Infusions, Extractions & Tinctures at Home: The Topic (Part 2)

[Nicolas Escudero Heiberg]

[Host's note:  To avoid an excessive load on our servers this topic has been split.  The discussion continues from here]

 

Hey all, fascinating read./Apologies if this is not the right place to post my question, but it is my second post on the forum.

Planning on infusing some Thai chillies and some rosemary into vodka (2/separate infusions). I have an isi whip and N20 cartridges. I have 2/questions.

A) anyone have recommendations on how much chili/rosemary I should infuse

B) Any recommendations on recipes for the infused vodkas?

Many thanks!

Edited December 28, 2015 by lesliec
Added host's note (log)

[Hassouni]

I've done a zillion iSi infusions now.

 

Put a decent handful of chilis, but go sparing on the rosemary. Infused rosemary tends to taste weird.

 

Recipes, no, just go crazy, it's super easy!

 

 

Note - do not EVER infuse mastic resin/tears in an iSi - you will ruin it. Ask me how I know...

[Nicolas Escudero Heiberg]

Thanks Hassouni... I tried with a handful (4) of chillies and about 200 ml of kettle 1. I chopped it up finely to increase surface area and put the whole shebang (seeds and all) in the siphon. Shook and left for two minutes. That stuff came out so spicy it's virtually unusable.

What did I do wrong?

[Hassouni]

Either too high chile:vodka ratio or too long of an infusion time.

 

Try with lower ratio, or try infusing for far less time, say 30 seconds.

 

One of my favorite local bars does Thai chile-infused vermouth and they do a whole bottle of vermouth with about as many chiles as you describe. They do a traditional infusion, only about 24 hours. If a few minutes in an iSi is the equivalent to a few days or weeks of traditional infusion, you'll have to infuse on the scale of seconds, not minutes.

 

Also, Dave Arnold has a video on youtube about it, where he does jalapeños and tequila - it's also for not very long, and remember Thai chiles are much hotter

Edited September 6, 2015 by Hassouni (log)

[Nicolas Escudero Heiberg]

OK, cool. Thanks for the tip... And chile infused vermouth sounds amazing... What do they use it for?

[EvergreenDan]

Just mix the too-hot vodka with plain vodka to the desired intensity -- either in the shaker or in a bigger bottle. I would think that chopping the chilis would release a lot of juice.

[Hassouni]

OK, cool. Thanks for the tip... And chile infused vermouth sounds amazing... What do they use it for?

 

A tequila martini, sort of, with a final spritz of mezcal

[Nicolas Escudero Heiberg]

Thanks both... Will report back

[lesliec]

Today I've dried and stored safely away a respectable quantity of wormwood.

 

Once I find a decent recipe (suggestions welcome) and my Roman wormwood is a bit bigger, I shall report further on the home production of absinthe.

[FrogPrincesse]

Lots of cool ideas and various techniques discussed in this article by Team Lyan. The Nuked Negroni has been on my list of things to try for a while now! I may have to make it the old fashioned way though (on the stove, or with a hot iron?!) since I lack a microwave.

 

https://punchdrink.com/articles/how-to-spirit-infusions-at-home-diy-team-lyan-london-cocktail-recipes/

 

 

[salixfire]

Hi all! I've not been around for a long while but thought I'd pop back as you guys are likely to be my best source of answers, if you don't mind me asking. I've made a number of infused gins and vodkas using my sous vide and was wondering what the longevity on them is likely to be. Most of the ones I've made have been drunk very quickly but I have a friend that keeps stocks of different flavoured alcohols for cocktails so I was wondering if anyone knew how long they would last? Usually I make them with fresh fruit infused at 57 degrees Celsius for a couple of hours. Also I'd like to somehow filter them to get rid of the haziness and get them nice and clear if I can, does anyone have any recommendations? Usually the sediment will settle out in a few days but I'm impatient  I've tried coffee filters and they get out the bigger stuff (tiny bits of microplaned zest) but not the "haze", if you know what I mean. I've heard of using a Buchner (?) filter but haven't tried that yet. Would something like a 100 or smaller micron filter work without loosing any flavour? Any other recommendations? 

Thank you   

[Craig E]

I recently made a chicken recipe that called for curry leaves, which I'd never tried before. Curry leaves are kind of interesting. They are used in some curries but bear no relation to the spices in curry powder. Before I realized Whole Foods carried them, I'd looked up online what would work as a substitute in my chicken recipe, and sites suggested lime for the citrusy aspect and basil leaves for the herbaceous aspect. But I found beyond citrus and leafiness, the leaves had a toasty quality.

 

Since I had most of a bag left over, I decided they might work in a syrup for cocktails. I followed the procedure that had worked for me for sage syrup: Dissolve sugar in just-simmering water, cut the heat, and steep the leaves for half an hour, then strain. 

