I've picked infusing back up while on corona-cation and I gotta say, it was a good decision. I mostly have been using vodka as a base bc, once you steep the botanicals enough to pull out the rubbing alcohol aspect, it makes for a delightfully neutral and smooth base.
What I use is American, by-volume, measurements. I usually eyeball my amounts and it's easier to convert them to volume and I don't have my scale laying around atm. My apologies to those of you who used civilized measurements lol.
As a note to anytime interested in trying this themselves, using cheap vodka is fine (I have historically used Amsterdam) but you WILL want a smoother one for more delicate botanicals like flowers and herbs. Svedka is a great option imo.
Also, I'd be happy to post the recipes for the cocktails I've been making with these.
Hibiscus/Jamaica vodka: this one you can't oversteep. I usually use about three quarters of a cup to a cup of flowers for two pints/four cups of vodka. Steep for a couple hours minimum - it's fine when it's a deep, rich pink. Good with mint, rosemary, cinnamon, ginger, and lime in particular (not necessary all combined).
Rose: get thee food grade dried rose petals. Jam a cup of them in a container and pour in 4 cups of vodka. Let it steep 4-5 days. Good with vanilla, green cardamom, raspberry, and lemon.
Citron: I used a Buddha's hand bc I picked one up for a steal but any citron is fine. You'll want a big container and lots of time. It took a week to be ready and you can just leave the thing in there afterwards ime. Mint, basil, strawberry, etc etc are all bomb as fuck.
Orange flower: get a fuck ton of buds and pinch them off just above the base - make sure the green thing inside the flower doesn't make it in if you're using a somewhat older bud. Dump them in a jar and add a smooth vodka. I think I used about half a cup to a pint of vodka and let it sit for 4 days. To this, I'd probably just add a bit of sugar and soda water.
Mango: I did two infusions with this myself - one with frozen fruit bc I'm lazy and one with fresh.
I would also recommend doing the infusion I'm the fridge to prevent the fruit from oxidizing. Get 2 very ripe mangos and cut them up. Dump the fruit in two cups of vodka and let sit for probably about a week before running it through a coffee filter. Good with chamoy, orange, mint, strawberries, etc.
Jasmine green tea: three tea bags to two pints vodka. Let sit for a couple hours. Best with mint imo.
Green cardamom and lavender: DO NOT crush the pods unless you enjoy v menthol-y flavors and use food grade lavender. I think I used about 6 pods and a tablespoon of lavender to half a cup of vodka. Four days is plenty but let it sit for a bit after you filter it so it becomes more floral.
Black cardamom: I used a gold tequila here but you could probably use any kind. Black cardamom is even more menthol-y than green and I would recommend against crushing the pods. A third of a cup of whole pods to two cups vodka. Let it sit for a day and a half to two days before fishing out the pods. I'd run it through a coffee filter. The result is smoky with oak notes on top of the better part of the tequila flavor without the edge. Fig, jalapeno, and black tea are all great with it and it would probably be bitchin' in a bloody Maria.
I'm also making a bastard/compound gin but that's still processing. I'll post that recipe when it's done.
Those all sound great -- I'm not a vodka drinker but it sounds like you mitigate the rubbing alchohol taste..
I had a friend who used to make people custom liquor infusions and blends for their birthdays. Would also do a little graphic design and make a custom sticker for the bottle - always seemed like a really cool hobby.
I'm a BIG fan of coffee infusions, particularly tequila and rum. this is fascinating and my inner mixologist would kill to sample your work.
oh yeah, all I've got on hand at the moment is a big bottle of bacardi silver. What should I infuse it with?
Quote from: Cramulus on April 09, 2020, 01:59:08 PM
oh yeah, all I've got on hand at the moment is a big bottle of bacardi silver. What should I infuse it with?
Vanilla coke and a hint of honey. I usually use a dark rum for my special rum and coke, but the honey is the secret.
Do infusions work with sugar wine, Or should I get into distillation? Very inspiring anyway, I'm so done with alcoholism tasting like shit.
Quote from: Cramulus on April 09, 2020, 11:57:10 AM
Those all sound great -- I'm not a vodka drinker but it sounds like you mitigate the rubbing alchohol taste..
I had a friend who used to make people custom liquor infusions and blends for their birthdays. Would also do a little graphic design and make a custom sticker for the bottle - always seemed like a really cool hobby.
I wasn't a vodka drinker either until I started up this hobby bc yeah, it really does taste like rubbing alcohol otherwise. And yeah, that does sound p cool!
