Delicious fruit liqueurs are easy to make. All you need is to complete the recipes needed in making fruit liqueurs. Actually, in making fruit liqueurs, there is no need to give separate recipes for each fruit of your choice because the same process may be used for all suitable fresh fruits. So following the lists of the most suitable fruits for liqueur-making with the amounts usually given to produce sufficient flavor (though not enough juice are sometimes produce), you can make two bottles of liqueur using one bottle of brandy. However, if not enough juice is produced from the amounts of fruit given, make up the amount required with boiled water, considering that half a pound of sugar occupies the space of a quarter-pint while one pound occupies half a pint space and so on. Clearly, all these liqueurs will have a spirit content of 40 proof which is already a high spirit content. As you shall be using 80 proofs of spirit, you could make two and half bottles by using a little more juice, a little more water and an ounce of two more sugar and still have a product of 32 proofs, which is a nice spirit content.

Before going on to the recipes, remember that a homemade wine usually has an alcohol content of fourteen percent by volume and is about 24 proofs of spirits. Such a wine will keep well because this amount of alcohol is usually high enough to destroy souring yeast and the bacteria which cause vinegariness that immediately comes in contact with them. This will be seen that a nice percentage of alcohol acts as its own preservative. The alcohol content of commercial wines rarely exceeds twenty percent by volume and is about 35 proofs of spirits; more often they range between fourteen percent and nineteen percent by volume and have 24 - 33 proofs of spirits respectively, which is a high percentage of alcohol. Clearly, then, you could very well dilute the 70 proof gin (forty percent by volume) to 35 proof (twenty percent by volume) by making one bottle into two bottles and still have a very strong sloe gin. Whisky and rum could be similarly treated, while brandy might well be diluted even more owing to its higher spirit content. Bear in mind that it would be unwise to reduce the proof to below 30. Thus, it is a good idea to make one bottle into two as the recipes advice or make half a bottle into a whole bottle by using half of everything in the recipes. You could make three or four bottles from one bottle of the spirit if you were planning to use it up fairly quickly, such as at a special party or over the three day Christmas. Naturally, you could dilute the flavors of the spirits you are using, provided you add the flavors of spirits you choose to counter-balance this. The commercial spirits mentioned above are rarely drunk meat. Whisky is usually diluted with water or ginger of soda while rum is often diluted with peppermint or orange cordial. Gin is usually diluted with lemon or orange cordial to make the popular gin and orange, etc. Usually, the spirit is diluted to one-third of its volume.

Since the amount of volume has been doubled, the alcohol content has been reduced by half-twenty seven percent by volume. If you get fifty-four percent of alcohol, you can use two bottles of wine and one of gin and get 3 bottles of a product containing eighteen percent. It is important to understand the process of wine and liquor making. When two bottles of wine at 14 percent of alcohol are put together you can have twice as much wine still at 14 percent.

However, if you do this for the purpose of fortifying, the alcohol present in each bottle must be accounted for. Thus, you have a total of 82 percent; how? The three bottles of wine each containing 14% is equal to 42%, plus one bottle of gin at 40% equals 82%. You divide this figure by the number of resulting bottles - in this case you already have four bottles - and each will contain just over 20%. Going further, you have 5 bottles at 14 percent equals to 70 percent. So, if 1 bottle of gin is at 40% then you have a total of 110%. In this case you now have 6 bottles, therefore divide 110 by 6; approximately you have a total of 18% of alcohol.

Yes, the same thing applied when whisky or rum are used. For whisky, the most suitable wines are: *Root wines (not beetroot). Root wines made with cereals such as wheat with or without raisins added, or with wheat or raisins alone. * Grain wines made mainly with wheat or maize, etc. * Orange, and * Dandelion You can have the best liqueur if you mix any of these wines with rum, such as: * Root wines with a rather higher than average acid content. * Rhubarb wines * Orange * Lemon, and * Grapefruit

DAMSON GIN 1 lb. damsons, 3 oz. sugar, 1 bottle gin. 1.Wash, dry, stone and halve the damsons carefully and put them in a four-pound Kilner jar. Sprinkle the sugar over them and then pour in the gin. Screw down tightly and leave in a cool dark place for three months or two months if you are in a hurry to use the product, giving a good shaking once or twice a week. 2.Strain and squeeze and put the strained damson gin into a smaller jar, screw down again and put it away to clear. Then pour carefully (or siphon) the clear gin off the deposit putting exactly half into two bottles. Then fill the bottles to within one inch of where the corks will reach with boiled water that has cooled naturally. Cork hard, seal and keep for one month.

Helen Curie has been a practicing wine-maker for years. She's discovered the tricks to picking out the perfect combination of ingredients to obtain the best tasting wine. Using her information, anyone can learn how to easily make wine that tastes fantastic. To learn more aboutmaking homemade wine, follow the link.

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