PCharles
Senior Member
- Joined
- Apr 22, 2011
- Messages
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Greetings friends,
I’d like to share a new apple wine concoction that I’ve come up with. I’ve decided to call it Rocky Top Red. Here is the gist of it. Early last week I was pressing my North Carolina Cabernet Sauvignon grapes. After pressing I saved the skins/yeast sludge. I ran down to our local apple orchard where I bought 12 gallons of apple cider. I added the cider to my fermenters and added the grape skins and sludge. I heated some water and dissolved sugar. I added sugar to bring the SG to 1.090. I figured there was already yeast on the skins and in the sludge, but I did add a yeast starter when the temperature of the apple cider was adequate. Note to that I had already added MLF bacteria so some of this made it into the blend. About 12 hours later, the concoction was fermenting away. The skins floated to the top and formed a cap just as if it were regular red wine. Several days ago the SG dropped to 1.000. Yesterday I pressed the skins and moved the wine to clean fermenters. Today I’ve racked the wine off the sludge into carboys. The wine has a lovely taste… nothing like an apple wine. It has a red wine character. Well, there ya go… Rocky Tope Red.
I figure I’ll ferment in the secondary for about six weeks, stirring now and then. Then I’ll rack it and move it to new fermenters. I expect I’ll sulfite then. I plan to continue sulfating every three months until I bottle. Due to the heat of my storage area, I’ll likely bottle in late spring.
The wine has a lovely ruby color. I'll post a photo later as the wine clears.
Perhaps you might find something interesting to do with your left over skins.
I forgot to mention that I checked the pH and adjusted with acid blend to 3.6.
I’d like to share a new apple wine concoction that I’ve come up with. I’ve decided to call it Rocky Top Red. Here is the gist of it. Early last week I was pressing my North Carolina Cabernet Sauvignon grapes. After pressing I saved the skins/yeast sludge. I ran down to our local apple orchard where I bought 12 gallons of apple cider. I added the cider to my fermenters and added the grape skins and sludge. I heated some water and dissolved sugar. I added sugar to bring the SG to 1.090. I figured there was already yeast on the skins and in the sludge, but I did add a yeast starter when the temperature of the apple cider was adequate. Note to that I had already added MLF bacteria so some of this made it into the blend. About 12 hours later, the concoction was fermenting away. The skins floated to the top and formed a cap just as if it were regular red wine. Several days ago the SG dropped to 1.000. Yesterday I pressed the skins and moved the wine to clean fermenters. Today I’ve racked the wine off the sludge into carboys. The wine has a lovely taste… nothing like an apple wine. It has a red wine character. Well, there ya go… Rocky Tope Red.
I figure I’ll ferment in the secondary for about six weeks, stirring now and then. Then I’ll rack it and move it to new fermenters. I expect I’ll sulfite then. I plan to continue sulfating every three months until I bottle. Due to the heat of my storage area, I’ll likely bottle in late spring.
The wine has a lovely ruby color. I'll post a photo later as the wine clears.
Perhaps you might find something interesting to do with your left over skins.
I forgot to mention that I checked the pH and adjusted with acid blend to 3.6.
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