To minimize the energy of the initial system we use a soft-core van der Waals potential as used in alchemical free energy simulations, and gradually couple the system from partially interacting (λ = 0.6) to fully interacting (λ = 1) over the course of 10 energy minimization simulations. This progression allows the overlaps to slowly resolve without the explosion of the system. We then solvate the minimized system with glycerol.