Unclouding my Krupnikas

[marymacsept]

My Krupnikas is going to be fantastic, I think (I hope)... it's the first time I've made it. I have 3 gallons sitting on my countertop, and they'll have about 2 weeks' rest total before I "Mason Jar" it for gift-giving.

At present the gallon jugs are quite cloudy. Can I expect them to clear up over time?

I'm planning on using funnel/coffee filters to pour the liquid into the jars... is there anything else I can to to help it be as clear as possible?

I understand there may be limits given the time and heck, it's homemade, but any tips would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

Mary

[scatman]

Mary, you might have discovered the secret to clear Krupnikas by now--here's what works for me: after making the Krupnikas & letting it cool a bit, pour it into bottles & cap them & put them in a place where no one will be tempted to touch them. After a week or so, you will have clear Krupnikas with a cloudy sediment on the bottom. Slowly & carefully (don't agitate the sediment) decant the clear Krupnikas into clean bottles, being careful to stop decanting before any sediment flows into the new bottles. Voila! Save the sediment!! Pour the sediment left behind in each bottle into one new bottle. Put the bottle of sediment into a secret place. After a couple weeks (or even months or years) you will find that it, too, will have settled. The clear liquid is what I call "nectar". Decant as described above and add 1 oz. 190 proof grain alcohol per 7 oz. "nectar" and you will have an unbelievably special small batch!

[marymacsept]

Hey thanks Scatman! I fully intend to try this, as the demand for "More Krupnikas!" was heard far and wide among my friends.

Here is a shot of my first batch. Tasted amazing; I can't wait to make my nectar!

Thanks!

MaryMac
www.marymac.com

[JMF]

First, since we don't know your recipe it is hard to give advice. Second, knowing what Krupnikas is, a grain, herb, fruit liqueur, recipes are always so different, it will always be cloudy unless you have access to a good filtering system. Home filtering through thin cloth like a bandana, then paper towels or coffee filters will help greatly, but will take a lot of time, and even if it seems mostly clear at first, it will throw off sediment for quite awhile. Don't expect clear without something like a Buchner filter and hand vacuum pump. This is what I use for home experiments when I am not in our distillery. by the way, a small buchner filter and pump kit is under $100 and well worth the investment for the home tincture and liqueur maker. Here is a link to one, but it has the plastic hand pump. I recommend a metal one. The plastic ones fall apart in a year or so, but for $55 you can't go wrong with the plastic one.
http://secure.sciencecompany.com/Lab-...

[marymacsept]

Many thanks JMF! I may need to up my game in terms of gear, it sounds like! Here is the link to the primary recipe I used; I fiddled with it just a bit using another but nothing significant.

http://allrecipes.com/recipe/lithuani...

Here are the ingredients:

10 cardamom seeds
1/2 nutmeg seed
2 teaspoons caraway seed
10 whole cloves
10 whole allspice berries
4 (3 inch) cinnamon sticks
2 teaspoons whole peppercorns
1 pinch crushed saffron threads
2 (1 inch) pieces fresh ginger root
2 (1 inch) pieces fresh turmeric
3 large strips of orange zest
3 large strips of lemon zest
4 cups water
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
2 pounds honey
1 quart 190 proof grain alcohol

Thanks once more!

[davis_sq_pro]

JMF, can you recommend a metal one? Where do you get food-grade filters?

[JMF]

I like the Mityvac Silverline Elite hand pump, I just looked up the price and over the past year the price has come down to about $50-60. The lab papers that you use with the buchner funnel are lab/food safe.

[davis_sq_pro]

What level of porosity do you recommend? Or does it depend on the use case? (I could imagine that, e.g., fruit would demand larger pores at first, followed by a second pass through smaller pores.)

[JMF]

First pass through cheesecloth. Second pass for real murky stuff through a cloth like a bandana. Then through fine filter paper. The filter paper rounds are inexpensive, so get a few types. It's not a quick process, but quicker than trying to use gravity and coffee filters.

[davis_sq_pro]

Thanks for the info!

Some of my experiments (e.g. making an alcoholic version of Mexican horchata) wouldn't even pass through cheesecloth without a squeeze... I probably need an industrial centrifuge or something!

[JMF]

Even the commercially produced alcoholic horchata is milky. can't filter that stuff clear without a centrifuge. (I have tried things similar to horchata that were centrifuged. Dave Arnold of the FCI is doing some wild stuff with centrifuges, rotary evaporators for low temp partial vacuum distilling, etc.)

[davis_sq_pro]

I wasn't shooting for clarity, but rather for something that I could put in the fridge for a day or two without finding a massive amount of sludge on the floor of the bottle. Tiny rice particles, it seems, not only clog filters but also stay suspended for just long enough to make it annoyingly difficult to siphon off the less-cloudy liquid. Plus they disturb very easily, going right back into suspension... PITA!

[deet13]

I wonder if using gelatin or egg whites as fining would work?

[davis_sq_pro]

I used to use a few different things when I was avidly homebrewing: polyclar (some kind of plastic that's supposed to attract particles), bentonite (clay?), and isinglass (some kind of gelatin-type product extracted from the swim bladder of a fish).

All of them were a bit of a pain to use: mix into the beer/wine, let it sit around for a day or two, and then siphon off, leaving an inch or so of liquid behind at the bottom of the old container.

This did work pretty well but I was working with 5 gallons of stuff, rather than a liter. Not sure the process would scale down very well... perhaps I could use a fat separator rather than a siphon?