Homebrew Underground

Step Three: Straining, Filtering and Clarifying

After the sugar infusion it will be time to strain the fruit out of the liqueur. Shown below is a shot of the liqueur after the sugar has been allowed to macerate for 4 weeks.

Using a saucepan and kitchen strainer, pour the contents of the jar into the strainer.

Wait for another 3 to 4 weeks and allow the infused spirits to settle. The lighter cloudy parts will rise to the top and the heavier sediments will settle to the bottom. You want to rack off just the cloudy parts on top first. Pour about half of the the strained, infused spirit through a metal coffee filter into a clean 2 qt. Mason jar. That should separate the cloudy parts.

Filter the remaining part through a paper towel into another clean, 2 qt. Mason jar. This will remove bigger impurities and won’t clog as fast as a paper coffee filter.

Allow the infused spirits to settle again for another 3 to 4 weeks and then repeat the filtering process only this time rack off the cloudy top part and filter it with a paper towel into one jar and then filter the remainder into another jar using paper coffee filters. Be patient. Clarification can take some time. You may have to repeat the process over and over a few times – allow to settle for a few weeks, then filter and rack off the infused spirits each time.

When you no longer see the cloudy parts floating at the top, the infused spirits are clarified and ready for blending. After filtering through paper coffee filters, the liqueur should be clarified and ready for blending.

Step Four: Blending and Bottling

I prefer to blend the liqueur because it tends to come out a little bit sour at this stage. You don’t want to blend with straight sugar (or sugar syrup) alone. That tends to kill some of the flavor. Instead you want to blend with a little 100 proof vodka plus a little sugar. This will take away the sourness without killing any of the flavor.

Shown below is a photo of all the ingredients ready for blending. Make a blending stock from 1 part sugar and 8 parts 100 proof vodka. I like to use Smirnoff No. 57 because it is very smooth. The finished blended liqueur should be somewhere around 3 parts clarified infused spirits plus a little less than 1 part blending stock. Don’t use too much blending stock because it will tend to make the liqueur too strong. Still, these proportions will put the percentage of alcohol by volume (ABV) to somewhere around 30% for this liqueur.

Bottle the liqueur when you are done!

You can make a great cocktail with this liqueur – the Pomegranate Daiquiri.