Years ago, 1999 to be exact, Steve was running a home brew supply store where the winery is now. He’d just moved there from Tyler where he’d had the shop for several years. He was an incredible home brewer, and had put several medals and ribbons up for his wines as an amateur. Cue Cheryl with “If you can do it…”
I found a recipe for Lemon Wine and thought it sounded like something cool to try. Why not, right? Easy to do. I started the 5 gallon batch in late June, and by August it showed finished. Still pretty heavy on the sugar by the hydrometer, but maybe I just put too much sugar in for what I was doing. We bottled it, and it was a really good fermented lemon wine.
That year I was spending October and November working at the Texas Renaissance Festival. I have access to wine, so of course I bring stuff with me…including the lemon. We thought it was still really great, not quite as sweet as when it was put up several months before, and just a little carbonated. This is nice! I have no idea how much we drank through the season, but most definitely not all of it.
December 31st rolls around, and we’re celebrating the end of the Millennium/decade/century out in the woods. Someone realizes that the lemon is now very dry, very carbonated, and if you shake it, it’ll shoot a cork half way across the yard. Yup, if you haven’t figured it out, it’s what homebrewers call a stuck fermentation. Once it got into better conditions it took back off. It wasn’t good to drink at this point, but it was fun to play with.
We’ve fixed the problem that I had originally, and now this doesn’t happen. That’s also a big plus going from a home brewer to a professional. Better equipment, more knowledge, and a more humble approach sometimes.
Our Lemon Wine does still taste great if you add carbonated water, ginger ale or a lemon-lime soda to it, but it doesn’t come that way normally. 🙂
From our family to your, Happy Holidays, no matter what you do.