Apple wine strong alcohol flavour

SSBrew - 728
Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum

Help Support Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
S

scorpien222

Well-Known Member
Joined
Jun 23, 2012
Messages
266
Reaction score
1
I have recently made two gallons of apple wine following a recipe for crab apple wine I have followed it to the letter bar using a different type of apple when I took my OG reading I knew it was going to be strong around 17-18 ABV but I had only put in the sugars as advised by the recipe I think it was 1.5KG of sugar per gallon I don't have my recipe on me so this could be a little out.

I racked off my wine yesterday for the first time and decided to have a little sip of it and the first taste to smack you in the face is pure alcohol and then the apple comes through after it does tell me I new to age the wine for 6 months will this flavor mellow out ?? Will the apple flavor become more prominent through aging and mask the alcohol flavor ? Would adding oak chips help mask the flavor ? Any advice would be appreciated

Justin
 
scorpien222 said:
I have recently made two gallons of apple wine following a recipe for crab apple wine I have followed it to the letter bar using a different type of apple when I took my OG reading I knew it was going to be strong around 17-18 ABV but I had only put in the sugars as advised by the recipe I think it was 1.5KG of sugar per gallon I don't have my recipe on me so this could be a little out.

I racked off my wine yesterday for the first time and decided to have a little sip of it and the first taste to smack you in the face is pure alcohol and then the apple comes through after it does tell me I new to age the wine for 6 months will this flavor mellow out ?? Will the apple flavor become more prominent through aging and mask the alcohol flavor ? Would adding oak chips help mask the flavor ? Any advice would be appreciated

Justin
Click to expand...

Yes, it will get better with time. If you do sample it along the way and its still too crazy, just cut it with some apple juice or sprite as a mixer to make it drinkable.
 
It depends, for a good answer we need to know the yeast used and fermentation temps. But I can tell you that at that og its going to take a lot of aging, at such a young age the alcohol will be prominent but it should fade. I would leave it 6 months, then give it a little taste while bottling. If its still not there, leave it another 6 before opening the first bottle.
 
Yooper said:
That's a very very high OG. Did your instructions say to start at 1.120? My apple and crabapple wine is best at 1.085-1.100 as an OG. An OG of 1.120 will make a wine that is very "hot" for a long time.
Click to expand...

The recipe didn't give an expected OG it was from a book I was bought and I just followed the ingredients listed.
 
Insomniac said:
It depends, for a good answer we need to know the yeast used and fermentation temps. But I can tell you that at that og its going to take a lot of aging, at such a young age the alcohol will be prominent but it should fade. I would leave it 6 months, then give it a little taste while bottling. If its still not there, leave it another 6 before opening the first bottle.
Click to expand...

I used champagne yeast and the fermentation temps were around 15 degrees.
 
With that combination, "hot" alcohols aren't the problem. My experience with high OG apple wines is they take a long time to mellow and the apple stays in the background.
 
I made some apple wine a few months ago and at bottling it was pretty hot and hardly drinkable. I opened a bottle this past weekend and it's drastically better then it was at bottling. I'm going to have a hard time letting it age for another few months.
 
What was the final gravity? Are we talking 18% here? If so I'd put it on some oak and age it for a while. The upside is it should be pretty awesome when it's done. And with a hell of a kick!!!!! :drunk:
 
It's currently still going I have racked it in to a secondary and it's still bubbling away.
 
rhartwel41 said:
I made some apple wine a few months ago and at bottling it was pretty hot and hardly drinkable. I opened a bottle this past weekend and it's drastically better then it was at bottling. I'm going to have a hard time letting it age for another few months.
Click to expand...

I also made an Apple wine a couple months ago. It fermented quick with ec-1118 yeast. It came out hot at 18% abv. It didn't last long enough to mellow out...
 
apple wine is yummy but it comes out hot, im going to start my gravity at exactly 1.090 next time i make it instead of 1.100
 
I started a batch of apple wine a few weeks ago using a recipe from a book called "Home Winemaking Without Failures" by H.E. Bravery. According to that recipe the wine is best aged about nine months. I assume that's the time it will take to adequately mellow out.
 

Similar threads

O
Apple wine without juicing?
Replies
2
Views
634
Erik the Awful
E
M
No apple flavor
Replies
32
Views
3K
Midway Island
Midway Island
S
Just pitched - Apple wine
Replies
12
Views
911
Srimmey
S
Brit the !@#$
New Apple Orchardist Member Looking to Develop Graf Recipe Using Cider Syrup
Replies
16
Views
790
madscientist451
madscientist451
W
Cider from pulp?
Replies
2
Views
785
madscientist451
madscientist451

Latest posts

Back
Top