresh peel gives an even brighter citrus note than dried.
Gin infusion FAQs
How long should I infuse gin for?
Under a week for a standard botanical blend, a couple of days for a more generous one, and about twelve hours for a blue pea flower colour infusion. Taste as you go and strain when it is right for you.
Can you over-infuse gin?
You can push it too far, which gives a harsh or overly strong flavour. It is easily softened by topping the batch up with a little plain vodka.
Does gin infuse faster in a warm room?
Slightly, but room temperature out of direct sunlight is all you need. There is no benefit in trying to force it.
Should I crush the juniper berries?
Lightly crushing increases surface area and speeds extraction. Whole berries work perfectly well, they simply take a little longer.
How long does the finished gin keep?
Twelve months, stored sealed and out of direct sunlight. Colour-changing gin keeps for up to a year once strained and bottled too.
Start a batch this week: see our gin making kits, hand-packed in Britain.
