A homemade gin that has come out yellow or light amber is behaving exactly as it should. The colour comes from the dried orange and lemon peel in the botanical blend, which gives up its pigment along with its flavour, and because nothing is redistilled after the steep, that colour stays in the bottle. Clear commercial gins look the way they do because they are redistilled once the botanicals have gone in, which leaves the colour behind in the still. Your gin is a compound gin, and compound gins are usually tinted. It is not a fault, and there is nothing to fix.
Where does the colour come from?
Mostly from the citrus peel. Dried orange and lemon peel are among the most generous botanicals there are for colour, and they release it into a spirit over a few days in the same way tea leaves release colour into hot water. Other botanicals contribute too: anything with pigment in it will give some up.
The blend in our Gin Making Kit is built around bright citrus, with lemongrass, lemon and orange peel alongside fragrant coriander and allspice, and juniper holding the middle. Those are the ingredients doing the flavour work, and the colour is simply what comes with them. You could not have the one without the other.
Why are shop bought gins clear?
Because of a step you are not doing. A distilled gin has its botanicals macerated in or suspended above a neutral spirit and then the whole lot is redistilled. The alcohol and the volatile aromatic compounds evaporate and are condensed back into a clear liquid, while the plant solids, the pigments and the heavier compounds stay behind in the pot.
So a commercial gin can have had hibiscus, orange peel and saffron through it and still pour water clear. The colour never crosses the still. Any colour you see in a bottle on a shop shelf has usually been put back in afterwards, which is a different decision entirely.
Redistilling is not something to attempt at home, and not only for practical reasons. Since 1 February 2025, producing alcoholic products, including spirits, requires HMRC's Alcoholic Products Producer Approval, and producing without the appropriate approval is an offence, according to GOV.UK. Infusing, which is what you have done, produces nothing and needs no approval.
Does the colour tell you anything useful?
A little. A deeper colour generally means a longer or more generous steep, because the pigment arrives on the same schedule as the flavour. If your gin has come out noticeably darker than a previous batch, you probably left the botanicals in longer, or measured with a heavier hand, and the taste will usually confirm it.
What the colour does not tell you is the strength. Infusing does not dilute or concentrate a spirit, so a deep amber batch and a pale one made from the same vodka are the same percentage. It is flavour and pigment that vary, not alcohol.
Is yellow the same as cloudy?
No, and it is worth separating the two, because they have different causes and different answers. Colour is a tint you can see through. Haze is a loss of clarity, where the liquid looks milky or veiled rather than tea coloured.
A slight haze from natural botanicals is normal. If it bothers you, strain the gin again through the sieve or a filter bag, without squeezing, and then chill it. It will not affect the taste. The usual cause of an unnecessarily cloudy batch is pressing the filter bag hard to get the last few millilitres out, which pushes fine sediment through with the liquid. Let it drip, give it only a gentle press, and accept losing a small amount.
What about sediment in the bottle?
Also normal, also harmless. A little fine sediment settling on the bottom of a bottle of compound gin is what happens when a natural product is left to stand, and it is the same reason a good bottle of unfiltered cider throws a deposit.
If you want to be rid of it, give the bottle a day or two undisturbed so everything drops, then carefully decant the clear gin off the top into a second clean bottle, stopping before you reach the last centimetre. Straining more carefully next time, with no squeezing, will reduce it at source.
Can you make a paler gin at home?
You can nudge it. A shorter steep gives less colour as well as less flavour, so tasting with the pipette and straining as soon as the gin tastes right will keep it lighter than leaving it a full week out of habit. A careful, unhurried strain helps too, since much of what darkens a batch in the last stage is fine material carried through by pressing.
Beyond that, you are trading. Cutting the citrus peel right back would lighten the colour and take a good deal of the character with it, which is a poor bargain. Our honest advice is to stop thinking of the amber as a defect. Serve it in a decent glass with plenty of ice, good tonic and a citrus garnish, and the colour reads as a homemade gin rather than a failed one, which is precisely what it is.
Homemade gin colour FAQs
Why is my homemade gin yellow?
The dried orange and lemon peel in the botanical blend gives up its colour along with its flavour, and since compound gin is not redistilled afterwards, that colour stays in the bottle. It is completely normal.
Is yellow gin safe to drink?
Yes. The colour is pigment from the botanicals you steeped, nothing more. Nothing has gone wrong, and the gin is the same as it would be if you could not see the tint.
Why are commercial gins clear?
They are redistilled after the botanicals are added, and the colour is left behind in the still. That step cannot legally be done at home without HMRC approval.
My gin is cloudy rather than coloured, what do I do?
A slight haze from natural botanicals is normal. Strain it again through the sieve or a filter bag without squeezing, then chill it. It will not affect the taste.
How do I get a lighter coloured gin?
Taste as you go with the kit pipette and strain as soon as the flavour is right, rather than leaving it the full time out of habit. A shorter steep and a gentle strain give a paler result.
Fancy making your next batch your own way? Browse our gin making kits.
