Sunday Double Feature Part 1 Lemon and Page Mandarin Wine

Looking forward to July & August on Ross Barnett crappie fishing I needed to get the refreshments made now. Chilled Meyer Lemon Wine is really refreshing after a hot day on the Rez. To keep this short I'm not going to try to teach winemaking in this thread.

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First off everything has to be sterilized so a chemical solution is prepared in the 5 gallon tank to dip all equipment in then let dry. Also all flat surfaces get wipe down. Raisins are needed in citrus based wines for body and to keep feeding the yeast. Both the Lemons and Mandarins are sliced thin, seeded, and added to either the Primary Fermenter or pot to be boiled. The water is heated and a tea bag added for tannins, afterwards the sugar is dissolved in the water and boiled with the Lemons or added to the Bucket Primary Fermenter with the Mandarins. Boiling is one way to kill the wild yeast another is the use of camden tablets. Following existing recipes I follow them exactly so the Lemons are boiled. Camden tablet use requires 24 hour wait before adding yeast. Nutrients and enzymes are added to help the fermentation to completion. The fermentation if perfect will be to "Dry" or all sugar consumed. Max Alcohol by Volume the champagne yeast will support is 14%. My beginning Specific Gravity needs to be under 1.110 so it is adjusted before fermentation is allowed to begin.

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After adding the yeast all air has to be cut off from the Must. Here are 2 pictures of the other Primary Fermenter I use, the first is the batch we just made and the second is 6 days old. I will update this when I rack the wine into their glass Carboys for the Secondary Fermentation.