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daniel

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i dont know anything about specific gravity and using it to make wine. we have a recipie that was passed down through the family and follows as:



3 qts uncrushed fruit (any fruit will do)
9 lbs sugar
3 gals. water
2 envelopes flieshmans yeast (wine yeast was substituted)

disolve sugar in 1 gal of water. cool to luke warm and put in fermenter. crush fruit and add to sugar water. add remaining water. disolve yeast in a juice glass full of luke warm water and stir into fruit and sugar water. place under air lock and ferment for 1 month. strain and bottle store in a cool dark place.

note: Fermentation best in temp between 68-72 degrees

three batches were made one with muscadine, one with scuppernong, and one an equal mix of both

we altered this recipie by adding campden tablets after about 35 days (4 tablets for approximately 4 gallons of wine)
it was then put under air lock for 1 week to settle. it is now very clear and tastes very good. i plan on giving it a couple more days and then bottling it after stoping fermentation. i am not looking to make a wine that will win the biggest competion in france but just trying to have fun with fruit, and enjoy the furits of our labor any input that doesnt require a degree in chemistry helps greatly. i have gotten good info from you guys but it is not practical for me
 
that is very basic and will not work for most fruits. what about acid blend, yeast nutrient or tannin????

you will have many spoiled batches, low acid batches that won't age well and many issues with "nasties" getting into the wine, etc....

you need to add campden 1 day before adding yeast to sterilize.

checking the sg is really easy. i've been doing it since i was 19 and had no idea how good wine was made. learned very quickly.

wine making is easy, even with checking sg's and an acid tester. making good wine takes some work and patience. making GREAT wine takes more attention to detail and experience, but it will pay off. you can make wine to suite your tastes that will taste best to your taste buds! even better than $100/bottle wine.

i am certainly NOT a chemist. my mother is, but can't make wine. lol that's not a joke either.

i don't like to be hateful, but tom is right. i don't see how this could work very well.
 
Believe me as Im surely no chemist that using a hydrometer is as easy as taking your temperature! Where it floats is what you have. You take that reading and it wil tell you how much alcohol you can make and having too much sugar in a recipe will just make a terrible wine or 1 that will need at least a year or more of aging before you can taste the fruit in there. Yes wine making can get very complicated but you dont have to make it that complicated as most of us dont. I agree with Tom that what you have is a weak amount of fruit and that # could be stepped up a bit with less sugar resulting in a better wine.
 
how much more fruit should be added????? i am just experimenting and dont plan on letting the wine age. i am from the south and we like a mason jar passed around the camp fire. please elaborate on the amount of frut thought necessary to make a drinkable wine.

like i said we used the same recipie with grapes and that produced a very good sweet wine with a kick.


i dont expect the apples to make as much juice as the grapes

another thing i should say is that we are not wine connoisseurs and to our taste is more of a dessert wine than a dry wine.

we were very pleased with the grape wine and would like the same sweetness with the same alcohol content in the apple wine so please advise if possible
 
Almost Rocket Fuel

I've made this recipe:http://www.winemakingtalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=3641

Well similar, crank up the sugar to get a SG of about 18%, use champagne yeast or premier cuvee yeast as it will tolerate that high of an alchohol content. This is not a before, nor is it an after dinner wine, but it will get you whistling a happy tune.

If you just want a passing around wine this is one. You wont win any awards but it has some alcohol in it.:d

Or make wine out of frozen juice concentrate and crank up the SG the same.

If you get to a point where you want to make a fine wine were ready to help you there too!
Troy:r
 
that looks very good but do you have a substitute volume of apples for the juice. we are using fresh apples, that is what we have and that is what brought the whole apple wine about. want to use the fruit for something other than desserts and jelly
 
For 3 gallons of wine I would start with at least 15# of apples, maybe more, though I am sure others are going to tell you different. I learned the hard way, when using fresh fruits(non grape), it takes alot more than you think. Be patient, pay attention, we'll get you going.

Were not talking juice, were talking apples.

This is what "I" would do.

Take 20# apples, core them and remove the seeds, no need to peel. Cut them in quarters and freeze them hard. Couple days for sure. This helps break down the structure a bit.

Dump the frozen quarters into a large pot and cover with water, bring to a boil, turn down the heat and simmer them for a while, how long? No idea. As they are simmering use a potato masher to smash them up.

Go down to the paint store and get a nylon paint straining bag, or use a nylon Panty Hose, pour this mix(duh, let it col a bit) into this "bag" and tie it. Make sure your hands are clean using a K Meta solution or the equivelant. Squeeze the hell out of this bag to get as much juice as you can. Put the bag back in the primary fermenting bucket/vessel. Of course use the simmering liquid as well.

Take 4 # of sugar and boil it in 1 gallon of water Dissolve completely. Pour this on top of your apple bag. Cover with 2 more gallons of water. Leave the bag in there. Add a little less than 1/4 tsp KMETA, about 3 tsp yeast nutrient, and 1 tsp Tannin. Check your SG, add sugar to get it where you want in terms of potential alcohol. If you need to add more sugar, make sure it is dissolved. When you like the SG, Stir it good and allow it to set for 12 hours.

After 12 hours stir in, 3 tsp Pectin enzyme, and allow it to set for another 12 hours.

Wash your hands squeeze that bag good one more time and pitch your yeast.

This may not be an exact recipe but it is a basic recipe that I quarantee you will work.
Troy
 
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If you want rocket fuel buy some trubo yeast, it tolerates up to 20% you need to keep adding sugar during fermentation.It this point your SG will be a mess to figure unless you like math. You will end up with sweet rocket fuel with little taste. OK I made this once and poured it out. It sucked but if you can drink it it will warm your belly and mess up your head
 
Thanks Luc. Always glad to see your input here. What else can we do with these young guys?
 
Daniel...

Whenever I see a question about a fruit wine recipe, I wonder "what would Jack Keller say?".

So a search for "Jack Keller apple wine" brought up the following page
http://winemaking.jackkeller.net/recipes.asp

There are several recipes just a short way down the page that use real apples.

Steve
 

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