Learning How to Make Limoncello | Shakespeare Distillery

[@basquiatloungebar]

nice video, as you said, the lemon juice is useless in the limoncello recipe. Try dissolving the sugar directly in the water you are using to dilute the liquid, instead of using industrial simple syrup, you'll get a more artisanal taste. In Italy our homemade limoncellos usually have around 30% abv and quite sweet taste. You can also make something similar with bitter oranges, it tastes great, you'll love it! We have a tradition of making these kind of products called amaro, using all kinds of herbs, a bit like the ones you use for distilling gin.

[@MissBrewbird]

Thanks for the tips. I like the sounds of the bitter orange spirit, sounds delicious.

[@tanneremery9297]

@Makai Zaid yea, been using Instaflixxer for years myself :D

[@DavidJones-we2ex]

Thanks for putting this video together. I enjoyed the experimentation and I'm currently making my own lemoncello as I type this. Can't wait!

[@adammitchell3462]

This is probably the best "how to" lemoncello video that I've came across . And I'll tell you now,when done correctly, lemoncello is always worth doing

[@SaltydogNC]

I saw a video that used a technique I had never seen before. The lemon peel was extracted like normal in 95% grain alcohol over several days, and when it came time to make the syrup, they removed the lemon peel from the alcohol and added it to the just-off-boil sugar/water syrup and covered it with a lid and allowed it to cool. While most of the lemon oils and color had already been extracted, this extracted a small amount more and flavored and colored the sugar syrup yellow. This syrup was then strained and added to the alcohol. Thanks for posting the various experiments. I had ruled out adding juice, but it was nice to see you and your team confirm that.

[@MissBrewbird]

I like the idea of using lemon peels for the syrup. That makes a lot of sense to maximize extraction of flavour and colour from the peels. Very smart, wish I'd thought of doing that too during the experiments.

[@mauistevebear]

you're so great! Please keep showing me more recipes/experiments...I learn so much. I made a orangecello , made the same way as this and WOW! what was cool about it is how it changes into that bright orange color when proofing down from the clear 'orangey' maceration

[@MissBrewbird]

Oh yes, we made a gin where we steeped some orange peels in it afterwards. The orange colour was very pretty.

[@MichaelMcGlashan]

Lime cello is heaven. Like you I’ve experimented but struggled with the syrup strength. I thought I would experiment with lime and liked it more.

[@scottclay4253]

I picked up limes today for 10/$1.00, I wasn’t sure what I would do with them. I was thinking about Bearded’s Limecello when KZbin magically popped up your Lemoncello video. I enjoy revisiting your posts. Very well done, Brewbird!Congratulations on your successful experimentation. I hope Shakespeare is still using your formula. Slainte!

[@MissBrewbird]

Haha, awesome, glad to hear my posts are still useful.

[@vialb2]

OMG, you have to get yourself a proper zester/grater for this job! Looks like a cheese grater but very fine blades with a handle. This will prevent white pith from being grated. You'll end up with much smaller zests but the positive is that it's much faster to infuse (3-5 days) and much easier than with your knife there. Love to make this drink!

[@TheAy7531]

a microplane?

[@MissBrewbird]

That's very true.

[@Blarsen1971]

I use the Pelamatic Pro from Spain. 4 to 5 lemons a minute 🍋🙂

[@h3m1cuda]

@@Blarsen1971Does it do a good job of getting the peel without the pith?

[@Blarsen1971]

@@h3m1cuda YES. Very effective, and timesaving. There's two settings. One whit out the pith, and one with.

[@70MUSTANGMAN]

I only use the peels and 10 lemons per liter. I let the infusion go for 14 days before I add the simple syrup. I sweeten it depending on who I am giving it to because not everyone likes real sweet. Great Information on your page. I am looking into opening a distillery in the future, but I want my recipes to be spot on first. Thank you for your knowledge.

[@MissBrewbird]

Ooh nice!

[@ianhui3719]

Love it. I am going to try your Limoncello Recipe later, sometime in Summer for a special occasion. Will let you know how it goes. Thanks Miss Brewbird. Enjoyed your video as usual.

[@MissBrewbird]

Please do!

[@planecrazyish]

Fascinating 👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏

[@MissBrewbird]

glad you liked it

[@inkukchoi3972]

I love you experiment. I will try. Thanks

[@MissBrewbird]

Nice, let me know how it goes.

