I have seen a few recipies that call for lemon juice to increase the
acid of the must. does anyone know how much should be used to
increase by a certain amount?

will this also add more body to the wine: I.e: replace the tannin
content?

I am thinking of making an apple wine, (juice is on sale at the
supermarket for 88 cents for half gallon)... but want to add a
little "something" to the flavor. would lemon juice do this?

thanks.



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Dave Allyn wrote:

I have seen a few recipies that call for lemon juice to increase the
acid of the must. does anyone know how much should be used to
increase by a certain amount?

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.

will this also add more body to the wine: I.e: replace the tannin
content?

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

I am thinking of making an apple wine, (juice is on sale at the
supermarket for 88 cents for half gallon)... but want to add a
little "something" to the flavor. would lemon juice do this?

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

--
charles

"Once ... in the wilds of Afghanistan, I lost my corkscrew, and we were
forced to live on nothing but food and water for days."
- W.C. Fields

"Dave Allyn" wrote:

I have seen a few recipies that call for lemon juice to increase the
acid of the must. does anyone know how much should be used to
increase by a certain amount?

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

will this also add more body to the wine: I.e: replace the tannin
content?

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

I am thinking of making an apple wine, (juice is on sale at the
supermarket for 88 cents for half gallon)... but want to add a
little "something" to the flavor. would lemon juice do this?

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).

"Dave Allyn" wrote:

will this also add more body to the wine: I.e: replace the tannin
content?

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.

"Dave Allyn" wrote in message
...
I have seen a few recipies that call for lemon juice to increase the
acid of the must. does anyone know how much should be used to
increase by a certain amount?

will this also add more body to the wine: I.e: replace the tannin
content?

I am thinking of making an apple wine, (juice is on sale at the
supermarket for 88 cents for half gallon)... but want to add a
little "something" to the flavor. would lemon juice do this?

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

"Dave Allyn" wrote in message
...
I have seen a few recipies that call for lemon juice to increase the
acid of the must. does anyone know how much should be used to
increase by a certain amount?

will this also add more body to the wine: I.e: replace the tannin
content?

I am thinking of making an apple wine, (juice is on sale at the
supermarket for 88 cents for half gallon)... but want to add a
little "something" to the flavor. would lemon juice do this?

thanks.



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

"Dar V" wrote:

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,

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.

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

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!

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.

What kinds of bacteria? what are the risks?

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


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 Allyn" wrote:

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...

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.

Dave Allyn wrote:

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

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

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 :^)

--
charles

"Once ... in the wilds of Afghanistan, I lost my corkscrew, and we were
forced to live on nothing but food and water for days."
- W.C. Fields

"Charles H" wrote:

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.

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

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

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 :^)

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!

Dave Allyn wrote:

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

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

--
charles

"Once ... in the wilds of Afghanistan, I lost my corkscrew, and we were
forced to live on nothing but food and water for days."
- W.C. Fields

"Dave Allyn" wrote:

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

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.