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deadwing posted:What? I worked 3 AM to 12 the other day and the first goddamn thing I did when I got home was drink. That's not a normal shift for me though, so maybe the need to drink after such a shift might be decreased a little bit if it's a regular.
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Dec 29, 2011 06:20
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I'm on that shift now, and the standard plan is get home, showerbeer, and drink until I can't stand up.
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Dec 31, 2011 22:26
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God bless the showerbeer. So what it sounds like you need, lonelywurm, is something you can sip on to relax. I propose something not too sweet then. I haven't tried a basil infusion but I bet it would be degoddamlicious.
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Jan 4, 2012 00:17
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Homemade basil liqueur is the only thing I think in life that is at once the easiest, quickest, and best thing. So, so good.
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Jan 4, 2012 00:35
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betaraywil posted:God bless the showerbeer. 
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Jan 4, 2012 01:17
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Kenning posted:Homemade basil liqueur is the only thing I think in life that is at once the easiest, quickest, and best thing. So, so good. I'm probably doing this for my next round. How many leaves did you steep, and for how long? You said liqueur, did you sweeten? How much? Questions!
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Jan 4, 2012 01:23
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It's so, so easy. I've made it a lot though, so there are a few Best Practices. Most importantly, don't infuse more than 500 ml at a time. Whenever I've done a fifth or a liter all at once it just ends up just not infusing how I like. Use bunches and bunches of leaves – the vodka should just cover it. Make sure to smell the basil at the supermarket and get the most aromatic one, and start it steeping as soon as possible. It'll be done after about 24 hours, but it's good to gently shake it/swirl it a couple times while steeping. It'll either be tawny brown or greenish when it's done, but it will eventually turn brown. For basil liqueur I've found the sweet spot (heh) is 2 parts spirit to 1 part simple syrup. The convenient thing about doing a 500 ml batch is that then you can decant it into an empty fifth bottle. For the simple, just mix one part sugar and one part water in like a mason jar and shake vigorously for a minute or two. That way you won't get any cooked flavor in the syrup and it'll just sweeten the basil. Finally, if you can ahold of some liquid glycerin from a homebrew place or a drugstore you can add 1-2 Tbsp to your infusion and it'll give it a bit of texture.
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Jan 4, 2012 02:18
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Out of curiosity what's the chemistry behind not heating this stuff? I love homemade ginger ale and I would think heating up minced ginger root in booze with a little sugar would be about a thousand times quicker, or even boiling it in water and adding it to the booze?
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Jan 4, 2012 02:33
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lonelywurm posted:Not me. I work days or evenings now, but it's all spotty temp work, so as much as I'd love to, I can't justify spending the money at the LCBO for a base. Just sharing my experiences from night shift. Oh Good Lord, you're in Ontario and you can't get a drink? That's a crime against nature. What I'd give to live again in a city where every bar had Rickard's White handy... Also Kenning, you intrigue me with your talk of not more than 500 mL. My last fresh herb concoction (fifth) kind of blew, so I'mma give this a go and report back.
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Jan 4, 2012 02:51
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Not an Anthem posted:Out of curiosity what's the chemistry behind not heating this stuff? I love homemade ginger ale and I would think heating up minced ginger root in booze with a little sugar would be about a thousand times quicker, or even boiling it in water and adding it to the booze? Certain flavor compounds break down when exposed to heat, and new ones form. I don't know about ginger, but I recommended not heating the syrup because you're making a basil infusion, not a burnt sugar infusion. Now, you could make a burnt sugar infusion, or some sort of holiday spice thing that uses burnt sugar as a flavor component, and that could be good, but otherwise I like to keep the flavor of the infusion fairly unadulterated.
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Jan 4, 2012 02:57
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Kenning posted:Certain flavor compounds break down when exposed to heat, and new ones form. I don't know about ginger, but I recommended not heating the syrup because you're making a basil infusion, not a burnt sugar infusion. Now, you could make a burnt sugar infusion, or some sort of holiday spice thing that uses burnt sugar as a flavor component, and that could be good, but otherwise I like to keep the flavor of the infusion fairly unadulterated. I actually cooked my syrup from simple to very pale caramel (with cinnamon in the pot) before adding it (without the cinnamon) to an apple infusion. Came out perfect apple-pie flavor.
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Jan 4, 2012 13:38
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Any thoughts on vanilla liqueur? The idea sounds exciting to me, but I'm a little afraid of committing vanilla beans to something that might come out tasting like sweetened vanilla extract. Or is that even a bad thing? I'm also thinking about steeping in bourbon instead of vodka, or throwing in a seeded habanero.