[@ChasingTheApex]

Brewbird always speaks my language. Though I haven't had a taste since I was in Rome

[@MissBrewbird]

Now's the perfect time to try making your own then!🙂

[@gracesanchez2673]

Very good!

[@MissBrewbird]

Thanks!

[@glleon80517]

Well done! For limoncello I use a micro plane zester to speed things along. I use 151 proof neutral spirit since you can purchase it easily at retail (Everclear). I dilute down with sugar syrup in equal volume which gives me a 35% ABV liqueur. This also works well with Mandarin oranges which can be peeled by hand quickly and do not have a bitter pith. Bottle and store in the freezer.

[@MissBrewbird]

I'd love to try it with mandarin oranges, that sounds delicious.

[@TheMullisJ]

Great video. I really enjoy how you test so many different ways with the same ingredients. That truly allows for your best version to be found. I've also found a Sous Vide version. Instead of steeping for days or weeks, you heat in sealed containers for 2 hours at 135 degrees F. Also I find zesting vs peeling to be the best results. Happily, you can do this same recipe with Oranges, Limes, or Grapefruit if you are looking for something a little bit different. Cheers.

[@MissBrewbird]

I've always wanted to play with sous vide. Hopefully someday I can get my hands on one.

[@ianholmes6078]

I have tried once to make lemoncello without success. I will have to try it again. Beaver DIY makes a lemon brandy on his channel, which would be a great use for all that lemon juice!

[@MissBrewbird]

Great idea!

[@Bwachaauh]

I just made my first limoncello too. I went with 150ml neutral grain spirit, and 150ml new make for whisky for my spirit, and then 400ml 1:3 sugar/water simple syrup to dilute. Turned out very nice and smooth, but maybe a bit on the sweet side for my personal taste. The new make came through with a very mild herbal/grassy touch and some extra fullness to the mouth feel, which I think worked well. Next batch I think I'll try with Norwegian honey from a friend's farm as the sweetener.

[@MissBrewbird]

norwegian honey, sounds tasty

[@puffstastypuffs5192]

Awsome vid yet again👌never tasted it but am keen to make it next time I do a neutral,thank you

[@MissBrewbird]

Thanks for the love, I appreciate it!

[@stevebuchan653]

I made a batch with the lemon juice included and as you said it was not that good, so rather than throwing it away I distilled it and produced an excellent lemon vodka which also made a great base for a gin.

[@MissBrewbird]

Good problem solving.

[@oldsingingstudentdougbillf1665]

DARN!! I last week put on a batch of lemonchello using Everclear and the juice from the lemons. I’ll be fixing it up with simple syrup with equal amounts of water and sugar, which will be twice as much sugar than I use normally. for sure that only my tastebuds will judge.

[@MissBrewbird]

oof I used the lemon juice for limoncello once, it ended up having a very bitter taste. I never added the juice to a batch of limoncello ever again.

[@beachliving3127]

I just made one batch of limoncello with lemons and another with limes. I used 1L of 60% proof Everclear in California, USA as the neutral spirit. The first batch of lemons kept 9 days in alcohol and the 21 days for the lime batch. For the batch with the lemons I used 1.5 cups of water and 1 cup of sugar as the simple syrup. The initial tasting was a tad bitter but after a couple days in the refrigerator, the taste mellowed out but was not as sweet as I like. It was less sweet than store bought limoncello but I was hoping for a littler sweeter taste in my production. For the lime batch, I used 2 cups of water and 1.75 cups of sugar. I was much happier with the initial final taste. It was less sweet than a store bought version but sweeter than the first version. I’m curious about the length of time necessary for soaking the skins in the alcohol. You initial test suggested very little difference between 10 days and 20 days. However, a lot of home recipes push for a much longer period of soak. I’ve also seen a video in which the maker suggested only a 4 day soak was necessary and anything over that did not add any value. This maker had a couple of scientific studies to show that 4 days was optimal. What do you think is gained with the longer soaking period. My soaking period of 9 days vs 21 days is based on using lemons and limes. Both have different flavor profiles and I’m not sure my batches are a good comparison to use.

[@HeartSunYoga]

I've never tried it, it looks delicious!

[@gijoyjoy]

This was such a cool video. I personally use Meyer Lemons. I love the recipe I found on KZbin that uses the juice and honey instead of sugar. It came out so delicious! I don’t like Eureka lemons or their juice, so I’m not surprised your juice version wasn’t tasty. Try organic Meyer lemons if you get the chance. I think you’ll change your mind on the juice.

