Crabapple Wine

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Yooper, again with the great recipe!

There are three crab apple trees near my work and I have cased them for 26 pounds of crab apples. So, of course, I am going to make up a big batch of wine.

These apples resemble Jonagolds except they are about the size of ping pong balls. They have a good flavor and are tart, but not overbearingly so. I'm sure this will make for some good wine. I'll keep you posted as things go forward.
 
So while I was riding bike on one of the bike paths in town, I came across quite the boon. In this nice secluded wooded section that is only accessable by foot/bike, I found a beautiful crabapple tree with fruit a bit bigger than a golf ball. This sounds like a non-ornamental variety to me!

I think I'll use your recipe Yooper, but I do have a tiny question before I get started. I know your tastes are different than mine, but how much honey did you end up adding to your 1 gallon batch? The idea of using honey to smooth things out is very interesting.

Thanks again for the recipe, and maybe I'll post back after some progress is made with the wine.
 
So while I was riding bike on one of the bike paths in town, I came across quite the boon. In this nice secluded wooded section that is only accessable by foot/bike, I found a beautiful crabapple tree with fruit a bit bigger than a golf ball. This sounds like a non-ornamental variety to me!

I think I'll use your recipe Yooper, but I do have a tiny question before I get started. I know your tastes are different than mine, but how much honey did you end up adding to your 1 gallon batch? The idea of using honey to smooth things out is very interesting.

Thanks again for the recipe, and maybe I'll post back after some progress is made with the wine.

I added 1/4 cup and it fermented out. It was really nice!
 
Quick question:

I was thinking of setting up the OG at 1.090 and using Nottingham yeast with the hope that it craps out at around 1.005-1.010. Is this doable? I don't forsee a problem, but you can never be too sure.
 
Looking at our crabapple tree last night I caught notice of the osage orange trees out back. Wonder if they would be good, or could even be used.
 
Was that 1/4 cup per gallon? Or for the whole batch/



GO PACK!!!!!!

It was 1/4 at a time, I believe. I added it, let it ferment out, tasted it, added it again, etc, but still had it finish at .996. My notes are pretty hard to read now but that's been my procedure the last few times I've made this wine.

We actually drank a bottle of this tonight with dinner, from crabapples from 2009. It is aging really nicely! By the time it's old enough to really have aged, though, it'll be gone!
 
One gallon recipe

6 pounds crabapples
water
1 campden tablet
1/2 tsp pectic enzyme
wine yeast
1 tsp yeast nutrients
About 3 pounds sugar
honey (if wanted)

Crush apples, but do not cut or crush seeds. Put in large mesh bag and add enough water to cover apples in primary. Add 1 crushed campden tablet. Stir well. Cover loosely with a towel. 12 hours later, add pectic enzyme and stir well. The next day, add sugar to desired sg (usually 1.085- 1.100) in enough water to bring to one gallon in the primary, then add nutrient and wine yeast. Stir daily for 5 days. Keep loosely covered.
On the 6th day, strain and discard apples. Rack into secondary and top up to one gallon with water. Rack about three weeks after fermentation has ceased. At this point, you could mix 1/2 cup of honey with one cup of of wine, and rack the wine into that. Fermentation should start up again, if it doesn't add 1/2 tsp nutrients. This can be done several times, if desired, for a sweeter wine.
(I'm doing one batch with honey, and one without)

Rack every 45 days- 3 months until no more lees drop. Bottle at 6-12 months.

This wine is very good dry- the crabapples give it a kind of spiciness lacking in most apple wines. It could be sweetened just a little for a nice table wine, or sweetened more for a dessert wine.

I have a large crab apple tree in my backyard and am thinking of attempting crabapple wine. I'm fairly new to making wine, I've only made about 3 batches of kit wines, but I really love the juice from my crabapple tree and think it might make a fantastic wine.

