Flavoring Vodka

Treatment and handling of your distillate.

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winestill
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Flavoring Vodka

Post by winestill »

Hey guys.

I was wondering how you would make clear vodka
with flavors like in Absolut series,
f.ex. Absolut Apeach or Vanilla.
Do I first put it in a jar with the fruit and fill it to
the top of the fruit and put sugar and so on and boil
or would I mash the fruit and then put it in
the boiler with 30-40% vodka and distill it that way?

Or is there another way?

And I forgot. What would the recipe be? Let's have it
it 1L of 40%
Last edited by winestill on Sat Sep 04, 2010 1:18 pm, edited 1 time in total.
still crazy
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Re: Flavoring Vodka

Post by still crazy »

I know for a fact that 3 Olives flavors theirs after the distill.
That's how I do mine.
Works for me.
Daddy used, to say " Any landing you can walk away from is a good one"
Calculations don't mean shit when compared to the real world practical experience of many...RAD 9/2010
Samohon
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Re: Flavoring Vodka

Post by Samohon »

My wife usually just does fruit and veg infutions with 40% voddy... :D
A lot of the bars here in the UK have started to do it....
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myerfire
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Re: Flavoring Vodka

Post by myerfire »

I thought I had come up with a brilliant idea. I took 90+% neutral and added frozen rasberry concentrate and distilled water and diluted down to 40%. This ended up tasting like cough syrup, it was terrible. It seemed like such a good idea.
So don't waste your time with this idea.
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Dnderhead
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Re: Flavoring Vodka

Post by Dnderhead »

some of the flavors you just do not want much of.
MuleKicker
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Re: Flavoring Vodka

Post by MuleKicker »

Dnderhead wrote:some of the flavors you just do not want much of.
Amen to that.
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WalkingWolf
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Re: Flavoring Vodka

Post by WalkingWolf »

I've heard discussion of putting the juice of citrus in a thumper or (and?) Take the zest of the citrus and put in a gin basket and steam infuse.

Can't vouch for either. Hopefully, I will be able to vouch in the near future,
Dnderhead
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Re: Flavoring Vodka

Post by Dnderhead »

Some of what Iv made apple 1/2 /1/2,,, blackberry 1/4 / 3/4,,, raspberry 1/8/ 7/8 ,,peach 1/2/1/2
this is with juice off the fruit. made others but can remember mix. then sweeten with 1/2-1 cup sugar.
if making you can start off with less as you can add more but hard to remove if you over do it.
also if using berries do not leave seed in mix for extended time .doing so can extract bitter tannins
from seeds.berries/fruit varies so it is up to you.I'm going to try yellow raspberrys as these are sweeter and lighter in flavor i suspect ill need more.
Iv also re distilled (in pot) this will be something like schnapps.

most berries /fruit I make at /about 30% alcohol.
marc83
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Re: Flavoring Vodka

Post by marc83 »

The M.I.L used some 40% neutral and soaked some plums for 3 months,i think she added 2 cups of sugar to the top the sealed and forgot about it.I tried some of it once it was strained off.Very nice,very sweet,maybe less sugar next time,and the plums can then be used for something else after.
I done one of my own except with raspberries this weekend,with just one cup of sugar though and a little lemon juice.Its got a very good colour to it,i hope i can keep my hands off it long enough :D
I at least want to leave it for 3 months also.I should get approx 750ml once strained,got a nice bottle to put it in too.
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still crazy
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Re: Flavoring Vodka

Post by still crazy »

This is what I what I use ,just a couple of drops, addd a cup or so of melted sugar and its a schnappsy thingy.
Can get it at a health food store and you want the extacts NOT the flavoring.

[urlhttp://www.flavorganics.com/][/url]
Daddy used, to say " Any landing you can walk away from is a good one"
Calculations don't mean shit when compared to the real world practical experience of many...RAD 9/2010
demonrichie
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Re: Flavoring Vodka

Post by demonrichie »

would using juice while doing the final dilution work?
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Dnderhead
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Re: Flavoring Vodka

Post by Dnderhead »

if you cut, with juice then run in a pot still you end up with something like schnapps.
suburban hillbilly
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Re: Flavoring Vodka

Post by suburban hillbilly »

Hi
I took a litre of 40% neutral and poured it over a whole punnet (around 250g) of strawberries which I had quartered added a squirt of honey to smooth it all out and left it for 48 hours.
I then strained the vodka through a fine mesh material and made sure I squeezed as much juice out of the strawberries at the same time. I was left with a very nice flavoured vodka which was nice straight over ice or mixed with a good lemonade.
I tried the same with blackberries but this didn't taste so good. I got this idea from a video on the net and seemed so simple I gave it a try.
http://www.wikihow.com/Infuse-Vodka-with-Flavor" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow.
Unlike this video the spirit very soon took all the colour from the strawberries and left them in the vodka.
Hope this helps.
All the best S H
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scotty
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Re: Flavoring Vodka

Post by scotty »

i ruined 6 gallons of raspberry wine by adding raspberry flavor-- i think the secret lies in going in small steps.
teach me and correct me if you are my friend
pistachio_nut
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Re: Flavoring Vodka

Post by pistachio_nut »

For vanilla vodka, I buy Tahitian vanilla beans from whoever's slingin' em cheap on Amazon. Surfas quality control is great, I've had great results.

I used to just put the flavoring in a jar and cover with neutral of one strength or another, but using a vacuum sealer changed my mind about this method. All of a sudden, three months of aging is finished in a week. I can stand in front of the jar and watch the fruit bubble, shred, and just fall to pieces in the jar. That's a little bit of an exaggeration, but you'll see what I'm talking about if you do it yourself.

Leave extra head space in the jar because the liquid will rise. No point in gumming things up.

I don't like strawberries because the flavor of the woody seeds comes through. I've done black pepper, sliced ginseng and sliced ginger, juniper berries, ground coffee, flash frozen black cherries, flash frozen peach slices, cinnamon sticks, coriander seeds, licorice, peppermint sticks, all kinds of stuff.

I would recommend using a 500mL jar and start small. You can always add more. If you go too far, pour into a mason jar and dilute with more neutral until you like the taste. Or dilute with water, whatever you want. If I'm making gin, I make a separate infusion for each ingredient and carefully record my measurements. Then I mix once the individual infusions are where they need to be. Gin's kind of a pain in the butt in that way, some day I hope to have something good worked out. I think it's probably a year or two away.

Flash frozen peaches, flash frozen cherries, three dried juniper berries, a sprinkle each of lemon zest and lime zest, and three peppercorns in a one quart jar, covered with hi-test, vac-sealed to 28 pounds for a week is one of my favorites. Mmmm.
Not typically one to floss
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