apple wine

[gird123]

I have made a lot of apple wine. Some good some not. This one turned out pretty good.

Notes
4.5 Gallons Apple Juice walmart brand 100% apple juice
5 Grape Juice Welch's 100% white grape juice no sugar added 11.5 oz cans
4 lbs Sugar walmart brand
1 Yeast Red Star Montrachet Wine yeast
'1/3 cup oak American chips
Acid Blend to TA 0.5
PH 3.6
S.G. 1.093
Finished S.G. .99
Back Sweet no

 

[russfink]

That's awesome! What's the total cost on a batch like this? Like $35?

 

[gird123]

Yeah, right at $35. This one was a little more because I did not look for anything on sell I just went and bought the ingredients.

Edwart says the Montrachet yeast is the best for apfelwein and I think it is very good for the apple wines.

For the apple wine from juice I follow Edwart's recipe with a few changes. To start I add acid blend or citric acid to a little less than a ta of 0.5 (my wife likes it low acid and i think it helps it not oxidize), an sg of 1.085, and oak. At 2 months if it is bellow 1.0 sg I vacuum degas and add 1/4 tsp of k-met (very important also helps it not oxidize). I don't rack my apple wine. Then I wait 2 weeks degas again and super kleen or gelatin. Then 2 more weeks and bottle. If the sg is stable.

I also think this one maxed out the yeast because they usually reach an sg of 0.90. this one only reached 0.99<- Now I'm a little nervous. I bottled this. It has been stable for 2 months. What do all of you think. In two years I have had no bottle bombs. Should I worry about this one?

 

[russfink]

If you're really worried about it, you could cold stabilize at 32F for a few weeks to try and kill the yeast. Might be able to do that without busting any bottles. Try it with just one first

 

[maddog]

I have had two batches of apple wine and one of apple pear that have started to ferment again after back sweetening. All of them were between .95 and .99 SG. I have no idea why. I may just not be smart enough to read the directions when adding the stabilizer.

None of my bottles blew beause they were refrigerated after aging, but they were definately sparkling wines. My batches of skeeter pee and my kit wines turned out fine.

 

[fivebk]

Maybe the Sorbate you used wasn't any good

BOB

 

[Arne]

I have posted this before. I also have had a batch of apple that refermented. I was pretty sure it had been sulfited and sorbated, it was written down that it was. Maybe I added backsweetening to it too soon. Anyway, if you go back thru old posts about refermenting in bottles, you will find that many times it is apple that is refermenting. Now especially when I sweeten the apple, I tend to bulk age for at least a month or so before bottling to make sure it is not going to referment. Arne.