Sunshineer wrote:Thanks I have two lemon and two lime trees in my yard.
Use them!! Im finally going to do something with a peach tree & some kind of apple tree in my yard other than animal feed this year.
The Baker wrote:Hi,
jog66 zested lots of limes.
I zested a lot of lemons for limoncello; they were halves that herself had juiced and there were two of those mesh onion bags nearly full.
I used a potato peeler, a lot quicker than a zester.
Geoff
It was a pain in the ass, plan & simple. Not something I want to do all the time.
An update on the lime, Finished dry as hell & with a STRONG bitter lime taste. Probably ok to cook with or a shot here & there but not drinkable. I ended up back sweetening it with a very heavy syrup. Mainly to not loose the lime flavor & only have to add enough for taste. A couple bottles went to neighbors I like. I took one to a memorial day party & was a HIT!! Had several people ask how much I wanted for a bottle. Then again yesterday at an after work breakfast, more people asked about it. Finished around a 8.5%-9% after sweetening.
The rest of April I got a bunch of mangos, bananas, papayas, oranges & more. First batch of bananas wasnt fit to drink. Mangos & papayas, were a complete waste of time. I have smelt rotting animals that smelt better. Good news is I ran all three above, no sense in wasting a little booze.
The oranges, I almost waited around to long. Had to pitch several outback since they were growing fuzz & changing colors. The good ones got washed & treated like the limes but with a bit more sugar. It will clear 13% if it finished dry. Depended on how my wife likes it, it will either be kept here & give out to friends.
The second batch of bananas, a whole damn case this time. Netted 24 pounds of "nanner meat". I did some reading into wine & brandy, the enzymes to convert the starches are in the peels. I treated the whole batch like an all grain run. Cooked the meat, added chopped up peels which I could tell a difference before & after them as the temp went up. Since I wasnt sure I added enough peels for a full conversion, I threw in a bit of amylase. After stirring & cooling, that hit a 1.052. I was fine with that but decided to add some brown sugar to add a few extra flavors. That bumped it up to 1.065. Stirring twice a day to get the what seems like a 3" thick cap knocked down & the yeast couldnt be happier.
I think Im missing something over the last two months but cant place it.
The blueberries..... I cracked open a jar of low wines to see how it was doing. Im not to happy about it. I had to look for the blueberry in it & I knew it was there. Im thinking about stopping this project after I run the next two buckets until I can get some kind of thumper set up or what not built. Then I can finish off the blue brandy.
YOU LUCKY BASTARD! Way to go jog666! 
