# Im back! Appel!



## seth8530 (Dec 14, 2010)

Ok, guys ive been really busy with college recently but i somehow managed to survive my first semester! So suddenly i realize wooow.. Ive got a lot of free time now lol..

So here is what happens, i got the store to buy a toothbrush from the junkstore and i see that they are selling half gallons of apple juice no preservatives for 1.15$ So i buy all that i can which ends up being 4 gallons worth.

So here i am right now at home boiling 12 lbs of sugar into 1 gallon of water which ive added cinnamon and a few oranges to. And im gona let that reduce down a good bit...

I guess ill shoot for about 1.120 starting gravity and hopefully it wont finish out too dry. 

4 gallons of appeljuice
12 lbs of sugar
1 gallon of water to invert sugar in.
few oranges in water
2 tsp yeast energizer
4tsp acid blend
3 tea bags in invert water ( i dont have tanin)

So guys, how does it sound to yall?


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## Runningwolf (Dec 14, 2010)

seth8530 said:


> 6 gallons of appeljuice
> 5 lbs of sugar
> 4 gallon of water to invert sugar in.
> few oranges in water
> ...


 

Seth it's good to see you back. Looks like you survived the first semester but had some withdraw symptoms you're taking care of. Glad to have you back on board for the holidays!


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## winemaker_3352 (Dec 14, 2010)

Welcome back - hope school went well for ya.

No tannin - how about adding oak or raisins?

That is a pretty high starting SG for apple wine and I would measure out the TA before adding 4tsps.

I would use the Lalvin 71B 1122 - it metabolizes the Malic Acid that apples have.


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## Tom (Dec 14, 2010)

Very high sg. Use apple jbuice to heat not water you will get better sg


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## seth8530 (Dec 14, 2010)

1.150 is the starting gravity. enough for it to be 14. percent if it goes dry. Im gona have to end up using the lee's from my kilju that used lavilin's all purpose yeast thats good for 18 percent. 


BTW guys thanks for the welcome back


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## cpfan (Dec 14, 2010)

seth8530 said:


> 1.150 is the starting gravity. enough for it to be 14. percent if it goes dry. Im gona have to end up using the lee's from my kilju that used lavilin's all purpose yeast thats good for 18 percent.


Seth:

Hope you're not taking arithmetic at college.

Starting at 1.150, and fermenting dry (let's use 1.000) yields about 20% alcohol.

(1.150 - 1.000) * 133 = .150 * 133 = 19.95%

14% would be starting sg about 1.105

Steve


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## jeepingchick (Dec 14, 2010)

oh crap steve, dont tell him that he will nock it up higher!!!


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## Wade E (Dec 14, 2010)

You will almost surely end up with a sweet wine! What yeast are you using?


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## seth8530 (Dec 14, 2010)

My bad, im starting at about 1.105. i suck at mixing numbers sometimes lol.

Im using the lees from a wine that used lavlin k1V-1116 i think. What kinda activity should i be seeing in the pale by now. im not seeing any bubbles or anything like that.


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## JasonH (Dec 15, 2010)

I used to ferment inbetween semesters when I was in college. You will make a lot of friends with a steady supply of good homemade wine. With SG's that are that , I'm not sure if you will make friends faster or slower!


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## seth8530 (Dec 15, 2010)

haha yeah, im resisting the urge to make some "side money" but i could see that ending up pretty bad lol. I cant wait till i get an off campus apartment because the University is a "dry" campus lol.

BTW i think its gona be ok, its now developed a head.


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## seth8530 (Dec 17, 2010)

Ok, its going on very happily and it seems to be very happy lol. 

So if i wanted to add more appel cinamon flavoring to it without changing the ending alcohol level i would just have to add more appel juice boiled with cinnamon sticks that has had its gravity adjusted to what my initial gravity was correct?


