Trying To Distil Cointreau At Home

[@rebeccagodfrey3859]

As someone with no previous knowledge or interest in distilling etc. KZbin did good with the random video selection, these videos are fascinating and really enjoyable to watch.

[@the_nothing]

Jesse! Chatted with you a bit ago about my getting into this hobby because of something like Cointreau. Commercial Orange Liquors are LOADED with sugars and glycerine. If you start making cocktails with what you have produced you'll find that they quite nice. What you have ended up with isn't too different than what I make: 1l neutral spirit(90-94% TFFV, Kale, Tomato, whatever) 1 Valencia orange peel 1 Navel orange peel 1 whole Mandarin Orange 5g Dried Curacao Orange peel (chunks, not powderacquired from local tea/herb shop) 1 lime peel I macerate all the peels in the neutral spirit, but I tie up and suspend the whole mandarine over the liquor. I let this all set for a solid week. Add water dilute to 35% and run it through the still. I then proof down and sweeten to where I am happy.

[@TheWoody576]

you mean you literally suspend the madarin above the liquid without it touching it? Why do you do that? cheers!

[@the_nothing]

@@TheWoody576 That is correct. Alcohol Vapor Extraction. Takes a day or two to start off, but you'll see orange condensate on the orange and dripping into the maceration below. It comes out much lighter as well... Why? Because it does something. Is it worth it? I dunno. I suppose I should make a side-by-side next time But it sure looks cool :D

[@saltwater8915]

As a Kid i grew up opposite a Valencia orange orchard owned by an old miner, he used to sell the oranges at a roadside stall to complement his pension. The other hobby he had was making orange liqueur, all of this was done in an old tin shed, were there were literally hundreds of bottles racked & stacked, as a 14-17 year old i used to head over there after dinner some nights (my parents weren't fussed, as we were in the middle of farming country in the 1980's) most nights we would crack a bottle each and chat and drink, this stuff was like orange velvet, it was also very good at making your ears feel warm on a winter's night, i used to head home about 10pm'ish ... totally blitzed, never a hangover in the morning and i went to school as usual.

[@Defx10]

I miss the 80s

[@frederickheard2022]

I’d love to see you try St. Germaine. Get the kids picking elderflowers this summer!

[@bg6217]

I love this… “do, assess, redo, compare” There’s no better way to learn! Keep it up, yo!

[@garykuchan8371]

I've found when making this I get closer to the correct flavor profile when I add 1 pulled apart orange with the peels to gives it that thick mouth feel and marmalade cooked orange flavor

[@scottclay4253]

Drambuie is one I first tried to clone over 35 years ago. Scotch, honey and nutmeg were my starting point. You sure get a lot of mileage out of your airstill. Seems to be a very convenient little tool. Thanks Jesse

[@justsome-guy7596]

Scott - what's your most recent recipe looking like for. drambuie?

[@scottclay4253]

@@justsome-guy7596 I haven’t mixed up anything in years and years. The last addition that seemed to help was saffron. Anise and citrus vest (don’t remember if it was lemon or orange, I think lemon). We had a thread on HD forum ten or so years ago. I avoid sugar so I haven’t revisited the quest for years. Saffron is so bloody expensive, but it seems to be a key ingredient. Mace is a membrane around a nutmeg, I think I liked it too. Jesse’s subscribers will likely be able to nail it. I would love to know the secret, it is a warming truly delicious dram.

[@peternilsson8436]

By definition, a liqueur has a sugar level of at least 100g per liter. Caster sugar works well. I have come very close to Cointreu using only dried bitter orange peel :D

[@vttechie]

I wouldn't say you screwed up. it is a learning experience. thanks for helping us learn from your experiences.

[@jessbarclay472]

One of the “thickness” recipes for liqueur that used to circulating on forums was Base A=200g sugar & 120g liquid glucose Base B=150g sugar & 150g glucose Base C=300g sugar & 150g glucose. It adds the viscosity that liqueurs tend to have.

[@AAARAZOR]

My favourite style video so far. Really liked the try and then adjust format!

[@jason-miller]

I was just about to make triple sec when I saw this video come up. I was reading that unripe green orange peels are often used because they contain more essential oils, so I'm going to give that a shot. Thankfully there's a tree full of unripe oranges behind my house.

[@munkeh365]

Any follow up on this? I much prefer triple-sec to cointreau, which is too sweet. Huge fan of margaritas. Shame Tequila is so difficult to make.

