Special Instructions and Definitions in Liqueur Making

Sugar Syrup

To make one unit of sugar syrup:

1 unit sugar
1/2 unit water

Bring to boil together, let stand a minute or two before adding to anything else. It will yield a little more than one unit, but some recipes rely on that inconsistency. Some recipes expect you to throw out the extra, too, but none of them will tell you just what they expect. See Sweetening page.

Sliced and Scraped Citrus Peel

The easiest way to this is to take an apple peeler and carefully peel the rind away from the fruit, leaving the white pith behind. Peel only as much as you need. The quality of the peel will be much higher than if you have to use the second method below. Sometimes, you should also slice the peels up into smaller pieces.

If you don't have an apple peeler, slice peel while still on fruit into four sections. If the peels are really big, make a slice around the middle to make it eight pieces. Peel them off the fruit. Taking an paring knife, remove the white, spongy substance (called pith) from the inside of the rind itself. Remove as much as you can, but try to be careful not to completely destroy the rind while you're at it. The pith leaves a bitter taste in the liqueur, but the rind's natural oils are very important to the final taste.

Alcohol Quality

Cheap vodka is bad, but really expensive vodka isn't any better than average stuff. That statement is just as true for other alcohol bases you might see in a recipe. Always avoid the least expensive of anything, but the most expensive varieties will be overpowered and wasted on a liqueur. See Alcohol in the General Principles page.

Strain and Filter

You have to remove the things you steeped in your alcohol before aging or bottling it. Usually this is done in the two step process described here. Straining involves pouring the mixture through a strong, coarse filter. After the main liquid passes through, you should pick up the filter, with solids trapped in it, and squeeze out what liquid you can get. Don't worry that you're also squeezing some solids through the filter. Don't use anything stronger than your hands, though. Mashing the fruit will have exactly the opposite effect, robbing you of liqueur by leaving it suspended it in the fiber of the fruit. Actually, it's possible that some sort of fruit-press might help, but be careful.

After you've squeezed out what you can, discard the solids. Take the liquid yield you have so far, and pour through a finer filter, to remove the small solids that escaped the first pass. Do this as many times as it takes for you to be satisfied that the liquid is reasonably free of solids. You might also consider using a wine filter system (which uses positive pressure to force the liquid through thick filter plates) as a final, very fine filter step. See the Filtration Techniques page.
 

Good Filters to Use

For Straining	Cheese cloth Cotton or canvas fabric Sparging bag Jelly bag
For Filtering	Linen, canvas or cotton Paper towel Coffee filter Wine/pump filter

Glycerine

Glycerine is called for in a number of liqueur recipes as a thickening agent.  Chemically, it is glycerol, a colorless, odorless, sweet-tasting substance with a thick, syrupy consistency.  It is also useful in preventing sugar crystallization in candy.  In liqueurs, it provides a certain texture to the liqueur, making it feel less thin and watery, in an effort to mimic the texture of some commercial liqueurs produced by distillation (glycerine can be produced as a by-product of fermentation).  Glycerine is available in standard, vegetable and Kosher forms, ans should be readily available in wine-making supply stores.  Many drug stores have glycerine on the shelf, but there is an ominous "not for internal consumption" warning on the boxes.  I have been unable (through next-to-no research) to determine just why that would be, but I strongly recommend a chat with the pharmacist before picking it up.  My best guess is that large quantities of pure glycerine might be harmful.  But do confirm that it hasn't been denatured or otherwise rendered harmful.  Normally, glycerine is a perfectly acceptable food additive.

That said, I don't use glycerine myself.  It somehow feels like cheating.  So anywhere you see glycerine in any of the recipes, remember that it's optional, and won't materially impact the flavor of the liqueur.  While glycerine is sweet-tasting, the quantities used are minuscule compared with the granulated sugar you'll be using.  So use it or not at your own discretion, but don't worry that it'll ruin the liqueur if you don't.