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## sly22guy (Dec 18, 2010)

id personally just throw some cinnamon sticks in now and then sweeten it to taste after its done fermenting. Just use some maple syrup to sweeten it. Or if you want more apple then take some apple juice in a pot and cook it down to a third of its starting point but try not to do it with too much heat do it over an afternoon rather than 30 min.


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## seth8530 (Dec 18, 2010)

True, but ive got like 4 gallons of appel and like 1.6 gallons of water so im kinda afraid ive got not enough appel?


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## sly22guy (Dec 19, 2010)

can i ask why you added water?


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## seth8530 (Dec 19, 2010)

cuz my gravity was way to high and i didn't have any apple juice. but i have since corrected the issue by expanding my batch so its like 90 percent apple juice now and like 10 percent water.

Its in the secondary right now with cinnamon sticks and cloves in it. and im gona do my best not to "sample" untill its done lol


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## Arne (Dec 20, 2010)

Not gonna sample?? Seth, you ought to be ashamed of yourself. lol, Arne.


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## sly22guy (Dec 20, 2010)

90/10 sounds much better. i only do all apple juice, but i also do mine dry. sounds like you do urs on more of a sweeter side so im sure you will be fine. Hope it comes out good! Yeah its hard not to "Sample" too much!


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## seth8530 (Dec 21, 2010)

ROFL, i know guys, no sampling. Im gona try really really hard not to anyways.


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## seth8530 (Mar 14, 2011)

Ok, its been 3 months and its tasting extremly hot and disturbingly like cloves... I added an apple F pak to it which took it from 1.00 to 1.040 and its tasting some better.. You think that their is still hope for the clove flavour to dissipate some? its 12% abv right now. and it looks like chardonnay


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## Wade E (Mar 14, 2011)

I doubt it unfortunately. My JAOM is the same way and has been for years, I must say I havnt tasted it in almost a year now but after 2 years it was still very clovey!


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## seth8530 (Mar 14, 2011)

That is very distressing ): its drinkable atleast.


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## seth8530 (Mar 14, 2011)

you think that making it even sweeter might be able to mask the flavour some more? ive got an fpak of syrup on hand


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## Wade E (Mar 14, 2011)

Maybe?????????????


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## Julie (Mar 14, 2011)

seth8530 said:


> Ok, its been 3 months and its tasting extremly hot and disturbingly like cloves... I added an apple F pak to it which took it from 1.00 to 1.040 and its tasting some better.. You think that their is still hope for the clove flavour to dissipate some? its 12% abv right now. and it looks like chardonnay



Well not sure but I had a pumpkin that I added too much cloves and I left it sit for 2 years and it toned down. Actually I only had two bottles left when I decided to let it sit for another year, and that was after it sat for one year and the cloves still overpowered the wine. After two years it tasted so good I sucked down both bottles over Thanksgving.


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## seth8530 (Mar 14, 2011)

well guys, i guess it will be a time will tell kinda thing.... I had more wine than i had carboy space so ive got a gallon and a half thats sweetend and currently being super kleered.. the stuff thats in the carboy.. well its gona sit in the carboy i guess till lord knows when.


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## seth8530 (May 8, 2011)

Ok, the stuff that is unsweetened and in the carboy has had a noticeable reduction in cloveiness and their is a notable apple flavor in it. i yet still have hope in it.


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## Wade E (May 8, 2011)

Hope it turns around enough for you.


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## seth8530 (May 8, 2011)

thanks, im thinking it will. esp if i give it a few more months.


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## closetwine (May 8, 2011)

I did a cinn/apple that the cinn started out over-powering... ^mos later the apple came through and the cinn is about right. Letting this one age for a year, the apple is still kinda harsh. So Good Luck! Sounds like this apple's headed down the right path!