[@juliecole3861]

Hey Jesse, I ended up here, now with a T500 and an Air Still from studying Cosmetic Chemistry, Go Figure! Anyway...Sorbitol may be the missing ingredient as this is used to sweeten mouthwashes and toothpaste. Sorbitol is a sugar alcohol and can be purchased in NZ from Pure Nature (Soap crafting wholesale) You can purchase the powdered form but I haven't seen it in NZ.

[@kb2vca]

Another great video. I'd love to see your take on Drambuie. Makes for a delightful "rusty nail" (Drambuie and Scotch) but Drambuie on its own is quite incredible, and so the story goes that Bonnie Prince Charlie could not stand the whisky that was available to him while he was in hiding so he had his doctor or his apothecary tweak the whisky with herbs (and honey) and so we got Drambuie. ( Not certain, but I think the key ingredients might be honey Prince Charlie, would have almost certainly used heather honey, but any honey should be OK, star anise, nutmeg, orange zest, and perhaps rosemary. If I make this I would generally macerate the herbs and spices in the whisky with the honey but your technique is to distill them with the spirit and perhaps add the honey to sweeten before bottling...

[@gettin-sendy]

Bloody Brilliant Jessie. Love ya work, great vid as always.

[@maradall]

Very interesting to watch! My only attempt to make an orange liqueur was using the essences - and once I realised just how much sugar went into it, I never wanted to drink it ever again! I do like citrus flavour though, and have been adding some orange flavour to my "tequila" by suspending a tea ball with orange zest in it, over the finished brew for 3-7 days (just letting the vapour extract some flavour from the zest). This gives a nice, subtle touch of orange to my finished product, which I really like. It's not liqueur, though! ... but makes a nice low calorie drink with a squeeze of lime juice & some mineral water.

[@jaksoon9724]

I think a campari-like red bitter liquor (amaro?) Like the composition of botanical would be a super interesting video

[@rockyrdc]

Good evening from Oklahoma USA love the videos. I just finished my first spirit run in my pot still plum Brandy ended up with 1.25 us gallons at 60% it's really good as white dog

[@ViloAfi]

I literally just looked this up yesterday and now I have a video from the master

[@crossbowsniper]

You CAN have a centrifuge…you don’t need to buy it. Just build a red neck one (I’ve done this). Build it as follows: 1. A 110 volt pump motor 2. 1/2-3/4” plywood 3. Necessary mounting hardware. Take one of the plywood sheets cut it round enough to fit 4 to 8 mason jars. Lay it on top of second sheet and cut second sheet to same round shape and size. Measure around mason jar and take a hole saw (or router) to cut out holes on one sheet that the mason jars fit easily through. Take mounting hardware and mount solid round sheet onto motor (make sure you got a strong enough motor) then use additional mounting hardware to mount top sheet to bottom sheet using grade 8 hardware. Then (if you want to get fancy) wire motor to a 110 VSC (variable speed controller) or just add your plug and let it run full speed every time. Hope that helps. PS. I usually have used 1HP motor

[@spud4242]

same reason i started too. i only have the airstill so its taking a while to get the bar stocked..lol. someone keeps drinking it all

[@honnsmannen]

I am new to actually distilling, and i have a pretty small budget, so i have wondered if you couled distill on tea to get the botanicle flavors.

[@brianriley9055]

As a dedicated How To Drink subscriber, I think a series on cocktail makings is brilliant! What about vermouth? Fortified wines are common mixers, and it could be interesting to try to approximate the flavor with your selection of distillate and base wine.

[@lindeehorman8039]

I second that I would love to know how to make vermouth

[@blairmulholland]

I make my own vermouth, but you don't really still it (although you can). It might be outside Jesse's scope. I know some vermouth manufacturers do distill some ingredients, but generally speaking, the bitterness is the point, and you just need to steep the botanicals, then add the appropriate percentage to pinot wine with some sugar.

[@gilbertnail7266]

Looking forward to trying this recipe when I get settled down again. I love this channel and it has helped me make a LOT of great liquor. When I'm trying to replicate a sweet commercial product, the first thing I look at is the sugars in the nutrition label. The Cointreau label I found online shows 9g sugar for 1.25oz (37ml) so I would start with about 240g per liter and go from there.

