Apple Wine

[St Allie]

9lb/4kilos mixed cooking and eating apples
1 teaspoon pectic enzyme
campden tablets
1 teaspoon citric acid
1gallon/ 4.5 litres of water
1/2 teaspoon grape tannin or one cup of strong black tea (optional)
champagne yeast and yeast nutrient
1 .5 to 2 pounds (700g - 900grams white sugar.

wash and core apples . put through the grater setting on your food processor. put apples and cores ( no cores with cut pips though), into
primary containing pectic enzyme, crushed campden tablet, citric acid and water, cover and leave 24 hours. next day take SG, add the tannin and activated yeast and nutrient. Ferment on the pulp for 5 days press cap down twice daily.
strain out the fruit and press the apples dry, discard the pulp. Stir in the sugar pour the must into gallon jar and any excess into a spare bottle for top ups. Fit airlocks and ferment out as usual.

variation..add 2 pounds of blackberries or stoned and pitted damsons or black plums to the apples for a deep rose wine

from 'country wines and cordials'

 

[St Allie]

My first batch of this ( 5 gallon) turned out so nicely that I have two more batches fermenting currently. The recipe says to keep it and bulk age for 9 months before bottling and then a further 3 months before drinking. We are drinking the first batch already, it's a nice table white and has been bottled a month.. Have kept a dozen bottles from the batch to try in a years time, will update feedback then.

Allie

 

[upper]

What is a Core with a cut pip?...Upper

 

[arcticsid]

Hmm? I think it may be a New Zeland term for a cut pip with a core. And ifin the apples were nice and firm it would be a hard core cut pip. I quess.....LOL

 

[Mud]

pip=seed. Pips/seeds contain some cyanide in minuscule amounts, which is of no concern, but they also give off a sort of nutty flavor. Small amounts are used for flavoring, but it would make for an off-flavor in a wine to most people.

 

[winemaker_3352]

Was this for a 5 or 6 gallon batch? And what is a good SG for apple wine?

 

[Tom]

Was this for a 5 or 6 gallon batch? And what is a good SG for apple wine?

In post #1 looks like it is for ONE gallon. You need alot of apples per #
Fruit wines should start @ 1.085

 

[crazyx2]

Hey Allie,

What type of apples do you usually use? or do you not have a preference?

 

[St Allie]

hiya crazy,

the ones from my garden.. a mix of cooking and eating apples.. up to 6 different varieties.. I use what is to hand ( and free!) The wine changes with different varieties used.

generally braeburn, granny smith, a bramley type, golden delicious, and a couple of other unnamed eating ones.

I got a pile of apple and pear trees with no labels.. at a closing down sale.. they were $2 each.

Allie

 

[whine4wine]

I'm already almost half way through my second batch of apple wine. (only started last fall)
It's a good early drinking wine. I've used a couple kinds of apples.
On my last batch I used frozen concentated apple juice as a flavor pack. It added some sweetness and flavor. I was pleased with the results.

 

[djrockinsteve]

hiya crazy,

the ones from my garden.. a mix of cooking and eating apples.. up to 6 different varieties.. I use what is to hand ( and free!) The wine changes with different varieties used.

generally braeburn, granny smith, a bramley type, golden delicious, and a couple of other unnamed eating ones.

I got a pile of apple and pear trees with no labels.. at a closing down sale.. they were $2 each.

Allie

I had a Brayburn apple several years ago and I loved it so much I bought one along with a Red Delicious and a Golden Delicious trees. Planted in the back (semi dwarfs) and they are loaded with apples now.

We'll probably eat too many to make apple wine now but as time goes on I'll add some to my yearly Apple Jack wine.

I would love to get a grafted pear tree and add that back there also.

 

[St Allie]

I would love to get a grafted pear tree and add that back there also.

not sure if you mean grafted to a dwarf rootstock or more than one variety of pear grafted onto one rootstock.

I bought a triple grafted apple a few years back.. granny smith/golden delicious and red delicious all on the one tree..

