Lime/Lemon Vodka Wash

[R-sole]

I keep a keg of this finnished vodka for the girls. It's cheap and easy to make if you or your neighbour have citrus trees, and very tasty to boot. 8-)

Recipe;

4 litres of lime or lemon or lemonade fruit juice and pulp. (about a bucket of fruit)
7.5 kg white sugar
double handfull of fresh green shoots from the lime tree
double handfull of barley or any other whole bland grain for nutrients
4 tsp dap (diamonium phosphate)
4tsp sodium carbonate to lift the ph .

Method;

Peel the limes/lemons and all all the meat inside to a food processor, pulp. Add to a 40l fermenter with a couple handfulls of the skins and some leaves.
Invert the sugar on the stove by boiling in water with 1/2 cup of pulp/juice for 1/2 an hour.
Throw the grain and other ingredients in and top up to the 40l mark.
Add a good yeast like 1118 or a distillers yeast

This can take a while to ferment because of the acid level.

Once down to .990 put in the still and strip off collecting all down to 20% or so.
Save and use the hot backset from the still to melt another batch of sugar.
Once cool, add this back to the yeast dregs in your fermenter and top back up to 40l, it'll take straight back off.
Strip again and dispose of the spent wash.

Take the strip which should be around 16-18l at 40-50% and do a slow spirit run amking tight cuts. I do it in a potstill to allow the full flavours to come through, but you can do it with whatever equipment you have.


This will give you a full flavoured vodka ready to drink straight off when watered back down to 40% with bottled spring water :)

Brilliliant with lemonade and bitters or lime cordial or just with lemonade or soda.

[Lonzo]

Hi, just asking what you mean by stripping down to 20%, is that 20% of the volume of wash or 20% ABV, better still could you please explain the stripping process and what it entails... sorry but very new to this (only know HBS products and methods) :oops:

Thanks heaps

[MacStill]

Hi, just asking what you mean by stripping down to 20%, is that 20% of the volume of wash or 20% ABV, better still could you please explain the stripping process and what it entails... sorry but very new to this (only know HBS products and methods) :oops:

Thanks heaps

Here you go mate, plenty here for you to get a good grasp on it.

http://www.google.com/search?q=stripping+run&sa=Search&sitesearch=aussiedistiller.com.au

Cheers.

[Andy]

Im going to give this a try and have some newbie questions and would love if you could help out :romance-kisscheek:

I have a 30l fermenter so Im going to use just use 3/4 of your recipe. I cant imagine this will ferment too violently.

I have only done DWWG before so Im not too sure how to reuse backset and yeast dregs. However my understanding is to take the wash, and leave the slush at the bottom in the fermenter. Run the wash like usual through the pot still. Then stir the sugar into the wash and then once its cooled add back to the fermenter. Do i add more yeast?

How much yeast will I need?

And lastly, instead of using a grain for nutrients, can I just use more DAP? (never used DAP before so Im unsure if it produces any taste).

[Kimbo]

Im going to give this a try and have some newbie questions and would love if you could help out :romance-kisscheek:

I have a 30l fermenter so Im going to use just use 3/4 of your recipe. I cant imagine this will ferment too violently.

I have only done DWWG before so Im not too sure how to reuse backset and yeast dregs. However my understanding is to take the wash, and leave the slush at the bottom in the fermenterAdd a bit of water to the dregs to help the yeast. Run the wash like usual through the pot still. Then stir the sugar into the wash and then once its cooled add back to the fermenter.Yes Do i add more yeast?No

How much yeast will I need?

And lastly, instead of using a grain for nutrients, can I just use more DAP? Yes(never used DAP before so Im unsure if it produces any taste).

[Andy]

i did a wash like this.
if u have a PH meter it will come in very handy. very very handy. the first ferment i chucked in about 1/4 cup of sodium bicarbonate and it took about 6-7 weeks (i didnt have a ph meter :angry-banghead: ).then the second wash i had a ph meter, added the bicarb until the ph was raised to about 4.5 or so (every time i added the bicarb to the wash it looked like a science experiment volcano haha, in total there would have been at least half a cup, im guessing). the second ferment took about 1-2 weeks.

it produces a very nice vodka, i was amazed at how good it is actually. i would take this over grey goose any day. with lemonade its perfect for the 40 degrees we have been having recently. i went into the heads more then i usually do (compared to DWWG) as the heads had a bit more of the lemon flavor in. as soon as it got a slight amount of tails it was out. the cardboard taste was overpowering.