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Jan 6, 2012 19:26
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Bourbon already has a lot of vanilla notes, so that will either be excellent or boring. In vodka if you just leave it a week or two it can be a mild vanilla flavor that you sweeten. Why not something weird? Why not pisco? Or...gin? Don't make vanilla gin.
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Jan 7, 2012 12:53
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A friend of mine is into liquor and beer in a good way. Used to work at a microbrewery up north, now he makes his own mead and is about to try his hand at beer. Over New Years I tried a concoction of his that he referred to as Mint Tincture, which is just Seagrams infused with about a pound of spearmint. It smells like cinammon and mulling spices, and tastes absolutely amazing. I don't know if it's sweetened or not, but we're planning to go to the highland games in Orlando next weekend, so I'll try and get details then.
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Jan 8, 2012 22:04
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Got some dried cherries soaking in rye since late December; in a month or so I'll strain them and let it age a little longer. What's the best use of the booze-soaked dried cherries? I take it that eating them as-is would be pretty boozy, but most things that involve baking them into something will burn off most of the alcohol? Or is there a palatable middle-ground?
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Jan 10, 2012 05:46
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TapTheForwardAssist posted:Got some dried cherries soaking in rye since late December; in a month or so I'll strain them and let it age a little longer. What's the best use of the booze-soaked dried cherries? I take it that eating them as-is would be pretty boozy, but most things that involve baking them into something will burn off most of the alcohol? Or is there a palatable middle-ground? I've eaten 151 soaked cherries before, and they are good. You could also make a frosting out of them i.e. bake a black forest cake, and put the boozy cherries on top with the cherry frosting.
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Jan 10, 2012 14:34
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I've eaten booze soaked chilis before and they were actually pretty good. I imagine something as sweet as a cherry will be even better. Apropos of which: Has anybody tried cocoa nibs and chilis in bourbon (or, since I was going to use Jack) "bourbon"? I really like chili infused bourbon, and I had a pretty okay ancho fudge pie last month, so why not make it a thing, I say?
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Jan 10, 2012 16:10
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No but report back! I've been wanting to use cacao nibs in an infusion for a while, but them shits are expensive. I'd recommend tasting every couple days, maybe even taking a little out and sweetening it to taste. I suspect it'll need a little sugar even if you want a dry infusion, just to balance the bitterness and wake up some of the flavor. Could be tasty.
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Jan 10, 2012 16:21
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Kenning posted:No but report back! I've been wanting to use cacao nibs in an infusion for a while, but them shits are expensive. Yeah, same here. Okay I guess I'll be the thread guinea pig. Once more unto the breach, dear alcies. (Who am I kidding? If it ends up that gross I'll just do shots.)
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Jan 10, 2012 17:26
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So I'm looking to do a pepper infusion for my dad for his birthday in March. He digs pepper vodka in his bloody Marys and he like very, very hot food. I have some ideas but I want to run it by more seasoned minds first... 1. I'm thinking of a multi-pepper infusion to get more complex flavors. Like bell pepper, jalapeno, and a habanero. Probably weighted in 2:2:1 (not in volume but number of peppers). Will this work? I expect the habanero to be powerful, but will it totally drown everything else? 2. What's the infusion time on peppers? Should I be adding them at different stages (ie begin with bell, add jalapeno a couple days later, add habanero a couple after that)?
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Jan 11, 2012 03:23
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I've enjoyed my dried pepper infusions more than my fresh peppers. Some dried chipotle, ancho, and guajillo do great in infusions. For fresh chilis, I'd de-seed and de-rib them, since you'll get plenty of heat anyway, and you can up the heat later, but you wanna make sure the flavor is there. Infusion times for dried chilis will be just a few days, while fresh might take a week or two. Taste frequently. I like to do separate infusions and blend them afterwards, but do what feels good. Try to leave at least a month for it to age – it'll taste a lot better that way. And I wouldn't bother with bell peppers, really.
