# “Bathtub” gin. . . huh? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 11, 2019, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bathtub-gin-huh/840060 "2019-09-11T18:18:02Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2019, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bathtub-gin-huh/840060/1 "2019-09-11T18:18:02Z")
Of course, anyone who has encountered references to life in Prohibition-era USA has heard about the concept of “bathtub gin,” apparently a libation that people would use to get their drunk on when circumstances (geographical or financial) made speakeasies inaccessible to them. It’s always been my understanding that gin is a distilled spirit. As such, I’m finding it difficult to conceptualize how one could make it in a bathtub (my internal Venn Diagram of the sets of properties possessed by both bathtubs and distilleries is kinda teensy). So did your average apartment dweller during the 1920s actually have a still operating in his bathroom? Or is the whole term “bathtub gin” a metaphorical way of denoting “opportunistically improvised methods for obtaining alcoholic beverages?” ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2019, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bathtub-gin-huh/840060/2 "2019-09-11T18:23:16Z")
I’m not pretending it’s authoritative, but: [Bathtub gin - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bathtub_gin) ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2019, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bathtub-gin-huh/840060/3 "2019-09-11T18:25:55Z")
The [Wikipedia page](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bathtub_gin) implies that actual bathtub gin (as opposed to broader use of the term) was made by taking grain ethanol and mixing in botanical flavorings and then topping it off with tap water from a bathtub. ---
**Author:** ![thelurkinghorror](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7c8e57/32.png) [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2019, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bathtub-gin-huh/840060/4 "2019-09-11T18:37:05Z")
You [don’t _need_ a still](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fractional_freezing#Alcoholic_beverages), so you could still technically make some in a bathtub + freezer. I am in no way suggesting that bathtub gin was ever made in this fashion. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2019, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bathtub-gin-huh/840060/5 "2019-09-11T19:13:14Z")
You still (hee) have to macerate your botanicals in your alcohol base if you want gin, and the nearest big (no, bigger than that) tub people have is just that…the tub. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2019, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bathtub-gin-huh/840060/6 "2019-09-11T19:26:44Z")
I always assumed it was the mash that was fermented in a bathtub, before distillation. You need a large container to ferment the mash. A bathtub would probably serve quite well. ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2019, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bathtub-gin-huh/840060/7 "2019-09-11T20:17:13Z")
> [@Mangetout](#): > > I always assumed it was the mash that was fermented in a bathtub, before distillation. You need a large container to ferment the mash. A bathtub would probably serve quite well. Does it need to be in a sealed container to ferment? Wiki doesn’t say. If my mother-in-law were still alive, I could ask her - her parents were bootleggers. Don’t know if they made their own. Regards, Shodan ---
**Author:** ![Treppenwitz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treppenwitz/32/3445_2.png) [@Treppenwitz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Treppenwitz)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2019, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bathtub-gin-huh/840060/8 "2019-09-11T20:29:41Z")
> [@Shodan](#): > > Does it need to be in a sealed container to ferment? Wiki doesn’t say. Don’t know about gin, but beer was traditionally fermented in open vessels. [Here’s one](https://www.samuelsmithsbrewery.co.uk/) still (hee again) in use at Sam Smith’s in Tadcaster. Scroll down just a tad (haw). Can’t see why it would necessarily be any different for gin. j ---
**Author:** ![thelurkinghorror](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7c8e57/32.png) [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2019, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bathtub-gin-huh/840060/9 "2019-09-11T20:56:44Z")
> [@Shodan](#): > > Does it need to be in a sealed container to ferment? Wiki doesn’t say. > > If my mother-in-law were still alive, I could ask her - her parents were bootleggers. Don’t know if they made their own. > > Regards, > Shodan Fermentation is yeast + nutrients = alcohol + gas. A sealed container needs to be vented, either by occasionally opening it or a self-venting apparatus. Open containers are fine but risk contamination. The best compromise is a semi-sealed container that keeps the CO2 in the container, but leaks out excess to avoid explosion, generally through a water-filled airlock, though a balloon stretched over the top with a pinprick can work too. As alcohol is inhospitable for many bacteria, “contaminated” in this context doesn’t mean potentially harmful so much as anything that will add “off” flavors. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2019, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bathtub-gin-huh/840060/10 "2019-09-11T21:06:56Z")
If the product is then distilled and sold to people who will drink _anything_, a few off flavors are nothing to worry about. ---
**Author:** ![Sunny\_Daze](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunny_daze/32/438_2.png) [@Sunny\_Daze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunny_Daze)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2019, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bathtub-gin-huh/840060/11 "2019-09-11T21:42:19Z")
> [@thelurkinghorror](#): > > As alcohol is inhospitable for many bacteria, “contaminated” in this context doesn’t mean potentially harmful so much as anything that will add “off” flavors. I can attest to this. I watched my then fiancé and friends as they proudly created what came to be known as the “red ant” batch of homemade beer. It was horrendous. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![thelurkinghorror](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7c8e57/32.png) [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2019, 9:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bathtub-gin-huh/840060/12 "2019-09-11T21:58:49Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > If the product is then distilled and sold to people who will drink _anything_, a few off flavors are nothing to worry about. True, but speaking generally as I don’t think a Prohibition speakeasy employee could pop over to the local homebrew store. In some cases, getting contaminated by airborne yeast is intentional, e.g. with lambic or some methods of cider/applejack making. ---
**Author:** ![jasg](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f0a364/32.png) [@jasg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jasg)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2019, 11:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bathtub-gin-huh/840060/13 "2019-09-11T23:46:55Z")
> [@Shodan](#): > > Does it need to be in a sealed container to ferment? Wiki doesn’t say. > > If my mother-in-law were still alive, I could ask her - her parents were bootleggers. Don’t know if they made their own. > > Regards, > Shodan Here is a [picture](https://imgur.com/a/hIYPmVJ) of a prohibition era still - looks more like a copper washtub than a bathtub but easy to see how it could work with a metal bathtub…