[@MissBrewbird]

Thanks for the tip, I will have to give that a try.

[@kb2vca]

Coming late to this party and this idea may not work well for a distillery, but you might use the lemon juice to make a lemon wine: I use about 100 fl oz of lemon juice with about 10 lbs of table sugar to make added to spring water to make 5 gallons (US) of must. You will need to add pectic enzyme to break down the pectins, and yeast nutrient to feed the yeast (Fermaid O or a UK alternative). I like Premier Blanc as my yeast for this. You will want to add tannin to give this wine a spine. Now lemon juice is VERY acidic, so you may want to feed the wine with the juice over a few days, perhaps adding 25 fl oz each day until you have used up all the juice. Distillation, in the US is prohibited for home wine makers, so I have never tried making a lemon aqua vie, but as a wine at 12-13% ABV , this is a knock out summer drink. And here is one other thought: rather than make a simple simple syrup, you might FIRST strain out the lemon zest and add the zest to the sugar water that you are turning into a syrup. The heat and the sugar will tend to extract some more flavor from the zest and you will have extracted different flavors from the zest than the alcohol can do as a solvent. I often use that process to flavor the syrup when I am making liqueurs such as coffee or pistachio or chocolate.

[@MissBrewbird]

I'm loving these ideas, definitely going to give it a try. Thanks for the tips.

[@kb2vca]

@@MissBrewbird One more thing: you really don't suggest the ratio of lemons to alcohol. In my opinion, 1 standard sized lemon for every 100 ml of alcohol is a good ratio for really good tasting limoncello. In addition, I make mine using a sous vide precision cooker. I set the temperature of the water bath for 150 F (about 66 C), close the jar lid tight and "cook" the zest in 40 % ABV for 2 hours and then allow the lemon liquor to gently cool before adding any syrup. I aim for a final ABV of 30%. and use about 1/2 cup sugar for every 500 ml of spirit. Mine is ready to drink the next day...

[@Jfaram064]

when i've made gin the lemon flavour really punches through in a column vapour stream, might be worth a try too

[@Nickle314]

I've seen it where lemon juice is added at the end to adjust acidity.

[@JasonBelliveau]

Next time I make it i plan to zest the lemon vs peeling. I think it will significantly cut down on time and grantee no bitterness. Should make for a fun experiment.

[@MissBrewbird]

Mm yeah that should work really well too.

[@CC-wq8yz]

Great video and sharing your information is really appreciated. I do things like that at home in China. Mostly whisky 😁

[@MissBrewbird]

No problem!

[@CC-wq8yz]

Hi Brewbird. I just made some ginger beer wort for making dark and stormies. I can’t buy ginger beer locally. I was just wondering if there was any history of a ginger based spirit or liquor? I’m not aware of any. Just off the top of my head I’de have to think it might be incredibly intense if this wort is a platform to jump off of. I could pot distill a couple of litres in my glass still and see what I get...

[@MissBrewbird]

Hi, I saw some brands where ginger is steeped in the spirit to give off its ginger flavour, but couldn't really find anyone who made a ginger beer and then distilled it. Let me know what the distillate tastes like, that sounds really interesting. I too love ginger beer.

[@MissBrewbird]

I didn't realise limoncello was so easy to make. It is definitely a drink that anyone can make at home. Has anyone else tried making their own limoncello before?

[@wizardpickle]

I just had some homemade limoncello at a neighbor's place. They made it with lemons from their own tree. Not Meyer, but some other variety that gets large and is sweeter than normal. I've never particularly liked limoncello, but theirs was deiicious, just plain on ice! They insisted the secret was getting REALLY GOOD lemons. Nice health store bought ones work but if you can source some really nice homegrown or 'artisan grown' heirloom lemons, it might be worth trying, to get that extra kick of flavor. Thanks for the video :)

[@MissBrewbird]

Yes that seems to be the case with limoncello. The quality of the lemons is the single most important factor.

[@TheAy7531]

Yes I have. using 60%ish abv from a sugar wash, airstill, and plain supermarket lemons, I used a recipe similar to what you ultimately went with. But I did wonder if changing it up would make any difference. My simple syrup was made with granulated white sugar and gave my lemoncello a lovely opaqueness. I know when I make it again not to add juice to the recipe, and it will be ready for the simple syrup when the zest turns hard and looses its colour. I now have a still with a reflux column, and look forward to trying it with higher abv spirit. thanks for your video, great as always

[@MissBrewbird]

@@TheAy7531 Thanks for tuning in as always! I was reading online that the opaqueness comes from the limonene in the lemon peel which is barely miscible in water. That's why when I added the RO water in, the lemon spirit turned opaque immediately.