Quote from: The Wizard Joseph on April 09, 2020, 01:42:43 PM
I'm a BIG fan of coffee infusions, particularly tequila and rum. this is fascinating and my inner mixologist would kill to sample your work.
Thank you!
Quote from: Cramulus on April 09, 2020, 01:59:08 PM
oh yeah, all I've got on hand at the moment is a big bottle of bacardi silver. What should I infuse it with?
I'm not a rum drinker buuut the interwebs suggest fruit in particular, as well as peppers (Habs and red bells, but you could swap Habs for jalapeno). Tea and coffee would probably be bomb, too.
Spices are always a safe bet and vanilla in particular would probably be good. Last I looked, vanilla pods can be had for a surprisingly reasonable price. Indonesian pods are sometimes smoked as part of the drying process and if you like smoke, that might be a good option.
Quote from: Frontside Back on April 09, 2020, 03:45:44 PM
Do infusions work with sugar wine, Or should I get into distillation? Very inspiring anyway, I'm so done with alcoholism tasting like shit.
Probably! I do not like wine most of the time but it can't hurt to try.
you can infuse wine, but it's not the same as hard alcohol. If I were making sugar wine I'd get into distillation anyways, just to get away from the taste of Kilyu.
Quote from: Pergamos on April 14, 2020, 03:53:17 AM
you can infuse wine, but it's not the same as hard alcohol. If I were making sugar wine I'd get into distillation anyways, just to get away from the taste of Kilyu.
sounds deadly
It's spelled kilju and it's actually really good for retoxing your guts.
Ahktually I'll be posting about the gins as I go and will actually be taking photos of the next couple infusions (rose and mango again, and honeysuckle).
I'm making an herbal gin and a floral one. Both started with about 1 1/2c vodka and I mashed up about 2 tbsp juniper berries up - less vigorously for the floral one - and let them sit overnight. Filtered out the berries through a coffee filter (I gotta get a nut milk bag, I swear) and dropped in 3 uncracked green cardamom pods.
(https://i.imgur.com/bxCGvO8.jpg)
I let it sit overnight before fishing them out. Next time, I'll go with one, I think.
(https://i.imgur.com/iLYSaC7.jpg)
I am using what I already have as much as possible, and I happen to have hummingbird sage and a blood orange tree. Any fruity sage would be an excellent replacement, I think, and kaffir lime leaves might be fun as a substitute. I picked half a young leaf each and cut them in half. After this, I think they're going to start going their separate ways in terms of botanicals.
I've only drunk gin for millennia, but Rock Town vodka is a cheap, clean base for stuff.
We don't do or imbue "super alcoholics." I did like some blue lotus wine once, and there's still a thimble of some Christmasy squidge that could use rinse somewheres. Otherwise, it's all vinegar kombucha tea and that other water lacto fermented stuff (?) with some raisins tossed in. Because austerity wins wars or something.
Wat
I'm all jelly cause I'm not drinking (virtue signal warning) so experimenting with other fermentation methods yielding more bubbles than alcohol.
Still infused so technically counts
Ignore LuciferX, Juana. He's shitting all over the place because we're sick of his passive aggressive idiocy. Also, do be sure to get loud if he starts making threats, since he likes that sort of stupid shit and Howl is itching to stomp his ludicrously racist dick into the mantle of the earth.
Quote from: Juana on April 15, 2020, 12:01:12 AM
(https://i.imgur.com/bxCGvO8.jpg)(https://i.imgur.com/iLYSaC7.jpg)
I can't tell what that plant is with the holes in it? We8ve been experimenting with sage, rosemary, ginger and my personal favorite, cayenne. Currently on a water kefir kick. It's like the champagne of kombucha.
Quote from: altered on July 07, 2020, 07:57:16 PM
Ignore LuciferX, Juana. He's shitting all over the place because we're sick of his passive aggressive idiocy. Also, do be sure to get loud if he starts making threats, since he likes that sort of stupid shit and Howl is itching to stomp his ludicrously racist dick into the mantle of the earth.
Lmao, ty. I'll keep that in mind.
Quote from: minuspace on July 07, 2020, 10:31:20 PM
Quote from: Juana on April 15, 2020, 12:01:12 AM
(https://i.imgur.com/bxCGvO8.jpg)(https://i.imgur.com/iLYSaC7.jpg)
I can't tell what that plant is with the holes in it? We8ve been experimenting with sage, rosemary, ginger and my personal favorite, cayenne. Currently on a water kefir kick. It's like the champagne of kombucha.
