am i on the right track

[kgrabow]

I have an apple wine, 6 gals. fresh apple juice I started 6 days ago, the starting sg was 1.085, I used wyeast 4242 , wanted a little sweeter wine, after 6 dsys the sg is at 1.040 still seems to have bubbles and foam, had a lot of foamy heavy deposit on top last few days, the recipe says 10 days in the primary, would this sound correct, seemed like a long time from others that I read, am I on track or just worrying to much, first wine,should I aim for 1.000 sg or will the wyeast not go that far thanks for all the help

 

[NorCal]

As long as its moving, albeit slow, all is well. The yeast is good to 12-13%, your SG puts it under 11%. I have not made apple wine, but I’ve heard that proper nutrient is usually necessary for good fermentation.

 

[kgrabow]

thanks ,I should have mentioned that I did add nutrient at the beginning, probably way toomuch as I went from a 1 gallon recipe to 6, a jack keller rcipe from this site, temp is at 72 degrees, I have a 3 gallon batch of harvest wine going also, that one used lalvin ec 1118, made same night ,its starting sg at 1.085, after 6 days its at 1.020, just a difference in each batch and yeast I guess, the plan was to ferment dry and backsweetn, the wyeast says it leaves some residual sugar so I guess I wasn't sure hen to rack the 6 gallons to secondry, didn't want to do it to quick

 

[fivebk]

I have made several apple wines. Sounds to me like you’re on track. Do not try to rush this wine. I have found that it will take a year or better to get good. I don’t know why but it just takes that long for the apple flavor to come forward. I have always sweetened my apple wines . I always leave my apple wine in a carboy for a full year before I bottle it. I would never tell anyone this is the only way to do it. I am only talking from my own experiences with this wine.

Good luck

BOB

 

[Julie]

leave it in the primary, actually you can let it go until it hits around 1.010 then snap the lid down and add an airlock and let it finish before racking to a carboy. And a recipe is just a rule of thumb not something that you follow to the letter.