[@tonyoliver4920]

If your looking for something to do with the lemon juice. Try skeeterpee

[@chrisbeebeer]

Wow, I love limoncello and would love to make some. Can you share weights of peel and how much simple syrup in the 500 ml of spirit please? Do you think it would work with vodka instead of your stronger spirit?

[@JasonBelliveau]

Most websites say to cut it to 40%. Just adds more time.

[@MissBrewbird]

Thanks for the comment. Some things I am not able to share since I signed an NDA, but I used 16 lemons in total. That works out to around the peel of 5 supermarket lemons in 500ml of 96% abv NGS for each of the Full peel experiments. I did say in the video that for my mini samples I mixed 10mL of the steeped lemon peel spirit with 20mL of RO water and 1 tsp of simple syrup, so you should be able to extrapolate the volumes from those numbers. I'm too lazy to do it, but maybe someone else in the comments will be nice enough to calculate it for you.

[@MissBrewbird]

@Jason Belliveau yep that sounds right to me.

[@roebucksruin]

There's more control and speed with this process by breaking down its variables and processes. If the final product will be back sweetened anyway, you can expedite the extraction of lemon oil with the mechanical maceration of sugar -- oleo saccharum. It'll speed the extraction from 10 days to 1. Just consider the final sugar by volume you're looking for. Additionally, lemon juice is a 6% acid solution and is typically balanced in western cuisine with simple syrup at a ratio of 1:1. Alternatively, you could just consider the dry ingredients to be 60g of citric acid per 550g of sugar -- the aqueous volume is negligible and can be added however you see fit. If using the lemon juice, you can take x mL lemon juice, x(1.1) grams sugar, and add 3% citric acid and 0.5% sodium citrate of the final volume. This, of course, is based on the varietal of lemon used (Meyer lemons are less acidic, as an example).

[@claushaberl773]

Use some semi sweet white wine together with the sugar water ... or a Riesling ... works well and refreshing - gives it a little more body too ... at least, that's my take ....

[@MissBrewbird]

That sounds really good

[@Jfaram064]

you could use the lemon juice for invert sugar

[@MissBrewbird]

ooh that's an idea

[@michaelmordenti1104]

I tried to make but it was very bitter, 30 days i let it steep, took the pith off skins, don't know what i did wrong. was a total flop. maybe you can enlighten me. Thanks

[@MissBrewbird]

Mm let's see: -use unwaxed lemons -make sure there are no whites (pith) on the lemon peels -DO NOT add any lemon juice -steep in 96%abv neutral grain spirit -remove peels after steeping for at least 14 days and then dilute spirit down with water and simple syrup

[@michaelmordenti1104]

@@MissBrewbird thanks I took the pith off but did not think of rinsing lemons of wax. should i wash lemons ?

[@MissBrewbird]

I would use unwaxed lemons and then also give them a scrub while rinsing with water

[@michaelmordenti1104]

@@MissBrewbird Ok this is off topic, I have a wife we met in Datong China

[@phillipmavrogenis2041]

You could try making a alcoholic lemonade with the juice.

[@MissBrewbird]

Yep, you could also make regular lemonade too 😎

[@MrPovsklada]

Help me! Какое соотношение спирта, воды и сахара на 1 литр готового продукта?

[@MissBrewbird]

I can't read Russian, but a link to a limoncello recipe is in the description

[@ronmcintyre9290]

I like it with honey, but you lose the yellow color..but, to me, taste matters more than anything

[@MissBrewbird]

Limoncello with honey, mmm sounds delicious😋

[@timothyandrewnielsen]

So what was your favorite recipe then?

[@MissBrewbird]

I think my favourite was the one we picked, although I would have added a touch more sugar to it.

[@timothyandrewnielsen]

@@MissBrewbird Thanks for answering. I have 3 differents batches of lemon peels sitting in alcohol now. My only concern is the ratio of water to sugar to alcohol ... any suggestions?

[@MissBrewbird]

I think you can just do what I did in the video. Make little limoncello samples and then cut them back with water to around 20-25%abv and then start experimenting with adding 1 teaspoon of sugar at a time. When you like it you can always scale up the proportions.

[@timothyandrewnielsen]

@@MissBrewbird very true, thanks

[@Jfaram064]

you need a rinder