Home Distiller

I tried this recipe and it's great. However, here's what I did (forgive the pedantry)

- get the best coffee beans you can. We have some of the best roasters in the world here in Wellington, New Zealand. Awesome. Grind the beans to make at least 1.5 cups.
- this technique of plunger coffee making I got from a barista. Pour in the water (go figure..) but at well below boiling point. In a steady stream into a plunger. Pour in about 3 cups worth. Now, let it sit for 5-10 minutes. There should be a crazy big head on it. Under this lies the Crema…gold.
- in order to get the crema, fold the the granules into it, or as i do, just put the plunger onto a flat surface and wiggle it, not leaving the table surface. Magically the crema appears. Now you can plunge it but important, make sure it's an all metal grill! A plastic one with tiny holes will drag the crema down with it. Now, you can add hot milk for a cuppa, but onto the Kahlua..

- after plunging you now have very strong coffee which you probably want to pass through some coffee filter paper at this point. My first brew I made the Kahlua then tried to filter it. Bad move. With the sugar and what-not, it took forever to filter. I don't mind coffee silt in my drink, but you may want to show it off to your friends as a pristine product.
- filter into a saucepan or large jug. Now you can add the sugar. The coffee should still be warm enough to melt the sugar without extra heat. I use less than the recipe on the first page, but do it to taste. You may like sweeter drinks than me. Also, I use equal amounts of coffee crystals/raw sugar and Demerara.
- after sugar has dissolved it's probably cool enough to add the good stuff. 3 cups of neutral, I despised Kahlua for it's weakness. Make it 80%. This will probably make a 40% drink, or thereabouts.
- 2 tsp of vanilla extract (not essence). 1 tsp if you aren't a vanilla freak like me. Next brew I will age a bottle with a vanilla pod.
- 1 tblsp honey, or glycerin.

Mix and it's done. Age some. When mixed with milk and neutral for a white russian, it's great and it'll definitely keep you awake...

I found a 1/2 gallon bottle of Kahlua that I had made January of last year. Sometimes finding gems like that is a real treat. This stuff is wonderful!!!! It was so good that I had to make another bottle tonight using my much better cuts neutral vodka to put away again. This time I tinkered with the recipe a bit, added equal parts of the sugars and added a tablespoon of honey and maple syrup and doubled the vanilla. Tastes great right after making it so I'm hoping in a few months it really smooths out and is even better.

I made this tonight as per the original recipe, save the fact I substituted honey for glycerine. I also took the extra step of filtering the coffee through coffee filters. It is delicious! Gonna pick up some kahlua to see how it compares directly.

Tater wrote:Mines a little different--1/2 cup mountain blend instant coffie
o 1 cups boiling water
o 1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
o 1/2 cup light brown sugar
o 5 cups pure alcohol (100-120 proof)
o 1 vanilla bean or 1 tsp. vanilla extract
o 1 tsp. honey
Combine boiling water coffee, Combine coffee and sugars, in a saucepan and heat for 5 minutes, but do not boil. Allow to cool. Stir in alcohol, vanilla, honey. Age 6 months to a year .I usually make it in larger batches

Tater I've used that same recipe for years, I have tried it with expensive coffee beans but the instant coffee is much stronger and I found has tasted better than any expensive coffee's that I have tried!

Just made a batch for Christmas last weekend.Its still a favorite here.

I was wondering, any more people tried akcoyotes recipe? I think im gonna try a coffee liqueur with my first ever lovingly made rotgut and I need to choose between tater's and akcoyote's.

You won't get much easier than this and you'll never use an essence again.
Homemade Kahlua (my personal favorite) Recipe
• 6 cups sugar
• 6 cups water
• 20 tsp instant coffee
• 1/2 gallon spirit (40%)
• 12 tsp pure vanilla
Mix sugar, water, coffee together and bring to slow boil. Turn heat down and simmer 1 hour. Remove heat, cover liquid with plastic wrap. Let sit for 12 hours, then remove wrap (it will pick up film from the top). Add vodka and vanilla, stir well. Bottle.

Very easy and VERY good! Enjoy!

AkCoyote

My mother-in-law keeps bringing me back the empty bottle of this Kahlua and I keep filling it back up Damn good.

I adore this recipe
Fresh beans tossed with vanilla bean paste then roasted I found was nice I ground them and put it through an expresso machine yummo when I made this I used less sugar and no vanilla cause it was already with the coffee also I love it a little strong. I agree it needs aging

anybody know where i can buy glycerin or if there is a substitute for this ingredient?

I think wine making shops (and maybe brew your own beer shops). I used glucose instead and it worked like a charm.

Thanks Blind Drunk but like always if you keep reading on this website you'll find the answer. I think we will use honey instead of glycerin. Thanks for the info. Water is boiling on the stove as we speak. Cheers!

Careful as honey will add much sweetness. Glycerin and glucose aren't as sweet.

stillenand chillen wrote:anybody know where i can buy glycerin or if there is a substitute for this ingredient?

At the supermarket where the essences are.

Just made a gallon using Tater's honey method... Mmmmmm, real nice, dont think it will last long....

