Apple Wine (Not Apfelwien)

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Evets

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I bottled my Apple wine (11% ABV)tonite with the bottles I scored last week and my new corker.
grain013.jpg

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It's actually pretty good right now. I used premium apple cider for this back in Sep., I think it was. It'll probably get a bit better with another six months or so. I'm still pretty new to the wine making thing. I've also got a Strawberry and an Elderberry almost ready to bottle, and I just started a Blueberry. Plus , I'll be starting a blackberry in a week or so.
 
Evets,

Did you have any trouble corking your bottles completely? I bottled some wine for SWMBO a couple weeks ago and the cork stands out of the bottle about 3/8". When I brought this up with my LHBS they said I filled the bottle too much, but your bottles are just as full as mine. I adjusted the corker as far out as it would go and did dry runs (ruining half a dozen corks), but could not get the corks in any further.:eek:


Maybe I got a bad corker?
 
I've had good luck with frozen fruit, actually. You gotta figure that they freeze it at the peak of ripeness/sweetness, whereas with fresh, you never really know how good it is, weather it be local or shipped in from somewhere else. At least my frozen Strawberry tastes pretty good so far, and the frozen blueberry seems promising.
 
Flyin' Lion said:
Evets,

Did you have any trouble corking your bottles completely? I bottled some wine for SWMBO a couple weeks ago and the cork stands out of the bottle about 3/8". When I brought this up with my LHBS they said I filled the bottle too much, but your bottles are just as full as mine. I adjusted the corker as far out as it would go and did dry runs (ruining half a dozen corks), but could not get the corks in any further.:eek:


Maybe I got a bad corker?
No, I had no trouble whatsoever. Do you have the same corker as in my post? I used the expensive synthetic #9 corks( they don't dry out, so you can store the wine up-rite) wetted with sanitizer. They went right in.
 
Evets said:
No, I had no trouble whatsoever. Do you have the same corker as in my post? I used the expensive synthetic #9 corks( they don't dry out, so you can store the wine up-rite) wetted with sanitizer. They went right in.

Pretty much the same corker, I didn't wet the corks before hand though. I think I used the same corks as well, I recognize the grapes on the corks.
 
Evets said:
No, I had no trouble whatsoever. Do you have the same corker as in my post? I used the expensive synthetic #9 corks( they don't dry out, so you can store the wine up-rite) wetted with sanitizer. They went right in.


Ahhh.. I always suspected you were a cork soaker.... :p



:drunk:
 
evets,
do you or would you have a link to the recipe you used for this apple wine. I would like to make some for my brothers wife and uncle as they cant bring themselves to enjoy the apfelwine i made. they are more of a sweet wine drinking crowd.
if it is as easy the apfelwine recipe then i deffintely want to make some, by the way the pics are great, nice color and nice and clear.....enjoy it
thanks
anthony
 
Boy, that's a nice looking apple wine. Mine is clear, and I'm bulk aging right now. I'm very happy with the "apply" taste I have, too.

Did you sweeten yours at all? I'm leaving mine dry, as a table wine, but I wonder if it would be more fruity if it was off-dry.

Lorena
 
Flyin' Lion said:
Evets,

Did you have any trouble corking your bottles completely? I bottled some wine for SWMBO a couple weeks ago and the cork stands out of the bottle about 3/8". When I brought this up with my LHBS they said I filled the bottle too much, but your bottles are just as full as mine. I adjusted the corker as far out as it would go and did dry runs (ruining half a dozen corks), but could not get the corks in any further.:eek:


Maybe I got a bad corker?


Try putting a string or thin wire into the neck of your bottlewhile corking it, then after the cork is in, slowly pull the string out. This method will relieve the pressure exerted inside the bottle and won't push your corks out.
 
Anthony, I'll try to find the recipe I used. I got it from a book I have laying around here, somewhere.
I did Sorbate and back-sweeten this with a 750 ml bottle of premium apple juice. Martinellis' I think it was. It was a little too dry for apple wine IMO, and now it's just off dry.
 
