advice please on first apple wine

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ArdenS

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I've made a couple of kits and am getting ready to make my 1st apple wine from juice. I'm making a 1-gallon batch, to get my feet wet. I've been reading what I can find online, and searched this forum. Some of the apple wine recipes look very straightforward. On the flip side I read that apple can easily get dark -- oxidation, I suppose.

Any tips on how to prevent it from getting dark?
Is there any drawback to leaving it in the primary until it's dry?
Should I be extra careful when degassing so as not to introduce O2?

Thanks,
Arden
 
I have made 2 batches of apple wine . My first batch was 6 gallons, the other was a 20 gallon batch. The recipe that I have calls for ascorbic acid added at the beginning of the whole process to help control oxidation. I cored my apples and chopped them in a food processor . I then added ascorbic acid dissolved in some water. I had no problem with oxidation. With my second batch I had bought an apple chopper and press. My wife and I chopped and pressed 200 lbs. of apples in about 2 hrs. I again added ascorbic acid to the fresh juice to help control oxidation. Once you add K-Meta after fermentation is complete along with the alcohol in the wine you will have less trouble with oxidation
I racked both batches of mine at 1.020 to glass and finished to dry. I like the extra protection you get from all the CO2 in glass. As soon as they had a stable SG for 3 days I degassed the wines to help start the clearing process. I use an aspirator vacuum pump to degass and rack my wines. This has worked very well for all my wines. With vacuum degassing there is not an issue with oxidation because you are not allowing any O2 into the operation.

BOB
 
I agree with everything Bob said. I did mine the exact same way, and turned out fine.
 
One of the keys ( for me anyway) for good apple wine is to use a variety iof different kinds of apples instead of a single variety.
 
Thank you, gentlemen. One more question: Did you find that your apple wine had sufficient residual sweetness or did you backsweeten?

I'm thinking about spicing it up a bit with some clove, cinnamon, and ginger root. I hoping it'll be ready about Christmas time.
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Arden
 
If you start with apple cider, it will usually have a good balance of different types of apples. I did my first batch with cider and it was super-smooth with no darkening (and this was before I learned to add ascorbic acid).

Sweetening will always be to taste, but any wine yeast will probably ferment out to at least mostly dry depending on which yeast you use.

Gee, I really need to change my profile picture... but then again, we just took down the Christmas tree last weekend.
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Cheers!
 
Let it go dry and then backsweeten. I have found that apple takes some time to come into it's own. I bulk aged my first batch about 8 months before I did anything to it and I think it benefitted from it. I now have 20 gallons bulk aging. 2 gallon I added oak to, 6 gallon I added An F-pack of cherry juice to, and 12 gallon I left plain.

BOB
 
Thanks bunches for the help. I sure appreciate it.

Arden
 
The guys are all steering you in the right direction. Have you had apple wine before and liked it? That is one of the most important considerations. If you like it , then it is worth the wait for it. If you find you don't care for it then yours won't appeal any more to you. I made a ton of it a number of years back and despite it improving a lot and some people loving it, I still just am not crazy about it.
 
Good question, appleman. I've never had apple wine, which is one reason I'm making only 1 gallon. Am also toying with making a 1-gal batch of cyser. If I like it, great; if not, it's only 1 gallon. I'm thinking that 1-gallon is a good size to experiment on.

Arden
 
1 gallon batches are perfect for that. If you like it, next year you make the same recipe x5.
 
The first batch of apple wine I made I had to add a little more acid and some glycerin to , but it turned out very good. I only hope I can come close to duplicating it again.

BOB
 
It added body and a very slight sweetness to the wine . I would recomend adding it first untill you get the mouthfeel you are looking for and then sweeten to taste.It made my apple wine go from thin to having the right body I was looking for. I myself did not get any artificial taste with using it.

BOB
 
Generally the artificial taste and even some bitterness comes months to a year afterwards. If you don't get that experience, super. I do, so I don't use it in my wines. I have used corn syrup instead before with much better results. Just let it clear after adding before bottling. Be sure to add proper sorbate also because it is a form of sugars and will ferment out.
 
Thank you Rich for the info about using corn syrup to add body. I will give this a try next time I think I need some extra body in a wine.

BOB
 
The idea of adding corn syrup is interesting. Will it also act as aback sweetening agent? I have some cyser I made last December. It was juice only (steam juiced apples). It is taking FOREVER to clear, even with rackings. I spiced half of it with ginger, cloves, and cinnamon. At one point I LOVED it, but now am getting a very strong ginger taste. The spiced amount cleared after 4 months, but the plain is still working on it. Thinking of clearing it rather than wait for it, since I am getting itchy to refill my carboys......
 

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