Lemoncello Making (Odin's Recipe)

[artooks]

Hi,

After a long break, I have finally started distilling and very happy for it, I must say that I really missed it. I was planning to start with a gin but for a long time my wife asked me to make limoncello so I give it a go, I have a recipe folder which I save my favorite recipes and others recipes over the years and I came across Odin's Lemoncello, can't remember if it was from this forum or not but her the recipe that I used. I first used this recipe to make limoncello probably 5 years ago and really liked it, so I highly recommend it. I decided to make it X3 so I used 1.5 liter of %95 Ethanol and 1.5 liter of Water and used 1200 grams sugar to the overall volume is going to be 3,755 ml and it will be %38 ABV. I washed 15 lemons first and clean each of them with a a paper towel with some ethanol in case there is a wax but there was reason being the lemons are all organic. after that I started peel each lemon with a lemon peeler, even if I was careful not to get the white pith, still some came along especially with soft lemons. so I had to turnover the peels to work with the white pith, I removed the by going back and forth with a serrated knife, it really easy to do that, after I finished peeling all 15 lemons which took like an hour, I sliced them into smaller pieces to increase the surface area, I put the 1.5 liter ethanol in a jar and throw all the peels inside it, I am mixing them twice a day so after a week I will continue with the final steps.

Here is the recipe:

Ingredients (fully scalable):
- 5 biological lemons;
- 0.5 liters of 95% pure acohol (neutral in taste);
- 0.5 liter of water;
- 400 grams of sugar.

Procedure:
- Wash the lemons;
- Peel the lemons: the thinner the better;
- Cut the peel in smaller parts and add them to the 0.5 liters of 95% alcohol;
- Put the enclosed jar with the lemon peels and alcohol away for a week at a warm place. Sunlight is no problem;
- Shake the jar every day;
- After a week, make from the water and sugar a syrup by heating the water up, adding the sugar, and letting the mixture boil for 5 minutes;
- Let the syrup cool, then add it to the alcohol with the lemon peel;
- Keep the result for 1 to 2 weeks in the fridge;
- Now filter out the peel (coffee filter will do);
- Bottle it, put it in the freezer, drink it.

[artooks]

Images part 2

[NormandieStill]

Looks fairly similar to Demy's recipe (which is also very tasty), although I have a vague memory of his being a little less sugary. Demy filters before adding the syrup, which might have a tiny effect on the yield, and even on the extraction (lower abv = higher water = more water soluble compounds extracted).

Just for the record, the English translation of Biologique / Biologische is "organic". I assume that's what you meant by "biological lemons".

[artooks]

Looks fairly similar to Demy's recipe (which is also very tasty), although I have a vague memory of his being a little less sugary. Demy filters before adding the syrup, which might have a tiny effect on the yield, and even on the extraction (lower abv = higher water = more water soluble compounds extracted).

Just for the record, the English translation of Biologique / Biologische is "organic". I assume that's what you meant by "biological lemons".

Hi that is straight from Odin's recipe, I did not alter the recipe, yes biologic means organic.

[zed255]

I like to juice the lemons and use some of the juice in place of water for a more rounded or complete lemon flavour.

[artooks]

I like to juice the lemons and use some of the juice in place of water for a more rounded or complete lemon flavour.

It is a very good idea indeed, it will bump up the citrus aroma by far. will try it.

[NZChris]

I tried a recipe from the net that used the juice of three lemons and the zest from eight.

Note says; "Very acid compared to zest only. Don't bother."

[howie]

i use a corn plane to remove the zest from citrus so i don't get any pith.
although because the strips are thinner, maybe i use more fruit?
https://www.manicare.com.au/manicare/sh ... lang=en_AU
my original recipe of 1L neutral/14 medium lemons/1Kg sugar/1L water was too sweet.
recipe is now 1L neutral/20 medium lemons/750gms sugar/1L water

you've encouraged me to try a spiced lemoncello i never got around to.
the above recipe plus 1 x clove, 1 x cardoman & 1 x cinnamon stick

[SouthwestAl]

Sounds good - the only doubt I had was adding the alcohol to the water (syrup) rather than adding water to the alcohol? It is going to louche anyway I suppose, which is a desirable indication of a good level of oils, but not sure if there is some other reason to add water > alcohol and not alcohol >water.

