Comments on: Batch #3 Split Test

By: Natrous

Natrous — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 17:56:30 +0000

My first batch came out great! I gave a bottle of it to an Italian friend of mine, and he reported back that his mother said it was the best she’s ever tasted. (These people have 30+ family members over on the holidays, and know how to cook and eat, so that’s no small praise!)

I guess I should start in on another batch to make sure I don’t have a lapse…

By: wspybotwormremovetool

wspybotwormremovetool — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 16:02:34 +0000

Your site limoncelloquest is a cool resource, tnks, owner.

By: ipodnananewnibnipnwt

ipodnananewnibnipnwt — Sun, 27 Jul 2008 16:54:53 +0000

The site limoncelloquest.com is excellent resource, thanks

By: Ben

Ben — Fri, 30 May 2008 17:17:32 +0000

I’m not sure about how many times you can use a filter, quite a few but not as many times as with water. My rule of thumb for when to change it out is just to look at the flow coming out the bottom of the filter when you first pour the liquor in the top. When it reduces to drips I change out the filter.

I have done some batches with one or two filtrations and some with as many as six filtrations. I can tell you that one or two isn’t as good as 5 or 6, but that’s as fine grained as I can tell you right now. What I haven’t done but would like to do is filter like 10 times and see if that is a real improvement.

On the issue of proof, I usually do it by quality. I filter the lower quality, cheaper liquors more than more expensive ones. I think that generally speaking, filtering decent quality vodka doesn’t result in massive improvements (though still worth doing) but filtering grain alcohol is an absolute must and produces massive taste improvements.

I’m glad you like the site! Stop back and let me know how it goes for you!

By: Natrous

Natrous — Thu, 29 May 2008 20:59:33 +0000

How long/how many times can you use a single Brita filter when you are doing your filtering? Is there any rule if thumb you use for when you toss the filter and get a new one?

Have you done testing yet to see if 4 filtering passes is that much better than 2?

Should you filter lower-proof alcohol more than higher proof stuff?

The filters aren’t that expensive, I suppose, but with the cost of the high-proof vodka it adds up.

(Great site, btw… I was just curious about making limoncello, but all the recipes i found seemed to just be posted by people who hadn’t actually tried them. I wasn’t going to bother, then last week I found your site. Last day of the 3-for-a-dollar lemons was today… zesting begins tonight!)

By: admin

admin — Sat, 23 Feb 2008 21:51:39 +0000

I do filter my vodka as well. The filtration of the liquor is actually an idea I borrowed from other sites that filter cheap vodka to make it taste like high end vodka:
http://www.ehow.com/how_2041159_improve-vodka-filter.html

They even have contraptions to make multiple filtrations easier:
http://cocktails.about.com/od/spirits/gr/vodkastick_rvw.htm

I think how much benefit you get is closely associated with what kind of vodka you use. Using cheap vodka will definitely require filtration, but even then it will likely have off flavors. I use mid-grade vodka, usually 100 proof Smirnoff, and then filter it a minimum of 4 times. I think this is a good compromise of price and taste.

For making Limoncello, what you want is no flavor at all so the infusion can take on the flavor of lemon without other less desirable flavors. One other thing to know is that depending on your sugar/water mixture, Limoncellos made with 100 proof vodka can freeze in the freezer. This has happened to me a lot though I still use it because it’s very hard to get either Everclear or higher proof vodka around here.

By: Dane

Dane — Sat, 23 Feb 2008 21:20:58 +0000

I use 100 proof vodka instead of everclear. do you think filtration is as important with vodka?