Apple wine is clearing

My 1 gallon batch of apple wine has begun to clear. It has been 26 days in the primary so I racked it to the secondary. There was a nice dense layer of yeast on the bottom of the jug. The book I'm reading says to just leave it alone except for the occasional racking for about 6 months. Does this make sense?

Thanks for the picture!

Yes, leave it alone except for racking until it's completely clear. Then, you can rack and stabilize and bulk age or bottle. One thing I do is to add campden tablets every other racking, since I don't have an so2 meter. Adding campden tablets every other racking will keep the sulfites in an acceptable range, and this will help preserve the color and flavor of your wine. You can rack when you have lees, usually every 45 or 60 days.

My apple wine (still in secondary) is really, really good! I made it with an o.g. of 1.095.

Lorena

Yooper Chick said:

Thanks for the picture!

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Sorry it's Just the wine

Yooper Chick said:

es, leave it alone except for racking until it's completely clear. Then, you can rack and stabilize and bulk age or bottle. One thing I do is to add campden tablets every other racking, since I don't have an so2 meter. Adding campden tablets every other racking will keep the sulfites in an acceptable range, and this will help preserve the color and flavor of your wine. You can rack when you have lees, usually every 45 or 60 days.

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So will it be OK to add a tablet next time I rack?

Yooper Chick said:

My apple wine (still in secondary) is really, really good! I made it with an o.g. of 1.095.

Lorena

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Got any pictures of it?
What is yours made of? Mine is just juice. Nothing fancy.
EDIT: I tasted a small sample of it and whew it is rough. Very hot and no flavor. I'm sure it will mellow over time.

"EDIT: I tasted a small sample of it and whew it is rough. Very hot and no flavor. I'm sure it will mellow over time."

I'd rack it off the yeast, especially if it was a variety that produced a lot of sulfury compounds. I don't know why people think wine won't get autolysis and yet beer will. They both will.

I'd also hit is with some bentonite to precipitate the yeast out of it.

I think it's ok to use bentonite if you want, that's just not something I do. Usually time clears up the wine. I think bentonite can strip flavor along with clear the wine, and if the flavor is already a bit bland, you might not want to use clarifiers yet. If anything, it might be a pectin haze anyway. If it doesn't clear, then you can try a few things. My second 2006 dandelion wine is not clearing- I might use some sparkelloid in a month or so if it's still not clearing.

The "hot" taste is very normal- it will mellow quite a bit in six months. My blackberry wine from last summer is still hot, but improving. My wine recipe was juice (actually commercial cider), sugar, pectic enzyme, a pinch of tannin, and a tsp of acid blend. As far as "no flavor", I've heard that happen will apple wine. I'd say keep racking when there's lees and be patient! When the "hotness" subsides, the apple flavor will probably come through. If not, you could stabilize and backsweeten with some apple juice. I don't think I'm going to sweeten mine, though, unless things change alot!

And, sure, you could add the Campden next time you rack. I'll have to take a picture of mine one of these days ,

Yooper Chick said:

I'll have to take a picture of mine one of these days ,

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I'll be patient and just keep racking then. I'll add a Campden tablet next racking.
Thanks for the info!

The wine I can be patient with. Waiting for the picture of yours is going to be tough.

Brewman,

What recipe are you talking about being hot? Edwort's Apfelwein?

If so what variations did you make to the recipe?

Whats the ABV?

Here are both of my gallon batches of Apple Wine. The one on the right is the Apple Raspberry.
I used 2 cans of Old Orchard frozen concentrate in each one. Apple in the first and apple raspberry in the second.
In addition, they both have 46 oz. apple juice, 1 1/4 pound sugar, and water to make 1 gallon. I used MONTRACHET yeast in both.
I tasted the apple raspberry today and it is pretty good. Very hot but good.