On a side note - I slice the peeled lemons and re-distill them in GNS to make a citrus 'vodka' at around 80% abv, which I use to infuse the lemon peel - it smooths out the GNS I think.

[artooks]

Sounds good - the only doubt I had was adding the alcohol to the water (syrup) rather than adding water to the alcohol? It is going to louche anyway I suppose, which is a desirable indication of a good level of oils, but not sure if there is some other reason to add water > alcohol and not alcohol >water.

On a side note - I slice the peeled lemons and re-distill them in GNS to make a citrus 'vodka' at around 80% abv, which I use to infuse the lemon peel - it smooths out the GNS I think.

Wow what a creative way of using the lemons I am sure they give a good level of aroma to the end product

[howie]

Sounds good - the only doubt I had was adding the alcohol to the water (syrup) rather than adding water to the alcohol? It is going to louche anyway I suppose, which is a desirable indication of a good level of oils, but not sure if there is some other reason to add water > alcohol and not alcohol >water.

On a side note - I slice the peeled lemons and re-distill them in GNS to make a citrus 'vodka' at around 80% abv, which I use to infuse the lemon peel - it smooths out the GNS I think.

Wow what a creative way of using the lemons I am sure they give a good level of aroma to the end product

here is an old lemon vodka recipe.......
25L bucket of freshly picked very ripe lemons
1 table spoon DAP
2 crushed vitamin B tabs
2 table spoons of EC1118 yeast rehydrated (instructions on pkt)
10kg plain white sugar.

Method:

First off peel and quarter lemons and add to fermenter, you want to squash them to a really mushy pulp.
Add 10kg sugar and cover lemons & sugar with really hot water to about a 1/3 of the fermenter full, add DAP & vitamin B, then blitz it for a few minutes with a paint stirrer to aerate.
Top up to the 50L mark on the fermenter with cool water and add half a dozen quartered lemon skins.
Once your fermenter is at about 25c pitch your rehydrated EC1118.
Try to keep the ferment reasonably cool at around 25c for the duration.

The ferment due to acid content from the lemons will be pretty slow but I've never bothered with ph adjustment, it will take 2 to 3 weeks to ferment to dry.
Once it's finished the lemon pulp will generally sink to the bottom, if not gently scoop it out and you should have a nice clear yellowish wash ready for the boiler.

I distill mine once through 4 plates @ around 92% and get a pretty strong lemon flavour carry through, but once watered back to 40% it's very nice.

If I was to pot still this I would run it twice, you get a lot of flavour from this and may want to temper it back to your liking with some neutral

[artooks]

Hi,

Update on my lemoncello:

1 week has passed and during this time, I mixed the jar twice everyday. at the same time I decided to use distilled water so with my small lab grade still, I distilled around 1.5 liter ( 0.4 Gallon) then I heat up a pan and made a syrup with this water and sugar, I decided to decrease the amount of sugar from 400 gr (0.88 lb) to 300 gram (0.66 lb) because last time, when I made this recipe I find the sugar level a little on the high side. After I add the sugar syrup, I mixed them well and had a taste, Woww this really is good, better then anything I had taste compared to the commercial ones. I then put these two jars in the fridge with the peels for cold maceration fort he next 2 weeks, lets see how it will turn out.

[tommysb]

On a side note - I slice the peeled lemons and re-distill them in GNS to make a citrus 'vodka' at around 80% abv, which I use to infuse the lemon peel - it smooths out the GNS I think.

That should be more than just a side-note Al, that's a damn good idea!

[SouthwestAl]

On a side note - I slice the peeled lemons and re-distill them in GNS to make a citrus 'vodka' at around 80% abv, which I use to infuse the lemon peel - it smooths out the GNS I think.

That should be more than just a side-note Al, that's a damn good idea!

