Need help with my apple wine!

[Robert10]

I recently made 6 gallons of apple wine from some fresh squeezed apple cider.
Fermentation is complete and it has been racked a couple of times (remove sediment).
The wine has a slight vinegar smell and taste. How can I eliminate the vinegar smell and taste?
Any suggestions?

Regards,
Robert from NY

 

[Arne]

Robert,
If it is actually turning to vinigar I am not sure you can stop it. Try drawing a sample and let it sit for an hour or two before you taste it. Don't know if this will help, but worth a try. Arne.

 

[Julie]

Robert,

Are you sure it is vinegar and not just a sour, like sucking on a lemon?

 

[jswordy]

I have had this concern before, so I tell if the taste of apple is just new harshness or a true off-taste by addding sugar to my very small sample in the wineglass. Stir and taste. If the sugar has "killed" or "smoothed away" the offending taste, then it is something that I have found will later be: a.) manageable prior to bottling by sweetening and/or adding concentrate; or b.) gone at bottling of its own accord.

If the taste and smell are still there after the sugar is stirred into the glass, that would be cause for me to worry. So far, they never have been. I have found that using Champagne yeast in apple wine seems to be associated with these later tastes, so I use Lalvin 71B-1122 now. This may just be my impression or my good luck.

 

[Robert10]

I have had this concern before, so I tell if the taste of apple is just new harshness or a true off-taste by addding sugar to my very small sample in the wineglass. Stir and taste. If the sugar has "killed" or "smoothed away" the offending taste, then it is something that I have found will later be: a.) manageable prior to bottling by sweetening and/or adding concentrate; or b.) gone at bottling of its own accord.

If the taste and smell are still there after the sugar is stirred into the glass, that would be cause for me to worry. So far, they never have been. I have found that using Champagne yeast in apple wine seems to be associated with these later tastes, so I use Lalvin 71B-1122 now. This may just be my impression or my good luck.

Thank you for the feedback!
The sugar solution seemed to smooth the taste. I will also try the other yeast next time.

Regards,
Robert

 

[jswordy]

Good to hear! I know I freaked out when I got that taste in my first batch of apple. Even with the 71B-1122, you can get these "cidery" flavors in the young wine, but not as much as with Champagne yeast in my experience.

Now you have a couple ways to go. You can adjust at bottling or you can continue to age in the carboy for as long as 6 months or more. Some folks I know won't bottle apple until it is at least 6 months in carboys, racking off the sediment every 2 months or so as needed to keep it off the lees. That allows the SO2 to get out, too, which is a good thing. Then they don't drink it until a year has elapsed. If you like a dry wine, this length of time seems the key to get it to mellow.

I am patient but not that patient, and fortunately I like a semi-sweet wine. When the wine gets clear, I want to bottle, so I degas, stabilize and pull off one gallon as a bench batch to adjust. Once I have the one gallon adjusted, 4 times whatever I used in it goes in the carboy for 5 gallons total, or 5 times for 6 gallons, and I usually rack the test gallon back in there, too. 7-10 days after that, it is bottling time. I do like to rack off whatever has settled just prior to bottling. I hate sediment in bottled wines, and that keeps the last bottles from getting any accidental dregs in them.

To adjust, I use frozen apple juice concentrate or apple juice that has been simmered down to about a third the original volume and cooled, sugar syrup, acid and tannin. I haven't used all of those all the time, just to my taste.

I am pretty new to winemaking, too, so what I do is not an expert opinion. Glad to have maybe helped you, and wish you much success!