Racking apple wine

[Yooper]

Today was a good day for me to rack some apple wine.



All are now racked, sulfited, and left to age until spring when I will probably need to rack again. I'll take a look at them at the end of March to see. One of those carboys is from 2013, but the rest are all cider or wines from this fall. One is a 100% crabapple wine, and the others are mixed windfall apples.

I'll do chokecherry wines next week- I petered out after those 28 gallons.

 

[vincentAlpha]

I'm jealous of your kitchen Yooper, looks like you've got more counter-space then I've got square footage in my entire kitchen and nice looking to-boot! How's the 2013 wine tasting, it all looks pretty good from here?

 

[CorporateHippie]

I am curious of the taste on the crab apple wine???? Please do tell. I have a crab apple tree in my yard and have thought of using it before but never have.

Also on a complete side note....I live in Wisconsin but have many friends in the U.P. I drove to Escanaba to pick up my German wire-Haired Puppy about 6 years ago. We decided to name her Yooper. (just thought I would throw that out there)

 

[liquiditynerd]

A VERY good start to the new year! Looks like it was a productive harvest. At the price of commercial/craft cider your sitting on liquid gold! Cheers and Happy New Year L!

 

[Yooper]

I'm jealous of your kitchen Yooper, looks like you've got more counter-space then I've got square footage in my entire kitchen and nice looking to-boot! How's the 2013 wine tasting, it all looks pretty good from here?

It was a bit bland, actually. I'm not sure why, as the apples were tart mostly. So I added a bit of acid blend, and it seems to have brightened up considerably.

I have a big house, which is nice because I have my brewery indoors, and right now I have those carboys of apple wine, 30+ gallons of chokecherry wine in carboys, 10 gallons of IPA fermenting, 15 gallons of red wine on tap, 25 gallons of white in the cellar on tap, 6 keg in the kegerator, and several hundred bottles of wine in the cellar.

We bought this house in early 2001, mostly due to the kitchen size even though the cabinets are outdated. The laundry room is on the first floor, and it's a perfect brew space as well. It's a very old house, over 100 years old, and it's log underneath. I love the hardwood floors, and they are in every room.

I am curious of the taste on the crab apple wine???? Please do tell. I have a crab apple tree in my yard and have thought of using it before but never have.

Also on a complete side note....I live in Wisconsin but have many friends in the U.P. I drove to Escanaba to pick up my German wire-Haired Puppy about 6 years ago. We decided to name her Yooper. (just thought I would throw that out there)

Crabapple wine is my favorite white wine. We have dolgo and centennial crabs, which make a wonderful wine. It's very much like a pinot grigio- fruity and dry (I don't like sweet wines) but not distinctly apple. I have the recipe posted in my recipe dropdown under my avatar if you want to take a look.

If I ever meet you and your dog, I will try to not answer to "Yooper" if you call out.

 

[Yooper]

A VERY good start to the new year! Looks like it was a productive harvest. At the price of commercial/craft cider your sitting on liquid gold! Cheers and Happy New Year L!

Yes, I think we did about 40 gallons of apple wine or cider this year. It was a very nice harvest!

 

[pumpkinman2012]

WOW! That's a bit of apple wine...Lol!
I started with 18 gallons of fresh pressed apples,
I fermented three separate 6 gallon batches with different yeasts, QA23, 71B-1122, and T306;
I wasn't sure whether I was going to make it all hard cider and back sweeten it a little, or make some of it apple wine; once I tasted the fermented batches, I knew right then that two would become wine.
The QA23 is a real nice yeast to use on whites such as Chardonnay, Pinot Grigio, Riesling, and so on, it was also recommended for cider by Scott labs (see their cider handbook), it produced a nice light, almost delicate apple taste and aroma, this could easily pass for a Pinot Grigio or Chardonnay with a subtle apple flavor and aroma.
The 71B-1122 is the least impressive of the three yeasts used, nothing that jumps out at you and says “WOW”! This batch will become a semi sweet, carbonated hard cider.
The T306 is a new yeast for me, it is recommend for Pinot Gris, Chardonnay, Semillon, and Chenin Blanc, it produced a real nice soft\delicate Chardonnay or Pinot Grigio type white wine that has more apple aroma and flavor than the QA23. This too will become an apple wine!
Yooper, I highly recommend that you try the T306 next season; I think that you’ll like it. I actually bought an 80 gram packet from MoreWine.com, I had plans on using it on my buddies 15 gallon batch of Chardonnay, unfortunately it didn't arrive in time.
If you want to experiment on a small batch using store bought apple juice or cider, I can mail you enough to ferment the batch, just let me know!

 

[Yooper]

Yooper, I highly recommend that you try the T306 next season; I think that you’ll like it. I actually bought an 80 gram packet from MoreWine.com, I had plans on using it on my buddies 15 gallon batch of Chardonnay, unfortunately it didn't arrive in time.
If you want to experiment on a small batch using store bought apple juice or cider, I can mail you enough to ferment the batch, just let me know!

That sounds great! I'm heading off to Texas for the winter (that's why I had to get my wines racked and topped up) but I sure would love to try it in the spring!

I've loved using 71B for some of the apple ciders and wines- but in one from 2013 that I racked yesterday, much of the tartness was gone and I ended up adding some acid blend back to it for balance. I missed the malic acid 'bite', almost like the wine had gone through MLF (and it hadn't). I think I'll use the 71B more for native grape wines and concord type wines, as it works well there, or for when I have particularly tart apples or crabapples in the future.

Thanks for the offer- if it still stands in March, I will take you up on it for sure!

I don't do too many whites, but I do try to do dandelion, rhubarb, apple, and crabapple every year. I bet it would be wonderful in the dandelion wine also which is definitely 'pinot grigio-like' due to the citrus in it and I read somewhere a person described dandelion wine as 'tastes like liquid sunshine'!

 

[bernardsmith]

...

I don't do too many whites, but I do try to do dandelion, rhubarb, apple, and crabapple every year. I bet it would be wonderful in the dandelion wine also which is definitely 'pinot grigio-like' due to the citrus in it and I read somewhere a person described dandelion wine as 'tastes like liquid sunshine'!

Dandelion wine: Do you grow your own or is there a field somewhere that you harvest from? I made dandelion wine once - it was quite lovely, but I don't have enough flowers to make wine. I have just enough to harvest the leaves for salads. (my neighbors would be a wee bit upset if I tried to grow dandelions)..

 

[Yooper]

Dandelion wine: Do you grow your own or is there a field somewhere that you harvest from? I made dandelion wine once - it was quite lovely, but I don't have enough flowers to make wine. I have just enough to harvest the leaves for salads. (my neighbors would be a wee bit upset if I tried to grow dandelions)..

Oh, we grow plenty in our yard!

 

[pumpkinman2012]

Yooper,
The offer will be there in March for you, I refrigerate all of my yeast, it will be nice and fresh for you! Let me know when you get back and I'll send it to you.

 

[WI_Wino]

71b can metabolize malic acid, might explain the bland taste

http://www.lalvinyeast.com/71B.asp

 

[Yooper]

71b can metabolize malic acid, might explain the bland taste

http://www.lalvinyeast.com/71B.asp

Absolutely. That is why it is used in things like native grapes, which are particularly high in malic acid, as well as apples. Some wine makers will do MLF on apple wines or ciders due to the very high malic content of most apples.