 

First use was a basic gin sour—gin, lemon, and the syrup. Worked pretty well. But then my wife observed the nuttiness of the syrup, and I had an epiphany that it could work as a funked-up orgeat replacement. So I made a mai tai to Trader Vic's spec, only subbing the curry-leaf syrup for the orgeat/simple, and using Batavia Arrack as a more regional replacement for the Jamaican rum. Added a pinch of salt and replaced the mint garnish with another curry leaf. Tasty stuff!

 

Edited February 11, 2020 by Craig E (log)

[JoNorvelleWalker]

A friend has offered me one of her curry plants.  Wish I could get them from the Whole Foods here.  The Spice House offers dried curry leaves but I've read that's not the same.

 

[blue_dolphin]

@Craig E, your cocktail sounds excellent.  Should you find yourself with more leftover curry leaves for cocktail purposes, you might try infusing some bourbon with them.  

The Mowgli Street Food restaurants use it in a Smoked Cardamom Old-Fashioned cocktail that also appears in their cookbook.   I quite liked it.  

 

Smoked Cardamom Old Fashioned

40 ml curry leaf bourbon  (infuse 1 oz fresh curry leaves into 700 ml bourbon for 48 hours before straining)

2 tsp apricot liqueur

2 tsp black cardamom syrup (infuse 5 oz black cardamom pods into 500 ml of 2X simple syrup for at least a week, the longer the better)

2 dashes Angostura bitters

 

Garnish: 2 curry leaves, 1 black cardamom pod

 

[Craig E]

11 hours ago, blue_dolphin said:

@Craig E, your cocktail sounds excellent.  Should you find yourself with more leftover curry leaves for cocktail purposes, you might try infusing some bourbon with them.  

The Mowgli Street Food restaurants use it in a Smoked Cardamom Old-Fashioned cocktail that also appears in their cookbook.   I quite liked it.  

 

Smoked Cardamom Old Fashioned

40 ml curry leaf bourbon  (infuse 1 oz fresh curry leaves into 700 ml bourbon for 48 hours before straining)

2 tsp apricot liqueur

2 tsp black cardamom syrup (infuse 5 oz black cardamom pods into 500 ml of 2X simple syrup for at least a week, the longer the better)

2 dashes Angostura bitters

 

Garnish: 2 curry leaves, 1 black cardamom pod

 

So I'll use up my curry leaves but then I'm stuck with extra black cardamom pods! 😄

[Craig E]

A new original that uses my curry-leaf syrup:

Curried Away

• 1 1/4 oz Rittenhouse
• 1/2 oz Batavia Arrack
• 3/4 oz Lime juice
• 1/4 oz Ginger liqueur
• 1/2 oz curry-leaf syrup
• 1 dash Bar Keep Chinese Bitters

Shake; strain; up.

I get an unexpected mint (or mint-chewing-gum) flavor on the finish, which made me realize in retrospect that a mint leaf (or curry leaf) would be an appropriate garnish.

This started with the weird idea that the Asian funkiness of Batavia Arrack and the peanuty flavor of Rittenhouse could be a workable odd couple. From there I was thinking of Asian cuisine flavors, which quickly led me to the other ingredients. Proportions were estimated with a daiquiri model in mind, and I was more than pleased that my first go at measurements nailed it. 

Edited March 7, 2020 by Craig E
Added photo (log)

[jrshaul]

I appreciate  that I'm painfully late to the party here, but what's the verdict on sous vide vs. nitrous vs. simply waiting for different flavors? And for which materials?

Also, has anyone tried a magnetic lab stirrer? I picked one up on eBay for $10.

And is anyone using antioxidants like ascorbic acid or potassium sorbate to improve the shelf stability of their infusions?

I've had great luck with oldschool lemoncello, but I feel like I could be doing this a lot more efficiently.

[Hassouni]

nitrous tends to extract fewer bitter flavors, sous vide comes out a bit "heavier" and more bitter. Simply waiting is probably the most neutral way. If you're using  strong enough alcohol, shelf stability shouldn't be an issue

[GarethLangston]

I've been making syrups, liqueurs etc at home for a while now - and recently started documenting this on instagram (I'd appreciate a follow over there if you are interested in what sort of seasonal produce I come by in England). The thing that frustrates me about it the most is filtering the finished products. There are a few things that I've made which I didn't filter as well as I should, and they were not too bad. A raspberry liqueur which aged beautifully, coffee liqueur which still tastes great, but there have also been things that have got a muddy flavour and lots of sediment settling so now I always pass things through a nut milk bag and a coffee filter.

The coffee filter is what frustrates me, it's so slow and it tends to get gummed up and need replacing. Is there a better way?
 

 

 

[Kerry Beal]

Pressure filtration can help. 

[gfweb]

3 hours ago, Kerry Beal said:

Pressure filtration can help. 

You can get a flask, buchner funnel and a faucet aspirator for a few bucks on Amazon and vacuum filter easily