Liquor Quik Recipe and hints |
Pack 1 is metabisulfite. Use this to sterilize your equipment. Or you can use any other sterilizer of your choice.
Add exactly 8 cups (2 liters) of warm water 80-90F (26-32 degrees Celsius) to a sterilized 4 liter or larger carboy.
Add to a large container exactly 4 cups (1 liter) of boiling water and 6 cups (1250 grams) of granulated white sugar (table sugar). Add pack 2 (citric acid) and stir until all sugar is dissolved. Then add approximately 1/2 of the solution to the carboy and stir well. Store the remainder of the sugar solution in a sterilized container to be used at a later time. (in step 6).
leave the carboy at room temperature for 60 - 72 hours to ferment. If it is left any longer than this you may have problems with stuck fermentation and possible clearing problems.
After the SG is between 1000 and 1010, approx. 60 - 72 hours, add the rest of the sugar solution prepared in step 3 to the carboy. Rinse out any remains with the liquid form the carboy. Note: If at this time the total volume in your carboy is not at the 4 or 4.5 liter mark depending on which size carboy you re using; you may increase the volume to the desired amount by adding a mixture of 3 cups (750 ml) warm water 95F (35 degrees Celsius) and 1 cup (250 grams) sugar.
Mix gently, then refit the airlock and leave at room temperature for 2 - 3 weeks.
DO NOT CONTINUE TO STEP 7 UNTIL:
-There are no more bubbles being produced in the liquid or
-the liquid has started to loose its cloudy appearance and begins to clear.
If you have a hydrometer the SG should be around or below 996.
At the end of the fermentation, syphon all the liquor into a sterile container leaving behind as much sediment as possible. Add the contents of pack 7 (charcoal) and pack 8 (liquid fining) and stir for 30 seconds. pour the liquid containing the charcoal and fining from the sterile container back into the carboy (which should be sterilezed), then refit the airlock and let stand for 48 hours in a cool location. 36 - 50F (3 - 10 degrees Celsius) The cooler the temperature the quicker your solution will settle. A refrigerator would be ideal.
After the 48 hours syphon the grey/black liquor from the container leaving behind as much black sediment as possible.
Unlike wine, you must filter your liquor if you want it to be drinkable. If you don't it will, without fail, have a terrible off smell and taste. This is the time to filter it. Use a 1 micron filter or less. If you're using a Black Beauty type filter use the white wine filter pads. Depending on how much charcoal settled out you may have to filter it a second time to get it crystal clear. Once your liquor is filtered you have to filter it with a charcoal filter. The charcoal (the same as the charcoal pack you put in your liquor) will mop up any off tastes or smells. If you don't use a charcoal filter you will not have a pure base alcohol with which to make your liquor from. If you do filter it through the charcoal filter pad you will end up with an odorless, tasteless base alcohol, essentially vodka, which is exactually what you want. If there is any off odour or flavor then the finished product will not be what you expected. Take it from someone who's been there.
There is a chart on the back of your kit's instructions. Now that you have your base alcohol made you can follow that chart to finish your liquor.
Disregard step 8 and the final step of the instructions that come with your kit. This is very important! The kit's instructions tell you to add pack 9 (sorbate) and pack 11 (product stabilizer). Sorbate IS the product stabilizer and I nor anyone else that I know can tell me exactially what is in pack 11. Since you're not carbonating your liquor or adding any more sugar to it it will not start to ferment again. It can't the alcohol content is too high and by now 90% of the yeast cells are dead. Any active yeast cells that are left in your liquor will be removed with the filter. And from what I can tell pack 11 (what ever it is) serves no purpose what so ever. The instructions say it is a product stabilizer but that's not what it is because that's pack 9 (sorbate). The kit's instructions say to mix up a solution of pack 11 and use enough to remove any wine flavor; but as far as I can tell, all it does is covers up the wine flavor with some other flavor which is far worse than the little wine flavor left. Filtering with a carbon filter will remove any wine flavor with out adding anything else to it. The less chemicals you use in your brew the better.
If you use the yeast that comes with the kit your kit will only ferment out to 18% alc/vol. It says up to 21 % alc/vol but it doesn't. If you try to get it this high the resulting liquor will be good but a little sweet. The more sugar you put in it the more sickly it will be. When adding your sugar, use a hydrometer to make sure you have exactly enough sugar to ferment out to 18% alc/vol.
If you want it stronger just freeze it. That's right freeze it. Put it in the freezer and take out the ice. Since water freezes before alcohol when you take out the ice you're left with pure alcohol. It may take a day or two so keep a close eye on it. Just continue to taste it as you take the ice out of it. When it starts to burn the back of the throat you know it is close to 40% alc/vol. Make sure you freeze it before you add your flavor and color though. Or it will taste week.
When adding your flavor and color instead of dumping it all in like your kit's instructions say to do add half first and taste. If not strong enough add a bit more and taste. Repeat this step until you get it to your taste.
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Site last updated 08/09/99
