Lemon Wine Redux

First Published: 2023 June 27

Draft 1

It’s been a little less than a year since the last time I mused about lemon wine, and it seems like an appropriate time to do so again. Last year I apparently made a single batch of lemon wine before writing the musing. I ended up making one or two others, which was really fun.

This year, the recipe has changed slightly. As before, I cooked approximately eight pounds of sugar in water. This time, though, instead of lemon juice, I used pure citric acid.¹ I also took a note from my second batch last year and didn’t add the lemon juice to my must.

There are a few reasons I think that’s a good idea, most of which revolve around the fact that my yeast can’t metabolize citric acid and I don’t really want it to metabolize the ascorbic acid.² The other flavoring oils shouldn’t be digestible, and again, I would like them to remain. Also, adding lemon juice drastically drops the pH of the solution,³ and I don’t want to stress my yeast out.

It’s really strange to me how many flavor notes fermented sugar water has even without other additives. I don’t think I really believed that different yeasts actually produced ester profiles before this. The fermentation seems to be stalling out a little bit, but I’m hopeful that it won’t be true in the morning. If it is, I’ll do my usual lifehack of sprinkling a small amount of yeast nutrient to get rid of all the dissolved carbon dioxide⁴

It looks like I’ve historically used three quarts of lemon juice, which still seems like an appropriate amount. Anyways, I’m excited to see how this batch comes out. I think I’m going to do something that I’ve thought about since I started making lemon wine⁵, and dry hop it. I’ll go into more detail about what dry hopping is when that becomes relevant.

• I got an air filter and set it up.⁶

• Blogging streak day three

• Air quality got even worse, so I took a day off of exercise

• I slept with my window open last night, and didn’t realize the air quality was going to suffer so much. As a result, I slept poorly and in.

• I listened to a lot of CCCiaY and prayed the chaplet of St. Michael the Archangel over breakfast. As yesterday, I’ll also do a rosary in bed.

• I wrote two chapters today! That technically means that I’m three ahead. As soon as tomorrow’s chapter posts, though, it’ll be back to two ahead. Still exciting!

• Wrote a sonnet last night! Will not write one tonight because wow time flew.

• Didn’t write a letter. Should consider doing that tomorrow morning.

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