Lemon Balm Wine Brew Along

[British Red]

This one at Mr Fenna's request.....


Second in our new hedgerow wines this year is Lemon Balm. Its a wonderful herb but grows large and self seeds with abandon. I always end up ripping out huge handfuls of it - so I need something productive to do with it.

This is the culprit - you can see how its pushing into the space other herbs need

Lemon Balm in Herb Bed by British Red, on Flickr

This recipe makes 2 gallons / 9 litres / 12 bottles / 2 demijohns. Scale up or down according to need.

You will need 5 litres of Lemon Balm Leaves (stalks removed)
1kg raisins
3kg sugar
2 Lemons
2 Oranges
2 teaspoons of grape tanning OR 2 tablespoons of strong tea
9 litres of boiling water
2 tsp of wine yeast
1 tsp yeast nutrient (optional)

Firstly gather a couple of large buckets or one large trug full of lemon balm

Trug of Lemon Balm by British Red, on Flickr

Put 9 litres of water on to boil

Boiling Water by British Red, on Flickr

Take a kilo of raisins and roughly chop them

Chopped Raisins by British Red, on Flickr

Get the zest and juice of two lemons and two oranges and add to the raisins

Lemon Peel by British Red, on Flickr

Lemon and Orange Peel by British Red, on Flickr

Strip the lemon balm leaves from the stalk until you have 5 litres / 1 gallon. Bruise the leaves and add to a brewing vessel

Bruising Lemon Balm Leaves by British Red, on Flickr

Bruised Lemon Balm by British Red, on Flickr

Add to the vessel the raisins, lemon and orange juice and peel and 3kg of sugar

Other Ingredients by British Red, on Flickr

Pour over 9 litres of boiling water and stir well

Boiling Water by British Red, on Flickr


Add the grape tannin and yeast nutrient

Grape Tannin and Yeast Nutrient by British Red, on Flickr

Leave the "must" to cool to room temperature. When it has cooled make a "starter culture" of yeast by putting the yeast in a glass of room temperature orange juice and leaving for half an hour to rehydrate - this should go "bubbly"

Yeast Starter Culture by British Red, on Flickr

Pour this into your cooled must, stir and cover. Leave to ferment for one week.


I will add to this post as we progress.....

 

[Mesquite]

Now this sounds interesting even if I don't like wine

 

[British Red]

It smells fantastic Steve - I've not made this one before so can't speak for the finished product but "its looking good so far"

 

[Mesquite]

It smells fantastic Steve - I've not made this one before so can't speak for the finished product but "its looking good so far"

I bet it does... it's one of my favourite smells from the herb garden

 

[topknot]

looking good.

Topknot

 

[British Red]

Got a bit worried about this one today - a look in the bucket looked like the Sargasso sea

The recipe does not ask for the must to be filtered from the vegetable matter before putting in the demijohn - but this looks like a recipe for mould to me

Floating Lemon Balm in Must by British Red, on Flickr

I have made an executive decision to sieve it out

Sieved out by British Red, on Flickr

The remaining must has good colour and smells fantastic - like a good Cerveza

Clear Must by British Red, on Flickr

More as things progress!

 

[HillBill]

I got rid of our lemon balm, could't find anything to do with it... smells like lemon washing up liquid to me.

Yeah your gonna get mould with all the flotsam... good call to remove it.

 

[British Red]

Its a vigorous thing isn't it? I'm hoping for a light Summer wine from this, but BB reckons I could make a decent Summer beer substitute using it....fun to try anyway!

 

[HillBill]

It is that

Hope it goes well for you mate, look forward to seeing how it turns out. We are concentrating on Elderflower stuff this year... we have 27 trees of it bordering the allotments, so supply is gonna be more than generous... we got 5 gallons last year on a quick run around of the bottom 8ft of 20 ft trees. Now, we have step ladders.

 

[British Red]

I'm going to give Elderflower a go this year - never tried it...got a fave recipe?

 

[HillBill]

Not per se... only started on it last year... and we only did cordial.... But it was damn nice.... and was pretty much high in alcohol when we started on the last two bottles

 

[ebt.]

Interesting find, I'll watch this one with interest. I've got swathes of lemon balm and adding it to salads/roasts doesnt put a dent in it.

Any idea what purpose the raisins are supposed to fulfill in the mix?

 

[British Red]

The raisins add "vinosity" (wine likeness) to the drink. Leaf based fermentations can be a bit "thin" on the palate and chopping in some raisins (grapes) really adds depth. You can get posy and use an £8 tin of grape juice concentrate - but raisins are much cheaper and work fine

 

[British Red]

Well now - after a week the violent fermentation has finished

Lemon Balm Must by British Red, on Flickr

So I carefully siphoned the wine into demijohns

Siphon Off by British Red, on Flickr

Taking care not to disturb the sediment

Lemon Balm Sediment by British Red, on Flickr

The label was updated and added and an airlock fitted

Airlock in Demijohn by British Red, on Flickr

This will now be left until fermentation ceases (the airlock ceases to bubble)

If you haven't got a siphon, Wilkos have 25% of homebrew equipment this week - so no excuses (they are only £2.50 full price)

 

[ebt.]

ahaa, thanks.

I might try it without them then, just to see what its like

 

[British Red]

I'm a little worried about the lemon balm wine as it has a slight film on the surface

Film by British Red, on Flickr

However it doesn't taste fusty or mouldy, so I've siphoned into a clean demijohn and added finings

Finings by British Red, on Flickr

Its quite possible that the "film" is just floating matter and that finings will settle it out. Time will tell!

 

[GordonM]

It is always a pleasure for me to read and see your excellent tutorials BR! Thanks for sharing another one, topnotch!