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Jan 11, 2012 03:47
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13Pandora13 posted:So I'm looking to do a pepper infusion for my dad for his birthday in March. He digs pepper vodka in his bloody Marys and he like very, very hot food. I have some ideas but I want to run it by more seasoned minds first... First thing I would say is to do the ribs/seeds in a separate container with <(1/4) of the liquor and mix after everything's settled. You'll get a LOT of heat from them, and you'll also get a good amount of heat from the peppers themselves (including whatever rib/seed matter you don't remove all the way (it's okay this is part of the process)). Then you can mix to taste. I'm not sure what you're hoping to get out of the bell pepper. I'm talking directly out of my rear end here, but the raw ones don't really have a taste to speak of. You might want to try roasting or steaming them? But I'd still wager that the other flavors will overpower whatever you're going to get out of the bell pepper. (And that the habanero will blow away the jalapeno, but I haven't confirmed that experimentally.) Also, is he wedded to the vodka? I've made a handful of chili infusions, and the "Tennessee sour mash" ones I've made have turned out way better than the vodkas. E: F,b. &c.
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Jan 11, 2012 03:54
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I've got two infusions going, one with Nutella because I had some lying around and was curious, and one super secret recipe I'll post if it turns out awesome, I haven't had it in a few years though!
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Jan 11, 2012 16:56
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I feel like roasted hazelnut and cacao nibs would work better than the Nutella. In any case, when you want it to be done place it container with a wide mouth and chuck it in the freezer. The fat will solidify on the top of the fluid and you can remove it that way.
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Jan 12, 2012 00:13
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Nibs came today (woof. They smell rough and I feel bad for the people who are eating them because they're so chock full of magical fairy dust). Now for infusinnnnnnnnn.
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Jan 12, 2012 00:25
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Kenning posted:I feel like roasted hazelnut and cacao nibs would work better than the Nutella. In any case, when you want it to be done place it container with a wide mouth and chuck it in the freezer. The fat will solidify on the top of the fluid and you can remove it that way. I've tossed it in the freezer now, it was mainly "I had it lying around" and I wasn't trying much.
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Jan 12, 2012 02:07
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I just tossed Spiced Chai in with vodka for three minutes and oh my god
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Jan 12, 2012 04:26
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The pumpkin spice tasted merely ok when I strained it a month ago but my bro and I will have to give it a taste test soon to see if it's mellowed at all. In other news we've tried the outlandish idea of infusing raw whiskey in [gasp] wooden barrels. Ok, so it's not so innovative but having a local craft distillery may have its perks. One of their little 2 liter or used-once 5 gallon white oak barrels for aging something like rum? It sounds like an expensive experiment but also a lot of fun too. And just to be clear, WAFFLEHOUND; the spiced chai/Nutella infusion worked, right? That wasn't an exclamation of disgust but of pleasure? Because you know who likes Nutella? This guy!
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Jan 12, 2012 07:42
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WAFFLEHOUND posted:I just tossed Spiced Chai in with vodka for three minutes and oh my god I have a couple of bags of Rooibos Chai from Trader Joe's (gently caress I love Trader Joe's; they're the only "white people" store that isn't afraid of spices) that I've been meaning to do. Did you do 1 bag / a fifth? Also, right now I've got two dried chilis and a tablespoon of cacao nibs in 1L of Evan Williams (I like pepper in Jack, but got the store and panicked at the thought of wagering $35 worth of liquor on an untested recipe, especially since I bought like a pound of nibs). Do those sound right? I went low on the basis that I can always add more later, since I'm not dealing with anything volatile like leaves. Thinking I'll steep like three weeks? I've done (fresh) peppers for shorter, but these nibs are an unknown element. They're freaking me out.
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Jan 12, 2012 13:58
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Definitely taste it like every three days at least, cacao nibs are packed with flavor and bitterness, and chilis can get surprisingly hot surprisingly quickly. I would have infused separately and then blended, but oh well.
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Jan 12, 2012 15:30
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Kenning posted:Definitely taste it like every three days at least, cacao nibs are packed with flavor and bitterness, and chilis can get surprisingly hot surprisingly quickly. I would have infused separately and then blended, but oh well.  Well, that's the magic of Evan Williams.Glad I asked.
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Jan 12, 2012 18:03
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betaraywil posted:I have a couple of bags of Rooibos Chai from Trader Joe's (gently caress I love Trader Joe's; they're the only "white people" store that isn't afraid of spices) that I've been meaning to do. Did you do 1 bag / a fifth? I had like a shot with a bit of loose leaf, I was messing around.
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Jan 13, 2012 00:45
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betaraywil posted:
I mean, infusing them together doesn't guarantee failure, I just sort of enjoy feeling like a mad scientist when I mix a bunch of things together. It just gives you a bit more control.
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Jan 13, 2012 00:49
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Kenning posted:I mean, infusing them together doesn't guarantee failure, I just sort of enjoy feeling like a mad scientist when I mix a bunch of things together. It just gives you a bit more control. Yeah, but I tasted for the hell of it and it was much hotter than cocoay. I've separated them for the time being. Although even after just a day, the little hints of cocoa underneath everything else have me a little pumped.
