Limoncello Recipe Discussion

[fizzydrink]

Cheers.. ill dilute a bit more..

[Sam.]

If you have followed the T&P recipe it should be well under 65%.

Also I would not recommend drinking anything at that strength. It will end poorly :shifty:

[Urrazeb]

If you have followed the T&P recipe it should be well under 65%.

Also I would not recommend drinking anything at that strength. It will end poorly :shifty:

Only if you made bad cuts :music-deathmetal: :laughing-rolling: :handgestures-thumbupleft:

[Sam.]

If you have followed the T&P recipe it should be well under 65%.

Also I would not recommend drinking anything at that strength. It will end poorly :shifty:

Only if you made bad cuts :music-deathmetal: :laughing-rolling: :handgestures-thumbupleft:

I disagree, alcohol isn't meant to be drank at that strength. After two glasses you are absolutely done. Not what you want really, and it will still have the burn no matter how good your cuts are. Ethanol is ethanol at the end of the day.

I would suggest that this recipe done true would be near 40%, depending on the starting strength, but if you want to drink this stuff on ice I would go back to about 20% which would make for a better after dinner drink :handgestures-thumbupleft:

[Urrazeb]

Ok that was a bit silly of me :oops: sometimes I forget there are newbies and (sorry to say) probably full blown alcos reading the content here.

I never drink anything above 50% bar the odd "cask strength" that I do so responsibly and at my own risk. But yes Sam your right about 40% is the T&P

[Sam.]

It's all good mate, I find even the cask strength whiskys you can buy change dramatically and for the better when a little water is added :handgestures-thumbupleft:

Getting a little :text-offtopic: here.

The original recipe I think is allright, but when I have made it I have ended up drinking it with lemonade or soda anyway :handgestures-thumbupleft:

[Urrazeb]

Mine always goes with a couple of cubes, and I also nearly half the sugar like a lot of others. Free lemons from the neighbours make it that little bit sweeter ;-)

[fizzydrink]

Is there a way to see what %abv my lemoncello is?

[Urrazeb]

Same as the SGD mate or any drink with sugar in it. You need to know how much of x% went in and your final volume then work it out that way.

The are calculators on the site for dilution :handgestures-thumbupleft:

[Zyrom]

Is there a way to see what %abv my lemoncello is?

yes there is and different methods

I do Alcohol (%ABV) Determination tests all the time to ensure our products are quality and most importantly the Australian Tax Office (ATO) is not missing out. (Damn Excise)

If you were to take a sample of you product and try and measure alcohol via density, alcohometre even light reftaction your result will be inaccurate. this is because the measuring devices are calibrated for alcohol and water only. hence the sugars, lemon particle and lemon oil (Limonene B.P. 176 Deg C) are changing the reading.

The method we at the Hunter Distillery undertake is to just get a mixture of alcohol and water for a set volume then apply the measuring instruments to determine the alcohol content.

If you were to take a determined volume (we use calibrated 500ml flasks). Distill that volume so that all the alcohol is collected (we use a Lab Still). then add water into the collected alcohol back upto the original volume determined (500ml). what you have create a mixture of alcohol and water that your instruments then will be able to analyse.
for example we measure via a calibrated flask 500ml of product. A determined volume of product is now established. we then add this to our lab still. boil it and collect all the alcohol. as we have collected all the alcohol from 500ml of product we then need to make the volume backup to 500ml as to replicate the original product now with only water and alcohol. then we test with calibrated alcohmeters the %ABV ( as the alcohometers measurements are set for 20 Degrees Celcius ) we take a temperature reading and correct the recorded %ABV to the actual %ABV. The temperature reading is critical as density will change due to temperature. however i doubt you need to be this accurate.

I have outlined 1 method as there are other ways to determine %ABV of a mixture that we use as a Commercial Distillery

[fizzydrink]

Thanks for the detailed response!

[Plumby]

Made my first batch of this today. I used a zester to get the rind off the lemons and I juiced the lemons when I was done and got nearly 500 ml juice for future tpw's.
Will 7 days be long enough or too long in the 92% neutral since its really small zest not strips? I just don't want it to go bitter from sitting too long.
Thanks in advance

[Urrazeb]

If you avoided the white pith it shouldn't go bitter at all, but won't get any more flavour after a few days.

I've left them for months and it's still a cracker 8-} :handgestures-thumbupleft:

[Plumby]

Ok, good to know. I avoided the pith totally.

[sp0rk]

I've just had 18 huge organic lemons dropped on my desk at work, so I guess I'll be making some Limoncello
I've got 4.5L of neutral at home, but the SS Super Reflux still I was using had some leaks around the digital thermo and bung I'd trimmed up to fit in the top, which I'm guessing is why I ended up with 4.5L of 75% after cuts (couldn't hit any higher abv)
Should this be right to make my Limoncello, or should I give it another run through with a proper non-leaking thermo & bung to try and get some ~90% abv neutral?

[MacStill]

I've just had 18 huge organic lemons dropped on my desk at work, so I guess I'll be making some Limoncello
I've got 4.5L of neutral at home, but the SS Super Reflux still I was using had some leaks around the digital thermo and bung I'd trimmed up to fit in the top, which I'm guessing is why I ended up with 4.5L of 75% after cuts (couldn't hit any higher abv)
Should this be right to make my Limoncello, or should I give it another run through with a proper non-leaking thermo & bung to try and get some ~90% abv neutral?

I would freeze the lemons mate, you want something very neutral to make a great limoncello :handgestures-thumbupleft:

[sp0rk]

So 75% ABV neutral plus frozen lemons (I'm guessing to kill bugs) should be fine?
Sorry to be pedantic, just don't want to waste all these lemons

[MacStill]

So 75% ABV neutral plus frozen lemons (I'm guessing to kill bugs) should be fine?
Sorry to be pedantic, just don't want to waste all these lemons

No, I mean freeze the lemons until you have some good neutral to use mate, I think you need to re-distill your 75% gear as it probably isnt going to be anything like a proper neutral.

Hope that helps :handgestures-thumbupleft:

[FireKitty]

I found this page usefulhttp://www.creative-culinary.com/the-best-limoncello-is-homemade-limoncello/, shows a bit about peeling without getting pith, key is using a brand new peeler (don't be a tightass, they're less than $2 for a pack of 3-4) and don't press too hard... Microplaning is deemed harder as it has a higher change of getting pith in it, same as using bumpy-skinned lemons - smooth skin is the way to go :handgestures-thumbupleft:

[sp0rk]

Ahhh, I get it 8-}
The lemons should be good for another week or so (only picked this morning), I'll grab a new thermo and redistill this weekend
I've still got the feints, might chuck them back in too
Thanks a bunch Mac!