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I'm Making Orange Creamsicle recipe ... needs refrigeration?

Posted: Fri Nov 17, 2017 12:59 am
by joeymac
I was asked by a friend to make her some "Orange Creamsicle" moonshine, but I had never made any or even had any myself ever. So I have to research it. There doesn't seem to be a whole lot that turns up when I search HD for "Orange Creamsicle". I'm only finding 2 threads and one looks terrible. One thread describes a dreamsicle recipe that finishes at low ABV (15%) and uses powdered coffee creamer (gross :sick:) and another thread has a Limoncello recipe using zest and real cream that says it works very good with oranges, too. So I made the limoncello with oranges.

My question is since the recipe I made uses REAL milk, do I have to refrigerate it while it ages macerates 8 days? My final liquor should be nearly 38%ABV, which seems high enough to not need refrigeration... but then again I don't want to risk my liqueur going sour before I even get a chance to taste it. So far it looks to have come out nicely and smells good. I adjusted the ingredients to conveniently fill about three 1-quart mason jars almost full at 780mL each, which should fill-up three 750mL bottles after it's aged and filtered out. I just don't know if it needs refrigerated while it ages for 8 days before I filter it out.
Here is the link to the recipe I followed and the amounts of ingredients I used: http://homedistiller.org/forum/viewtopi ... =11&t=5150

2 Oranges, use zest and juice
4 cups grain alcohol (my birdwatcher's neutral is 94%ABV)
4 cups full cream milk
3/4 madagascar vanilla bean
4 cups powdered sugar

Re: I'm Making Orange Creamsicle recipe ... needs refrigerat

Posted: Fri Nov 17, 2017 3:06 am
by NZChris
I don't see how using the juice wouldn't curdle the milk and turn it into a train wreck, but go ahead and try it, then adjust your recipe for next time, repeating until you get something you like.
I suggest doing a half recipe to start with.

Refrigerate. Shake before serving.

It's probably ready to drink immediately and wont improve with 'aging'.

Re: I'm Making Orange Creamsicle recipe ... needs refrigerat

Posted: Fri Nov 17, 2017 5:21 am
by still_stirrin
I made a creamsicle with the candies.

Tasted just like the candies when done. But, the candies left a cloudy sediment in the jar. Also, it didn’t have much of an orange color when macerated either. Using zest increases the orange flavor quickly which helped a lot. But I had to filter several times to clean the cloudiness out. Even then, it would leave a dusting in the bottle every day.

The drink was a novelty. I don’t make it any more. My “Cask No. 1” (whiskey) is much more satisfying. And my “Speakeasy” (gin) is a popular contrast to the whiskey. The panty droppers and candy flavored drinks are esoteric and experimental. Neat to try, but not a “standard”.
ss

Re: I'm Making Orange Creamsicle recipe ... needs refrigerat

Posted: Fri Nov 17, 2017 8:49 am
by joeymac
NZChris wrote:I don't see how using the juice wouldn't curdle the milk and turn it into a train wreck, but go ahead and try it, then adjust your recipe for next time, repeating until you get something you like.
I suggest doing a half recipe to start with.

Refrigerate. Shake before serving.

It's probably ready to drink immediately and won't improve with 'aging'.
I'm sorry, I shouldn't have said "aging". It's the wrong word. I should have just said macerating... it's going to need a few days to macerate with the zest and vanilla bean.

If you read the parent homedistiller thread I linked (which originally gets it's recipe identically from HERE) it does curdle, and mine was quite curdled after only 30 minutes. Shaking occurs daily during the 8 day maceration and then the curds and solids are filtered out leaving the liqueur much more clarified. I guess it's supposed to maintain some of the creamy mouthfeel which goes well with the orange, sugar, and vanilla. I don't think I'd be interested in drinking any if it still had curdled bits in it. Again, I'm making this as a favor to someone and it's not something that really excites me. Although once clarified without the curdled protein... I can see how this might turn out to be something special.

Anyways, I had decided to be on the safe side and refrigerate during maceration until someone knowledgeable says otherwise.
Here it is after only about 6 hours: :wtf: :wtf: :wtf:

Image

Re: I'm Making Orange Creamsicle recipe ... needs refrigerat

Posted: Fri Nov 17, 2017 4:36 pm
by Expat
I made an orange cream beverage, only difference from store bought orange creamsicle is that it wasn't as thick.

