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Started a batch of green walnuts to make nocino, thanks to the walnut trees in the yard at work. Planning for a month steep then 5 or 6 months of mellowing. If it turns out good, I got some Christmas gifts. Cause nocino tastes like straight up Christmas. Can't wait.
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Jul 16, 2017 21:59
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I got a big basket of Niagara peaches today. What should I infuse them into and for how long? Think 2 weeks in bourbon.
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Aug 28, 2017 19:24
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So my first time trying this, and I'm doing Kaffir lime leaves in Vodka. I put 4 frozen leaves that I bruised into a smaller bottle of Tito's. My question is what category the lime leaves fall under- I would think similar to citrus peel, but I'm not entirely sure. Any idea of what else I could add with it, too?
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Aug 29, 2017 22:14
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bunnyofdoom posted:I got a big basket of Niagara peaches today. What should I infuse them into and for how long? Think 2 weeks in bourbon. Dude can't believe I missed this post, I've been on a huge peach kick lately. Yeah, bourbon works great, brandy is probably best if you want something that screams "peach liqueur". After about two weeks the bourbon won't really get any peachier, you might have to do another round with new peaches. You'll also want to spice it- cinnamon, ginger, and vanilla bean work wonders. As always, be real careful with cinnamon, these should only need a day or so in brandy, maybe a bit more for a whiskey. Take them out when you can just taste the spices. Dienes posted:I took a fifth of gold tequila and steeped cucumber in it for 2 weeks, lime zest for 5 days, and a combination of peppers for 4 days. Strained and filtered it and made a syrup with agave nectar instead of regular sugar and let it age 2 months. Serve on the rocks with a squeeze of lime juice and a slice of cucumber - it turned out incredible. So I never got back to y'all on this but it turned out really well, thanks a ton- I'm getting a batch together for a Christmas gift this week. Very surprised at how smooth it aged out.
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Sep 6, 2017 03:02
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Rotten Cookies posted:Started a batch of green walnuts to make nocino, thanks to the walnut trees in the yard at work. Planning for a month steep then 5 or 6 months of mellowing. If it turns out good, I got some Christmas gifts. Cause nocino tastes like straight up Christmas.
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Sep 6, 2017 14:41
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My wife got a lemon balm plant and it's been growing great and now there is too much lemon balm is there an alcohol I can stick it in?
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Oct 18, 2017 14:56
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I realized today that due to a dilution fuckup my booze is not 40%, more like 35-36%. Will this still be enough to inhibit bacterial growth? I haven't noticed anything tasting or smelling off and none of my infusions are cloudy, but should I just chuck everything and start again to be on the safe side? edit: cool thanks, will carry on getting smashed girl pants fucked around with this message at 18:18 on Nov 5, 2017 |
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Nov 4, 2017 03:27
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girl pants posted:I realized today that due to a dilution fuckup my booze is not 40%, more like 35-36%. Will this still be enough to inhibit bacterial growth? I haven't noticed anything tasting or smelling off and none of my infusions are cloudy, but should I just chuck everything and start again to be on the safe side? 20% kills salmonella (and everything else) in egg nog within a few weeks. You're fine.
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Nov 4, 2017 14:22
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I seems like you could get more concentrated corn flavor if you removed the moisture from the corn and used the dried pulp instead. A lot of infusions work better with dried fruits and this doesn't seem much different. If you have a juicer you could try juicing the kernels and then drying the pulp in a low oven before infusing. I like to eat the dried pulp on its own and it has an incredible sweet toasty corn flavor that I bet would infuse really well. Also, try heating up the corn juice and the starches in it thicken into corn pudding and it's awesome.
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Nov 6, 2017 00:34
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My mint infusion developed kind of a funky taste. I don't think I have the patience for months-long infusions, but I made a cinnamon infusion and a clove infusion and they turned out SO well, especially mixed with orange juice. Next I'll probably try an orange pekoe infusion + enough simple syrup to make it a liqueur. Sweet tea liqueur here I come.
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Dec 17, 2017 02:01
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Jothan posted:My wife got a lemon balm plant and it's been growing great and now there is too much lemon balm is there an alcohol I can stick it in? Took me a while to see this but lemon balm is weird. I've approached it like mint or basil and steeped it for 24 hours or less. Anything longer gets kind of nasty, but even with a short maceration it just ends up herby and still doesn't taste or smell anything like the original plant. Aging the spirit after maceration also seems to do nothing to improve it.
