Chef friend (former executive chef at Pinehurst) shared his Limoncello recipe with me. Haven’t tried it yet, but I have some friends that are in the process now.
Zest from 11 lemons (just the yellow part - no white pith), 1 bottle grain alcohol (use vodka if you can’t get grain) combine these in a glass container or stainless steel pot and let sit in a cool dark spot for 2 weeks.....
Then make a simple syrup with 5 cups water and 2 1/2 - 3 cups sugar.....bring to a boil and then cool completely.....add to grain and lemons
Then cover and let sit like at least another 2-3 weeks....the longer the better
Then strain lemon peels out and bottle the limoncello back up and keep in the freezer
This is a recipe for one 750 ML bottle of grain. You need to at least double it. Also, don’t use vodka. Use Everclear.
Be careful, Limoncello is addictive! Believe me I know. I tried this recipe a couple of years ago after a cruise...Believe me I would drink this stuff every day if possible. VERY good taste.
I made krupnikas (vyritos) (aka boilo) last year. I’m not sure I did a good job. The first sip tastes like honey, the aftertaste is of old socks. I’ll have to try again.
Basic recipe is grain alcohol (you can use whiskey, I used Everclear), orange peel, lemon peel, honey, and spices. You boil together the fruit peel and spices with some water, add the honey, cook it, strain it, then add the alcohol (use an area with good ventilation and away from direct heat or flame). Then bottle it and let it age for a few weeks. Keep pouring off the clear stuff as it floats to the top and bottle that, discard the cloudy stuff at the bottom.
Maybe the cloudy stuff (after a number of weeks) gave it the “old socks” flavor.
I’ll have to re-try this; I know I goofed up somewhere.
http://archiver.rootsweb.ancestry.com/th/read/LITHUANIA/2003-08/1060790531
When you say you need to double it....are you saying you need double capacity to store it? ....not that the recipe needs to be doubled, right?