I've scourged the internet for recipes, and I think this one by far looks the most promising. If I were to scale this up to a 6 gallon batch, would you recommend multiplying everything by 6 except for the yeast + yeast nutrients? (and perhaps cut down on the sugar a bit, to say 12 pounds?) Thanks!
 
I have a large crab apple tree in my backyard and am thinking of attempting crabapple wine. I'm fairly new to making wine, I've only made about 3 batches of kit wines, but I really love the juice from my crabapple tree and think it might make a fantastic wine.

I've scourged the internet for recipes, and I think this one by far looks the most promising. If I were to scale this up to a 6 gallon batch, would you recommend multiplying everything by 6 except for the yeast + yeast nutrients? (and perhaps cut down on the sugar a bit, to say 12 pounds?) Thanks!

Yes, just multiplying the recipe x6 would work well (except for the yeast). I probably would add just enough sugar to get to 1.085-1.090 so it would depend on how much natural sugar your crabapples have on how much sugar you add.
 
Greeting All,

I usually prefer trial and error to get answers, but when working with inherently labor intensive fruit, sometimes the trial and the error are too great and too risky, and it's just better to ask. I am working on a cyser for this fall which will be heavy in crab apples, hopefully at least 50%, depending on yields (as of now it's looking hopeful ...). I have read through several of the threads here regarding working with crab apples, and have found them most helpful. I like the idea of freezing the apples, as opposed to using heat. In fact, I felt a little silly not thinking of it myself, since I already use the freeze method for melomels. Thanks to Yooper for the great ideas. I am also going to try your idea of fermenting the crab fruit in the primary. I figure I can finish the crab cyser separately, and then blend it with the regular cyser. I have noticed the controversy surrounding the idea of fermenting the fruit when working with apples in general. My guess is, crabs are less juicy than regular apples, therefore justifying the different handling. Can anyone corroborate this? Are there other reasons for the different handling?

Second, the crabs in my orchard - Wickson, Whitney, and Virginia Hewes - have good sized fruit, as opposed to the smaller ornamental crabs. All except for one, the Evereste crab. The fruit on the Evereste is one inch at best, probably closer to 3/4 on average. This little bugger is particularly labor intensive. The Evereste fruit has good attributes, however, so I DO want to use it. I am hoping I can get away with NOT chopping this one, but just smashing it up with all the rest, and letting the chips fall where they may. Hopefully, the Evereste will impart some of its goodness with this minimal processing effort. Thoughts?

Last, would still be any benefit to sweating the crab fruit for a few weeks, as with regular apples, prior to chopping and freezing?

Thanks in advance,

zipmont
 
If the small crabs are tasty, simply using them with the others is fine. The idea is that you don't want to crush the seeds, but you do want to smash up the fruit. Freezing/thawing really helps with this, and so it's not so labor intensive!

I use mostly dolgo crabs and centennial crabs for my wine. Mainly because that's all I have :D but I do love the flavor. They are considered "eating" crabapples, but they are tart.

I just freeze them whole (removing the stems and washing them) in big food-safe bags. I don't do anything else to them.
 
Sounds good. I think the freezing aspect probably makes sweating unnecessary, since it has a similar effect of breaking down the fruit and maximizing yield, etc ... I may still press the juice from my wickson crabs, due to their 2+ inch size. They'll make a nice addition to the cider apples, golden and roxbury russets. But for the rest of the crabs, I think your method is the ticket. And I really like the idea of turning 20 pounds of fruit into 5 gallons instead of 1. I can always blend later if it seems like the thing to do. Or not ...

I really need to get some of those dolgo and centennial crabs. I've heard great things about them, and I've also seen them in the local nurseries here in the Pac Northwest, which generally indicates they are compatible with our climate.
 
Yooper - I'm hoping you can help a newbie...

If I've got a bucket with apples/water/sugar up to my desired mark how accurate is my initial sg reading? I'd imagine once the apples are removed on day 5 that I'd have to add quite a bit of water to bring it back up to my desired mark and that this would alter my SG quite a bit. Do you compensate for this somehow or am I missing something?
 
