Affiliate disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links. Please see our disclosure policy.
Simple homemade lemon wine is like sipping summertime!
This simple recipe only requires a few ingredients, and if you harvest lemons in season during winter the finished lemon wine will be ready just in time for summer.
Citrus, especially lemon, finds its way into all manner of wine recipes. My homemade dandelion wine recipe has quite a bit of citrus added, meaning that it’s really more or less a citrus wine flavored with the floral aromatics of dandelion petals. Why not try skipping all that, and just make a pure, sweet and refreshing lemon wine?
How to Make Lemon Wine
Since this recipe includes whole lemons, both juice, and peel, I’d strongly suggest starting with organic lemons. A full gallon of lemon wine only requires about 8 to 10 lemons, and even at the fancy natural food store that only set me back about $7.
Not bad, given that the other ingredients are pretty inexpensive. In total, this homemade lemon wine will cost around $2.50 per bottle even with purchasing organic lemons. If you’ve got free backyard lemons, even better.
Start by slicing the lemons thin and placing them in a large saucepan with the sugar.
Add in either 1 lb of golden sultana raisins or about a quart of white grape juice. The yeasts need something to nourish them, and lemons aren’t exactly full of the correct nutrients to get the job done.
You need a sweet fruit to provide micronutrients for the little beasties, and raisins or grape juice are perfect. For this recipe, I suggest golden raisins or white grape juice so that it has less of an impact on the color of the finished wine.
Beyond the grape juice or raisins, the yeasts also need a little bit of yeast nutrient to carry them through to complete fermentation. Roughly 1 teaspoon of powdered yeast nutrient does the job nicely. I’ve also included 1 tsp of pectic enzyme to help the wine clear, but that’s optional and merely cosmetic.
I generally use premier blanc wine yeast in my homemade wines, and that’s a good choice for this lemon wine. Please, whatever you do, don’t add bread yeast. Yeast actually imparts quite a bit of flavor to wine, and bread yeast wines taste…well, like bread.
Just don’t do it. It’s only about $1 for a packet of yeast, and it’s well worth the investment. If you’re making more than one batch at a time, a single packet is enough for 5 gallons of wine (dissolved in water and then distributed evenly among the carboys).
I’m using a one-gallon wide-mouth fermenter for this batch because I want to leave the whole lemon slices in for the primary ferment. If you’re using a standard narrow neck carboy, filter them out before putting everything into a carboy or you’ll clog up the neck. In that case, juice and zest the lemons instead of slicing them, and discard the rinds.
You can also divide this recipe in half and make a half-gallon of lemon wine in a half-gallon mason jar with a silicone airlock kit. This recipe works fine with Meyer lemons as well, and the flavor of a Meyer lemon wine is a bit less acidic and slightly warmer to the palate.
Lemon Mead Recipe Variation
Since lemons aren’t exactly high in sugar, this recipe requires about 3 pounds of added sugar to allow the mixture to ferment. If you’d like to try a lemon mead instead, the recipe is the same…simply substitute 3 lbs of honey in place of the white sugar.
Keep in mind, honey is quite a bit less fermentable than white sugar and the wine will take a bit longer to brew. Mead also benefits from more time aging in the bottle, and I’d suggest bottle conditioning a lemon mead for at least 6 months (as opposed to 3 for a lemon wine).
A lemon mead would be pretty similar to this rhubarb mead, and you could actually just substitute lemons for rhubarb in the recipe. This particular recipe is a micro-batch mead recipe, which makes just one quart of mead. That might not be a bad idea if you’re trying something experimental.
Similarly, if you want to make just a single quart to see if lemon wine is really your thing, this recipe can be divided by 4 for a quart batch using this small-batch wine method.
I also came across a recipe for a traditional Finnish drink called Sima. It’s a carbonated lemon soda that’s naturally carbonated by letting it ferment with a tiny pinch of yeast for just a few days. They drink it to celebrate new years, which happens in late April in their traditional calendar.
Lemon Wine
Ingredients
- 8-10 lemons, thinly sliced
- 3 lbs sugar
- 1 lb sultana raisins, or 1-quart white grape juice
- 1 tsp yeast nutrient
- 1 tsp Pectic Enzyme
- 1 packet wine yeast, dissolved in 1/4 cup water
- water to fill
Instructions
- In a large saucepan, bring water, lemons, sugar and raisins (or grape juice) to a boil. Turn off the heat and stir to dissolve the sugar. (If using a narrow neck fermenter, juice the zest the lemons instead of slicing, discarding the rind).
- Allow the mixture to cool before pouring everything (lemons included) into a primary fermentation vessel.
- Add the yeast nutrient, pectic enzyme and wine yeast. Stir to incorporate, and allow the mixture to ferment for 7 to 10 days.
- After primary fermentation, rack the wine into a secondary fermenter using a sterilized siphon. Ferment for about 6 - 8 weeks in secondary, until fermentation stops and the wine clears.
- Bottle the lemon wine in corked wine bottles, and allow the mixture to age for at least 3 months before drinking.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
More Homemade Wine Recipes
I am making a 1/2 gallon batch. Should I still use one packet of yeast or just pitch 1/2 a packet?
Either way is fine. A packet is good for “up to 5 gallons” and you can use half of it, or all of it, either way the yeast will rapidly multiply and this is just a starter to get them going.
Hi. Does the pith not matter. I thought it gave bitter flavour so must be excluded
Hi, Chris! I used whole lemons for this recipe and it did not give it a bitter flavor.
Is it ok if I take a testing sip before I embark on secondary fermentation?
Yes, so long as you sanitize everything your using really well. Awesome tools like this, were made for that reason.
Thank you! I’m so excited to have lemon wine someday soon!!!!
You’re welcome! I hope you enjoy it!
Loved it! Just finished rackibg a second batch!! Thank-you!!
Hi! Me again….so I had too much liquid from step one so I poured off into a mason jar and refrigerated. Now that I’m racking the big jar and removing the raisins and lemons, can I add this excess back in ? do I let it get to room temperature? Thanks for the help!
Sharon
Yup, add it back in. You can let it come to room temperature (or not), it’s up to you.
Hi
Great easy recipe, can’t wait for it to ‘ripen’! Just a few things I learned that might be helpful to others. When adding the initial water for boiling I reduced by 2 cups but that was not enough, initial water should be around 3 qts not 4 to allow for the raisins and lemons. Also, there needs to be airspace from top of liquid to lid which I didn’t know…the next morning my wild fermentation was many places I didn’t plan on. All is good and brewing now. My calendar is marked for the big celebration of lemon wine!!
thank you!
Do you need to stir each day during the primary fermentation?
No, you only stir to incorporate the ingredients after you put them in the vessel.
Do you refrigerate the wine as you’re fermenting/aging it? If yes, could you specify at what stages the wine should be placed in the fridge? Thank you!
Nope, no refrigeration. The whole thing takes place at room temperature.
Hello, it’s my first time attempting to make wine. about how much water should I use? I’m afraid of going too crazy.
what kind of alcohol content can you get from lemon wine?