After my berries had steeped in Everclear for three weeks, I strained out the berries, and put the liquid back into my half-gallon jar. Then I added a sugar solution I had made earlier in the day and let cool to room temp (4 cups boiling water and 3 cups sugar). I put the lid on the jar and sloshed it around a few times for good measure, before setting it back into the cupboard to continue 'processing'.
Two weeks later, time was up! Unfortunately at that time I had a roaring sinus infection and couldn't taste a darn thing. But, the trial 'sip' (okay, a medicine measuring cup dipped into the jar) did seem to kick a hole in my cold--seriously, I started to feel better that same night, reminding me of how when DH's father was still alive we'd take a hefty shot of his homemade wine to get rid of a head cold.
My finished 'shine',
When, a few days later, I'd gotten my sinuses cleared enough to have recovered my sense of taste, I poured out another little slug of my blackberry moonshine. It was pretty good. Not overly sweet, like some people reported who had previously used the same recipe I found online. If anything, it was a tad dry for my palate. And it didn't taste quite as strongly of blackberries as I had hoped it would; yet it definitely is good enough that I'll drink it!
True color, just what leeched from the berries--
no food coloring added!
Next year, if the berries are abundant enough, I'll make my next batch. I'm thinking instead of using table sugar in the sugar syrup (like I did this time), I'll get some corn sugar, which is what we use when brewing beer.
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