Taters Blueberrie Liqueur

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Taters Blueberrie Liqueur

Post by Tater »

Blueberrie Liqueur This is a 13 gallon wash. This recipe is 35 lb fresh Blueberries 1/4 cup lime juice and 20 lbs sugar and 1 oz yeast EC-1118..Making the syrup will take around six more cups sugar and 4 oz honey
Wash berries pick out stems and unripe berries
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Put cleaned berries in fermenting barrel
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.Take 3 gallons water heat to boiling and add 20 lbs sugar 1/4 cup lime juice and bring back to boil till water clears and has a slight tint
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Pour boiling sugar water over berries in fermenting barrel add more boiling water if needed to cover and stir with sharpened mortar mixer till berries are turned to pulped
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After blending berries fill fermenting barrel to 13 gallons total wash .Be sure to leave head space Take a gallon of cooled wash and add yeast.Stir in get lots of air and let sit overnight.
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Take pre started yeast and add back to wash stirring well
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Next day it should have formed a cap and look like this.
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Let ferment till done gently stirring in cap as needed to keep from drying out .I also will take berries in cap and squeeze in my hands[they were clean] a few times during fermentation to get all the pulp out of skins .I fermented this slow took almost a month. Distilled with a single run Started keeping soon as sweet taste stopped and kept till proof dropped to 80 proof got 2 1/2 gallons of 100 proof after tempering a tad. I did 2 batches of this so I had 5 gallons of finished product .Aired product a few weeks .Then took a 4 1/2 gallon jar and poured in 1 gallon frozen blueberries and filled rest way with the blueberry likker let sit 5 months
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Removed berries from product.
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Added 3 cups sugar to berries and shook to mix.
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Let this sit in a warm place for a few weeks till sugar turned to syrup
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Pour off syurp
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Add back 2 cups sugar to berries
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And so on till berries are drained of all their juice
Let sit till it turns to syrup and pour off
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After collecting syrup I stir syrup to taste back into liquor added 4 oz of honey
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Had to have a sample
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Will now let sit for a few weeks covered with a coffee filter to air out maybe temper a tad to taste before filtering and storing in 1/2 gallon jugs .Longer it sits better it gets
I use a pot still.Sometimes with a thumper
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Post by stoker »

the syrup thing looks interesting, I'll give it a try
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Post by Husker »

I have made syrup before (Tater's method), on other fruits that had soaked for a long while in a strong alcohol (barrel strength). The fruit releasing the juice and combining with the sugar to produce a nice pretty clear syrup is surprising, but it does work, and works well. Extracts a lot of flavor, and a LOT of nice odor.

H.
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Post by stoker »

Husker wrote:I have made syrup before (Tater's method), on other fruits that had soaked for a long while in a strong alcohol (barrel strength). The fruit releasing the juice and combining with the sugar to produce a nice pretty clear syrup is surprising, but it does work, and works well. Extracts a lot of flavor, and a LOT of nice odor.

H.
does it have to be soaked in alcohol? or can it be done with fruit only?
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Post by TRANSPLANTED HILLBILLY »

if not soaked in alcohol, you are, for all practicle purposes makin preserves to put on your biscuit or ice cream. if you leave the fruit in the syrup that is.

Tater, have you, or anybody else on here ever heated the fruit and sugar to speed the process before adding the alky? Just wonderin.
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Post by rangaz »

Is the steeping of the blueberries entirely necessary or can the syrup be made with just the sugar and fruit, then added to the spirit?
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Post by Tater »

TRANSPLANTED HILLBILLY - Ive tried heating the likker soaked fruit and sugar and it changes it taste a bit I thought.Kinda like the differance between fresh fruit and pie taste.RANGAZ-Sure it can be made from fresh fruit I like the steeped fruit best Plus I dont worry about molds or the like.
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Post by Monster Mash »

What is the reason for adding the frozen fruit to the liquor as apposed to fresh room temp fruit?
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Post by Tater »

I picked the all the berries at the same time if i hadnt of froze it it wouldnt of kept.But freezing it will break up cell walls in fruit /berries to make it easyer to make a wash out of.But if ya do freeze your fruit thats for soaking use it frozen dont thaw before adding to likker .If thawed in the likker it keeps its shape and color.
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Post by Monster Mash »

