EverClear Limoncello (Sous-Vide)

Oh yes, EverClear-Cello. Yes, I feel your judgment, so stop it 🤣 😳. This Cello is the third one I've done in about three weeks. I made two other ones using 100-proof Vodka, but I wanted to try EverClear. I am so glad I decided to use the High Octane EverClear with an ABV of 95% and a whopping 190 proof.

Before I continue, let me give you some of the reasons why I wanted to use Everclear. For one thing, it's neutral-tasting alcohol, so the Lemon comes through.  I think you get more bang for your buck too. Because the ABV is so high, it takes more distilled water to dilute, which raises the yield.  I will provide you calculations at the bottom to determine ABV. 

For this batch, I used 3-bottles of EverClear, which equates to 2250 Ml or 2.25 L. I used the juice and zest from 24-Lemons. I also used Distilled Water to dilute the ABV.  Based on previous experience, I knew I needed 24-Lemons. BTW- the Lemons I purchased were from Costco. They were not only huge but dang, the quality was way above what I was expecting. The Zest came off so easily quickly, so scraping the pith off wasn't necessary. One of my goals was to hit an ABV above 35% 

One of the first things I did was to scrub these babies clean under running water. I used a simple veggie brush. Even if they were organic, you would need to wash them.

Remove all ZEST using a simple peeler. I have five peelers to choose from too. I wanted the one that did the best job. I think the one I used is designed for removing Tomato skins. BTW- The ZEST weighed in at 488 grams. Wow, that's a lot of ZEST. 

Thank G-d my kid helped me from start to finish. We had to squeeze 48-Freaking Lemons...Oy.

This is a must!! Yes, I am talking about an extra-large Nut-Bag. The Nut-Bag will help remove and filter out everything that you don't want in a Limoncello. 

I used a one-gallon pitcher to collect the lemon juice. Dang, it was a lot. 
After squeezing the nut bag, this was the yield. 

I cannot imagine making it the traditional way in which they only use the ZEST. I love the juice, and it brings that extra punch of Lemon. That being said, I am not closed-minded, and I will make a batch just with the ZEST and see which one I prefer. I will have to freeze the juice because I just can't see throwing it away. 

 
You need a heavy-duty scale with a tare feature for this next step.  Using a clean container, place it on a scale, and tare it to zero. I poured in the juice and enough distilled water to equate to 3100 Ml.  

To a larger container, I added the Juice, Water mixture along with 900 grams of sugar and three bottles of Everclear (2.25 Liters). Looking at other recipes, I would give this a three on the sweetness factor out of five.  Note: In the future, I will do the measurements a little differently based on newly acquired information. I will talk about that later.  

Not actual picture.

Using a huge bag, I tossed in over a pound of Zest and everything else. It helped use another large container to support the bag. 

I used the displacement method and SV-Processed for 6-Hours. 





After processing the Limoncello, use cheesecloth to filter out the ZEST, then use the Nut-Bag to strain again. This ensures a very clean, pure Cello.

Before bottling, make sure to clean bottles very thoroughly. Although not necessary, I love this product to clean the bottles. 

How to Calculate Alchohol Content

NOTE: I did not take into account the alcohol density. One bottle of Everclear is 750 ML., but in grams, it weighs 603-616 grams. The Proof is actually about 65 Proof.