I've made red wine before - quite frankly, I prefer to just buy it from a Vineyard - wine making required far too much attention to detail. Also, tried home brewed beer - same thing - too much work for the results. But, for about three years now, I have been making Lemoncello (Limoncello). Have made four batches and played with the recipe a little. Am back to the most basic of recipes. 1-1-1-8 [One litre grain alcohol to 1 litre water to 1 kilo sugar to 8 lemons (peels that is)]. If anyone wants to try it, it's real simple. This last batch I made 3-1/2 litres grain alcohol to 24 lemons. Basically just trippled the recipe.

Wash then Peel 8 lemons - only the yellow gets used - no white (pith). Soak lemon peels in pure grain alcohol (190 proof) for about 5 days (lemon peels will turn white). Strain the mix well leaving only lemon flavored alcohol and set aside. In another pot, bring 1 litre water to a slow boil and stir in 1 kilo (2.2# sugar) till dissolved. Let cool to room temp, then mix in with lemon-alcohol. Bottle and set in freezer overnight. Absolutely wonderful when kept in the freezer as a shooter or sip over ice. Buon appetite.

Once I left some apple juice in a cupboard in my college dorm room for a few weeks and it fermented. Smelled just like beer. I didn't drink it tho.

I used to make about 65 gallons of red wine a year. Everybody wants it, but no one wants to help, too much work cleaning and sterilizing bottles. I stopped a few years ago. May do it again in September, like to see my son keep the tradition going.

I have my great uncles (grandpa's brother) recipe for his white lightning. Also have the instuctions (very detailed for an old hillbilly) on how to build the still!:thumbsup:

I just had some Apple pie moonshine last night, and let me tell you, it tasted exactly like apple pie! Crazy stuff.


Gary

I only homebrew beer, would like to get a bigger setup for that someday and maybe get a (shh) still setup.

I've made red wine before - quite frankly, I prefer to just buy it from a Vineyard - wine making required far too much attention to detail. Also, tried home brewed beer - same thing - too much work for the results. But, for about three years now, I have been making Lemoncello (Limoncello). Have made four batches and played with the recipe a little. Am back to the most basic of recipes. 1-1-1-8 [One litre grain alcohol to 1 litre water to 1 kilo sugar to 8 lemons (peels that is)]. If anyone wants to try it, it's real simple. This last batch I made 3-1/2 litres grain alcohol to 24 lemons. Basically just trippled the recipe.

Wash then Peel 8 lemons - only the yellow gets used - no white (pith). Soak lemon peels in pure grain alcohol (190 proof) for about 5 days (lemon peels will turn white). Strain the mix well leaving only lemon flavored alcohol and set aside. In another pot, bring 1 litre water to a slow boil and stir in 1 kilo (2.2# sugar) till dissolved. Let cool to room temp, then mix in with lemon-alcohol. Bottle and set in freezer overnight. Absolutely wonderful as a frozen (semi frozen) shooter or sip over ice. Buon appetite.


My wife makes quite a bit of this too, but you can keep ours in the freezer for as long as you like but it will NEVER freeze or slush ;).. It's a great sipper, but I have seen a lot of good men go down in flames because they think it's good for shots... Easy does it, just because it's smoooooooth, doesn't mean it's not hardcore!! :beers:

Mine doesn't freeze either, just wasn't sure how to explain it - I'll have to go back and rephrase that.

Oh yeah- this stuff will bring a man to his knees but fast.

It all sounded good 'til you start talking about guys on their knees.

I'll stick to the store bought stuff.

down on their knees worshipping before the Great White God of Porcelain. :)

down on their knees worshipping before the Great White God of Porcelain. :)

And selling buicks the next morning, big buicks!:yes:

It all sounded good 'til you start talking about guys on their knees.

I'll stick to the store bought stuff.

My Dad and my Grandfather used to make a lot of home brew. I think Grandfathers still is still around the island we grew up on somewhere. Dad did not do any distilling that I can remember but Grandpa sure did!! Dad made his white wine from rhubarb, and his red from wild blackberries.
One of my favorites that he used to make for Christmas was home made Grand Mariner (sp?). I remember he had a special one gallon jar for making it that had an eye on the bottom of the lid. He would put a couple of bottles of brandy in the jar and them hang an orange just above the brandy. I think the orange had to hang there for about 2 weeks. That was some good stuff! The better the brandy you stsrted with, the better the result.

down on their knees worshipping before the Great White God of Porcelain. :)

Ah come on Tom, surely you can't think that someone named Rowdy could poosibly be so naive as to need it spelled out.