Guys, Can you use frozen blueberries (thawed out) for the fermentation?
Thanks!
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Post by Tater »

Yes I usally freeze fruit before ferminting it.I think it fermints better when frozen first.Berries were just so ripe and was ready to grt started I didnt freeze in this run.Have also used canned berries that a friend gave me once.
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Post by theholymackerel »

Freezin' fruit breaks up all the cell walls and releases the juice easier.
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Post by Monster Mash »

This has been an excellent learning tutorial. I looked through the archives on making cuts with fruit based washes for brandy. I noticed that they seem to differ quite a bit as far as the cuts at %abv. Whereas with grain I might cut for whiskey at 80% down to 60% it seems that with the brandy the tails cut is at 80%. I haven't run into a general heads cut number yet. How much heads did you collect (also % abv) before switching to the center cut with this fuit based brandy? Thanks again for the info.
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Post by Tater »

I allways go by taste.When sweet taste starts to fade I keep till bead drops [ 80 proof] I dont seperate heads and forshots. I toss both into ant killin jar tails I use in next run.Most my washes start out at 140 proof or so that wash had added sugar .But thats with my still Im sure others run a bit differnt.Now when ya dont keep till it starts tasting good and quit before it starts tasting bad how can ya screw up
:)
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Post by goose eye »

takes awhile to pick them berrys. looks good. was that alittle over a 5gal bucket full.
these boys aint ever been able to hold that scent
so im tole
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Post by Tater »

goose eye wrote:takes awhile to pick them berrys. looks good. was that alittle over a 5gal bucket full.
these boys aint ever been able to hold that scent
so im tole
Yep goose was a tad over 5 gallon bucket per 13 gallon wash. I agree the taste of blueberries is faint in the likker same as pear.Both make an excellent liqueur though.
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Post by stoker »

forgive my ignorence, but do you taste a lot of the original fruit (the fermented fruit) after you have added the syrup?

I would like to make a pantydropperstylething with neutral spirit and syrup. so, not too high alcohol (25°), good fruit taste and pritty sweet.

comments?
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Post by Tater »

Most of what I make is same fruit is used in making likker as the liqure .So It would be hard to say .Syrup has lots of flavor The fruit likkers usally have a fruit after taste .When I use unflavored rum/molasses likker I can taste a faint rum aftertaste.But rum goes well with fruit anyway. :wink:
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Post by stoker »

ok, I'll give it a try when the syrup is ready
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Post by stoker »

I try to make syrup from fruit, without being soaked in alcohol.
should I add some shine to the sugar-fruit mix?

will the alcohol take more flavour from the fruit then the sugar on its own?


I'm collecting lots of jars with fruit-sugar right now, being the fruit moment.
and when I have the syrup, I'll start experementing.
I think some fruit can not be used, right now, apples dont give much of flavour.
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Post by rangaz »

I'll second that on apples. I tried several methods of flavour extraction including steam infusion, syrup method and steeping. All failed to some extent and in the end I just used apple juice
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Post by stoker »

tater, do you have experience with it?
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Post by Tater »

Fresh pressed apple juice seems a good way to go when doing apples for added flavor.Had some other day a friend had made .Ice cold apple juice still enough pulp to have the cider taste.Apple brandy added 100 proof in = amounts .Think it was 3 different kind of apples he had made cider from.
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Post by stoker »

ok, that sounds good.
and the thing about adding alcohol to the syrup jar?
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Post by Tater »

Reckin wich ever suits ya.Ive made it both ways.I prefer using alcohoal.
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Post by violentblue »

I'm a little confused,

your wash was blueberry/sugar, distilled and more blueberries added after?
Thinking of doing this myself, but considering the labor intensive nature of blueberry picking thought it might be better to start with a neutral spirit then following your recipe from that point.

is there a flavor component from the blueberry wash that is a significant addition to the final product?
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Post by Tater »

i think taste is better using same fruit in wash as making liqueur with and I like a uncut molasses run if not using same fruit.to use as base.
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Post by violentblue »

got some on now, I gotta cut the strength of the distillate down though, its striping the blue right off the berry
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Post by TryMe »

During the ferment stage of the process what keeps the berries and mash from molding?
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Post by Old_Blue »

:?: :!: :?:

Same thing that keeps grapes from molding when making wine or mash from molding when making beer.

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