[@THEOOBRASTOFF]

Thank you for your consistent cheerfulness and expertise! I was going to try making a concoction that is mostly frozen concentrate orange juice, sugar (perhaps brown sugar), and lightly spiced and ferment that and then do the air still thing. Any suggestions that may add to my best chances of turning this into an orange brandy? Za starovia! 😎👍

[@guillelazza]

This is funny, I'm looking at your channel because I'm trying to learn how to use a still and i find you found this hobby as a derivative of trying to fill out a bar and the first spirit that came to your mind was Cointreau. OMG SAME for me i first did Triple because in my country its rare to find and Cointreau is way to expensive for a 750ml bottle. A way more noob way to do TripleSec is to put in a sealed jar some 96%alc.vol. neutral with a thick peel orange (a full orange) hanging(i used some food mesh) inside WITHOUT it TOUCHING the spirit. You then seal the lid so no vapor comes out and leave it for about 21 days to a month. What this does is the juices in the peel will vaporize and mix with the alcohol giving it all of the flavours and aromatics with none of the colour. For the final part, just mix the infused alcohol with a very rich syrup and voila!!

[@rocknh68]

Enjoyed following along this go. I'd definitely try adding glycerin. You've got me wondering how an orange marmalade "orange jelly" infusion would come out.

[@lukejosselyn7706]

Love all your videos Jesse, especially these ones with the trial & error elements 🤘🏻

[@amayakawaii]

Generally marmalade oranges (Seville oranges) are only available in mid February until mid March. If you do retry this with marm oranges make sure to get bumpy skinned oranges, the knobblier the better

[@BradGarner]

Definitely absinthe next 😉

[@travelingman45]

Agreed!

[@EVtripper]

Nice work. I had a college classmate that fermented orange juice for his base.

[@lougriffiths]

Hi I would have been very tempted to adding some marmalade to the first test as you said it was not sweet enough and topping up the some of the original vodka

[@aarons6210]

I really appreciate this video Jesse, as I did the Lemoncello one. Got me wondering what would the liquor would taste like if you used lemon peel instead of orange peel. Bring on more liquor how to's!

[@aarons6210]

Or lime peel!

[@gilbertnail7266]

I made Limoncello before and was going to do orange, lime, and Ruby red Grapefruit versions, but the girls I had working for me ended up mixing the peels together. Can't be too mad at them because they did so much other great work.

[@deathblade01]

Great video Jesse. I was thinking about making this exact spirit!

[@stoniewan]

Dude, thank you for working this out! I've wanted to make triple sec, but want certain where to start. I didn't want to just use a concentrate. Awesome!

[@jonathannorthup5705]

Nice I wonder how it would taste if you also added the juice from the orange the you zested

[@lozrosey6507]

You mentioned the marmalade type flavours, do you think distilling a jar of orange marmalade in your neutral would be an option?? Going to give it a shot on my air still to see. Love the "stillperiments" you do.

[@jasonhaaksma8419]

Greetings from OZ. wondering if you would be interested in trying your hand at absinthe (particularly the Green Fairy) brand variant.

[@margiemurphy3216]

Hi Jess, have you made a Butterscotch Schnapps - using butterscotch made from scratch, rather than using essences or lollies?

[@MereCashmere]

Exciting. Cant wait to try it. I believe I can get actual bitter oranges as well.

[@Jake_B74]

The method I use for sweetening liquors is to make the maceration or flavored distillation and separately make a simple syrup at about the right amount of sugar. Then use a dilution calculator (I do use the one on Chase The Craft) to figure out how much water to use to reach my target ABV, and substitute simple syrup for proofing with. Always comes out amazing (assuming I got the maceration or flavor run right).

[@frederickheard2022]

I just did this last week! I was going for more of a Grand Marnier profile, so I used a relatively cheap commercial brandy as the spirit. I used the peels from several mandarins and 750ml of spirit. It’s far from a clone, but it should make a decent sidecar.

[@SnifterRoux]

I want to make rectified spirits for extractions, not for drinking, yet stll want it to be food grade. Having troubles where to find videos for it. Polmos Spirytus is just too expensive for that. I know I can use molecular sieves to dry the spirit up, but what would I use to remove other impurities so it is relatively pure ethanol?

[@Harvester_OS]

I don't know why but your shirts are six bucks a piece on into the am when I went to buy mine today. I took advantage and bought one for me and one for my wife.

[@BeastOfTraal]

You may tray a brandy base and I think Cointreau has some herbs in addition to the orange peel

[@eknuds]

A couple of weeks ago I looked at the fifth of Blackstrap Rum I had Oaking while I was eating a Tangerine. So I dropped the peel into the bottle, despite warnings that it would be too bitter from the Pith. Anyway, it turned out excellent. I want to start a distillery just to sell that.