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Jan 10, 2018 04:00
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Chuck Biscuits posted:I seems like you could get more concentrated corn flavor if you removed the moisture from the corn and used the dried pulp instead. A lot of infusions work better with dried fruits and this doesn't seem much different. If you have a juicer you could try juicing the kernels and then drying the pulp in a low oven before infusing. I like to eat the dried pulp on its own and it has an incredible sweet toasty corn flavor that I bet would infuse really well. Also, try heating up the corn juice and the starches in it thicken into corn pudding and it's awesome. I think you'll probably have better luck infusing the cob, especially if you very lightly toast it before throwing it in the liquor.
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Jan 10, 2018 10:10
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Chuck Biscuits posted:I seems like you could get more concentrated corn flavor if you removed the moisture from the corn and used the dried pulp instead. A lot of infusions work better with dried fruits and this doesn't seem much different. If you have a juicer you could try juicing the kernels and then drying the pulp in a low oven before infusing. I like to eat the dried pulp on its own and it has an incredible sweet toasty corn flavor that I bet would infuse really well. Also, try heating up the corn juice and the starches in it thicken into corn pudding and it's awesome. Would dry, flaked corn from a brewing supply store work for this, you think?
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Jan 10, 2018 17:50
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Kenning posted:I think you'll probably have better luck infusing the cob, especially if you very lightly toast it before throwing it in the liquor. Dienes posted:Would dry, flaked corn from a brewing supply store work for this, you think? I've never used it so I have no idea. If you try it please let us know because I'm curious.
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Jan 11, 2018 07:43
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voodoorootbeer posted:Took me a while to see this but lemon balm is weird. I've approached it like mint or basil and steeped it for 24 hours or less. Anything longer gets kind of nasty, but even with a short maceration it just ends up herby and still doesn't taste or smell anything like the original plant. Aging the spirit after maceration also seems to do nothing to improve it. Thanks- I’ve heard it makes good simple syrup, so I’ll try that next time I do limoncello to see if I can smooth out the thing any more. I guess it’s worth mentioning how much this thread helped me out this Christmas!  Mostly did Ktb’s coffee rum (thanks!) and Dienes’ tequila (thanks!) and it all came out excellent. Very excited giftees! Next project is probably a coffee tequila, since I found out Patron makes one so of course I’ve gotta try it. Will be approaching it much the same way as the rum; will report back in... several months, I guess.
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Jan 27, 2018 23:18
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Jothan posted:Thanks- I’ve heard it makes good simple syrup, so I’ll try that next time I do limoncello to see if I can smooth out the thing any more. Those are some good looking labels! Boozy presents are always good but those have beautiful presentation too! Coffee tequila sounds good. I haven't been making that much recently, I was making more than I was drinking or giving away and it started taking up too much space. Need to finish off a few part bottles and then I'll get some new flavours on the go.
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Jan 28, 2018 15:19
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I made the butter/popcorn infused rum and it was fantastic but nobody who saw me make it would try it. More for me, I guess.
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Jan 28, 2018 21:28
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Ktb posted:Those are some good looking labels! Boozy presents are always good but those have beautiful presentation too! Thanks!! I have basically two modes when it comes to giving these out- I either spend a month on the corked bottle & fancy homemade labels, or you get the ~authentic~ mason jar. Speaking of which it begins  I have a regular coffee & two flavored ones for a round of testing; one's orange which smells like it will blend pretty well with the tequila, and the other's some kind of chocolate which smells like diabetes. I'll taste & compare as the weeks go by. pre:WEEK 0 Flavor: Tastes Like: regular: Tequila orange: Tequila chocolate: Tequila
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Feb 7, 2018 02:41
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I cut up a buncha lychee and threw it in a jar of moonshine Wish me luck fellers
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Feb 7, 2018 02:55
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HI EVERYBODY I hope you all are having a HAPPY EASTER I gave up alcohol for Lent W H O O P S Now that I can go back to taste testing this coffee tequila what I’ve first learned is that it steeps really fast. I think next time I’ll try just two weeks of steeping; I tried four weeks on these and some of them... just taste like cold brew coffee. Like, I could probably get away with lying about the alcohol base entirely. The orange is really good; starts with good citrus flavor, then coffee, then the tequila blends in super smooth. I’ll taste them all again in a few weeks and post back.
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Apr 2, 2018 00:37
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I think you could probably get away with a few hours of steeping if you're doing ground coffee.
