Crabapple Wine

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Does it matter if I have the apples in for 8 days instead of 6 like you said in the recipe? I'm supposed to take them out today and rack to secondary but it would be slightly handier for me if I could leave it for a couple of days.
 
Does it matter if I have the apples in for 8 days instead of 6 like you said in the recipe? I'm supposed to take them out today and rack to secondary but it would be slightly handier for me if I could leave it for a couple of days.

That should be fine. The fruit starts to break down after primary, but a couple of days wouldn’t matter much, if at all.
 
THanks again Yooper

That should be fine. The fruit starts to break down after primary, but a couple of days wouldn’t matter much, if at all.

I took it off the fruit a couple of days ago like I planned. It's been settling out but I must have brought over a lot of lees. Is this OK? I'm doing a 5 litre batch and it looks like about a litre of lees on the bottom after the first transfer and after it settled for a few days. I think I'm not supposed to rack it for a couple of weeks now going by your recipe if I read it right. Does that seem right ? Image attached

Thanks

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I racked this onto honey ( 2nd time to rack onto honey ) a couple of days ago and I even added energiser but it doesn't look like fermentation is starting again like it did the last time. I even agitated it by twisting the carboy a bit to suspend the honey but all I got was a small bit of activity after I added the energiser ( yesterday ) ... it's roughly at the right temp ( room temp- pretty warm room ) ... the only thing I'm wondering is maybe because I left it sit a long time after the last racking and it was fairly cold that is it possible there isn't enough yeast to start up again because it all got crashed out ... I'm wondering about adding more yeast .... what do you think?
 
OK, here I am a total newbie, joined this group because I want to try my hand at making chokecherry wine. THEN I came across this thread on Crabapple wine..........I might need to try two different types! LOL!

Yooper since you seem to be the expert on crabapple wine I have a question, I have a chestnut crab (similar to centennial but a bit larger and ripens a bit later) and a Dolgo crab. do you combine these to make your wine? or just use the Centennial?

I like wines that are on the sweet side, similar to a pinot noir or a Riesling. How would the crabapple wine compare to these?

2. I smash them with a strainer and a big wooden pestle, after letting them thaw about 75% of the way.
The strainer and wooden pestle, is that like the cone-shaped food press I use for other processing?
Code:
https://www.amazon.com/Mirro-9605000A-Canning-Accessories-Cookware/dp/B00002N5ZQ

I am sure to have more questions when the time comes, but now I am off to see how much room is in my freezer!
Thanks!
 
OK, here I am a total newbie, joined this group because I want to try my hand at making chokecherry wine. THEN I came across this thread on Crabapple wine..........I might need to try two different types! LOL!

Yooper since you seem to be the expert on crabapple wine I have a question, I have a chestnut crab (similar to centennial but a bit larger and ripens a bit later) and a Dolgo crab. do you combine these to make your wine? or just use the Centennial?

I like wines that are on the sweet side, similar to a pinot noir or a Riesling. How would the crabapple wine compare to these?


The strainer and wooden pestle, is that like the cone-shaped food press I use for other processing?
Code:
https://www.amazon.com/Mirro-9605000A-Canning-Accessories-Cookware/dp/B00002N5ZQ

I am sure to have more questions when the time comes, but now I am off to see how much room is in my freezer!
Thanks!

Yes, I mix my crabapples to get a good flavor mix. I love dolgos, and with the chestnut crabs you should find a good mix there. You want a mix of sharp, bitter, sweet, etc. About 50% of sweet(ish) would be great, and then for some tannins and flavor you could add others. And if it's a bit bland, you could add powdered tannin and acid blend at the end to tweak the flavor.
And however you can mash them will work- a scratter, a mortar and pestle, a chopper, etc- you just want them chopped up a bit but not juiced- so you can get all of the good stuff out of them.
Dry, these wines remind me of a pinto grigio- fruity with notes of apple and pear and maybe even citrus fruits- but you can definitely sweeten it to the amount you would like after fermentation is finished.
 
Dry, these wines remind me of a pinto grigio- fruity with notes of apple and pear and maybe even citrus fruits- but you can definitely sweeten it to the amount you would like after fermentation is finished.
Oops, I wrote Pinot Noir, but meant Pinot Grigio! I will have to read up on the way to sweeten after fermentation.
Thanks!
 
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.
Do you have any high Bush cranberry wine recipes?
 
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)

It was a banner year for our crabapple trees, so I'm going to give this a try--my first attempt at wine making.
1) I have a five gallon drink cooler (plastic with spigot at the bottom) for my primary fermenter. How much of the recipe can I start in it (3/4 gallons)? When it comes time to rack it, can I use the spigot, or am I better off siphoning it out?
2) Do you de-stem the crabapples first? These are the size of quarters, so that's a lot of stems to cut off!

Thanks!
 
It was a banner year for our crabapple trees, so I'm going to give this a try--my first attempt at wine making.
1) I have a five gallon drink cooler (plastic with spigot at the bottom) for my primary fermenter. How much of the recipe can I start in it (3/4 gallons)? When it comes time to rack it, can I use the spigot, or am I better off siphoning it out?
2) Do you de-stem the crabapples first? These are the size of quarters, so that's a lot of stems to cut off!

Thanks!

I'd start in a bucket, so you can remove the crabapples easily and squish them to get the juice out. Always siphon, to get the wine off of the lees on the bottom.

If they are the size of quarters, they sound like ornamental crabapples, and not eating crabs. How do they taste?
 
"If they are the size of quarters, they sound like ornamental crabapples, and not eating crabs. How do they taste?"

That was the big surprise. Out of curiosity I tasted one. They taste very much like a granny smith apple. So far I've already canned applesauce and apple butter from them, and started some crabapple liquor.

The trees were on our property when we bought it two decades ago. Never had them fruit like they have this year--a gorgeous red and so heavily that a couple of small branches broke. I've already picked close to two hundred pounds of crabapples, and haven't even gotten to the top of the trees. We haven't ever pruned, or done any cultivation of the trees. May have to change that.
 
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