Apple Wine Acidity

[ffemt128]

I bought an acid test kit this evening to check the levels of my apple wine that I have in my carboy. The reading I received was .5625% TA. Does this seem about right for a spiced apple wine.

The recipe was from Keller's site for Spiced Apple Wine and I made a 3 gallon batch. I ended up substituting Jonathan apples for the Gala apples as I could not locate the Gala anywhere at the time.

The cloves were adjusted to 3/4 the recommended amount and they still have strong presence in the flavor. My starting SG was 1.094 and my ending SG was .992. I need to rack again the end of January and then I will rack again in February and probably bottle after that in March. Figuring on being able to drink about October this year for a fall wine. Based on those that made Apple wine does that time frame seem about right.

Thanks.

 

[Crusty]

I believe a non-grape white wine should be between .55-.65, so it sounds about right, I would judge it by your tastes when it's that close.

 

[Julie]

I agree with Crusty, judge it by taste. I normally have my acid between .65%and .70%. Cloves is a very strong spice, I think it was wise of you to reduce it, even though it taste strong right now it will tame down some. You should be able to drink this by October. My last batch I was drinking 6 months after I started it.

Julie

 

[ffemt128]

It tastes okay to me, I will likely have to back sweeten a bit, just a little, after I stabilze it as it tastes very dry to me. It's good to hear that the clove taste will mellow out a bit. The original recipe called for 1 oz of cloves for a gallon recipe, we used 1.5 oz and ended up with 3 gallons after doubleing the recipe. (we may have had closer to 28 or 30 lbs of apples opposed to the 24 lbs needed for double batch)

We decided to try the apple from scratch since my wife liked the Spiced Apple wine she bought at Trax Farms. I'll have to get another bottle of that and taste it. I didn't try any of her original bottle to compare taste. Until then I'll go back to the 3 P's and continue on my path.

Thanks for the replies, let me know if there is anything else I should be aware of since we are very new to this.

 

[Julie]

Hi ffemt128,

I just noticed that your location is Pittsburgh. We are practically neighbors, I live about 30 minutes NE of Pittsburgh.

When you backsweeten take a hydrometer reading and record it. If you go to make an apple wine again, you will know how sweet you want to make it.

Julie

 

[ffemt128]

Good idea. I found out after starting this batch that you can get apple juice from Trax Farms pre-pasturization for around $15-$20 for six gallons of pure juice. If I make an apple batch again I may consider that route.

I live just west of Pittsburgh, we are practically neighbors. I'm excited about our new hobby. I noticed you mentioned Countrywines.com in another post. I buy from their other store South Hills Brewing in Greentree. Their site is southhillsbrewing.com

 

[Julie]

I haven't been to South Hills but Country Wines were very helpful when my husband and I started out.

Glad you are enjoying your new hobby. We started about a year and a half ago and we still have not slowed down. My son told me we were getting out of control when he no longer could open the dryer door all the way because of all the carboys in the laundry room.

Welcome
Julie