[@crabmansteve6844]

Steer away from fresh peels, dried peels are almost the standard, the flavor is much more concentrated and the drying process really does change the flavor.

[@RiggerBrew]

Bitters are always a good one for custom flavor along with making bar cherries.

[@rsblunk]

So I am no pro of distilling but I am a big fan of Tuacca. it has a great Carmel flavor and probably would go great with a Bourbon style distill

[@johnbidwell73]

Hello Jesse. I was wondering if you know the minimum amount you can run in the air still.

[@TPGMatt]

Hi Jessie. I saw a Brewzilla (looks like the new Gen4) in the background of your video. Do you use this for distilling? I’m looking at getting a 4” 4 plate copper still but not sure what boiler to get and I’m getting so many mixed opinions.

[@gmonkman]

end: Brill love the experiment. Always trust your testing. Love the triangle test though with your partner. Be good to have that as a judge here.

[@kobuswilken2752]

Hi Jessie. Of the topic question. Ì will be getting my G30 grainfather soon. Seeing that I can control my temperature on it what would you suggest to control it at using on a T500 potstil dome? You talked about in a previous video that you are controling it at 80% output on our T500 modified boiler when running in potstil mode. Any suggestions on the G30 temp output?

[@tikazombie37]

it's validating to know your reason for getting into this hobby is the same as my reason to consider getting into it edit: I'm only doing macerations and simple stuff, currently thinking about doing something like a chili liqueur using cachaça as base. Incidentally what do you think about making cachaça?

[@AndersHolmIRL]

If you have access to sugar cane juice then definitely do it! Love some nice cachaça, but the trick is that sugar cane juice.

[@gmonkman]

0:01 Really interested. Ive tried perfecting cointreau for ages. Problem is getting the orange without the oils in a CLEAR spirt. Also they add loads of sugar ofc ... Anyway .. without the sugar bomb I always had a kinda not-right aftertaste. .... Anyway.. will comment again after watching. AMAZING CHANNEL btw

[@jonathanhatch7033]

What about using an orange simple syrup. To add the sweetness and the flavor. I haven’t made this but I have made an orange vanilla vodka that’s very sweet.

[@brandtearles4785]

I have a question about yeast and this is the only way I know to ask a question, My kegerator is set on 36°f is it safe to store my yeast in it?

[@adrianobauer7726]

I used to macerate the orange in a jar with 100 proof alcohol without let the orange touch the alcohol. I think it will bring another profile from the zest oil.

[@joshwells3247]

I've made a orange liqueur in a similar process to yours just without distilling and I use bitter orange powder to bring up the marmaladey notes doesn't get rid of the top notes but it does bring in the marmalade flavour, I grabbed a bunch of bartenders that I know and compared the two and they I think four out of six picked mine over Cointreau in a blind taste test

[@halinator1]

Just a question , I use the T-500 and love it however how do u tell when u r into hearts ? I need to refine my process how much volume should I remove at the start and how do I test for that ? Thanks Hal

[@golly181]

You're in the hearts when you like the taste of the spirit. Also, smelling nice helps.

[@SamwiseOutdoors]

I think that it'd be interesting to try adding some citrusy spices into this, like nutmeg, cardamom, and ginger, to round out the flavor a bit more.

[@manatoa1]

Might want to see if you can get canned marmalade base. Robertson's "Ma Made" is the most common sort. It's just cooked Seville oranges.

[@eduardojud56]

I was talking about this bitter orange, is used here for jams by your aroma and flavor, but you find it.

[@MatoNupai]

Jesse i make a clone of Grand Marnier cognac (an orange liqueur) from France. I use mandarin orange peels, brandy and sugar

[@thm72]

Another great episode. I've also been trying to stock a bar, but it's taken awhile to nail the base spirits. One critique on the editing on this video though, I found that the audio of the main content was significantly quieter than the music and sponsored section. I ended up having to keep my hand on the speaker volume to even things out as I watched. Thanks for all the great videos and I look forward to more stocking the bar type content!

[@trousers2]

I second this, the 'drip' animation at the start scared the poop out of me because I had to turn it up for the talking at the start.

[@wldtrky38]

I'm ready to make my 1st rum. Need to double check the recipe and make sure I've got all of the ingredients, but I think I do. I don't make a lot of different drinks. On the rocks, neat or add coke, lol. I always enjoy the uploads 👍👍 Best Wishes !

