Now, all he had to do was wait for grapes, yeast and sugar to transform into wine. Days, then weeks went by with no sign of life in the tub. No bubbles, no froth, no heady aroma, no warmth created from the biochemical reaction. Then, it hit him. That 5-pound bag of granulated white stuff wasn't sugar.
Every master has one or two humbling stories to tell.
These were Burnhams. Even so, the salt wine wasn't a total flop. Instead of throwing it away, he added some sugar and fermented it. It made a great meat marinade and good Christmas gifts. Burnham tried his first batch of homebrew 50 years ago when he was a freshman at Rhode Island School of Design.