basic apple/crabapple question

[zipmont]

Fermenting the fruit when making crabapple wine/cyser seems to be pretty widely accepted. But this doesn't seem to be the case with regular apples. Why is it that cyser/apple wine is made by fermenting (pressed) apple juice, while the opposite seems to be true for crab apples, ie; we ferment the whole fruit?

Is it just a simple matter of crab apples not being very juicy, and having little recourse other than fermenting them?

Thanks -

 

[Yooper]

Fermenting the fruit when making crabapple wine/cyser seems to be pretty widely accepted. But this doesn't seem to be the case with regular apples. Why is it that cyser/apple wine is made by fermenting (pressed) apple juice, while the opposite seems to be true for crab apples, ie; we ferment the whole fruit?

Is it just a simple matter of crab apples not being very juicy, and having little recourse other than fermenting them?

Thanks -

Well, I ferment the apple wine the same way I do the crabapple wine so I don't have an answer for you!

I will say that many people seem to buy the juice from apples, while I don't see crabapple juice for sale so maybe that could be a factor.

 

[Goofynewfie]

I use a juicer and blend them together so I really dont know why the difference, but I am happy with the results from my way

 

[saramc]

I think it has to do with the fact that once you break the skin of an apple the fruit immediately starts to oxidize, and as a result of that the fruit is crushed and immediately pressed for juice. Same would apply for perry pears--they are crushed and immediately pressed--the majority of the time. You immediately have 100% juice. If trying to work with 100% fruit, we know it quickly oxidizes, and apples break down quite easily leaving a large volume of gross lees, risk for the infamous "rotten egg smell", and decaying pulp.
Not to say that you cannot make your wine from fruit instead of the juice, but the juice is so much easier not to mention you know going into it what your liquid volume is immediately. I will be juicing my crabapples, apples and pears this season.

 

[zipmont]

Thanks guys for the thoughts. Another idea that just crossed my mind is nutrients. I'm not sure this makes sense, but it seems plausible. The (roughly) 100 pounds of fruit needed to press 5 gallons has a lot more nutrition than the 25 pounds of fruit needed for the same size batch when not pressing. So it seems additional nutrients may be required. Additional sugar may also be required since the water would have a diluting effect.

Thanks again -