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Apr 2, 2018 02:26
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I am going to be making some bitters. I was given a kit that is made by Easy & Company. I don't see any mention of bitters-making in the OP or last couple pages but this seems like 100% the place to talk about it! The process looks to be more or less the same, the only difference being how the end product is intended to be used. I'm a bit unsure on part of the process. Specifically, I don't know how long I should do the main part, where the herbs and other flavoring ingredients are steeping with the booze. The kit instructions (linked above) say to seal this mixture in a jar for "2 to 6 weeks", and shake the jar once per day. The confusing part to me is that this is a big range of time. I don't want to stop the steeping process too early if I'm going to end up with a bad result, but if the result isn't going to improve after 2 weeks, I don't want to spend 6 weeks on it. I know some of this depends on ingredients. The kit comes with a couple packets that have things like herbs and spices in them. Then I'm supposed to add some other stuff, and I think I'm going to go with apricot and walnut. The apricots will be dried and the walnuts will come out of a bag, so little/no liquid here. I'm going to cut the apricots and crush the nuts into very small pieces, to increase the total surface area that can come into contact with the booze, which will hopefully speed up the process. I will be using vodka (Smirnoff) that is 50% alcohol alcohol by volume, because I'm lazy and cheap. I'm lazy because I don't want to drive to Wisconsin just for 200 ml of "real" Everclear. And I'm cheap because this was the only neutral spirit at my local store that both (a) came in a size smaller than 750 ml, and (b) was 50% or more alcohol. Does anyone have experience doing this? If you have any pointers I'd love to hear them. Lutha Mahtin fucked around with this message at 01:39 on Jul 3, 2018 |
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Jul 3, 2018 01:32
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Here is my process: Use everclear. Take any components that aren't leafy green, grind or crush them up and steep. Toasting optional. Record it all. Wait a couple days, taste, adjust as needed with more stuff. I don't think 2 to 6 weeks is needed for most things, I do like 5 days-week with shaking a few times per day. If you keep tasting you'll know you're getting diminishing returns. The only thing that has been bad in long steeps for me is leafy green components, you get a really green chlorophyll taste. Fresh thyme, kaffir lime leaf, fennel frond, thai basil examples for me. I steep those for under an hour with main batch. Then filter it all with wire mesh. Put the solids back in jar and add equal quantity boiling water. Steep that until it's no longer hot. Filter that too and combine with original liquid. Hand squeeze your solids and throw away. You've now cut the proof roughly in half and done both an alcohol and hot water extraction. Put it in a 750 mL bottle and let the solids settle hour+. Carefully decant off all the liquid. Filter the wet solids with a coffee filter (patience here). Combine. I don't do sugar, all the cocktails I make have their own sweetener component so why bother? You totally can though. Caramelized sugar will bring something different than plain sugar. I've done this same procedure with overproof rum (63 % alcohol), close to your vodka. The decanting part is new for me, it worked great. Reading the link you gave this is a very similar procedure to what I described. Just taste and you'll know if you really need 2-6 weeks. Don't toast anything that's really delicate, toast whole spices for the most part.
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Jul 5, 2018 18:52
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Yeah, those directions say to toast one of the included spice bags but not the other. The one you're supposed to toast is all whole bits of things, like whole cloves and such. I was under the impression that I shouldn't open the container during the steeping process, but I guess it's probably fine to put a clean spoon into a mixture of 50% or more alcohol every couple of days 
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Jul 5, 2018 21:54
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Just kidding, it said to toast the other stuff too. But it was only on medium-low heat so nothing stuck to the pan or even started sizzling. I'm not sure I will be tasting it very often, though: it looks like a cross between puke and pond water, and has various sediment at every conceivable level.
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Jul 6, 2018 01:03
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Lutha Mahtin posted:Just kidding, it said to toast the other stuff too. But it was only on medium-low heat so nothing stuck to the pan or even started sizzling. I'm not sure I will be tasting it very often, though: it looks like a cross between puke and pond water, and has various sediment at every conceivable level. It won't look so horrifying after settling for a while, and you can always strain the sample through a coffee filter if necessary.
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Jul 6, 2018 01:09
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i might just wait a whole 2 weeks before trying it. i wasn't home for 2 days recently and it really didn't settle much, and the bit that did settle looked like a specific part of the mixture separating vs. any sort of real combination happening i'd upload a pic but imgur is total rear end for uploading pics via my phone these days
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Jul 10, 2018 05:12
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Just started three cherry infusions, riffing from the danish-schnapps-recipes site in the OP. Just cherries, cherries and some pits, and just cherry pits. Lettin' em infuse for 3 months in the nice, dim, cool, basement, then gonna let them sit for another 3 months to mellow. Hopefully I have something nice for the holiday times. I also loving forgot about my nocino for an entire year like a god drat dumbass. Gonna have to strain that poo poo pronto and honestly probably put it back to mellow for some 5 drat years or something. Man I'm pissed at myself for that. I also have a spice infusion in a mason jar that's been going for literal years. Cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, allspice. I'll probably use it as a bitters now, it's strong as hell, but I could see it going really well with whiskey.