I don't recommend them.. they just don't have the same vigour and you don't get anywhere near as much fruit as a single variety.

Allie

 

[djrockinsteve]

I meant two or three pear varieties on one tree. I'm running out of room, indoors and out.

 

[daveklick]

When you say "press the apples dry" are you referring to using a grape press? If so, is there any other way of doing it if we don't own a grape press?

 

[djrockinsteve]

I use a fruit press my father made back in 1978. Without a press you could slice up the apples and immediately freeze them in freezer bags (ziplock). After a day or two remove them and begin your wine as just with any other fruit.

Your apples will oxidize quickly so you need to get them into your sugar water while still frozen and take a gravity reading when they are just thawed. You may benefit from thawing in a referidgerator. Adding a smidgeon of lemon juice will slow oxidation.

Your gravity should be around 1.080 or slightly less.

Ferment and remove apples around 1.020 When fermention slows visually snap on a lid w/ or w/o an airlock for a day or rack to a carboy to finish fermenting.

Rack and clear. Add cinnamon sticks and age at least 6 months. You may sweeten to whatever you want. Mine I do a few different gravity's.

 

[countrygirl]

I use a fruit press my father made back in 1978. Without a press you could slice up the apples and immediately freeze them in freezer bags (ziplock). After a day or two remove them and begin your wine as just with any other fruit.

Your apples will oxidize quickly so you need to get them into your sugar water while still frozen and take a gravity reading when they are just thawed. You may benefit from thawing in a referidgerator. Adding a smidgeon of lemon juice will slow oxidation.

Your gravity should be around 1.080 or slightly less.

Ferment and remove apples around 1.020 When fermention slows visually snap on a lid w/ or w/o an airlock for a day or rack to a carboy to finish fermenting.

Rack and clear. Add cinnamon sticks and age at least 6 months. You may sweeten to whatever you want. Mine I do a few different gravity's.

just got done reading luc's info on different ways to do apples...i was disapointed when my crabapples went south, but now i'm revived
i want to do this as a christmas type wine...if i get it going pretty quick, will i be able to drink/serve some at christmas?
and
do you leave the cinnamon sticks in there the whole time?
thanks

 

[djrockinsteve]

After racking when my wine had cleared I added cinnamon sticks and bulk aged 6 months. This season I'll bump up the # of sticks to 1 per gallon. They will lay upon the bottom and just before bottling rack or stir and let rest to mix the cinnamon flavor.

You could have apple wine for Christmas. You may want to do a gallon for holiday and additional to age longer.

 

[Wade E]

To prevent browning of easily oxidized fruit I recommend using ascorbic acid(vitamin C) immedietely on the fruit whether it be right on the fruit when cutting it up to freeze or in the bucket of water with the small amount of kmetbefore starting the batch. Ascorbic acid doesnt hinder a fermentation and is a very good anti oxidant, it just doesnt have the anti microbial properties that kmeta does and thats why we use the kmeta but to protect a delicate fruit like this I recommend it in addition to the kmeta.

 

[djrockinsteve]

Picked a 6 gallon bucket of crab apples today. I'll get more but how close to apple wine is crab apple wine? Anyone. Plus how sweet or should I leave it a bit tart?

 

[WineYooper]

? for Allie on Apple sticky

In the recipe I follow every step except for the one calling to stir in the sugar when you pour the must into the gallon jar. From what I've learned so far everything gets mixed together in the primary and the yeast gets added after the 24 hours. Please straighten me out on this. Is apple done slightly different than blackberry, raspberry, cranberry? My apples are thawing out as I am composing and I've read also that I should let them thaw out in the primary with ingredients added but I plan on pressing them first so am not sure how I will proceede. I did core and wedge, then a quick dip in lemon juice, drain and into the freezer. I have 56# from 4 unknown variety trees. They are definitely a mix, some tart and some just good to eat. I am trying to get this batch started in the next day or two.