Limoncello - I want to make my own

[liv2bike]

We tend to sip a little Limoncello after dinner most days. I am thinking about making my own. The best Limoncello I've had, hands down, is in Italy. It was always the one the chef made that he kept a fresh batch of. It was never store bought. We were at our favorite family trattoria a few weeks ago and I asked for either grappa or limoncello after dinner and was given the chef's personal batch of limoncello. It was fantastic. Very smooth and just right.

So...anyone here make their own? If you do, what are some things you have learned? What is the best way to zest the lemons? Do you use grain alcohol like Everclear or just Vodka? I guess that all depends on availability in ones area. Is it necessary to filter the liquor? When making the syrup, I am leaning towards just plain white sugar to avoid any interference using brown/natural sugars. I know patience is part of the deal when making Limoncello. I figure it will be roughly a 3 month process to allow for proper infusion.

Anyway, just curious if anyone here makes their own. Cheers.

Guy

[robin3mj]

No experience, but the inflight magazine for United (or maybe American) had an article on a small limoncello producer in California this month.
Apparently they won all kinds of awards right out of the gate (though it may be one of those things where each industry has enough "awards" you can claim to have won if you look hard enough...)

Anyway, the only takeaway I had that might help you is that they use high proof grain alcohol. They also have an orange and a blood orange variety as well.

[liv2bike]

That was probably Ventura Limoncello. Also written up in Peloton magazine. Unfortunately not available down here in FL.

[s_curran]

Do you mind if I ask whats your favorite store bought stuff is? I am no help here, but I do enjoy it quite a bit, I dont think there has ever been a time when there hasn't been in any in my grandparents freezer at home, and now its the same for us.

[false_aesthetic]

I tried making Limoncello 2 summers ago. Did a bunch of reading up.

A few articles mentioned that "real" Limoncello is made with very high proof everclear -- 180-190 proof -- and not vodka. I checked in 4 states (really) but couldn't find everclear higher than 151 so I ended up using that.

Organic lemons zested with a microplane, sugar, water and time...

I let it sit in the fridge for a month and then brought it over to Zimmerman's place to try. It wasn't so good ... not smooth, just lemon grain alcohol. (I'm pretty sure his bottle ended up in the recycling bin). About 3 weeks later I opened a 2nd batch. It was better but still not great. A few people recommended letting the bottles sit for up to 90 days maybe that would've toned down the nastyness but I'm not so sure.

I dunno if it would've been better with 180 proof everclear but since I can't seem to source it not a big deal. I might try it again this summer with some good vodka to see if that'll make something pallatable.

[zetroc]

I tried making Limoncello 2 summers ago. Did a bunch of reading up.

A few articles mentioned that "real" Limoncello is made with very high proof everclear -- 180-190 proof -- and not vodka. I checked in 4 states (really) but couldn't find everclear higher than 151 so I ended up using that.

Organic lemons zested with a microplane, sugar, water and time...

I let it sit in the fridge for a month and then brought it over to Zimmerman's place to try. It wasn't so good ... not smooth, just lemon grain alcohol. (I'm pretty sure his bottle ended up in the recycling bin). About 3 weeks later I opened a 2nd batch. It was better but still not great. A few people recommended letting the bottles sit for up to 90 days maybe that would've toned down the nastyness but I'm not so sure.

I dunno if it would've been better with 180 proof everclear but since I can't seem to source it not a big deal. I might try it again this summer with some good vodka to see if that'll make something pallatable.

I bought 190 proof Everclear from Ben's Liquor (think that was the name) in Carson City once. Made for a great party. Might have to go back and stock up and try making limoncello.

[Joel Benjamin L]

To the best of my knowledge, it will work best with a high percentage alcohol made from grapes. Corn does not grow in Italy. Can be bought in any pharmacy in Europe by the liter; no idea about US...

[liv2bike]

Do you mind if I ask whats your favorite store bought stuff is? I am no help here, but I do enjoy it quite a bit, I dont think there has ever been a time when there hasn't been in any in my grandparents freezer at home, and now its the same for us.

Well, right now we have Caravella chilling. Best...stuff we have brought back with us from Italy. Cannot remember the names off top of my head. We have Limoncello and Orangecello on hand right now. Orangecello must be made with the proper blood oranges though, and Sicily produces some of the best Orangecello.

[maunahaole]

Here is a basic recipe that squares with how we have done something similar (with coconut and rum - think hi proof malibu)

Key here is to infuse the booze first to extract the oils with the alc, and then adding the simple syrup after.

Limoncello Recipe - Allrecipes.com

[robin3mj]

That was probably Ventura Limoncello. Also written up in Peloton magazine. Unfortunately not available down here in FL.

I think that must have been it- I do most of my magazine reading on planes, but I do get the Peloton delivered.

[liv2bike]

To the best of my knowledge, it will work best with a high percentage alcohol made from grapes. Corn does not grow in Italy. Can be bought in any pharmacy in Europe by the liter; no idea about US...

I think the most common spirit used here is Everclear. From what I hearm Vodka can alter the taste as can any bits of lemon pith.

[Joel Benjamin L]

if you want it to taste as good as the italians make it, well, i would go with what the italians do. just my 2 cents...

[zetroc]

Hmm... a quick googling of "high proof alcohol from grapes" yielded the following company that advertises "190 proof neutral organic grape alcohol" - wonder if this is workable (or even legal):

Certified Organic Grape Alcohol

[Octave]

My personal recipe, with which I have had much success.

Limoncello (1L)

- Wash 12 fresh, organic lemons (NOT MEYER). Zest them into a large bowl. Combine with 1L 190 proof everclear (can be found at most liquor stores if you ask, at least in CA, CO and IL where I have experience).

