Vodka or Gin For Christmas Presents

[kentmark]

I got some cheap Gin from Aldi today. I was going to use Hugh Fearnley- Eatitalls damson vodka recipe but use Gin

1kg damsons, washed
500g sugar
1 litre vodka

I have frozen mine to help extract a bit more of the flavour and easy removal of the stones. However i fear that I will end up with cloudy gin. :hmm: :hmm:

How long would you leave that before bottling?

Cheers!

 

[MattN]

I do this one:

1 vanilla pod
1 orange pricked 40 times
40 whole coffee beans
40 sugar cubes (or 40 tsp sugar)
1 bottle of vodka
Leave to infuse for 40 days, giving it a shake daily.
Like home-made Grand Marnier!

Dennis

I like the sound of this. I will do this one for myself..

Matt

 

[Robbo]

I made a syrup out of a honeydew melon and sugar, added it to the vodka along with a green food colouring.....turned out really well with a nice colour.

 

[graysalchemy]

I got some cheap Gin from Aldi today. I was going to use Hugh Fearnley- Eatitalls damson vodka recipe but use Gin

1kg damsons, washed
500g sugar
1 litre vodka

I have frozen mine to help extract a bit more of the flavour and easy removal of the stones. However i fear that I will end up with cloudy gin. :hmm: :hmm:

How long would you leave that before bottling?

Cheers!

As long as possible. I will probably bottle one lot for christmas and presents and leave the rest for 6+ months. :thumb:

 

[oldbloke]

Just enjoying this-

1 bottle vodka, into big jar with:
5 dessert apples cored and finely sliced
2 cinnamon sticks
2 cloves
...and why not 2 cardamom pods, eh?
Agitate once or twice a day for 10 days to 2 weeks.
Sieve back to original bottle.

 

[ubern]

I've been making quite a few liqueurs lately with the surplus of fruit growing in my garden. I've not followed any recipes, just roughly mixed 3 parts vodka, 2 parts water with a good load of sugar and as much fruit as I can fit in the jar and left it in a cupboard for a few weeks. I've tried raspberry, plum, strawberry and bramble which has been my favourite so far.

I've found that using a better vodka makes for a better end product. I've just used whatever slightly more premium brand (Russian Standard, Stoli etc) has been on offer in supermarkets.

Another great success has been homemade infused gin. The recipe combinations for this are endless but if you start with a good vodka base, add a couple of tablespoons of juniper berries (I infuse my juniper overnight before adding other ingredients) and then around a teaspoon of coriander seeds. After those two you can add pretty much any whole ingredient from the spice cabinet. Some commonly used ingredients include cardamon, cinnamon, citrus peel, allspice etc.

The key to good infused gin is to not leave it too long though, infuse the juniper overnight then add your other ingredients and leave for about a day and then filter it into a bottle. The end product will be a sort of yellowish brown colour but so long as you started with a good vodka base very, very drinkable. I've been forgoing the tonic and just supping it as it goes.

 

[Robbo]

I heard the strawberry vodka is quite a hit with the ladies.

1 bag of frozen strawberries and sugar

1 litre of vodka

Put the frozen strawberries into a large jar and fill to the top with vodka and leave it for a few days.

Empty the vodka back into the bottle and fill the jar with the strawberries in with as much sugar as you can get in there, leave for a couple of days.

After a couple of days you should have strawberry syrup in the bottom of the jar. Pour the syrup into the bottle with the vodka.

You can keep adding sugar to the strawberries until no more syrup comes out.

I know some people have made whole Demi's full of strawberry vodka and goes down a treat at parties.

Cheap vodka, frozen strawberries and sugar, thats all there is to it.

 

[Hawks]

Just to warn you all that Hugh FW has a very sweet tooth (compared to mine in any case.) I'd use a lot less sugar and add to taste nearer the end if you're not sure.
David.

I'd agree with this, I now start with very little or even no sugar, macerate away then test and sweeten to taste - always less than a lot of the recipes recommend. :thumb:

I've also used damsons from frozen and had no problems with clarity GA :thumb:

A little almond essence works a treat in sloe gin ( literally 2 or 3 drops per bottle ), not yet tried with the damsons but have some due to bottle soon :hmm:

 

[graysalchemy]

I've also used damsons from frozen and had no problems with clarity GA

No mine seems clear and not too sweet.

 

[kentmark]

I do this one:

1 vanilla pod
1 orange pricked 40 times
40 whole coffee
40 sugar cubes (or 40 tsp sugar)
1 bottle of vodka
Leave to infuse for 40 days, giving it a shake daily.
Like home-made Grand Marnier!

Dennis

Started an experiment based on this, using up ingriedients around the house (car sucking up all my money this month!).