Many thanks! It does make for a smoother finished product I find.

One thing I am on the fence about is filtering for both my limoncello and triple-sec. I could filter with a 1micron filter and remove more fatty oils, but it would also remove flavour. On the other hand, it would 'look' nicer.

What are everyone's thoughts on filtering limoncello and preferred methods?

For transparency sake: I have a licensed distillery, and sell my limoncello - while sales in the shop are fine, as I show the oil to buyers and explain it, online sales will be another matter, as people not in the know might complain about oils in a product, mistaking them for dirt or a production failure.

[Saltbush Bill]

One thing I am on the fence about is filtering for both my limoncello and triple-sec. I could filter with a 1micron filter and remove more fatty oils, but it would also remove flavour. On the other hand, it would 'look' nicer.

What are everyone's thoughts on filtering limoncello and preferred methods?

For transparency sake: I have a licensed distillery, and sell my limoncello - while sales in the shop are fine, as I show the oil to buyers and expl

I think you should try to make the fact that yours may look a little different a marketing plus, Explain why it looks that way, and that it improved flavour. If that approach works in your shop why cant it work on line, give them the whole story about the extra oils and how they improve flavour.
I think these days a lot of people are looking for hand crafted stuff with a difference. There is already a heap of lemoncello out there that all looks the same.
To me flavour wins out every time over looks. An extra tasty product should just about sell its self.
Word of mouth is about the best advertising there is in my opinion.

[rpsharman]

That lemon peel looks really pithed off.

Sorry

Anyway... I borrowed some sound gear from a friend. He gave me some lemons from his back yard when I picked it up. When I returned it, I gave him a 375ml bottle of freshly made Limoncello. I tailored it a bit to my taste in terms of sweetness and alcohol level by adding simple syrup and a little Luxardo Cherry syrup first to achieve a decent sweetness, then diluted with water to an alcohol level I would be happy with on the rocks, but also robust enough for cocktails.

A couple of things...

Bordiga Extra Dry and Rosso vermouth is great for whiskey forward cocktails and gin martinis. It's a nice flavor without too much fussiness to flavor the good whiskey or gin you might have made/bought. The 375ml bottle are GREAT for regifting full of whatever you're making.

Who has some good whiskey Limoncello recipes to share? I am just getting started with Limoncello, but I drink a lot of whiskey. Don't want to bury the whiskey too much.

Cheers,

Robert

[tommysb]

On a side note - I slice the peeled lemons and re-distill them in GNS to make a citrus 'vodka' at around 80% abv, which I use to infuse the lemon peel - it smooths out the GNS I think.

That should be more than just a side-note Al, that's a damn good idea!

Many thanks! It does make for a smoother finished product I find.

One thing I am on the fence about is filtering for both my limoncello and triple-sec. I could filter with a 1micron filter and remove more fatty oils, but it would also remove flavour. On the other hand, it would 'look' nicer.

What are everyone's thoughts on filtering limoncello and preferred methods?

For transparency sake: I have a licensed distillery, and sell my limoncello - while sales in the shop are fine, as I show the oil to buyers and explain it, online sales will be another matter, as people not in the know might complain about oils in a product, mistaking them for dirt or a production failure.

My thoughts are that differentiating yourself is not a bad thing. I wouldn't bother to filter - more, time, expense and effort, to produce a product that might now be perceived as 'the same' as the others.

You're already doing a craft product - I would write in the blurb either on the bottle and/or on the website about why your limoncello is cloudy - it's NOT mass/industrially produced, and that's why it looks different.

The people who I think your target audience are will 'get it'. I would put the effort into communicating about the product and informing the consumer about why it is how it is, rather than put the effort into filtering!

For transparency sake:

Nice pun

[artooks]

Hi,

It has been 1 week since I have added the sugar syrup and cold macerating in the fridge with peels, after 1 week, almost all the peels has sunken at the bottom and the top side of the jar has become clearer to this made me think, If I keep the jar in the fridge for a long time will it become clear just like a wine maybe I am not sure but seeing the top part of the lemoncello clear made me think that. What do you think, I do not have a goal to make the lemoncello clear but wondering if it could be possible, because I know that with any fermentation if you cold crash you get a much clear ferment.

