Girlfriend wanted wine so I brought up a spare fermenter from my other house, giving lemon wine a shot. This will be my first proper wine (that I won’t be immediately turning into brandy) Glad to be back at it after the hectic holidays. I want to make an orange brandy next, but after slicing 50 lemons by hand (I don’t own a mandolin) I think I need a short break from slicing citrus.
Good luck! Did a batch of that once and don’t think I’ll ever do it again. Keep an eye on your PH, most yeast has a hard time going in something that acidic.
Second this. Also, what did you do for fermentables? I may be wrong, but I don’t think lemons alone would have enough. I’m curious how it works for you. If it doesn’t then you may try fermenting separately and doing a reduction with the lemon slices to add after fermentation. That would make it easier to dial in your flavor as well.
16 pounds of sugar and an asinine amount of fermentation nutrients lol
Indeed, I had a stall once in a melomel with just a few lemons in secondary. Not a big deal since it was secondary, and residual sweetness counterbalanced the tartness nicely. Got really quickly really clean though.
I would say using just the skins for flavor is much more feasible. Also I quarter citrus, slicing them like this is just asking for lots of mush at cost of laborous slicing.
Can confirm. Especially after boiling there is a stupid amount of mush. Last I looked at the fermenter it seems to be starting up alright! Guess we’ll find out in a few days though lol
I have a really nice ph meter but since I’ve already deviated from my no boil process, I’m just gonna send it. Worst case scenario I learn some tips for next time (mainly I don’t feel like busting out the ph meter and calibrating it)
lol I did the same thing when I made it, totally get it. If your fermentation is super slow or stalls, check it then.
That’s the plan lol. I’m going to over pitch the yeast out the ass but if it stalls then maybe I’ll stop being lazy and bring out the baking soda lol