Orange peel in neutral until the citrus oils are extracted, strained, settled and filtered ending up with a perfectly clear bright orange extract. Add vanilla for the "creamyness", dilute to drinking strength which makes it a cloudy orange beverage, then sugar to taste. Done.

The only 'problem' I've had is that my friends drink it faster than I want to make it. lol

Re: I'm Making Orange Creamsicle recipe ... needs refrigerat

Posted: Fri Nov 17, 2017 6:43 pm
by Saltbush Bill
There are plenty of recipes out there if you google it https://www.google.com.au/search?q=drea ... 8geo4bWgBA" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow
The only recipe Ive personally tasted was very good and used coffee creamer in it. Some of the above recipes use that method.

Re: I'm Making Orange Creamsicle recipe ... needs refrigerat

Posted: Fri Nov 17, 2017 7:42 pm
by HDNB
i'd try orange bitters to see if it will avoid the whole acid/cream curdling problem. i was thinking vanilla like expat for the creamy taste and a few drops of glycerin will make it soft and velvety.

Re: I'm Making Orange Creamsicle recipe ... needs refrigerat

Posted: Fri Nov 17, 2017 7:51 pm
by joeymac
Well, this recipe with the milk cream was found here on HD and seemed to get some pretty good praise. I figured I'll give it a go and report back here.
The curdling shouldn't be an issue once it's filtered out...

If it turns out poor, I'll try the dreamsicle recipe though.

Re: I'm Making Orange Creamsicle recipe ... needs refrigerat

Posted: Sun Dec 10, 2017 9:23 am
by BDF
The zest of the orange alone should be enough for the orange/citrus flavor. Avoid using the juice. Put some in a jar of neutral, let it get strong, then blend it into whatever base you use for creamyness to whatever proportion you find enjoyable.

Re: I'm Making Orange Creamsicle recipe ... needs refrigerat

Posted: Sun Dec 10, 2017 3:43 pm
by joeymac
BDF wrote:The zest of the orange alone should be enough for the orange/citrus flavor. Avoid using the juice. Put some in a jar of neutral, let it get strong, then blend it into whatever base you use for creamyness to whatever proportion you find enjoyable.
Any reason to avoid using the juice? I mean, with a neutral you've got to dilute it with something eventually... might as well dilute with something wholesome/flavorful like the original juice.
Although if you just wanted to keep a bunch of orange/citrus flavored hooch around for other uses, then yeah, avoiding the juice might be preferable.

CONCLUSION and FOLLOWUP !!!

Posted: Sun Dec 10, 2017 3:44 pm
by joeymac
so the recipe came out nicely... but it was a bit unique compared to anything I'd ever done.
Tastes great and here are my observations. Try it and let me know your thoughts.

Again, from earlier posts, here is the recipe and source I used:
http://homedistiller.org/forum/viewtopi ... =11&t=5150
  • 2 Oranges, use zest and juice
  • 4 cups grain alcohol (my birdwatcher's neutral is 94%ABV)
  • 4 cups full cream milk
  • 3/4 madagascar vanilla bean
  • 4 cups powdered sugar
This yielded three 750mL Jars at a strength of 38% ABV looking ike this:
Image

So I let it macerate 8 days refridgerated, shaking every day. The flavor was surprisingly EXCELLENT but the consistency was very very bad. I initially tried a coffee filter to separate and it was too fine. Most of the sludge just sat in it after a few moments of dripping and it clogged up. So I swapped the coffee filter out for a single ply of paper towel in my strainer and agitated it. Much better, though still not fast. I had to swap out the paper towel halfway through each jar - meaning I used a new paper towel in the strainer at the beginning of each jar and replaced the clogged paper towel halfway through each jar too. I scraped off the curd collected into another jar before discarding the spent towels.

Here is what I got after filtering two jars with the third unfiltered jar for reference:
Image

As you can see, even though I tried to salvage some of the curd, there was quite a bit of loss due to the filter(s) soaking up liquid and curd. I'd guess 400-500mL volume lost. Not only that, but the separated liqueur was quite cloudy and I now had no idea what the alcoholic proof was and no way to directly measure it. The taste was still of oranges and cream and quite good... but it was STRONG. The drink had noticeable heat in the throat and was quite flammable. I did some dilution testing and arrived at the determination that the newly filtered drink was about 110 proof (remember, it started at about 38% ABV). :shock:

To help solve the difficulty filtering problem I decided to let the third jar sit undisturbed in the refrigerator for about 5 days. To my surprise, it settled even more clearly than my original filtration. Even the bottled of filtered liqueur had settled sediment and was cleared. So I decanted both the jar of mixture and the previously filtered liquor and put both the decanted liqueurs though a final coffee filter step. Not only was this much easier than my first filter attempts, but letting the fat/curd settle resulted in much less product loss, too.

