LimoncelloQuest

This test is as scientific as I’m able to conduct at home. I used the exact same materials, time, lemons, etc. for both halves of one batch. The only difference was filtering the liquor. I wanted to see what kind of difference, if any, liquor filtration has on the final product. Here are the ingredients for the whole experiment.

Liquor: Two 750ml bottles of Everclear 151
Liquor filtration: Varies
Lemons: 17 Non-organic, waxed and scrubbed
Days peels and liquor rested: 55
Simple Syrup - Cups Sugar: 4, Cups Water: 5
Days syrup rested with infusion: 48
Final filtration: 4x

Just after zesting the lemons, I divided the zest into two even halves and put each half into an identical glass jar. I then poured one unfiltered bottle of grain alcohol in one jar and the other jar received an identical bottle of alcohol but after 4 filtrations in the Brita filtering pitcher. Everything else was identical down to the amount of time I waited to taste them and the temperature of the Limoncello at tasting.

The results for the first, unfiltered, half are:

As you can see, it’s fairly rough stuff. It’s pretty sweet, which offsets the harshness in the flavor somewhat but it has a lot of heat and is a very rough Limoncello. Drinkable but not great.

Here are the results of the second half of the batch:

As you can clearly see, the results were very different this time. The smoothness of this half of the batch was a world of difference from the unfiltered half. Compared to this half, the unfiltered half feels like getting punched in the throat. This one is smooth and silky with a little bit of heat and both halves had some off flavors on the finish that were probably due to the fact that I couldn’t use organic lemons and/or didn’t scrub them hard enough. Because of the smoothness, the sweetness of the Limoncello is more apparent which is why I rated this one as more sweet despite the fact that the two halves contain exactly the same amount of sugar.

With this direct comparison under my belt, I can tell you with absolutely no reservations that filtering the liquor makes a HUGE difference in the smoothness of the final product. Since this batch was created I’ve made a couple others and forgotten to filter the liquor. I’m now acutely regretting that. I strongly recommend that you filter the liquor before the infusion with the lemon zest. I plan future tests to see where the point of diminishing returns is on filtration. Less filtration is faster but if I could double the smoothness by filtering the liquor 8 times, I’d do it. It’s still much faster than letting the finished Limoncello rest for a year or two, which is what I’ll need to do with the unfiltered half.

Because it was made with few changes from the first batch, the second turned out similar. Here are the stats on the second batch:

Liquor: Two 750ml bottles of Everclear 151
Liquor filtration: 2x
Lemons: 17 Non-organic, waxed and scrubbed
Days peels and liquor rested: 49
Simple Syrup - Cups Sugar: 4, Cups Water: 5
Days syrup rested with infusion: 44
Final filtration: 4x

As you can see, the only two differences were that the liquor was filtered an extra time and the final mixture rested longer before the final filtration. The result was a batch that was substantially similar in all regards to the first batch except it was slightly smoother. This could be the result of either the longer resting period or the extra filtration of the liquor or both. I’ll have to separate the two in the future to determine what is having the larger impact. Here is the flavor graph from batch #2:

I finished and tasted my first batch for this site and have very originally labeled it ”Batch #1.”  Here are the stats on this first batch:

Liquor: Two 750ml bottles of Everclear 151
Liquor filtration: 1x
Lemons: 17 Non-organic, waxed and scrubbed
Days peels and liquor rested: 49
Simple Syrup - Cups Sugar: 4, Cups Water: 5
Days syrup rested with infusion: 29
Final filtration: 4x

This first batch didn’t rest as long as normal with the simple syrup. The first tasting was also conducted before I figured out that you should let it sit at least a week before tasting it. In any case, the color, consistency and aroma were spot on. A nice light yellow color with a potent lemon smell and after chilling it moves out of the bottle at the appropriate speed, which in my opinion is something a little quicker than maple syrup.

The flavor though, left quite a bit to be desired. It seemed very sweet when it first hit your tongue, much too sweet I think. After that there was a roar of alcohol burn and bite. This one needs to sit a while. I’ve noticed since that letting it sit just a week in the bottle (in the freezer) seems to calm the flavor a bit. This one I tasted right after bottling and it was pretty rough. One problem with how long it takes to make Limoncello is that by the time you get feedback like this on the flavor, you’ve already made a couple other batches with some of the same mistakes. My conclusion for future batches was that I could stand to use maybe a cup less sugar in the simple syrup and more time on the shelf.

Below is my flavor graph for the first batch. There can be many nuances of flavor in Limoncello and I’ll have to express those in words but I think that the basics of the Limoncello flavor can be expressed on two axes, tart to sweet and rough to smooth. This is debatable, but many people think that Limoncello should have a bite to it. Therefore, “perfection” on this graph would be in the dead center if you like a little bite. If you don’t, perfection would be centered vertically but more to the right horizontally. Here is where this batch fell:

I’ve tried plenty of things to this point and many of them were failures so I’ll share them with you lest you repeat my mistakes.

Liquor selection - Avoid 190 proof grain alcohol, it can work if you cut it with vodka, but then what’s the point?

Filtration - To speed the process, I’ve made unfiltered batches. No one needs Limoncello that badly, filter it.

Not letting it rest - It’s really hard to be patient, especially with your first few batches, but exercise as much patience as you can. It’s possible to make a batch of Limoncello start to finish in 10 days, but again, no one needs Limoncello that badly. The faster you make it, the worse it will turn out regardless of the ingredients.

Adding ingredients - My only real run in with this was taking a recipe that called for vanilla bean to make the Limoncello smoother. The result was a liquor that tasted like vanilla. It wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t Limoncello either. Using less might make this better but vanilla is a potent flavor.

In this first post I’d like to explain what this site is all about. About two years ago I took a trip to Italy, which remains the highlight of my life’s travels. One of my discoveries on that trip was how wonderful Limoncello is as an after-dinner drink, or just as a nice summer beverage in general. After returning home to the States, my father-in-law described to me how he made his own Limoncello at home and I’ve been making my own ever since. Limoncello is one of the few beverages that you can make at home more cheaply than you can generally buy it, a point I will try to prove in a later post.

I’ve made some really bad Limoncello using recipes of my own device and ones I’ve seen on the internet. I’m publishing this blog to help other Limoncello newbies avoid my mistakes and to document my (now much more rigorous) search for the perfect Limoncello recipe. I plan to post the results of all of my experiments going forward and I will summarize my past attempts as well. I also plan to review all of the brands of Limoncello that I can get my hands on in stores just for the sake of comparison. I welcome any feedback or tips from your own experience and I hope that this blog is a useful tool in your own pilgrimage to create the perfect Limoncello.