# Crab apple



## Arne (Aug 5, 2012)

Gettin close to that time. last year I waited til the little apples were falling. In the last month or so, this stuff has gotten to be really good. In the early tastings, i always had to add sugar to get it down. Now dry, it is starting to be an easy drinker. It still leaves a pucker factor, but not as bad as it once was. I started it last Nov. 20. Only used 10 lb crab apples frozen and thawed.
Next, 2 gal old orchard apple cranberry juice.
 3/4 tsp acid blend
2 1/2 tsp tannin
5 tsp yeast nutrient
starting s.g. was 1.990
ending s.g. was 0.996
Stabalized in Nov. 
Racked a couple times since then, added k-meta
First time I made this stuff I really didn't like it. Kathy did so I tried it again. Waitin til the crabapples start fallin on their own and gonna get enough to try it again. The old tree is loaded this year, so shouldn't be a problem gettin enough to make a batch. Don't know what breed the crabapples are, but they are a fairly small apple, most of them no larger than a quarter. Very tart, never thought a fella would be able to drink the stuff without backsweetenin. Gonna bottle it in the next few days, if it gets bad tart, can always give it a little sugar in the glass. Arne.


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## oldwhiskers (Aug 5, 2012)

It's funny, I have noticed some apple trees that are loaded lately in my normal travels that I never really noticed before. All I think of is apple wine when I pass them now.


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## Arne (Aug 5, 2012)

Regular apple wine is great. I have been using only juice for it. have made enough of it i have a pretty good recipe for it. It has to be sweetened up some tho, in my opinion. Still can't believe the sour ol crabapple doesn't need any sweetening. Arne.


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## Wade E (Aug 6, 2012)

Yeah the big crab apples called Dolgo's mame a real nice wine by itself or for blending. It especially makes a real nice sparkling wine!!!!!


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## Arne (Aug 6, 2012)

Bet it would be great sparkling, but that is something to be saved for sometime in the future. Only ones I have had sparkling have not been on purpose. Sometime I am going to get the equiptment to force carbonate. Just have not quite gotten around to it yet. Arne.


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## bob1 (Aug 6, 2012)

I used to do crab apple as I used to have one in the back yard. They made pretty good wine. I planted a new one so am waiting 5 years to do some more. I also did a cranberry it was a good desert wine. So I think the apple backsweetened with the cranberry juice would be really good.


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## Arne (Aug 6, 2012)

So many things to try. THanks, Bob. Arne.


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## Poormanfarm (Aug 7, 2012)

I have never made crab apple wine but I have 5 gal of apple cider wine that I made last October that I am looking forward to trying when the weather gets cold and the nights get long. I like to sit by the wood fire and sip a little. what else can a poor man do? I back sweetened my 5 gal with two cans of apple juice concentrate and added a quart of Apple Pie Moonshine to give it a little character.


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## Runningwolf (Aug 7, 2012)

I did about 100 pounds of crabapples last year. I blended a bunch of it with my apple wine I make from apple cider. I also did a crab apple cherdonnay that is very good. You can blend almost any high acid fruit with apple wine. I have used cranberry and raspberry which were both good.


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## Arne (Aug 9, 2012)

Runningwolf said:


> I did about 100 pounds of crabapples last year. I blended a bunch of it with my apple wine I make from apple cider. I also did a crab apple cherdonnay that is very good. You can blend almost any high acid fruit with apple wine. I have used cranberry and raspberry which were both good.


 
Your doing and talking about the crabapple helped keep my interest in it. Gonna get it bottled and start a new batch. Think goin to the lake and fishin is gonna interfere with doing wine stuff this weekend, tho. Well, won't stop the drinkin, tho. LOL, Arne.


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## oldwhiskers (Aug 9, 2012)

Arne said:


> Think goin to the lake and fishin is gonna interfere with doing wine stuff this weekend, tho. Well, won't stop the drinkin, tho. LOL, Arne.



That's the spirit!!!


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## Hokapsig (Feb 15, 2014)

I have 4 gallons of crab apple and 5 gallons of regular apple. What's a blending ratio that anyone has had success with?


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## Runningwolf (Feb 15, 2014)

BILL  Do your bench trials. I showed you the basic equipment you need and a sugar chart to use. Thats the science of it. Now kick in the art of testing and trying. You can do it! If the acid is high don't be afraid of adding more sugar to balance it out.


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## BernardSmith (Feb 15, 2014)

Claude Jolicoeur's lovely book - The New Cider Maker's Handbook (2013) discusses the best balance of acidity and sugar for a good hard cider. He suggests a TA of between 4.5 to 7.5 (malic not tartaric) and apples with a sweetness of 1.060 - 1.070 being ideal for cider (Tartaric = 75N*K/L g/L , whereas malic = 47N*K/L g/L, where N = the normality of the NaOH , and K = the volume of the NaOH used to neutralize the acidity and L = volume of the cider used in the test, both in mL).


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## Hokapsig (Feb 15, 2014)

Dan, I am having paralysis by overanalysis. 

