how about a section for liquor kits?

[bevvies-a-plenty]

hi guys i cannot find any info on here for home made spirit or liquor kits and think it may be a good idea to add a section on this as im thinking of taking my home brewwing to another level by brewing some 20% amaretto but look to the forum for info.

 

[calumscott]

I'd certainly be interested in how you get on with that, my folks tried some of the ones available in the late eighties/early nineties and they all went straight down the sink... :sick:

If the advances in beer kits are mirrored in liqueur kits then who knows, they might be worthwhile. I guess the trouble will be the same as the beer kits, the instructions will tell you that it'll be ready in a fortnight...

 

[Moley]

There is already quite a bit of information on the forum in the winemaking sections if you can find the right keywords.

I believe it is possible to ferment up to 25% abv using turbo or wash yeasts, so here are some search results for Alcotec.

However, I have read and heard that these yeasts can produce very harsh alcohol bases and funky flavours which then have to be removed by filtering through activated charcoal. I can't comment from personal experience as I have never used these products.

When you've got your spirit base, there are quite a few flavouring essences on the market, and forum sponsor Balliihoo have a good range.

Unfortunately, while we in the UK are allowed to produce whatever we want for our own uses by fermentation, these topics have a habit of being taken off track by those who want to go beyond fermentation, at which point those topics get locked or removed.

I will be watching this topic closely, will everybody please keep it within legal limits.

 

[Frogfurlong]

:thumb: Thanks Moley, just like cricket - without boundaries, we wouldn't know the score


High alcohol liqueur wine kits have been around for a long time, most of them are IMO a one hit wonder. A Christmas or Birthday gift that gets bought because "you do home brewing and this is mad alcohol".

There is currently a thread running in The Snug Here about peoples perceptions of home brewed beers and wines.

I believe these kits have a lot to answer for in that perception. Odd tasting, fall over juice is my recollection of the kit I made a fair few years ago. (Prohibition - Peach Schnapps)
The excitement of watching all those yeasties working hard to make the wash, the black water when I added the activated charcoal then slowly watching it clear to a colourless liquid.

The anticipation of trying this... and the disappointment of the reality, an odd backnote of "the way de-icer smells" added to the artificial peach :sick:


If these kits have improved then I would be interested in trying one again. The improvements would have to be massive though.

 

[critty]

Glad I am not the only one that found the prohibition peach kit to be crap. The peach smelled and tasted like millions of peach drops regurgitated by a child with a bowel infection. It was nasty. And I made this kit only a couple of months ago.

Nasty, nasty stuff.

But moley is right. The base alcohol produces off flavours so easily even after filtering with the charcoal and chitosan. You have to be on your toes and follow the instructions to the letter. Even then they go wrong far too easily. I wrote a blog post about this on my WordPress account. Out of the "liquor" kits I have tried only the turbo yeast kit without a favour actually worked as intended. This will probably have a lot to do with the fact I bought a better quality essence for it. Midori I think.

I came to the conclusions these kits aren't actually worth the hassle. For the amount of messing around you have to do, with no kind of reliable fermentation, you might as well stick to desert wines. Far easier and far tastier.

On a side note the tequila essence works great in the Mexican beer kits. The favour essences are handy for coffees too. But not the ones from a prohibition kit lol.

 

[Moley]

You wanted it .... you've got it :thumb:

I'm busy at the moment but this evening I will start to move in some of the topics I searched out above, then edit and reinstate some of the locked or hidden topics.

To be honest, it will help us if all of these topics are grouped together in one place where we can keep an eye on them, but the new sub-forum will disappear just as quickly if people start pushing their luck and bending the rules.

 

[RobWalker]

Great stuff moley! I assume we will need some serious moderation here but it's good as there are often questions, even on high abv wines etc that will probably be answered by a sticky in the future :thumb: