crushing apples

[Squid]

Hello- I followed an apple wine recipe from The Home Winemakers Companion. It said to cut the apples into small peices and ferment them with the other ingredients. We have been fermenting them for almost a week and are getting near the time to press them. Our concern is the apple peices are still very hard. We think they should have been crushed somewhere along the way...we still haven't really extracted any juice from the apples because they are still small peices. We are thinking we should crush them and ferment the pulp and juice, then press the must later. Or do we 'crush' and 'press' them all at once, at the end of fermentation? Any ideas on how to handle this?
Thanks!

 

[Koom]

Hello- I followed an apple wine recipe from The Home Winemakers Companion. It said to cut the apples into small peices and ferment them with the other ingredients. We have been fermenting them for almost a week and are getting near the time to press them. Our concern is the apple peices are still very hard. We think they should have been crushed somewhere along the way...we still haven't really extracted any juice from the apples because they are still small peices. We are thinking we should crush them and ferment the pulp and juice, then press the must later. Or do we 'crush' and 'press' them all at once, at the end of fermentation? Any ideas on how to handle this?
Thanks!

What are the other ingredients? Also can you post the recipe?

 

[JohnT]

I would simply place the whole thing into a press and squeeze it. I would leave it under medium pressure for a good long while (say about an hour). After an hour, I would give what remains in the press a stir (or "Forking") and then put back under pressure for about another 30 minutes (or until the juice stops flowing). You can repeat this several times until you are left with a dry "cake" in you press. Just remember, press low and slow.