Yooper - I'm hoping you can help a newbie...

If I've got a bucket with apples/water/sugar up to my desired mark how accurate is my initial sg reading? I'd imagine once the apples are removed on day 5 that I'd have to add quite a bit of water to bring it back up to my desired mark and that this would alter my SG quite a bit. Do you compensate for this somehow or am I missing something?

Yes, the SG reading can be accurate. A good thing to do is to pull the apples out (just lift up the bag) to see the volume. Once the apples smoosh up, you'll get a little more volume than that, but not that much. So bring the water/sugar up to the volume you want, scaling up the recipe. I hope that makes sense!
 
One gallon recipe

6 pounds crabapples
water
1 campden tablet
1/2 tsp pectic enzyme
wine yeast
1 tsp yeast nutrients
About 3 pounds sugar
honey (if wanted)

Crush apples, but do not cut or crush seeds. Put in large mesh bag and add enough water to cover apples in primary. Add 1 crushed campden tablet. Stir well. Cover loosely with a towel. 12 hours later, add pectic enzyme and stir well. The next day, add sugar to desired sg (usually 1.085- 1.100) in enough water to bring to one gallon in the primary, then add nutrient and wine yeast. Stir daily for 5 days. Keep loosely covered.
On the 6th day, strain and discard apples. Rack into secondary and top up to one gallon with water. Rack about three weeks after fermentation has ceased. At this point, you could mix 1/2 cup of honey with one cup of of wine, and rack the wine into that. Fermentation should start up again, if it doesn't add 1/2 tsp nutrients. This can be done several times, if desired, for a sweeter wine.
(I'm doing one batch with honey, and one without)

Rack every 45 days- 3 months until no more lees drop. Bottle at 6-12 months.

This wine is very good dry- the crabapples give it a kind of spiciness lacking in most apple wines. It could be sweetened just a little for a nice table wine, or sweetened more for a dessert wine.


Any thoughts on 5 gallons? Just x by 5? How about bruised fruit? I have a 5 gallon bucket full of fruit I saved from the garbage. I want to use it for wine if possible
 
Any thoughts on 5 gallons? Just x by 5? How about bruised fruit? I have a 5 gallon bucket full of fruit I saved from the garbage. I want to use it for wine if possible

Yep, for 5 gallons just multiply by 5, except for the yeast. One package is enough.

I'd cut out any bruised areas before freezing, but I'd only use good fruit. The rule for winemaking is to not make wine out of anything you wouldn't eat fresh.
 
I am going to be getting ccrabapples tomorrow. I am wanting to make 5 gallons. So I know to multiply everything as mentioned my question though is my largest brew bucket is only 7 gallons. Do I make in that container then top off after primary fermentation? I also have two 5 gallon buckets, should I maybe split?
 
I am going to be getting ccrabapples tomorrow. I am wanting to make 5 gallons. So I know to multiply everything as mentioned my question though is my largest brew bucket is only 7 gallons. Do I make in that container then top off after primary fermentation? I also have two 5 gallon buckets, should I maybe split?

I did 5 gallons of this last year. I was able to fit about 25 lbs of apples in a 6 gallon bucket. I fermented just the apples and then topped off with invert sugar and honey. I'll get out my notes when I get home, but I definitely ended up with less than 5 gallons and had had to top off.

This is a very good wine. Crisp, dry and slightly fruity. I wholeheartedly recommend making as much of it as possible.
 
dougdecinces said:
I did 5 gallons of this last year. I was able to fit about 25 lbs of apples in a 6 gallon bucket. I fermented just the apples and then topped off with invert sugar and honey. I'll get out my notes when I get home, but I definitely ended up with less than 5 gallons and had had to top off.

This is a very good wine. Crisp, dry and slightly fruity. I wholeheartedly recommend making as much of it as possible.

Ok awesome please let me know!

And excuse my ignorance, invert sugar?
 