- Wait 45 days (without disturbing)

- Add simple-syrup to taste (about 3C per liter seems right).

- Wait 10 days (without disturbing)

- Drink

[C.Dyer]

I don't understand the recipes above that don't dilute down their finished product. Limoncello is supposed to be a strong liquer, but not in the 190 proof range. That's not a digestif; that's poison. I make mine with grain alcohol, but after the infusion, I add sugar and dilute it down before steeping for a while longer. You want your finished product to be in the 100-120 proof range.


My recipe is pretty different from any of those listed above; there's no zesting at all, you just suspend lemons over grain alcohol in a sealed jar. No zesting makes your prep time much faster, and takes out the risk of zesting too deeply--getting too much pith will add bitterness that you don't want to the infusion.

So, get a gallon jar and a bunch of cheesecloth. You need a 750ml bottle of grain alcohol, and perhaps about 10-12 small clean organic lemons.
::: Pour the entire 750ml of Everclear into the jar.
::: Place the cheesecloth over the mouth of the jar and start loading lemons into it, lowering it as you go.

***Do not let your cheesecloth net full of lemons hang into the Everclear--it should be suspened just above the level of the Everclear***

::: Smaller lemons work best here, so that you can fit more in to your cheesecloth net. I can typically fit 10-12 smallish lemons in.
::: You may want to try this first without the Everclear in the jar just so you can see how much you're going to fit in, and play around with how best to arrange the lemons.
::: Keeping your cheesecloth cargo net taut, with the cheesecloth hanging over the side of the jar, screw your lid on to seal the jar and keep the net secured tightly
::: Place the jar in a dark cupboard for a month

After a month or so, pull the jar out of the cupboard, open the jar, remove the lemons and the cheesecloth, add about a cup of sugar and somewhere in the vicinity of 650-750ml of water. Screw the lid back on and slosh it around real good so the sugar dissolves.

Throw the jar back in the cupboard for another week, give or take.

After about a week, pour your final product through paper coffee filters--rinse the filters in hot water first to remove any papery flavors.

Bottle your filtered limoncello up, drink, give as gifts, etc.

I'll dig around and see if I have any pictures of my process. It might be kind of hard to envision, but it's really quite simple and makes an amazing limoncello that's not overly sweet or syrup-y like much of the commercially available stuff. It really puts the citrus and floaral notes at the front.

Caveat:
***I have no fucking idea how this works, but it does.*** Osmosis? Gravity? I don't know. But the lemons leach their oils into the alcohol without touching it at all. The lemons don't rot or mold or shrivel, but they do come out looking like pale zombie lemons. It's a trip.

[C.Dyer]

All right, just dug through my photos, and couldn't come up with any pictures, but I did find this NYT article from last fall (I started making suspended limoncello before the NYT wrote about it, just like riding bikes on gravel). The picture in the article just shows one big lemon suspended in a smaller jar, but it still gives you a rough idea of what i'm talking about. Minor diffs between the technique in the article and how I do it,and they keep theirs suspended for far longer than I do mine but you get the gist. I actually think i might glean some tips from that article for my next batch...

Case Study | Presto Chango, Limoncello! - NYTimes.com

[spopepro]

Chatted with my brother the chemist about this. He says:

Interesting... So it's the oils in the peel... possible solution: the alcohol is condensing on the lemons which is dissolving the organic components (Esters, oils...) - i wonder if you can accelerate the process with a reflux condenser - that would give your answer

We then talked about building a reflux condenser out of a pot, funnel, PVC tubing and blu tack. Then we talked about getting a case of cheap wine, making a still out of a tea kettle, tubing, and a milk jug and doing this all from scratch.

We then realized a)neither of us have time for this and b) that's probably not responsible behavior for a law enforcement lab chemist.

[Too Tall]

au contraire mon frere. Nothing could possibly be more American than this. If he feels any remorse, do that while Elk hunting and all sins are washed away.

Chatted with my brother the chemist about this. He says:


We then talked about building a reflux condenser out of a pot, funnel, PVC tubing and blu tack. Then we talked about getting a case of cheap wine, making a still out of a tea kettle, tubing, and a milk jug and doing this all from scratch.

We then realized a)neither of us have time for this and b) that's probably not responsible behavior for a law enforcement lab chemist.

[Too Tall]

What you referenced got me thinking about why they are doing it the right way and how I could completely screw this up by overthinking it and did ;)
The answer is quite simple. Use a soxhlet extractor, high proof alcohol and carefully peeled lemons with no pith. I could do the job in one hr. that takes these bozos months. (grin)
I'm not kidding about the method but am totally opposed to the sacking of tradition. Do it like the old guys did or go home, it won't be the same otherwise. But you have to admit....

All right, just dug through my photos, and couldn't come up with any pictures, but I did find this NYT article from last fall (I started making suspended limoncello before the NYT wrote about it, just like riding bikes on gravel). The picture in the article just shows one big lemon suspended in a smaller jar, but it still gives you a rough idea of what i'm talking about. Minor diffs between the technique in the article and how I do it,and they keep theirs suspended for far longer than I do mine but you get the gist. I actually think i might glean some tips from that article for my next batch...

Case Study | Presto Chango, Limoncello! - NYTimes.com

[liv2bike]

I'm not kidding about the method but am totally opposed to the sacking of tradition. Do it like the old guys did or go home, it won't be the same otherwise. But you have to admit....

I too want to make it in the old way and keep with tradition. I want to make it the way my Nonno's used to make it.

Some versions sound more like science experiments. Even the traditional way my kids will think I am doing some kind of experiment...hopefully with a nice outcome.