Orange Liquor - How do You do it?

Damo

HI All,

The Macerating jar thread got me looking into making Cointreau again. A while ago I was reading various websites info and some recipes call for the skin only to be submerged in the alcohol for a week, some talk about suspending the whole fruit above the alcohol for a few months.

Anyone had experience with both? or either? What do you find best?

My wife and I were having Orgasms last night (the cocktail) and I realised I was almost out of the Triple Sec I had made with a Stillspirits essence. I'd much prefer to make a proper orange liqour next time.

Cheers, Damo. P.S. When I run out of Irish Cream I'll be asking you guys about that too!

punkin

I've read both methods of the orange maceration. The suspended fruit keeps the liquer clear while the maceration will give you a cloudy orange liquer.

Irish Cream here.. Punkins Muck (Baileys)

Damo

Roger that! Thanks Punkin. So, if I am patient it's the suspension method, if not I'll macerate. I might have to place an each way bet on this one. I'll get some oranges today.

Damo.

Damo

I couldn't wait for the grocery shopping and all I had on hand was a couple of mandarins so I put them in a jar with about 200ml's of 40% neutral. Even just after a few hours it smells great!

Damo

emptyglass

I do the suspended one. Very nice, like Punkin said, it stays clear and coluds up when ice is added, just like the real one. I like the mandarine one, everyone who's tried it likes it, but the lime one is the bomb! Very refreshing with a dash of coke.

Sometimes it can get a little bitterness, I put that down to the fruit so far. Some say if the liquer touches the fruit, you'll get bitterness. I have some mandarine style ready for opening at the end of the week, some lime 2 weeks later. Also, I made up a wire stand out of stainless welding filler rod, as getting a good seal with string coming out the top is hard. Hope that helps.

Damo

Thanks emptyglass, I will see what I can do about a stand. Good idea.

Chees, Damo.

cooperville

have we got a recipe up around here for the suspended citrus method its one i have been wanting to try out for a while

Lloyd

@cooperville said: have we got a recipe up around here for the suspended citrus method its one i have been wanting to try out for a while

Me too, @cooperville. Really want to try this "tie an orange up inside a jar of booze". Seems just too simple. So no idea why I haven't done it yet.

jonno

I'm keen on seeing a few photos of people's jars who suspend in the jars

Law_Of_Ohms

Last time I did oranges, I macerated neutral 95% with a heap of oranges i blended (eveything went into the blender. then after a week i distilled it again. worked great, super orange flavour that had to be diluted. a heap of orange oil came out and you could see the layer ontop of the finished product.

luckyliqueur

Hi Damo; my general method is to put 240grams of zest in a mason jar and fill with 1.9L of 95% ~ let it sit for 3 weeks and then dilute with water (or juice) and 'simple sugar syrup' to your taste. As you'd expect, his passes on the colour of the zest.

I have batches of: Navel Orange; Valencia Orange; Tangelo; Blood Orange; Lemons. I've also done various Mandarin types ~ it's a real pain to zest those so if you're in a hurry go with the LOO method.

PS: I keep the juice from the fruit and filter it well - place in the freezer until the steeping process is over.

cooperville

+1 @jonno @Loo do the oils make the product cloudy @luckyliqueur I like the idea of having a few varieties of citrus What's your favourite?

Law_Of_Ohms

yes, if you use too much oil the booze will cloud

cooperville

Hey @Law_Of_Ohms I take it you did not include the pith in the maceration?

cooperville

@Law_Of_Ohms

Moonshine

@cooperville said: Law_Of_Ohms

coop, if you don't mention Loo correctly, he does not get a notification. @ Loo is wrong, you have to use the full username without space between the @ and the name: @Law_Of_Ohms

Once you start typing after the @ a list of usernames shows up in the right upper corner of the text entry box, then just finish writing the correct username or click the fitting username in the shown list.

cooperville

Thanks @Moonshine I worked it out after a few goes =D>

Law_Of_Ohms

lol. in went everything into the blender.

GD50

I did a 5 Tahitian limes on ss skewers that I welded so limes were above say 3 l Azeo and left it but forgot so 5 months later the limes were like rocks and the brew nice an clear and limie. Only done a few tests with sugar syrup and water but looks like it is going to be a thing of joy and beauty when I decide on the right dilution and sugar level. Looking good. Will do oranges and lemons next but may macerate the oranges like recipe above.

rossco

I use a carterhead.

FullySilenced

Last time ... well i used a VISA Card at the liquid store.... :D

Kapea

You can speed up zesting by using a potato peeler instead of a zester. The potato peeler makes easier to work with larger pieces of "zest" (the desirable part of the citrus skin without the bitter pith) instead of all of those tiny pain in the ass strings.

Fresh citrus zest in a GB4 works great. I really like lime and tangerine (separately).

A bit of licorice root added to the gin basket with the citrus for creaminess/mouthfeel. Sweeten the finished spirit to taste with simple syrup. I use a simple syrup made from turbinato sugar. It's not as heavy flavored as brown surgar, but has a much more richer flavor than white sugar.

RobertS

How well does a potato peeler avoid pith? I try to as little white on the back of my peel as possible, and have been using sharp knives and steady hands so far.

grim

Fine zest of the colored skin only (fine microplane)- I was able to get what I thought was excellent extraction of flavor and color with neutral in about 7 days. The samples that went longer might had a slightly richer flavor, but that came with added bitterness.

RobertS

Will be trying this next time. Thank you for the tip!

CothermanDistilling

if you use a basket, and take the skin and some of the 'whiter' pith with the peeler, the pith does not come over in distillation... not saying I would throw the whole peel in there, but I raised the eyebrows of many a 'self proclaimed expert home limoncello maker' with my clear and colorless lemon extraction......

also, search this forum, someone soaked whole fruit for a no-zesting required method.... it was lemons I believe...

punkin

If you use a corn remover from the Chemist instead you'll get all the benefits of the potato peeler without the drawbacks. It takes a finer slice and makes pithless strips easy.

rossco

Yeah Punkin that is what I use.

Kapea

Yeah, but the spirit has a funky foot-like aroma... :))

punkin

Probably would if you used grandma's one.

Kapea

I make Thai style green papaya salad a lot. The papaya peeler makes larger zest strips. It would work well too.

But I've gotten good at getting exactly what I want with my potato peeler, and I grow my own citrus, so I get consistency and repeatability from batch to batch.