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Jan 13, 2012 03:56
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I've got two vanilla pods and a shitload of ginger (mostly fresh, some crystalised) steeping in a bottle of rum at the moment. I'm probably going to do the whole "infuse for a month, age for two" thing with the ginger, but seeing as I don't want this to result in vanilla essence with a hint of fire, I'm going to take the pods out in a couple of days. I know that the best thing to do with this is just taste it to see how it's going, but the aging's going to have an effect on the final flavour - with that in mind, has anyone got any idea how long I should be infusing these pods if I don't want it to be the main flavour at the end of the process?
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Jan 15, 2012 18:14
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Penguingo posted:I know that the best thing to do with this is just taste it to see how it's going, but the aging's going to have an effect on the final flavour - with that in mind, has anyone got any idea how long I should be infusing these pods if I don't want it to be the main flavour at the end of the process? I've done a coffee/vanilla infusion a couple of times now. I used 1/2 a pod in a 700ml (a fifth), for varying lengths of time : - 3 days: The coffee was the dominant flavour - 5 days: Vanilla reigns supreme. Given the amount of vanilla you've put in, I'd go a bit less than 3 days, maybe even only 2. Edit : And you gotta let vanilla age. It's harsh as hell if you don't. 2-3 weeks seems to do the trick. Wardhog fucked around with this message at 23:37 on Jan 16, 2012 |
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Jan 16, 2012 23:08
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 What's this? A stupidly overexposed picture of freshly picked roses in a bowl. The pink ones, which you can't see very well, are particularly fragrant. So I ripped their petals off and drowned them in vodka. There clearly weren't enough of them, so I drove around abandoned suburbs (earthquake damage) and picked the most fragrant red roses I could find (yes, I felt guilty). The yellow and pink petals got about 36 hours steeping, the red petals about 24 hours. The result was this  Which I added about a quarter of a cup of 2:1 sugar syrup to. It's really promising. Fragrant, subtle and complex, not in your face like rosewater. The colour's gorgeous. I think it'll take a couple of months ageing to truly come together. It's for a friends birthday on Saturday, so I'll just hope that she believes me about the ageing. Definitely worth doing. I think I'll do cherry blossoms next spring. Edit: Goddamn it, imgur. slinkimalinki fucked around with this message at 11:45 on Jan 25, 2012 |
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Jan 25, 2012 11:38
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I've started infusing alcohol myself recently, though I hadn't known about this thread. What I've done so far: Cinnamon Candy in White Rum: If you're a brit, you might remember Atomic Fireballs, hard candy that tastes like cinnamon gum. They dissolved perfectly in the rum, but the rum was, it turned out, an off-brand Malibu equivalent, which meant that the artificial flavours in the booze itself clashed. It smelled a bit medicinal, and had a weird taste straight (and incredibly sweet), but mixed with Ginger beer, it tasted way, WAY better. Cherry Boiled Sweets & Lemon Peel in Amaretto: This came out really great. I didn't know I had to mature my mixture, so it had the lemon peel in it right up until serving. The sugariness of the boiled sweets (plus the sheer number I added, I tipped all those motherfuckers in) made the end result really syrup-y. Tasted magical, though. Apples & Cinnamon in Whisky: The idea was sound, but I started this mix too late - it was meant to be in time for Christmas, so it only infused for a week and a half. The taste of apples was definitely there, but the cinnamon not so much. Had never really drank whisky before trying this, and now I quite like it. Taught myself how to make Old Fashioneds. The apple slices went with mint & lamb afterwards, was fuckin' wonderful! My next trick is to try Gin/Cucumber/Earl Grey Tea (Calling the "True Gentleman"). Having read through the thread, I understand that I should do the cucumber first, let that infuse for up to 2 weeks, then remove the cucumber and put in the tea leaves for about a day maximum? How long should I let the gin sit for after I've done all the infusing?
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Jan 26, 2012 14:23
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The finished product, hangin' out in its natural habitat. My next task is to make an infusion that actually fills the drat bottle once its finished. Go away. You are a cat. You don't even drink vodka. 
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Jan 28, 2012 01:02
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That looks beautiful, drat. Did you make the label? I've got some dried cranberries sitting in vodka; they'll enter their second week of steeping tomorrow. Might not be enough cranberries in there. Not sure.
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Jan 28, 2012 02:02
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