The carbon apples I have were all fallen fruit. I was about 3 days late to pick them. I cleaned and sorted them but I know many were bruised. I'm not sure about how edible they are due to being crab apples. I plan to follow a jack Keller recipe. How important is Pectic Enzyme and Yeast Nutriment? The store was all out!
 
Ok awesome please let me know!

And excuse my ignorance, invert sugar?

Sorry. I didn't see this when I got home. I'm at work again. I'll answer your first question then.

As for the invert sugar, you make syrup with a 2:1 water:sugar and add 1/4 t citric acid per pound of sugar. You let it boil until it gets to be about 235 degrees (15-20 minutes will do the trick). The citric acid breaks the sucrose down into its glucose and fructose monomers which is supposed to be easier for the yeast to break down.

I make all my wines with invert sugar and ale yeast. They finish around 10-12% ABV and most are ready to drink within a few months. I'm impatient.

The good thing about this recipe is you can choose to keep boiling it down and you'll eventually make candi sugar. It's super easy to do and sure as hell beats spending an arm and a leg on it at the LHBS.

I made this wine last September with invert sugar, racked it three times until it was clear, and was drinking it in January. OG was about 1.090 and FG was 1.002.
 
Thanks for the great recipe Yooper. I've brewed up 2 gallons using apples from my tree, and the samples I've tasted have been great. I racked the wine a week ago from a carboy to two 1 gallon jugs. I did add honey to one of the jugs just to see how it would taste. But since I've split the batch and added the honey, it seems as though fermentation has ceased, even on the jug with the added honey. I did add 1/2tsp of nutrients a few days ago, but haven't seen any activity yet. The jug with the added honey has developed what looks like lees drop, but its more white/opaque in color and isn't exactly settling on the bottom. I'm wondering if the honey did not dissolve all the way into the wine when I mixed it after racking. Should I take it out of the jug and mix it more, with a wine whip maybe?
 
I recently bought a new house with a crabapple tree in the front yard. It was full of fruit so I decided to attempt my first batch of wine. I mixed the ingredients in this recipe and tested the SG before adding the yeast+nutrients. The SG read 1.16 at 70 degrees (!?). Unfortunately, I later found out that this SG may be far too high for proper fermenting. There is steady fizzing and many more bubbles when I stir, but otherwise not a lot of activity. Does anyone have any advice for a first time winemaker (give up now :(, how to adjust/modify, don't worry about it, etc.)? Thanks in advance for your thoughts!
 
Thanks for the great recipe Yooper. I've brewed up 2 gallons using apples from my tree, and the samples I've tasted have been great. I racked the wine a week ago from a carboy to two 1 gallon jugs. I did add honey to one of the jugs just to see how it would taste. But since I've split the batch and added the honey, it seems as though fermentation has ceased, even on the jug with the added honey. I did add 1/2tsp of nutrients a few days ago, but haven't seen any activity yet. The jug with the added honey has developed what looks like lees drop, but its more white/opaque in color and isn't exactly settling on the bottom. I'm wondering if the honey did not dissolve all the way into the wine when I mixed it after racking. Should I take it out of the jug and mix it more, with a wine whip maybe?

No, the yeast can find the honey. Don't aerate it!
 
I recently bought a new house with a crabapple tree in the front yard. It was full of fruit so I decided to attempt my first batch of wine. I mixed the ingredients in this recipe and tested the SG before adding the yeast+nutrients. The SG read 1.16 at 70 degrees (!?). Unfortunately, I later found out that this SG may be far too high for proper fermenting. There is steady fizzing and many more bubbles when I stir, but otherwise not a lot of activity. Does anyone have any advice for a first time winemaker (give up now :(, how to adjust/modify, don't worry about it, etc.)? Thanks in advance for your thoughts!

1.160? Or 1.116? My hydrometer doesn't go up to 1.16, and I don't know if ANY do, so I'm guessing it's 1.116. Which is fine.
 