1 x bottle orange vodka drink
1.5 x small bottles vodka
1/2 tsp vanilla essence
3 x oranges chopped and squeezed
40tsp sugar
1/2 bag espresso filter coffee

All mixed up in my 5L fv. Planning to stir daily for 40 days then rack through a coffee filter paper into a dj. Let it settle for 24hrs then bottle through a coffee paper again.

Might be a disaster but it was all spare ingriedients from our inherited kitchen. Probably get binned otherwise!

 

[RobWalker]

fresh from the rumour mill, and a wealth of elderly (and by that logic wise and experienced) customers, the verdict seems to be that - cheap gin is better than expensive gin for steeping!

 

[JonathanAnstock]

Hi Guys, bit of a new boy here but I thought this might fit the bill. I'm just about to start a batch of Limoncello (Fantastic Italian digestif, I fell in love with the stuff when I went to Sorrento).
Found a pretty simple and quite quick way of making it by googling "limoncello recipe instructables".
Sorry I can't put the url in this post but it's easy enough to find.
If it works I may have to go into production as it's pretty hard to find in the U.K. hope this helps. : : :

 

[Moley]

Sorry Jonathan, there are anti-spam restrictions in place which mean that new members can't post links until they have been with us for a couple of days and made a small number of other posts.

I hope that this is the site you meant:

Link

 

[tropicalpisshead]

Just a couple of quick notes.
For those considering using coffee filters to filter your infused grog,,,,,foget it , they clog up almost immediately. I have found the best thing is to use a few layers of pre wetted
kitchen paper towels to be the best method. I start by filtering through one sheet of paper first and work my way up to six sheets.
I dont use any sugar while soaking the fruit as I find it much easier to filter. I sweeten to taste with sugar syrup before I bottle.
The next idea I use is to sweeten the pulp to taste after straining and serve that up on ice cream . Ripper desert
Cheers
Big Al

 

[dennisdk2000]

Hi Guys, bit of a new boy here but I thought this might fit the bill. I'm just about to start a batch of Limoncello (Fantastic Italian digestif, I fell in love with the stuff when I went to Sorrento).
Found a pretty simple and quite quick way of making it by googling "limoncello recipe instructables".
Sorry I can't put the url in this post but it's easy enough to find.
If it works I may have to go into production as it's pretty hard to find in the U.K. hope this helps. : : :

I think I'll have to give this a go as I'm partial to a bit of Limoncello.

Dennis

 

[JonathanAnstock]

Cheers Moley. It's not actually the one I found but looks pretty much identical I may have to try that one as well (purely in the interest of science of course )
Not too sure about the Kiwi idea but I did find a few shops in the Sorrento area producing lime flavour and love grapefruit so thats worth a try.
As an aside I should add a health warning "Do not go to Italy if you are trying to give up alcohol or tobacco" you will have no chance.

 

[tropicalpisshead]

Cheers Moley. It's not actually the one I found but looks pretty much identical I may have to try that one as well (purely in the interest of science of course )
Not too sure about the Kiwi idea but I did find a few shops in the Sorrento area producing lime flavour and love grapefruit so thats worth a try.
As an aside I should add a health warning "Do not go to Italy if you are trying to give up alcohol or tobacco" you will have no chance.

With regards to the Kiwi Liquer might I suggest it aint that flash. I have one on the go at present and I may have to give to the mother inlaw :lol:
While the fruit is great to eat it just doesn't seem to make a good drink.

 

[JonathanAnstock]

With regards to the Kiwi Liquer might I suggest it aint that flash. I have one on the go at present and I may have to give to the mother inlaw :lol:
While the fruit is great to eat it just doesn't seem to make a good drink.

Also worth noting that if anyone has a latex allergy it's best to avoid Kiwi as well. They have been know to cause the same reaction, after years working in anaesthetics I can't go near either of these. Shame really I'm quite fond of latex :grin:

 

[tropicalpisshead]

Hmmm thats interesting to know.
Another great use for the humble kiwi fruit is to slice them thinly and place the slices over raw steak. they are really good as a tenderizer

 

[Redcar]

Just to warn you all that Hugh FW has a very sweet tooth (compared to mine in any case.) I'd use a lot less sugar and add to taste nearer the end if you're not sure.
David.

I'd agree with this, I now start with very little or even no sugar, macerate away then test and sweeten to taste - always less than a lot of the recipes recommend. :thumb:

I've also used damsons from frozen and had no problems with clarity GA :thumb:

A little almond essence works a treat in sloe gin ( literally 2 or 3 drops per bottle ), not yet tried with the damsons but have some due to bottle soon :hmm:

Wouldn't the almond hint happen if you left the damson stones in?