Seasonal Fruit Wines

[darrenlm]

I just bottled a kit and would like to attempt a scratch wine. Im looking for a good apple recipe to turn into a dessert wine, apples are excellent in my area right now and I dont want to let a good season go by without trying to make a batch.


Advice, recipes, all welcome....

 

[Hippie]

Advice......use the cider or juice from the apples without the pulp.Keep some of that samecider or juice for sweetening the finished wine. Recipes are all over the internet.

 

[darrenlm]

I can get apple cider for almost next to nothing during this time of the year, is there a benefit tothe end product inusing cider over getting enough apples to get 5-6 gallons of juice and doing all the crushing myself? I want to end up with as high of a quality wine as I can sparing no labor or cost if need be. ...within reason of course

 

[masta]

If the quality and mix of apples used for the cideris good, I would say it is a no brainer to use that instead of crushing your own.


Is it pasteurized or any preservatives added? Sulfur Dioxide is ok Sorbate is bad!


From my limited experience in use fresh cider for wine I have found that there is no acid adjustment needed. Just measure the SG of the cider and then you can figure out how much sugar to add to bring up the starting gravity to your target.


Using this mead calculator will help or ask if you run into trouble with it:


http://www.gotmead.com/making-mead/mead-calculator.shtml

 

[Hippie]

I agree with Masta. If you do press the apples yourself, use only the juice, discard the dry pulp.