Sloe advice please

baz_chaz

HI Folks

Went out this morning after the second recent frost and picked myself 5lbs of sloes

Now then, I've never made sloe gin etc before, but I was given a bottle of sloe gin last xmas, was rather nice :j not tried vodka yet :rolleyes:

My question really is regarding the quality of the spirit used, ie is it better to use slightly better quality vodka or is the cheapy stuff ok after 'processing' with the sloes ?

I have 3lbs of blackberries as well that I've just lifted out of the freezer from last year so think I'll put them in with vodka and use 'em up :rotfl:

So 8 bottles of gin/vodka needed tomorrow, sugar in the cupboard, bottles at the ready, just see what advice comes up re the quality of booze

Hope that some (not giving too much away as presents ) will be ready for christmas :beer:

rhiwfield

Last time I made sloe gin used the tesco value gin. The sloe gin was fabulous so I'd definitely use the cheapo stuff

baz_chaz

Thanks for that, I was also wondering about using 2 ltr plastic pop bottles to mature the 'brew' in 'cos I don't want to go buying any demijohns or similar ie...

put 1lb of sloes or blackberries and sugar into 2 ltr pop bottle allow to mature in there and then strain back into original bottles ? the waiting bits going to be the worst bit :rotfl:

Norma_Desmond

Cheap gin is just fine (hic!), after all you're tasting the fruit not so much the quality or smoothness of the booze.
Plastic bottles seem to work as well; we're on our third year of making sloe gin now and it's delicious and makes handy gifts of course.

Valli

Don't forget to P rick your sloes and give your liqueur a regular shake...
(good grief it's a description of what you do to them! - went like this at first !!!!!)
I too use the cheaper gin with great success!

First time I made it my mum wouldn't drink it as she didn't believe I knew what sloes were! she was persuaded to try it when no-one croaked LOL

redruby

Hello, I don't normally post here, but had to pass on a tip, buy the cheapest value gin or vodka that you can, and filter it through your kitchen water filter up to 10 times, this makes the gin / vodka much smoother, and apparantly this is the main difference between the premium and cheap bands. :T Then make your sloe gin blackberry vodka as usual.

hth

Edited to say rinse the filter through 3 times with water when finished.

baz_chaz

Hmmm p-ricking the sloes seems a long and boring task... idea !!

It seems the skin of the sloes need p-ricking .... to make the task easier, I'm going to try....

putting them in the freezer overnight (wine making friend does this with all his fruit, makes it easier to extract the juice, he's never made sloe gin though!)

defrost tomorrow then put them on a chopping board and use the side of a cheeze grater (the pimply bit that the wife uses to grate lemon zest with) and roll gently across the sloes, just enough to break the skins a bit?

Labour/time saving anyone else tried this? I can't see me sitting with 5lbs of sloes and a pin or fork or as you're supposed to do, use a thorn off the tree your sloes came from :rolleyes:

Valli

In that case won't the skins burst on freezing? In which case they could just go straight in...I wouldn't even thaw them...
(waits for someone more knowledgeable to chip in...)

Lotus-eater

I've got a pretty well developed sense of taste and I can't really tell the difference between quality gin and the value Asda stuff once you make sloe gin out of it.
Maybe if you really really want to impress someone who is a bit of a gin snob, but if you want it like me, to get warm after a day outside in winter, I wouldn't pay the extra.

Lotus-eater

baz_chaz wrote: »

Labour/time saving anyone else tried this? I can't see me sitting with 5lbs of sloes and a pin or fork or as you're supposed to do, use a thorn off the tree your sloes came from :rolleyes:

Last time I did the p-ricking thing was a couple of years ago, I started off picking each fruit up individually, after 10 mins I was getting a bit frustrated, so laid the whole lot of fruit out and had a few minutes of sloe massacre with a fork, I should think I got most of them, a few were just walking wounded.
Makes you look like a bit of a psychopath though, especially if you go a bit ballistic with the fork, like I did.

Valli

Lotus-eater wrote: »

I've got a pretty well developed sense of taste and I can't really tell the difference between quality gin and the value Asda stuff once you make sloe gin out of it.
Maybe if you really really want to impress someone who is a bit of a gin snob, but if you want it like me, to get warm after a day outside in winter, I wouldn't pay the extra.

In which case I would have a premium brand bottle to decant it into once I had made it ;)

thanks for confirming what us [STRIKE]tightwads[/STRIKE] careful moneysavers suspected!