What plant with holes it in? There isn't one in either of those photos
Quote from: Juana on July 08, 2020, 12:11:42 AM
What plant with holes it in? There isn't one in either of those photos
LuciferX, in a spectacular failure of visual cognition, has conflated your dimpled plant pot with its contents (Kalanchoe luciae, if I am not mistaken).
Quote from: chaotic neutral observer on July 08, 2020, 01:21:15 AM
Quote from: Juana on July 08, 2020, 12:11:42 AM
What plant with holes it in? There isn't one in either of those photos
LuciferX, in a spectacular failure of visual cognition, has conflated your dimpled plant pot with its contents (Kalanchoe luciae, if I am not mistaken).
That was my thought as well tbh. No idea what the plant is tho
Ahem, please allow me to illustrate... I will now attach file indicating some serious vegetative qvestion.
Honey?
Quote from: minuspace on July 08, 2020, 03:03:15 AM
Ahem, please allow me to illustrate... I will now attach file indicating some serious vegetative qvestion.
Honey?
It's the fucking pot.
That's awesome! Like the ones where you can grow patches on the outside too I suppose? I think I saw an advert for it on YouTube or something.
Quote from: minuspace on July 08, 2020, 04:39:04 AM
That’s awesome! Like the ones where you can grow patches on the outside too I suppose? I think I saw an advert for it on YouTube or something.
No. Are you thinking of strawberry pots? It's just a textured pot.
Edit: here I am, ignoring the wise Altered's advice wrt this this dude. :lulz:
:lulz: We all have to learn some way and blatant fucking miserable idiocy is a great teacher. When you remember he's also outrageously racist and managed to make six separate death threats, some involving "Clarence" (context made it clear he meant "clearance") and like no fucking shit Joe Biden-named gangbangers (Craig, Moan, Germ), to me personally for a somewhat abrasive joke aimed at Cain, as if one of the smartest people on the board AND an admin couldn't defend himself?
Then you will be free. :lulz:
Quote from: minuspace on July 08, 2020, 03:03:15 AM
Ahem, please allow me to illustrate... I will now attach file indicating some serious vegetative qvestion.
Honey?
That's a numpfruit. They're available at your local garden centre and they're DELICIOUS. The skin's a little tough so don't be afraid to bite right in really hard.
Quote from: Nyborj the Priest on July 08, 2020, 03:45:31 PM
Quote from: minuspace on July 08, 2020, 03:03:15 AM
Ahem, please allow me to illustrate... I will now attach file indicating some serious vegetative qvestion.
Honey?
That's a numpfruit. They're available at your local garden centre and they're DELICIOUS. The skin's a little tough so don't be afraid to bite right in really hard.
Good god can we get this in newsfeed
Quote from: Nyborj the Priest on July 08, 2020, 03:45:31 PM
Quote from: minuspace on July 08, 2020, 03:03:15 AM
Ahem, please allow me to illustrate... I will now attach file indicating some serious vegetative qvestion.
Honey?
That's a numpfruit. They're available at your local garden centre and they're DELICIOUS. The skin's a little tough so don't be afraid to bite right in really hard.
Yeah, I seen them on TV. You grow patches of organic material on them and then peel them off this super-sophisticated surface topologically designed by NASA to grow self-cleaning teeth with bristles on them. So no, your wrong, they are not supposed to be edible, I think.
Quote from: altered on July 08, 2020, 02:57:29 PM
:lulz: We all have to learn some way and blatant fucking miserable idiocy is a great teacher. When you remember he's also outrageously racist and managed to make six separate death threats, some involving "Clarence" (context made it clear he meant "clearance") and like no fucking shit Joe Biden-named gangbangers (Craig, Moan, Germ), to me personally for a somewhat abrasive joke aimed at Cain, as if one of the smartest people on the board AND an admin couldn't defend himself?
Then you will be free. :lulz:
Apparently, good lord.
Quote from: Nyborj the Priest on July 08, 2020, 03:45:31 PM
Quote from: minuspace on July 08, 2020, 03:03:15 AM
Ahem, please allow me to illustrate... I will now attach file indicating some serious vegetative qvestion.
Honey?
That's a numpfruit. They're available at your local garden centre and they're DELICIOUS. The skin's a little tough so don't be afraid to bite right in really hard.
This is beautiful and I second the newsfeed nomination.
Can whoever writes the newsfeed please stand up.