Well, I found the book I thought I used but nothing looked familiar. I'm thinking now that I prolly kinda made it up as I went along. If I were to make it again, and I'm sure I will, I'd use 5g fresh apple cider(no preservatives, pastuerized ok)
7# white cane sugar
2 tsp yeast nutrient
1 tsp acid blend
1 tsp grape tannin
3 tbs bentenite
5 campden tablets or 2.5 tsp meta bisulphite solution
1 package Cote De Blanc wine yeast
Combine everything except yeast in a large fermenter, cover loosely and let sit over nite.
Aerate, add yeast and ferment down to about 1.040. Rack to secondary , add airlock and ferment to 1.00 or so and let it clear. Rack it off lees and let it age a couple months.
Good Luck, Ev
 
thanks Evets,
that is pretty close to another one i had saw at one time. gonna put it together tomorrw being i finally will have an afternoon off in over a week and a half.
Again thanks for the recipe, I'll let ya know how it turns out.
anthony
 
hey evets how high was your orginal gravity readings? i checked my must not pre yeast and it seemed awful high at 1.120....could that be right or is my hydrometer on its own bandwidth??? lol.....just seemed really high to me, thought perhaps the hydrometer was stuck in the test vial but it was free.....hmmmm....looks interesting, nice color a bit dark but i took your advice and used natural fresh pressed.
one more thing, the benonite, was that 3 tsp or tablespoons? on the bottle is shows for approx 2.5 tsp per 5 gallons.... And also would you recommend using pectic enzyme for a fress pressed cider, as it is much more cloudy then say a regular apple juice?
thanks again
anthony
edit to correct typo on hydrometer reading sorry....
 
I think your s.g. is too high, too. I'd expect about 1.095 or 1.100 to have a nice 13% wine. Maybe your apple juice had lots of natural sugar? You're making rocket fuel, and it'll take years to age and mellow! You might want to add some lighter apple juice and/or water to get it down to about 1.100. It won't help now, but next time, mix up the juice first and take a s.g. Then just add sugar (you can use a free online calculater, or guestimate it) until you get a decent s.g. All juices and fruits have natural sugar which varies by brand, type, and year.

I can't give you advice on bentonite, as I don't use it, sorry. But I'd definitely use pectic enzyme, and then about 12 hours later add the yeast.
 
Yeah, that sounds a bit too high. I think 085-90 is more like it. I maybe only used 5# of sugar. Sorry about that. I need to learn to take notes.
The bentonite would have been in tablespoons but I don't think you should use it with pectic enzyme. I think one renders the other ineffective,IIRC. You may wanna follow Lorenas'advice more than mine as I think she's got a lot more experience in wine-making than I. This is only the second wine I have bottled so far.
 
okay....i think i was abe to salvage this without generating jet fuel..... i was still in the 24 hour wait phase for adding the yeast.....so i added a bit of bottled water to adjust the SG. level down to 1.090-1.092..i will rack it over to a 6 gallon carboy when i put in secondary and hope for the best ...i will add the yeast tonight as well....it did seem awful high to me as well so i figured i would ask, i did use 7 pounds but perhaps 5 would have been better....ill take your advice and check as i mix in the future to get to a more desirable gravity range before hand....
i hope that this is a salvageable effort, i dont think it would not be being i had not added the yeast to the must, thank goodness for the 24 hour rule.....maybe.
running the projected abv it now looks like i will get a more desirable 12.5% versus the 27% i was looking at....whoaa nelly.....
thanks for the help and the input. much appreciated
anthony
 
Preliator said:
okay....i think i was abe to salvage this without generating jet fuel..... i was still in the 24 hour wait phase for adding the yeast.....so i added a bit of bottled water to adjust the SG. level down to 1.090-1.092..i will rack it over to a 6 gallon carboy when i put in secondary and hope for the best ...i will add the yeast tonight as well....it did seem awful high to me as well so i figured i would ask, i did use 7 pounds but perhaps 5 would have been better....ill take your advice and check as i mix in the future to get to a more desirable gravity range before hand....
i hope that this is a salvageable effort, i dont think it would not be being i had not added the yeast to the must, thank goodness for the 24 hour rule.....maybe.
running the projected abv it now looks like i will get a more desirable 12.5% versus the 27% i was looking at....whoaa nelly.....
thanks for the help and the input. much appreciated
anthony

sounds great! This will probably be a very good wine!
 
I hope it turns out well for you. I'd hate to think I led you astray and cost you a bunch of dough on ingredients.
 
I am sure it will be okay, no worries its all trial and error and I think it will be just fine, just have to rack to a bigger secondary is all...thanks again for the recipe, Ill let you know how it turns out...
anthony
 
I made a 1 gallon batch of apple this year that ended up at 17% ABV, and bottled dry. That stuff is pretty, well, very, rough! I could probably run my oil stove on it! It is going to sit at least another 6 months before I try it again.

I have now done 3 batches from Jack Keller's site. All have ended up with way too high of an SG. The last time I used his recipe I had to dilute from 1 gallon to 2. I took the SG 2 days after I added Pectic Enzyme (1 day after pitching) and the gravity was like 1.14. :drunk: The SG at mixing was 1.090. The sugar contributed from the fruit obviously wasn't considered in the recipe.
 
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