So overall if you can beg, borrow or steal lemons from anyone, i would strongly suggest making this.

[Andy]

i did a wash like this.
if u have a PH meter it will come in very handy. very very handy. the first ferment i chucked in about 1/4 cup of sodium bicarbonate and it took about 6-7 weeks (i didnt have a ph meter :angry-banghead: ).then the second wash i had a ph meter, added the bicarb until the ph was raised to about 4.5 or so (every time i added the bicarb to the wash it looked like a science experiment volcano haha, in total there would have been at least half a cup, im guessing). the second ferment took about 1-2 weeks.

it produces a very nice vodka, i was amazed at how good it is actually. i would take this over grey goose any day. with lemonade its perfect for the 40 degrees we have been having recently. i went into the heads more then i usually do (compared to DWWG) as the heads had a bit more of the lemon flavor in. as soon as it got a slight amount of tails it was out. the cardboard taste was overpowering.

So overall if you can beg, borrow or steal lemons from anyone, i would strongly suggest making this.

EDIT- DONT USE BICARB!!! :law-policered: :law-policered: use calcuium carbonate. older and wiser now

[5 o'clock]

This week I finished my lime vodka spirit run and have bottled it.

This was my first real spirit run with my bubbler and I am very impressed with how it runs. I used 4 plates and ran it collecting at about 85% to get some flavour through.

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I started with a bucket of Kafir limes (previously have used Tahitians but didn't get given any this year and I now think I prefer the Kafir ones), washed them roughly then sliced them using a vegetable slicer and covered them in sugar to try to soak out the juice and flavour. I found it really difficult to get these small limes to juice using my juicer.

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I then added water and strained it to get the liquid out and made up about a 50 litre wash at about 12% then used EC1118 yeast.

It settled really nicely while I was away on holidays to be really clear. I strained out the pulp through a filter funnel before putting it in the keg. Couldn't fit it all in the keg at once so I stripped half of it then did a spirit run with the strip and remaining fresh wash.

Finished with about 7.5 litres at 40% of very nice vodka, could have been more greedy with cuts and got more but I will combine the feints with a lemon vodka strip I haven't got around to finishing yet.

This has been a definitely go to recipe each year for the last couple of years but now I have the bubbler running it is so much easier and better.

[MacStill]

I just finished putting my lemonade version of this down, 60L fermenter 5kg lemon meat, zest of about a kilo of lemons & 2 litres of lemonade (the real stuff)

pitch ec1118 and wait a few weeks.

this time I put a bit of bi carb in, a few spoons of DAP & a couple of vitamin B tabs.

Run through 4 plates as you would for rum/whisky this turns out amazing, and I really do mean amazing :handgestures-thumbupleft:

[woodduck]

Hi mac,
thanks for your recipe. Just to clarify a couple of things, do you still use the same amount of sugar? Do you use the grains and leaves in yours? And is yours for a total of 60 ltrs or 40ltrs in a 60 ltr fermenter? And what do you mean by the "real stuff", is that a particular brand of fizzy drink or the juice of these lemonade fruit I've heard you refur to in the past?

Sorry if these are stupid questions, I'm not real bright but i can lift heavy things 8-} :laughing-rolling:

[MacStill]

Hi mac,
thanks for your recipe. Just to clarify a couple of things, do you still use the same amount of sugar? Do you use the grains and leaves in yours? And is yours for a total of 60 ltrs or 40ltrs in a 60 ltr fermenter? And what do you mean by the "real stuff", is that a particular brand of fizzy drink or the juice of these lemonade fruit I've heard you refur to in the past?

Sorry if these are stupid questions, I'm not real bright but i can lift heavy things 8-} :laughing-rolling:

My recipe is a bit different, but you're on to it, I'll get it up on here one day.... yeh yeh I know I keep saying it :angry-banghead:

I've been taking pics of the whole process I use, just gotta get my shit together and post it all up as a recipe.

[woodduck]

Thanks mac,

The suspense is killing me :laughing-rolling: :laughing-rolling: :laughing-rolling:

[5 o'clock]

Just put down this year's lime wash.

Went to coles and they had a few bags of limes marked down to only $2 per bag. This is $2 more than I usually pay but all I can do so far this year.

Made up a sugar wash 10 kg in 45 litres and added tronozymol yeast nutrient and pitched some rehydrated ec1118.

image.jpg

Not sure whether I like this recipe more than my spiced rum but I do have to make this every year.