Yummy .. how do you make rum?? With my blackbery vodka doodaa.. do i need to hide it in a cupboard or dooo anything else to it?? top up with vodka etc or just leave it until xmas??
You can buy the rum wiskey etc essence s from brewing shops then add them to cheap vodka or distill your own like someone I work with does But don't tell the coppers though
oooh would that be a bad thing to do then?? if you dont answer me can I go along the lines of ignorance is bliss?????????????
oooh .. maybe not this year as im gagging to try it already!! but if it works i could make two next time .. one for liquer and one for drinkie times
Just found out theres a huge elder growing wild in our garden. It needs cutting down but it'd be sacrilege to not pick all the elderberries and make wine from them wouldn't it? There weren't enough brambles to make wine from so i made an apple and bramble crumble which was nice instead. ;D
Well batch one of our cider has just finished fermenting. It started with a SG of 1.060 and has finished with 0.990 so that is a potential alcohol content of 9.1%!! wahoo Just leaving that to settle and clear up. Give that about 6 weeks and should be ready for drinking. Sunday we pressed another 8 Gallons, this time we are going to strain off 25l and build a still, run it through that and hopefully should end up with 1 Gallon of 70% cider brandy....... Don't tell the feds (actually I think for personal its ok)
How to make Sambucca Sambuca liqueur is a sweet anise liqueur that is drank neat, diluted, in cocktails or to sweeten/flavor Italian coffees. Most Sambuca liqueurs on the market are prepared from essential oils (that is not the same as "essences" which are either diluted oils or an euphemism for the chemical rubbish known as "aromas") It is very easy to make your own Sambuca liqueur, and if you use flavorless vodka as the alcohol base, you can do so legally in most countries of the world, since alcohol taxes then have been paid before the creation of the drink. It is a convenient way to convert a cheap local vodka into a rich liqueur suitable for your drinking and mixing needs. Let's get to business! ------------------------------------------------ WHITE SAMBUCA LIQUEUR take 0.75 liters Alcohol 40% (flavorless vodka) 10 drops essential oil of Anise put this in a 1 liter bottle and shake vigorously to dissolve the essential oil. then add: 250 grams of granulated white sugar shake vigorously with pauses to dissolve most of the sugar, then: add hot water to make 1 liter shake to dissolve the rest of the sugar. filter if necessary. preferably store for 6 months before drinking. ------------------------------------------------ If you can get it, it is much recommended to add 5ml of pharmaceutical/foodgrade glycerin for a richer mouth sensation. WARNING: do not use glycol as this is poisonous and this common mistake causes problems in the alcohol industry annually. Anise essential oil can be purchased at herbalist's shops offline and online, and in the better spices section. Make sure it is the essential OIL and not the "essence", because the latter will be too weak, often off-tasting, and relatively expensive. Anise Oil is a food additive, in its pure concentrated form you should consider it to be a dangerous substance comparable with the risks of paint thinner. Buy Oil of Anise, not Oil of Star Anise, the latter is cheaper and can be used instead, but tends to impart a "cheap" flavor because all the cheap brands use that instead. When fermenting mash it is most advantageous to use the cheapest white sugar that is available. For liqueur sweetening it definitely pays to buy the more expensive brands, as these tend to have a higher grade of purification, which will show in the clearness of your spirits, cheap sugar typically imparting a yellowish color to liqueurs while purer sugars give a water-white solution. With the alcohol you can tinker a little, so if your stock alcohol is a few percents under or over 40% (cheap vodka often is 37.5%) it is permissible. If your stock alcohol is a little (but only a little) rough around the edges, the anise and high sugar content will tend to cover that up. But: never use inferior spirit that you would not be comfortable with presenting as a vodka, because you will taste it right through the liqueur, resulting in you having to pitch it in the toilet (either from the bottle or from your stomach!) The finished white Sambuca has 30% alcohol so the recommended serving size is 50ml. This contains 15ml alcohol (100 kcal) and 12.5gr sugar (50kcal), making it a 150 kcal drink.
Proof of concept build, testing purposes: Well that worked then: Stage two, bigger boil pot (20litres): First lot of distillate: Haven't got any photos of the most recent run but that came through crystal clear and started at about 86%. I need to upgrade to stage three which is a column still. The current design is a pot still which is best for whiskeysrums, to get a real clean tasteless 95% spirit you need a column. So the next will be something like: Already made the double helix condenser: And the rest of the cider maturing: Any shows I go to this year I will have a nice supply of stuff with me.