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Jul 25, 2018 16:41
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The cherry liqueur is loving amazing 
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Oct 11, 2018 18:38
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I can never get green walnuts when they're in season to make nocino. Which batch of the cherry is the best? I assume the pits and the flesh are very different.
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Oct 11, 2018 18:43
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Flesh/Flesh+Pits/Pits are all good in their own ways. The one that's just the cherry pits is like amaretto trying to be Frangelico. In a good way. There's a little bit of bitterness to it? And I didn't try very hard at all to completely clean the pits of flesh, so there's a pink tinge to it. Just cherry flesh is probably my favorite as it stands right now. It's very simple and straight forward. Sweet (obviously) but not cloying, and an excellent flavor. Tempted to not even age this one, but I'm going to resist for now. The Flesh + Pits batch is good in that I can see how the mixture would be excellent together. But I'm wishing that I didn't make it as a mix and instead blended the two separately to get a ratio right. But I'll have to see how these taste after a couple months of mellowing. Right now I think I'd rather have more flesh flavor than pit flavor in there. I strained the nocino and cut it with sugar and water, and with no aging holy hell is it bitter. God drat. Also, I'm lucky that my job has some walnut trees in the yard, so I just have to remember to harvest them. They only seem to fruit every other year, however.
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Oct 11, 2018 20:01
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I've never infused whole fruit because I was warned that infusing it for too long gives you perfume instead of fruit liquor. Do you ever find that to be the case? The closest I've come to using fruit is candied ginger, which is ridiculously easy.
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Oct 11, 2018 20:03
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I can't say I actually have much experience with infusing the flesh of fruits. But this cherry experiment is downright delicious. I tried a prickly pear tequila before that didn't work out so great. I think I left that in too long and it got an unpleasant vegetal taste? I don't quite remember what went wrong. Don't think I've ever had a perfumey outcome. Oh yeah, cherries soaked in alcohol are dangerous and fun. I mean, that's obvious. But I also just didn't account for/realize that I'd have them afterward.
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Oct 11, 2018 20:19
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Tattersall Distilling in Minneapolis makes a sour cherry liqueur that's really good. It's great for cocktails. I've had success using cherry liqueur as a substitution in cocktail recipes. It provides an interesting difference in flavor when used in place of grenadine. It can also work in recipes that call for fruit, whether fresh, juiced, syrup, liqueur, etc. Obviously, this won't work if you make a weird substitution like 2 oz. of really sweet cherry liqueur in place of 2 oz. of grapefruit juice. So just experiment, it's fun!
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Oct 11, 2018 20:36
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Is there a recipe you would recommend for someone's first try? Something that works out really well and you're confident in. I'm going to mix up four jars this weekend.
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Oct 14, 2018 17:17
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Limoncello
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Oct 14, 2018 20:36
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Yeah, limoncello is easy. The main thing is to strain it carefully.
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Oct 15, 2018 00:11
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Thanks! I'll try it out.
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Oct 17, 2018 18:13
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vainman posted:Is there a recipe you would recommend for someone's first try? Something that works out really well and you're confident in. I'm going to mix up four jars this weekend. If you're a fiend for sugar you can dissolve a bag of jolly ranchers in a bottle of white rum. That only takes like a day, but there's enough sugar in there to make your teeth fall out. Otherwise I agree wholeheartedly with limoncello.
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Oct 17, 2018 20:41
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Definitely do limoncello, but be sure to give it plenty of time. If you want more immediate satisfaction, candied ginger is quick and foolproof. Roughly chop a cup or two, then stick it in a quart-sized container and top up with vodka. Checking my notes, apparently I gave it a month to steep, but I doubt it needed nearly that long. The end product has a fair about of ginger heat and is plenty sweet without adding any more sugar. Dry spices infuse within a few days to a week. Do each spice individually so you can find the blend you like best. Speaking of spices, I forget if I mentioned this earlier in the thread, but after checking several stores without luck, I found Ceylon cinnamon hiding at Walmart, of all places. The cinnamon in the spice aisle is cassia, but in the Latino/international aisle, Badia sells little bags of Ceylon sticks for like 60 cents. Oddly, it's only the little bags; Badia's larger containers are cassia.
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Oct 17, 2018 21:10
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