Samohon wrote:Just made a gallon using Tater's honey method... Mmmmmm, real nice, dont think it will last long....

It's amazing, I got my recipe years ago and it is almost identical to Tater's. I think the key is instant coffee as it is much stronger than regular coffee. I have used the same recipe with expensive coffee and don't think it is as good as the one's made from instant. Glad you enjoy it, the problem with those liquers is they are like drinking a milkshake they just go down so easily!

great recipe!

i've made a batch yesterday using half the amount of sugar (1 cup) and all of it demerara (light brown), also used honey instead of glycerin as that's what i had on hand and 2tsp of vanilla essence. on top of that i got some freshly roasted coffee shop espresso blend beans so only used one cup of freshly ground coffee. might use 1 1/2 cup next time.

as an ex-barista i have to highly recommend the plunger method Hammck mentioned. the temperature is crucial if you want to get it perfect, most of y'all have thermometers you can use for this i imagine so boil a kettle and when the temperature drops to within 92-96°C (197.6-204.8°F) pour it in steady and slowly. maximum taste and no bitterness. if you have access to a coffee grinder, make sure you grind your beans just before you're about to brew the coffee as a lot of the essential oils evaporate in as little as 15 minutes.

amazing stuff!finding it hard to believe it's gonna be even better in a month

The Baker wrote:

stillenand chillen wrote:anybody know where i can buy glycerin or if there is a substitute for this ingredient?

At the supermarket where the essences are.

Usually I find it at or near the pharmacy section but it is not cheap. Here is a cheaper way to purchase it.
http://www.morethanalive.com/Vegetable-Glycerin" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow

Edit: I know this is from an old post but thought the info relevent!

Has anybody tried artificial sweetener like Splenda?

Just wonderin.

I made this today from Tater's original recipe, except I dropped the white sugar to 3 C instead of 3.5 C. I used 1.5 cups of well aged Hook Rum and 1.5 cups of neutral. Mrs. Braz tasted it and claimed it for her own. I need to make another batch so I can have some. This is truly good stuff.

I did my syrup from panela and added just a smidge of lemmon zest....er that would be past tense.....Need more now too.

Letting it rest a bit really does a world of good as I was worried about the zest in the begining,,,,,,but the last dregs were sublime.

I made the recipe in the first post, yesterday. Next time, I will heat the sugars much longer as it still has a slight grit. Like someone posted, caramelizing would probably add a bit of that mellow smoky flavor of the store bought. I also added rum flavor which had been in the spice cabinet for probably 10 years. Sampling went well with the spousal unit. She doesn't want to give any away (double recipe).

A coffee plunger has made my list of "must haves."

Risky Business wrote:I made the recipe in the first post, yesterday. Next time, I will heat the sugars much longer as it still has a slight grit. Like someone posted, caramelizing would probably add a bit of that mellow smoky flavor of the store bought. I also added rum flavor which had been in the spice cabinet for probably 10 years. Sampling went well with the spousal unit. She doesn't want to give any away (double recipe).

A coffee plunger has made my list of "must haves."

One of the reasons I built my vacuum funnel was to try making kahlua with a cold coffee recipe. Got to get ready for the holidays!

I was wondering has anyone tried infusing a neutral alcohol with coffee (ground coffe)?

Most recipes that start out with 180 proof and adding a liquid come out a bit flat tasting to me.

--
Rxxx

Did you read the thread?

Uh, yes, all of it said make coffee or add instant coffee. None of it said I added ground coffee to the alcohol to infuse it.

Coffee needs hot, not boiling, water to extract its tastes and aromas. Tea needs boiling water to achieve the same from the leaf. If we were to just pour neutral onto ground/instant coffee, I doubt that much of its goodness would be released... What we are doing here is making a very strong sweet coffee, allowing it to cool, then adding the alcohol and any adjuncts to taste.

I just found 2L of Taters recipe, it was hiding behind a carboy and is about 6 - 7 months old...
This liquor definitely just keeps getting better with time... Gonna get a couple of gallon going soon...

After readin this thread, I just pulled a quart of 100 proof white out of the closet ....I'll be makin some Kahlua tomorrow !

About five years ago I made some Eau de Vie with grape wine. I put half a gallon in the shed and forgot all about it. I found it around six months ago and it had aged nicely so I tossed about fifty good quality coffee beans into it and hid it again.
I dug it up yesterday and poured a cuppla fingers and topped it up with a bit if pepsi.

MAGNIFIQUE!!!

Took a Hydrometer to this the other day, mixed a batch w/ some 80 proof, and now reads less than 0. What did I do wrong?

Totalizeme wrote:Took a Hydrometer to this the other day, mixed a batch w/ some 80 proof, and now reads less than 0. What did I do wrong?

Hydrometer or alcohol meter? In either case you are not going to get a reading that tells you much of anything. Hydrometer is going to give you specific gravity which is totally useless info for a finished spirit. An alcohol meter will not give you any kind of good reading because there is a good bit of sugar in the recipe making the spirit "heavier" and causing your meter to float quite high. If you want a heavily sugared liquer to come out at a certain proof you need to make the calculations beforehand.

I see it is your first post. How about heading over to the welcome center and telling us a little about your aspirations.