useing lemon juice

Lemons add primarily citric acid... apples are primarily malic acid. I remember something about different acids complimenting each other. Personally, unless the apple juice is low-acid or made from dessert apples only, there should be enough malic acid in the juice to make a decent apple wine. I'm a cider man myself, and wouldn't know how to go about making apple wine per se.

AFAIK there is no tannin in lemons, so it won't replace tannin. There should be a bit of tannin in the apple juice.

Get some fresh apple juice (fresh cider) and use that in conjunction with the juice. You could also get a few granny smiths and mash those up and add that to your must, it will give it some more acid. HTH

To increase the %TA by .15, you need ~ 1 tsp. of citric acid, which is ~4 Tbs. lemon juice, which is ~1.3 lemons.

I have no idea if it will add body to the wine, but I don't believe there is any tannin in lemon juice.

If you use a small quantity of lemon juice to increase the %TA, it will be ok. If you try to add lemon flavour to the wine, you will discover that apple and lemons don't really go together, especially in the presence of alcohol. Try (small amounts of) cinnamon, ginger, or any spice you might put into an apple pie. (Yes, I know that some people put lemon juice into an apple pie, but that is to increase acidity of the apples, not to produce lemon flavour).

If you want to add body (and vinousity) to the wine, add 1/2 pound raisins to each 12 pounds of apples. If you want to add tannin, crush the apples, and ferment them on the skins for 2-3 weeks before pressing. If you don't have bittersharp cider apples, use 25-50% Granny Smith, or 10% crabapples, with a mix of other varieties. And adjust the pre-fermentation acid level to .7% (if it isn't already).

Also, if the recipe calls for adding water, using more apples and/or less water will give you more body, and a more cider-like flavour. It will also create more clearing problems, so use pectic enzyme from the onset.

Sure - but you might not like what it does.

OTOH, lemon might add a nice dimension to the flavor - sort of like it does in apple pie. A bit of cinnamon might be nice too.

You might consider using tartaric acid to increase the acidity and adding lemon _rind_ to the fermenter to give the wine that touch of lemon. Could be interesting.

BTW, the reason I'm steering you away from lemon juice is that it's biologically reactive to certain bacteria, and that's probably not what you'd want to risk having go on in your wine.

For more definitive info on country wines, I recommend you to Jack Keller's website. They're his specialty.

Tom S

Dave, I tried a rhubarb recipe which called for the lemon juice of, I forget, 1 or

2 lemons. Anyway, the lemons added a lemony after taste to the rhubarb wine, which I did not like. The next rhubarb wine I made I used the juice of an orange instead, and the wine came out much better. If you like lemons, then it will probably add something to the wine, if you do not like lemons, use oranges, or acid blend. Hope this helps. Darlene

Darlene,

Rhubarb wine tends to take on the flavour of whatever it is blended with, which is why it is ideal for blending. So, essentially, you ended up with a lemon wine. :)

1-2 lemons added to a 1-gallon of Concord (and many country wines) will add acidity with only a hint of lemon flavour, if any. Orange juice contains ascorbic acid, and considerably less citric acid than a lemon, so that result would be considerably less noticeable. But, I wouldn't recommend adding orange juice to an apple wine. It's not a very pleasing flavour Of course, if you like it .... that's a different story.

I wasn't replacing the tannin per se. more like replacing the "body" the tannin gives the wine....

email: dallyn_spam at yahoo dot com please respond in this NG so others can share your wisdom as well!

What kinds of bacteria? what are the risks?

been there so many times I need my own counter! :) seriously, most of his apple juice wines call for acid blend. I don't happen to have any, there is no brew shop with in over an hour, and don';t want to pay shipping right now.... I was looking for an alternative...

email: dallyn_spam at yahoo dot com please respond in this NG so others can share your wisdom as well!

Dave,

Use lemon juice: 4 Tbs lemon juice ~ = 1 tsp acid blend. I did it for years --- with apple wine. Works fine.

What I advised against is using MORE lemon juice (like a a pint or something) for flavouring. Lemon and apple don't blend that well. Orange and apple is even worse.

I've never known tannin itself to give the wine body... I think the best way to get more body with country wines is to use more fruit and less water :^)

Or add barley. :)

Then I am confused. what DOES tannin add to wine?

email: dallyn_spam at yahoo dot com please respond in this NG so others can share your wisdom as well!

Tannin produces the astringent/bitter quality in red wine... the same compound is responsible for the astringent quality of strong tea.

Astringency!

Tannin give an impression of dryness in the mouth after drinking. If the right amount of tannin is present, the wine will be supple and zestful. If there is too little, it will be flat, insipid, and characterless. If there is too much it will be harsh, astringent, and bitter. Tannin also helps the wine to clear, and acts as a preservative.

--snip

Yes you can play around all you want this way. In the end you might actually end up with something quite good too.

The other way is to blend. With that I mean you make your lemon wine and hold it ready to blend into any country wine you feel needs some extra kick from whatever you now have. Same goes with whatever else you decide to ferment from. Each has its own flavor and can lend a hand in creating new once.

Blend a glass at the time and think and marvel, and then age it and enjoy the finish brew.

If you want some kind of control in what you are trying to achieve this might be a way to go.

But if your need a quick buzz and not much fuzz, throw some lemons in and hope for the best.

SG Brix