Humor wasn't always distinguished with a smiley face.

You're not supposed to chug it. Just a couple shooters after dinner - especially great at the holidays. We also will drop a little in the Iced Tea in the summer.

Oh- and to heck with cough syrup in the flu season. Shot of this knocks a sore throat right out.

I've made red wine before - quite frankly, I prefer to just buy it from a Vineyard - wine making required far too much attention to detail. Also, tried home brewed beer - same thing - too much work for the results. But, for about three years now, I have been making Lemoncello (Limoncello). Have made four batches and played with the recipe a little. Am back to the most basic of recipes. 1-1-1-8 [One litre grain alcohol to 1 litre water to 1 kilo sugar to 8 lemons (peels that is)]. If anyone wants to try it, it's real simple. This last batch I made 3-1/2 litres grain alcohol to 24 lemons. Basically just trippled the recipe.

Wash then Peel 8 lemons - only the yellow gets used - no white (pith). Soak lemon peels in pure grain alcohol (190 proof) for about 5 days (lemon peels will turn white). Strain the mix well leaving only lemon flavored alcohol and set aside. In another pot, bring 1 litre water to a slow boil and stir in 1 kilo (2.2# sugar) till dissolved. Let cool to room temp, then mix in with lemon-alcohol. Bottle and set in freezer overnight. Absolutely wonderful when kept in the freezer as a shooter or sip over ice. Buon appetite.

1 kilo sugar..
working with wifes stuff..
1/2 cup, 2 cups, 1/8th
whats the conversion, help out a redneck ;)

1 kilo = 2.2# . Look on the side of a 5# bag it will tell you the approx cups in a bag. But basically just a little less than 1/2 bag per litre of water to make the sugar/water mix used to cut the lemon flavored alcohol.

Where do you get 190 proof alcohol? The strongest stuff I can find around here is 160 proof vodka. Everclear is illegal in NY, and you need a prescription to get it in ontario, lol.

PA doesn't sell it either. I get it in Delaware (live 5 minutes from the state line). You could use 160 Proof Vodka though. Just don't want to start with much less than that or it will get too weak once diluted.

The wife and I used to make a kaluha (sp ???) Was quite a few years back someone gave her the recipe.It turned out pretty good.

PA doesn't sell it either. I get it in Delaware (live 5 minutes from the state line). You could use 160 Proof Vodka though. Just don't want to start with much less than that or it will get too weak once diluted.


thanks for the info! I might have to give it a shot with this vodka I've got.

Good luck. Think you will enjoy it. Kind of foolproof.

I hope that I get all the amounts correct from memory, but here's one that I enjoy around Christmas and through the winter:

Take a fifth of bourbon,

to which you add:

3 cinnamon sticks
6 cloves
1 whole nutmeg, smashed into pieces with a hammer

Let this sit for two months, then filter out all the spice pieces. Letting them stay in the bourbon longer will cause the nasty, bitter flavors to start coming out, ruining the concoction.

This is mighty fine stuff for adding to spiced cider!!!

We also make our own vanilla extract with vodka & vanilla beans. It's amazing how much stronger REAL vanilla extract is compared to the imitation stuff. Makes for some out of this world homemade vanilla ice cream!

You're not supposed to chug it. Just a couple shooters after dinner - especially great at the holidays. We also will drop a little in the Iced Tea in the summer.
.

I'm going to have to try this, sounds good....

Where do you get 190 proof alcohol? The strongest stuff I can find around here is 160 proof vodka. Everclear is illegal in NY, and you need a prescription to get it in ontario, lol.


We get it in WVA, but my wife's made it with 100 proof vodka before, just add less water..

I've used the Mr. Beer kit with some success. I have only made the regular lager, though, nothing fancy yet!

Shhhhhh! (They still make moonshine/white/painter piss here in the mountains and some of us keep a little in the cupboard for emergency's in case a team member shows up)

Good to hear some fellow wrenchers enjoy some other things in life. I like my wrenching and experimenting in the garage, but I also like the experimenting in the kitchen.

PS - sipping a double shot on the rocks right now!