Hello all, I'm pretty excited by just how much bitters have exploded recently. I've only been into the whole scene for a little while and there is so much to try and experiment with! I am also making my own bitters now and since when I get into something I become obsessed with it, there is no going half way. I currently have 34 mason jars of botanicals macerating. I am trying both the mixed and individual routes, with 5 jars of pre-mixed roots and herbs, and 29 individual tinctures. For mixes I am making two recipes from a book I bought, a Raisin Btters and a Cola Bitters. I am also doing two variations on a personal recipe; Lime and Black Pepper Bitters lime peel black peppercorns cardamom fennel seeds star anise licorice root cinnamon cloves One in rye and one in vodka. Then I have a faux Root Beer Bitters sarsparilla root burdock root cinnamon vanilla bean star anise licorice root Spearmint (couldn't find wintergreen) molasses for individual ones I just grabbed everything I could from my local herb and spice store. I've read most of this thread, and I have some questions. I'm doing both an orange peel and a lemon peel tincture in addition to the two lime focused mixes, so it sounds like this jelly thing is something I'm going to have to deal with. When should I expect that to start forming and is there anything that can be done to minimize it? Is macerating the botanicals for longer better or can I macerate them for too long? and how long is too long? Thanks for all the information you have shared already, this has been a good read. I'll let you all know how they are once they're done. Cheers!