1)A one gallon glass jar
with a screw-on lid: You can get on at Amazon through that link or Home Goods is a good place to get these locally fora reasonable price. You can get smaller ones for smaller batches but I wouldn’t recommend it unless space is really THAT tight for you. I’d also recommend having 4 of them if you plan to make numerous batches of Limoncello for your friends too.
2)A permanent coffee filter. That link is to the exact one that I use, just a basic plastic model. You can buy these at any grocery store and the ones with the flat bottom are best.
3)A supply of unbleached paper coffee filters, again, the flat bottom ones are best. That link is to the exact ones I use and you go through a lot of them so get a decent supply.
5)A Microplane Zester: Let me save you some time here, don’t even bother with any other kind of zester.
Many of the mistakes I initially made on my first batches were because of zesting errors. Peelers, power zesters, contraptions that fit in your palm, I’ve tried them all and for the purposes of making Limoncello they all suck. Ignore this warning at your own peril, a microplane zester costs less than $10 and is an indispensable tool for making Limoncello.
6)A Brita Water Filter Pitcher
(or comparable product) and a supply of filters.
7)A ladle
. I like one with a steep angle of the handle that allows me to get to the bottom of tall jars and has little pour spouts on the sides.
8)A funnel
. I use a plastic one but I now use metal or glass rather than plastic whenever possible, so when I break the plastic one I’ll get a metal one.
9)Not completely necessary, but it’s a waste not to use the rest of the lemon after zesting so I recommend a citrus press to extract the juice from the lemons efficiently. I bought a decent one at Home Goods for about ten bucks. That was lucky on price but as you can see it’s hot pink so I can’t leave it out on the counter, stainless is better that way.
10)Labels or paper and scotch tape to indicate which batch is which. I use this label maker for marking my limoncello batches and all kinds of other stuff. It seems overly anal to buy a label maker but once you get past that you’ll find it all kinds of useful.
11)A vegetable brush or other plastic scrub brush for cleaning the lemons.