Bernie, I used fresh Dolgo's and took the must to 1.070 and fermented to 0.990. It's quite tart as expected. I'd like to add in the apple or I have some Riesling (which may be too acidic). I have some Moscato to blend in, but I'll just have to try to bench test it tomorrow...


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## ckvchestnut (Feb 16, 2014)

Hokaspig, have you tried backsweetening the crabapple on its own yet? Our crabapple was pretty acidic bit as it's ages it's mellowing out. However we did backsweetening trials a few days ago and it not only made it palatable but easy to drink and tasty on its own. Almost as if it were made from regular apples. It has a very nice round and robust apple flavour. Ours was just too dry and acidic not to backsweeten. So just waiting for the main batch to degas some more and it's still clearing and will backsweeten it prior to bottling. It's going to be good.


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## BernardSmith (Feb 16, 2014)

Hokapsig said:


> Dan, I am having paralysis by overanalysis.
> 
> Bernie, I used fresh Dolgo's and took the must to 1.070 and fermented to 0.990. It's quite tart as expected. I'd like to add in the apple or I have some Riesling (which may be too acidic). I have some Moscato to blend in, but I'll just have to try to bench test it tomorrow...



My usual qualification - I am NO expert but I think that the sugar content of the apples is very different from the sugar content of the must if you chaptalize (add sugar to increase the gravity). Apples which if when pressed produce a juice with gravity of about 1.060 produce a sweetness that has strong apple flavors and aromas. Apples that when pressed produce a juice with a density of about 1.045 to which you add sucrose or dextrose to increase the gravity don't necessarily contain the flavor or aroma molecules that make for a really good cider. That said, ONE possible way of increasing the sweetness without chaptilizing the juice is to freeze the apple juice (prior to any addition of yeast) and draw off the first thawed liquid. That liquid contains apple sugars and acids in far greater concentration and far less of the water from the apples than regularly pressed apples. 
I have not tested this myself but I believe that crab apples (despite their tartness) contain far more sugar than eating apples.


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## ckvchestnut (Feb 16, 2014)

Interesting... I just remembered that we froze this batch of crabapples because we had too much fruit to go through and dons want them to go bad. So we thawed and crushed the apples when ready then put them in strainer bags with pectic enzyme for a few days before adding some water and sugar and the yeast. This must have cut down on some of the acidity. We didn't test TA and PH on it but should have.


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## WVMountaineerJack (Feb 16, 2014)

We like crisp cider, I cant imagine how bland .45% cider would taste. You always have the option of MLF. We are going to have a few Dolgos in our small orchard, definely going to love these things, 100% crabapple juice and then MLF, going to have so much apple flavor and hoping that would bring the acid levels down to crispy levels. WVMJ


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## ckvchestnut (Feb 16, 2014)

Mine has some water in it - not 100% juice and it's in no way bland, this is bursting with flavour. But we didn't use that much water enough to cover our apples. But this isn't cider either. When we make our cider it's all juice and has many different types of apples we can use


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## WVMountaineerJack (Feb 16, 2014)

Using many different apples always sounds like a good idea but if they are not a balanced mix with acid and sweet and some tannins in them, like if you just made it from dessert apples it wouldnt matter how many different kinds you used, they are still dessert apples. Do you guys toss in some crabs with your other apples? WVMJ


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## ckvchestnut (Feb 16, 2014)

Yes always! It's about 50% crab (2 different cultivars don't ask which) to 45% eating apples which I also don't know which but they are like a cortland, similar and 15% other eating apples which are a mix between golden delicious, red delicious, northern spy, and a few others - can't remember off the top of my head they are from 5 in 1 trees.


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## WVMountaineerJack (Feb 17, 2014)

Sounds great, are you guys growing the 5 in 1 trees? I was thinking about making one of those, did one of the varities take over or are they all pretty much getting along well? WVMJ


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## ckvchestnut (Feb 17, 2014)

I bought them as is because I'm not that experienced at grafting. The other varieties are grafted onto the northern spy rootstock. So far everything is growing evenly. Last fall they got a semi decent pruning. I bought them as 3 or 4 year old trees that bore fruit that first year and they are now about 12 years old. Each grafting was done like a major limb on the rootstock and I think most of the spy branches may have been removed to give the others a good chance to grow before it sprouts more of its own branches. I'll take a picture next spring or summer!


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## Rice_Guy (Sep 18, 2019)

Hokapsig said:


> I have 4 gallons of crab apple and 5 gallons of regular apple. What's a blending ratio that anyone has had success with?


Was wondering what ratio you wound up with?
Am trying bench trials with crabapple juice and a high TA (bad) white grape wine. So far 1:5 tastes good, without overwhelming bitter notes, AND the grape wine is actually good now, , , 1:1 is next but I see that I am diluting the wine which changes everything.
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1:1 has a flavor like cranberry, not grape
1:3 will ask the wife tonight(my taste panel)

Crabapple test juice= 1.092 gravity, pH 3.16, TA 2.07% (as tartaric) long bitter notes.


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## Hokapsig (Sep 28, 2019)

actually, I'm trying to remember what we did with these wines..... I think we ended up adding these to our mulled wine.


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