A year+ ago, I tried to make lemon wine from basically lemonade, I am
certain it was too acidic, and fermentation refused to start. I don't
think preservatives were a problem. The groups consensus was something
like lemon juice--or even lemon aid--would have to be cut by something
else.

I thought about this again after playing around with lemongrass for
cooking. Could I get a refreshing wine from something like this?

(for ~1 gallon)

1/2 gallon juice from Welch's white grape juice concentrate
1/2 gallon lemonade from concentrate w/o preservatives
3 sprigs of lemongrass, finely cut (food processor)
3 tbsp fresh ginger, finely cut (food processor)

I wonder if cutting a lemonade in half would reduce the acid enough to make
this viable. A somewhat related question would be what I can do to cut the
acidity of lemons in general.

Alternate ingredients I assume would be leaves: lemon leaves or lemongrass
leaves; or perhaps other things with a lemon flavor; or a pile of lemon
zest.

I think your idea of using Welch's White Concentrate is a good one. Use
Welch's Niagara Frozen Concentrate. It mixes very well with other fruit
wines so I am sure it would do well with lemon. How much you need to cut it
is a good question. I would recomend you do some blending and check the
acidity with a pH meter expensive) or at least with a titration kit
(cheaper) and come up with a blend that gives an acceptable acid level.
Check Jack Kellers recipe for making Welch's Frozen Concentrate wine but I
think it calls for 2 cans per gallon. That is a gallon of water, not a
gallon of lemon juice. Make the two mixtures seperately and then blend
them. That way you can try different blends.

Ray

"Adam Preble" <adamDOTprebleATgmail.com> wrote in message
...
>A year+ ago, I tried to make lemon wine from basically lemonade, I am
> certain it was too acidic, and fermentation refused to start. I don't
> think preservatives were a problem. The groups consensus was something
> like lemon juice--or even lemon aid--would have to be cut by something
> else.
>
> I thought about this again after playing around with lemongrass for
> cooking. Could I get a refreshing wine from something like this?
>
> (for ~1 gallon)
>
> 1/2 gallon juice from Welch's white grape juice concentrate
> 1/2 gallon lemonade from concentrate w/o preservatives
> 3 sprigs of lemongrass, finely cut (food processor)
> 3 tbsp fresh ginger, finely cut (food processor)
>
> I wonder if cutting a lemonade in half would reduce the acid enough to
> make
> this viable. A somewhat related question would be what I can do to cut
> the
> acidity of lemons in general.
>
> Alternate ingredients I assume would be leaves: lemon leaves or lemongrass
> leaves; or perhaps other things with a lemon flavor; or a pile of lemon
> zest.

On Feb 3, 8:46 pm, Adam Preble <adamDOTprebleATgmail.com> wrote:
> A year+ ago, I tried to make lemon wine from basically lemonade, I am
> certain it was too acidic, and fermentation refused to start. I don't
> think preservatives were a problem. The groups consensus was something
> like lemon juice--or even lemon aid--would have to be cut by something
> else.
>
> I thought about this again after playing around with lemongrass for
> cooking. Could I get a refreshing wine from something like this?
>
> (for ~1 gallon)
>
> 1/2 gallon juice from Welch's white grape juice concentrate
> 1/2 gallon lemonade from concentrate w/o preservatives
> 3 sprigs of lemongrass, finely cut (food processor)
> 3 tbsp fresh ginger, finely cut (food processor)
>
> I wonder if cutting a lemonade in half would reduce the acid enough to make
> this viable. A somewhat related question would be what I can do to cut the
> acidity of lemons in general.
>
> Alternate ingredients I assume would be leaves: lemon leaves or lemongrass
> leaves; or perhaps other things with a lemon flavor; or a pile of lemon
> zest.

A recipe I have in a book is (for 4.5 litres):
500 ml Lemon Juice avoiding white pith
200 gm raisins or sultana
1 kg sugar
yeast, nutrients, vitamin B1, pectin enzyme
water to 4.5 litres

Strain lemon juice
dissolve sugar
Ferment for 3 to 4 days, strain off raisins and continue fermentation.