Ned wrote:Keen to make Limoncello from the recipe on the forum by Brigand :- Quote
"This is a recipe my aunt gave me for Limoncello - she got it from relos in Southern Italy"
1 Litre Neutral 80%-95%
14 Lemons
1kg Sugar
1 Litre Water.
Q1. After maceration for 10 days. Can you drink it straight away ?
Q2. Am I correct in that you need to keep it in the freezer.
I am using 95% vodka and will dilute it to 40% although I see most commercial Limoncello is about 34 %.
Any thoughts on that.
Thanks :text-thankyoublue:
I've made bucket loads with a similar recipe to this, using about half the number of lemons. The other bit that's missing here from the recipe I've used is you macerate in 95% neutral for 2 weeks, then you strain that off and leave it, keeping the peel. Put the peel in a new container and make your sugar syrup over the peel and let that sit for a week and you strain that. Cut your macerate to about 40% and then dilute with lemon-infused sugar syrup to taste. Water and ethanol are both solvents with different levels of effectiveness, so by using the hot water you will extract different things to the neutral on its own, and the mixture of the 2 is heaps better than infused neutral alone. Most people seem to like it at about 25-30%. You'll probably need to keep it refrigerated if it's below 30% or you may find little dots form in the liquid, which is mould. There's no harm in making it closer to 40%, it'll just seem more tart, from memory.