OK, I did 5 gallons with fallen ornamental fruit. Then racked it over and without the fruit it went down to 3 gallons. It is in secondary and has cleared perfectly. It has only been about a month so far and I am willing to let it age. But, when I racked it over, I had a taste. It was very sour. Not quite as sour as my SeekterPee, but probably a bit too much for the masses. The folks we plan to share it with are dry wine drinkers. How might I go about tempering enough of the bitter/sour taste to make it more drinkable. Right now, I could have a glass, but that is it.

Challenge Factor: I am not smart (calculations), I am lazy, and my whole goal was to make a very cheap wine using fruit that was just going to go to the landfill. I would just like a ball park suggestion. I have Calcium Carbonate and I know back sweetening it will also do some good (but like I said we like it dry).

What can I add to temper and what is a ballpark of measurements?

Thanks for you patients to all of the hard core wine people out there. I know I am probably making you brain hurt. I am not an optimalist. I am more of a Heart than a Diamond or a Spade!
 
No, the yeast can find the honey. Don't aerate it!


I've run into another speed bump with the apple wine. I initially split a 2 gallon batch into two 1 gallon jugs, and added honey to one. I did leave my the sweetened apple wine alone like you said, and it is now happily fermenting again. It has also cleared up really well, like glass. However my jug of unsweetened apple wine has stopped fermenting and is still quite cloudy. What can I do to help it along and get it to clear as well as the other jug that I added honey to? There is not a large amount of lees drop in the bottom of the jug if that means anything nor has the airlock been active in weeks(its a 3 piece and it hasn't risen up that I've notice).
 
I've run into another speed bump with the apple wine. I initially split a 2 gallon batch into two 1 gallon jugs, and added honey to one. I did leave my the sweetened apple wine alone like you said, and it is now happily fermenting again. It has also cleared up really well, like glass. However my jug of unsweetened apple wine has stopped fermenting and is still quite cloudy. What can I do to help it along and get it to clear as well as the other jug that I added honey to? There is not a large amount of lees drop in the bottom of the jug if that means anything nor has the airlock been active in weeks(its a 3 piece and it hasn't risen up that I've notice).

Is it done fermenting, and at FG? If it is, you can put it someplace cool and it should drop clear.
 
My crabapple cysers this year dropped brilliantly clear even at 70 degrees. And they did so relatively quickly, within a week or two of finishing fermenting.

However, back sweetening with honey tends to cloud things up again, for me anyway. I have been back sweetening with raw blackberry blossom honey that reasonably clear, but not nearly as clear as the cyser, so it clouds things up noticeably.

You can use the ambient temperature of the garage to chill the freshly racked, back sweetened cyser. If that doesn't work, or if it seems too slow, you're in a perfect position, having chilled it, to throw some bentonite at it, which often produces results overnight.

Best of luck.
 
I had back sweetened mine with honey, let it ferment out, then sweetened a little more once again with honey though it's been about 3 weeks it's clear some leas is still dropping and i wracked it again, and it's still fermenting... Is that normal or will i end up with rocket fuel?? Just used monchatrachet yeast
 
I had back sweetened mine with honey, let it ferment out, then sweetened a little more once again with honey though it's been about 3 weeks it's clear some leas is still dropping and i wracked it again, and it's still fermenting... Is that normal or will i end up with rocket fuel?? Just used monchatrachet yeast

It probably isn't really fermenting, or at least not much. What is the current SG?
 
Just checked the SG 1.004, it's the second time i back sweetened without sorbate or anything hoping the alcohol content would stop the fermentation. It's clear but still dropping some leas.... That aside i may have sampled some.... Amazing
 
FYI, I tried this mulled for the first time and it was amazing. I brought to my homebrewers club meeting to rave reviews. It's the perfect tonic for these cold winter days.

I took 1 quart of the wine and added 1/4 c brown sugar, 2 cinnamon sticks, 1 t of nutmeg, a thin slice of ginger, and a couple cloves and allspice berries. I let it heat to a boil and then transferred it to a crock pot for serving to make sure it stayed hot. Delicious!
 
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