Prohibition Liqueurs Kits gone forever?

[lightbodyae55]

Hi All

In the past I have made a number of Prohibition Liqueurs over the years and my favorite tipple is peach Schnapps.

Last year I tried to purchase some kits, only to find the suppliers I use had run out of stock, and I thought it was down to the pandemic we are in.

I did some research earlier this year as to why there was no stock of Prohibition Liqueurs around at any stockist locally and on internet, and found a thread on this forum (which is why I joined), that stated that Ritchie Products who originally produced the Prohibition range of products had been taken over by a company called Bevie Homecraft I think the name was, so I decided to do some more research into this new company, and found they do a range of similar products called Still Spirits, which I concluded from this, that it would be highly unlikely that we would see Prohibition Liqueurs produced again.

I wondered what the members of the forum think, will we see Prohibition products again or not?

As I like a glass or two of Peach Schnapps in the evening and I am down to one bottle, has any member of the forum any good suggestions to make Peach Schnapps from a decent kit or any recipes to make it from scratch!

lightbodyae55

 

[Tess Tickle's Brewery]

Bearing in mind distillation is illegal and we're not allowed to discuss it on here (which you obviously know), I would go down the flavoured wine route instead.

What I would try is, get some of that super-duper strong plain yeast, Lalvin E1118 or something. I would make a plain brew as strong as you can by step-feeding. Then I'd stabilise it, clear it and then run it through a charcoal filter to get rid of any yeasty taste. Grab yourself some of the still spirits peach schnapps flavouring (you will need the schnapps base as well) and mix together. Worth a go?

It may work out cheaper to buy the £4 stuff from aldi though?!

 

[Slid]

Bearing in mind distillation is illegal and we're not allowed to discuss it on here (which you obviously know), I would go down the flavoured wine route instead.

What I would try is, get some of that super-duper strong plain yeast, Lalvin E1118 or something. I would make a plain brew as strong as you can by step-feeding. Then I'd stabilise it, clear it and then run it through a charcoal filter to get rid of any yeasty taste. Grab yourself some of the still spirits peach schnapps flavouring (you will need the schnapps base as well) and mix together. Worth a go?

It may work out out cheaper to buy the £4 stuff from aldi though?!

Thank you for this reminder, Lisa!
It is true that the higher the percentage of alcohol you are trying to produce, by brewing alone, the higher the risk of producing something that is either not to your liking, or even something potentially even harmful. Obviously the more experienced and knowledgeable you are, the less likely this is to happen.

So, my own view on discussing ~18% spirits on the Forum is that it is not a good thing. To put it simply, if you know what you are doing, you will just do it anyway and that's that. If you don't know and have to ask, it may be better to make peach wine and buy some peach schnapps in the meantime.

Sorry to be a spoilsport, but I did once make something that was quite unpleasant, to the point that I feel strongly enough to suggest caution over experimentation with high strength brewing.

 

[Tess Tickle's Brewery]

Agreed!

I'm always paranoid with posts like this that it's the customs and excise trying to trick us!

 

[Chippy_Tea]

@lightbodyae55

As Lisa has pointed out we don't allow distilling to be discussed in the forum as its illegal in the U.K without a licence and as SLID pointed out there are dangers when people try to produce high % alcohol by brewing alone, there are however products out there that will give you a higher % alcohol that have been sold by reputable home brew shops here for years so these may be worth a look.



Alcotec 23% High Alcohol Spirit Turbo Yeast
Makes 25 litres of 23% alcohol
Prepared with Liquid Carbon Technology

The new Alcotec yeast will produce 23% alcohol, using 10.5kgs of brewing sugar (dextrose monohydrate).
You can NOT use regular sugar.
Alcotec 23% High Alcohol Spirit Turbo Yeast is a new type of recipe with added carbon, unique yeast strains and a different kind of trace minerals; we are now able to make more alcohol from a fermentation than ever before
Use together with Alcotec 24 TurboKlar.
With the new Alcotec 23% turbo pure, it is now possible to break the magical 20% alcohol barrier by fermentation alone.
This High Alcohol Spirit Turbo Yeast ferments using a temperature range between 17C - 24C.
Using higher temperatures may result in the yeast producing a lower ABV.
Included with the yeast are sachets of nutrient to assist the yeast & activated carbon for a bright, clean finish.
Fermentation is generally around 7-10 days with another two days for clearing.