(Left) Sediment settling out of filtered liqueur ... (Center) Completely separated after 5 days ... (Right) Easy to Decant:
Image Image Image

The liqueur was now quite clarified but still had a great orange-vanilla-cream flavor. Although the high ABV was noticeable which made prolonged sipping less enjoyable. It tasted exactly like a orange-flavored extra strong limoncello. Good flavor and quite stiff... but I'm aiming for a "Panty Dropper" here. The only way to cure the obnoxiously high ABV% was dilution. I figured either water or orange juice was the only reasonable solution. So I first tried to dilute with fresh squeezed OJ down to 40% in it and it came out quite fantastic. It gave the drink a rich orange color. It does not taste like 40% at all but despite actually being about 40% it still tastes way better and less boozy than your typical 50/50 OJ-Vodka screwdriver drink (which is comparatively quite weak).
This Orange Creamsicle rivals some good apple pie in terms of drinkability and smoothness and sneaky-high proof.

Panty Dropper... Achieved. :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen:
Undiluted 110 Proof Liqueur on left, Final drink at 40% in center, recovered curd (right).
Image

Conclusion: Next time don't bother with filtering the mixed maceration. Rather just let it settle out before decanting. THEN filter it just once and temper to drinking proof using high quality pulp free OJ. I suppose if you wanted to keep a clarified final liqueur without having to temper to 80% using OJ, you could simply start off by diluting your neutral accordingly at the start - aiming for a maceration around 27.5% ABV

Re: I'm Making Orange Creamsicle recipe ... needs refrigerat

Posted: Sun Dec 10, 2017 8:22 pm
by Expat
My suggestion is to give it a try without the dairy, I think you'll still be pleased with the results.

The vanilla provides the creamy taste that you're seeking, the cream is just curdling and binding to a portion of the orange essence you're extracting and taking it away via the filter process. Just a thought.

Re: I'm Making Orange Creamsicle recipe ... needs refrigerat

Posted: Thu Dec 14, 2017 2:14 am
by joeymac
Next time I make it, I'll try a bottle with no milk... I've got a bottle to work on though for now.

I've got to say, I just had about a 3oz pour of this stuff as a nightcap. WOW it's smooth. I did start out with some very mellow neutral (it was allowed to rest about 6+ months and breathe occasionally)... but I simply cannot believe this stuff is supposedly > 35% abv. Heck, I made it myself and I still can't believe it. I had to look at my notes and rerun the math on the final dilution just to reassure myself... yup, it should be about 73 proof.

Re: I'm Making Orange Creamsicle recipe ... needs refrigerat

Posted: Fri Dec 15, 2017 11:32 am
by BDF
joeymac wrote:Any reason to avoid using the juice? I mean, with a neutral you've got to dilute it with something eventually... might as well dilute with something wholesome/flavorful like the original juice.
Although if you just wanted to keep a bunch of orange/citrus flavored hooch around for other uses, then yeah, avoiding the juice might be preferable.
http://homedistiller.org/forum/viewtopi ... 5#p7474935

I talked a bit about it in the above thread. By using only the outer layer of the orange, no juice, and none of the white connective tissue, you extract the orange flavor with zero bitterness. It smells exactly like an orange creamsicle. I used glycerin for the creamy mouthfeel and a UJSSM as a base instead of neutral.

Re: I'm Making Orange Creamsicle recipe ... needs refrigerat

Posted: Tue Feb 06, 2018 6:38 pm
by Big Stogie
I made some for the Super Bowl, I used no pulp orange juice and non dairy liquid creamer in French vanilla, I was skeptical but it was surprisingly good, the girls crushed a quart very quickly, I did one with lemon juice some sugar and lemon zest that in my opinion was better

Re: I'm Making Orange Creamsicle recipe ... needs refrigerat

Posted: Sun Jun 17, 2018 6:35 pm
by Nokum Stiff
I know this is a dated thread but I have to add a little something here.

Powered sugar. It has an anti-caking agent in it...usually corn starch. So if you have a drink that tastes chalky, thick or looks cloudy or otherwise not the way you expected, the culprit could very well be the powdered sugar. Try using a simple syrup instead.

---Stiff