[NormandieStill]

I find that my *cello products tend to separate over time. They don't really clear but a lot of the oils come out of suspension and form an oil layer on the top. In the case of the Orancello this is a bright orange. Since the oils are the source of the flavour I give the bottle a good shake before serving. I suspect that the commercial ones (that are not filtered) add some kind of emulsifier to keep the oil suspended.

[artooks]

I find that my *cello products tend to separate over time. They don't really clear but a lot of the oils come out of suspension and form an oil layer on the top. In the case of the Orancello this is a bright orange. Since the oils are the source of the flavour I give the bottle a good shake before serving. I suspect that the commercial ones (that are not filtered) add some kind of emulsifier to keep the oil suspended.

Hi,

I am wondering what would happen if we use bentonite or sparkolloid these two are used in winemaking to clear the wine not that I desire the limoncello to be clear but just wondering

[artooks]

Hi Everyone,

Time really flies, two weeks has passed and my cold maceration has completed, I took out two of my jars and combined them in a saucepan and mixed them very well, then I placed my funnel and put a coffee filter inside and started to filter my lemoncello, during this time I take a small sample, my god it really is very good, I am very pleased with the outcome and put them in small 400 ml bottles, now , all that's left is to drink with pleasure

[artooks]

Hi Everyone,

After bottling a little bit of lemoncello left so I kept it in a small glass in the fridge, after leaving there for a week it becomes more clear almost like a white wine

[RealEricCrev]

Sounds good - the only doubt I had was adding the alcohol to the water (syrup) rather than adding water to the alcohol? It is going to louche anyway I suppose, which is a desirable indication of a good level of oils, but not sure if there is some other reason to add water > alcohol and not alcohol >water.

On a side note - I slice the peeled lemons and re-distill them in GNS to make a citrus 'vodka' at around 80% abv, which I use to infuse the lemon peel - it smooths out the GNS I think.

Wow what a creative way of using the lemons I am sure they give a good level of aroma to the end product

here is an old lemon vodka recipe.......
25L bucket of freshly picked very ripe lemons
1 table spoon DAP
2 crushed vitamin B tabs
2 table spoons of EC1118 yeast rehydrated (instructions on pkt)
10kg plain white sugar.

Method:

First off peel and quarter lemons and add to fermenter, you want to squash them to a really mushy pulp.
Add 10kg sugar and cover lemons & sugar with really hot water to about a 1/3 of the fermenter full, add DAP & vitamin B, then blitz it for a few minutes with a paint stirrer to aerate.
Top up to the 50L mark on the fermenter with cool water and add half a dozen quartered lemon skins.
Once your fermenter is at about 25c pitch your rehydrated EC1118.
Try to keep the ferment reasonably cool at around 25c for the duration.

The ferment due to acid content from the lemons will be pretty slow but I've never bothered with ph adjustment, it will take 2 to 3 weeks to ferment to dry.
Once it's finished the lemon pulp will generally sink to the bottom, if not gently scoop it out and you should have a nice clear yellowish wash ready for the boiler.

I distill mine once through 4 plates @ around 92% and get a pretty strong lemon flavour carry through, but once watered back to 40% it's very nice.

If I was to pot still this I would run it twice, you get a lot of flavour from this and may want to temper it back to your liking with some neutral

Hey can you tell me what is DAP

[quadra]

DAP = diammonium phosphate a yeast nutrient and nitrogen source for the fermentation, it also can reduce potential hydrogen sulphide in your fermentation.
You can buy it at any wine making supply shop... a less pure form is also a common fertilizer

[howie]

Hey can you tell me what is DAP
[/quote]

Diammonium phosphate i think.
i get mine off an ebay supplier, some HBS have it in stock

[The Baker]

Some have suggested slightly less ripe lemons if I remember right.

Geoff

[Terrenum]

Hello!
My neutral is already diluted to 55%
Would that work?