im doing my sloe gin again this year, i use 454g (1 pound) of sloes and 250g of sugar mixed with 750ml of gin, turn every day (do not shake) untill the sugars disolved, then after that every few days i give it a good old shake, it changes colour after a few days, then after a 4 months i will test and then remove the slows through muslin, and whats left of the sloes ill just make up a random guess 'sloe gin' last years turned out quite nice