 

[VW911]

Prohibition kits, like Classic Liqueur kits, etc. do not involve any distillation. They are simply high tolerance yeasts used, therefore, perfectly legal, and discussable!

 

[Tess Tickle's Brewery]

Prohibition kits, like Classic Liqueur kits, etc. do not involve any distillation. They are simply high tolerance yeasts used, therefore, perfectly legal, and discussable!

The OP asked about making from scratch, which could involve distilling. Just covering all bases.

 

[lightbodyae55]

Hi All

Thank you for you replies.

My mistake I did mean to make it clear that i was talking about Prohibition kits sorry about that.

I know distillation is illegal in the UK and I did not want to get myself or anyone else on the forum into trouble, I must apologize for my mistake.

When I said make from scratch I meant is it possible to make it the same as a kit, again sorry for the misunderstanding.

Maybe a moderator or an administrator can change the title of this thread to "Prohibition Liqueurs Kits gone forever?" (Insert the word Kits, which is why it is underlined)

lightbodyae55

 

[Chippy_Tea]

Thanks for explaining, i have changed the title. (cannot underline but its fine)

 

[Bernie]

Is distillation necessary to make a liqueur? A liqueur is a flavoured (herbs and fruit) and sweetened spirit and commercially available, 95% alcohol would be a starting ingredient.
Spirits would be distilled.

 

[VW911]

All these "liqueur" kits are basically the same.
Bucket-loads of sugar, fermented with a high tolerance yeast, then cleaned up with charcoal and finings.
The flavouring is then added. All the base ingredients are similar across the range, with just the flavourings changing.
I've found that the concentrates from slush puppies or similar work well...

 

[johncrobinson]

For anyone interested, In home distillation it is indeed illegal in uk.

However the high alcohol kits i have bought i use for their ingredients.

The sachets are a marvelous source of yeast nutrition
Since they are designed to work with sugar washes.The supplied nutrient is top grade and complete.
Gives the usual wine a real boost.

 

[kim p.]

Hi All

Thank you for you replies.

My mistake I did mean to make it clear that i was talking about Prohibition kits sorry about that.

I know distillation is illegal in the UK and I did not want to get myself or anyone else on the forum into trouble, I must apologize for my mistake.

When I said make from scratch I meant is it possible to make it the same as a kit, again sorry for the misunderstanding.

Maybe a moderator or an administrator can change the title of this thread to "Prohibition Liqueurs Kits gone forever?" (Insert the word Kits, which is why it is underlined)

lightbodyae55

I have used the still spirits flavour kits and can report they aren't nice. Too much colouring, too sweet and the chocolate mint is vile the mint is so over powering. The prohibition version was amazing

 

[Berry454]

Hi All

In the past I have made a number of Prohibition Liqueurs over the years and my favorite tipple is peach Schnapps.

Last year I tried to purchase some kits, only to find the suppliers I use had run out of stock, and I thought it was down to the pandemic we are in.

I did some research earlier this year as to why there was no stock of Prohibition Liqueurs around at any stockist locally and on internet, and found a thread on this forum (which is why I joined), that stated that Ritchie Products who originally produced the Prohibition range of products had been taken over by a company called Bevie Homecraft I think the name was, so I decided to do some more research into this new company, and found they do a range of similar products called Still Spirits, which I concluded from this, that it would be highly unlikely that we would see Prohibition Liqueurs produced again.

I wondered what the members of the forum think, will we see Prohibition products again or not?

As I like a glass or two of Peach Schnapps in the evening and I am down to one bottle, has any member of the forum any good suggestions to make Peach Schnapps from a decent kit or any recipes to make it from scratch!

lightbodyae55

Personally never been interested in distilling as I'm a wine drinker don't care for spirits. Though I can say this. Drinking 20+ % fermented beverages is infinitely more harmful.

Distillation removes the nasties. Fermentation doesn't.

I'm in no way discussing distillation as I'm aware of the forum rules. I'm simply staring that high abv fermented drinks are not a good idea. This is harm reduction advice regarding fermentation.

Also carbon does NOT remove nasties from fermented drinks. It will simply remove the off flavours making you believe that it's clean.

The prohibition kits was never a good idea. Probably why they aren't around now.

The drink you want to create is only 18%. Buy some vodka and make it from that.