pressing apples

[rocdoc]

Last year I made a very nice crabapple/pear wine that was just a little heavy on tannin. I blended the fruit then but this year want to press it instead (to avoid cutting up skins and seeds......tannin). To soften the apples before crushing, couldn't I just freeze them to break down the cells a bit? They are too hard to press directly after harvesting. I don't want to change the bright flavor by using heat to soften them. Any thoughts on this approach? Thanks.
.........rocdoc.

 

[St Allie]

Freeze them first and they will be fine.

The other thing I do with apples is I leave them in baskets for a week or two after harvesting, before using them.. this 'mellows' the apple.. I think leaving the crabapples and the pears for a week before freezing them will make huge a difference in flavour as well.



Allie

 

[Wade E]

Thats what I do, I freeze my crabapples and thaw them good and put them in fermentaing bags and press them before and after fermentation.

 

[Luc]

Last year I did several test which should make clear which method is the best for processing apples.

The outcome was that to get the best possible tasting juice you should core the apples, freeze them whole and press them.
You will need however a large freezer.

Next methods are to pulp and freeze. This gains more juice however the juice was less in flavor.

You can read the whole story here:
http://wijnmaker.blogspot.com/2008/09/appeltje-voor-de-dorst-apple-day.html

Luc