[@richardcoates755]

I have an idea 💡 could you maybe vapor infuse some orange flavour into it? A few different kinds of peal in the gin basket, I've been thinking about doing something like this

[@mechpics]

Try adding a bit of grapefruit peal to your mix 😉

[@tommihommi1]

why not yeet the juice in the still as well?

[@stevemason7790]

Probably better to use basic rule of thumb method.1 litre 40% spirit,1 kilo fruit or whatever,1 kilo sugar.Give it a shake every couple of days to mix sugar in.Leave for 1 month and then start checking to work out final time of maceration.Rack and then leave to mature.Making your own spirit gives heaps more options,eg,I use my own brandy to make a cumquat liqueur.You can then tweak this recipe,1 kilo of orange peel might be over the top for example.You can also play with different sugars or sugar syrup.Some of the more interesting liqueurs I have made include coffee,hazelnut,honey dew melon,blueberry,fejoia.

[@olinseats4003]

If you want a more complex version, use a brandy base instead of neutral. That's the big difference between Cointreau and Grand Marnier

[@professionalrookie8771]

Madori or chartreuse I recons up next 😁 or even frangalico

[@travelingman45]

Agreed!

[@ardabasar4641]

What is the abv of second recipes heart

[@littlehills]

crumb fried sheeps brain with Cointreau

[@PoppaLongroach]

Whole hog sausage and buckwheat cakes with homemade apple butter

[@orephen]

campari could would be intresting

[@camerongeorge4246]

Should try making different types of bitters, like orange bitters.

[@travelingman45]

Heads up Jesse: your recipe has a typo, it says “bigger orange” Also, thanks for doing this, these are my favorite types of videos!

[@Oisheen]

Great stuff as always

[@m.h.jafari8017]

Bitter orange is a key ingredient in Persian cuisine. Would be pleased to send you some peels if you need.

[@LordRaa]

Random thought for a variation: Instead of simple sugar syrup, maybe a honey syrup? It would, in my opinion, make for a more complex flavour profile.

[@BeardedBored]

Great job drilling down and figuring it out. SCIENCE!

[@TodmordenFred]

You had me thinking there was going to be a 3rd recipe where you dumped a heap of marmalade into your infusion 😂

[@jessbarclay472]

Maybe, someone could add actual marmalade to a base spirit to macerate, might bring others closer to the requirements of an orange/triple sec liqueur? I dunno…🤷‍♀️

[@luisledesma586]

bitter oranges , better called sour oranges, aka Seville oranges, are a seasonal product everywhere but the tropics.

[@dennissheridan1550]

Jesse, I believe that Saville oranges might be what you are looking for, they definitely not sweet and thus might give you that flavor similar to Cointreau that you were looking for.

[@munkeh365]

I hope you meant Seville 🤣 They're generally available across Europe, but only at certain times of the year. Which is about now (December) through to February.

[@AtlasFlynn]

Now I have to ask, what's your favourite cocktail? Personally, I love an Old Fashioned

[@aaronfrancis2627]

Oh heck yes! Sooo need to try this!

[@budlake1747]

I can't wait to start back up again.

[@MostlyInteresting]

Wow you have real Fire-King measuring cups!

[@kristoffer-robinlotze7273]

Oh that little still... I really want one. To bad it's not only illegal to distill alcohol, it's illegal to own a still here in Sweden. Which makes it a bit harder to get hold of one and make this hobby a real hobby (so far I've only made apple jack).

[@andrewpbarry]

chambord should be very similar. Limoncello. Kalua.

[@gregkeeganbushbuildsandhac9306]

I use organic, cold pressed essential oils for making my Qointreau

[@fearoffema]

What this taught me is, you obviously need a centrifuge.

[@nellynelson965]

more of these please.

[@therandomrobot3801]

always enjoy your videos

[@Backdaft94]

Looked pretty awesome

[@wilhelmhelgaseth3605]

Try putting a squirt of glycerine in there, it's a kind of sweetish kinda taste and/or mouthfeel and often used in liquors,it might Just give it that thing you might feel that it lacks

[@the_whiskeyshaman]

One more I gotta try.

[@kevin_ninja_jones2363]

Make some orange marmalade then mash it in

[@desbelfastireland9982]

THANK YOU.. DES CREAN,, IN BELFAST , IRELAND