Stage 1:
Ingredients:
14 lemons
1.5 liters Everclear grain alcohol
Directions:
Peel the lemons using a potato peeler. Only separate the yellow part of the peel and not the white, bitter part.
Place the peels in a large, glass jar (ideally big enough for all the ingredients in the recipe) and pour the Everclear or vodka into the jar. Seal and let rest in a cool, dark place and let rest for two weeks. A basement or cellar works best. Do not leave it exposed to sunlight.
Stage 2:
Ingredients:
6 1/3 cups water (1/5 liters)
2 1/3 lbs sugar (1050 grams)
Directions:
Heat the water and sugar in a pan on the stove, basically to create a simple syrup. Stir occasionally until all of the sugar dissolves. Let cool for about an hour.
Retrieve the lemon peel and alcohol mixture. Drain the mixture and discard the lemon peels. Stir in the simple syrup. Seal the jars and put back in the cool, dark place to rest for one month.
Stage 3:
Now it’s time to bottle! I bought some bottles from Crate and Barrel that were reasonably priced, and just used a small funnel that I have to fill the bottles.