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## seth8530 (May 9, 2011)

yeah, mine might take longer for the clove to become just as subtle side flavor.But, if ur into cloves this would be ur batch of wine lol.. ( :


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## closetwine (May 9, 2011)

I'm gonna do cloves in my next apple for sure... I love clove. give it time, mine is apple at fist then the cinn fades in and stays on the tounge... really reminds me of a homemade apple pie... Can't wait til Thanksgiving, that's when I'm gonna break it out on the family... Sounds like you got something good goin' there!


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## FTC Wines (May 9, 2011)

I do 10 gals. of Apple & 2 gallons of spiced Apple each year. If the spiced is too strong at bottling time, I blend some of my Apple with it to tone it down. I use 4 cloves & 3 cinnamon sticks plus a "dash" of ginger per gallon of my spiced apple. Seems to work great & give me a little more spiced to give away for the holidays. Roy, FightingTown Creek Wines


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## seth8530 (May 9, 2011)

yeah, i used way more cloves than that
But, they seem to be toning down. Im regretting putting nrly that many in tho...


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## Runningwolf (May 9, 2011)

I agree use caution with cloves. I only added two cloves to my 7 gallons of apple while it was aging. I think it came out perfect as there is just a hint, but it is there.


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## seth8530 (May 12, 2011)

yeah, just how long did you age your 7 gallons for?


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## Runningwolf (May 12, 2011)

about 4 months


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## seth8530 (Jul 2, 2011)

Ok, the wine is over 6 months old now. Im gona leave half of the remianing 5 gallons dry. and the other half i will sweat in up to around 1.030 with homemade apple syrup.


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## seth8530 (Jul 2, 2011)

ok and i got pics to prove it.. the sweet one is about 3 ballings and it is the darker of the 2. the other one i left pretty much dry.


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## seth8530 (Dec 2, 2011)

Ok, gona taste it tonight and will post comments on this later.


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## Runningwolf (Dec 2, 2011)

...we're waiting.


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## Deezil (Dec 3, 2011)

If he didnt make it back on to post how good or bad it was.. I'm guessing the bottles empty


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## seth8530 (Jun 29, 2012)

Haha, sorry I forgot to post. For being 14% It taste little of alcohol. It is pretty strong on the cloves for my taste, but I have had good reviews from a few of the people who have tried it. However, It is still not the favorite thing that I have made.


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## seth8530 (Jan 6, 2013)

still taste like cloves


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## rezod11 (Jan 6, 2013)

seth8530 said:


> ok and i got pics to prove it.. the sweet one is about 3 ballings and it is the darker of the 2. the other one i left pretty much dry.



Love the mess in your room!


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## seth8530 (Dec 18, 2013)

Just an update for whomever is still interested. Permanently it is possible to make a wine that is so sucky that age can not help it. My god, it does not taste good at all and yet I do not have the heart to cast this abomination out of my home.


Moral of the story.. Cloves suck!


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## grapeman (Dec 18, 2013)

Seek out those that liked it and give them a nice Christmas present. That way they think they got something great and you get rid of it.


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## Wade E (Dec 18, 2013)

Yeah, cloves can very easy ruin a wine.


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## Downwards (Dec 19, 2013)

If you want more apple in it, put in a few concentrates, that will turn the water you used into apple juice, and cheap! 

Oh jeez, just realized how old this is, lol. Bet you got that worked out by now..


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## seth8530 (Dec 19, 2013)

Downwards said:


> If you want more apple in it, put in a few concentrates, that will turn the water you used into apple juice, and cheap!
> 
> Oh jeez, just realized how old this is, lol. Bet you got that worked out by now..



Yep worked out and completely ruined lol!


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## Downwards (Dec 21, 2013)

Sorry about the cloves. I'll take your word on that and keep it as a solid rule. I do apple more often than any other. Best juice wine for the price IMO. Seriously if you do juice with concentrate added you can have a wonderful table wine that even the skeptic wine snobs around me LOVE and for less than a buck a bottle. 

I have done it with oak, with vanilla bean, with blueberry, with honey, with bochet honey, with brown sugar, with piloncillos, with caramelized sugar (most recent experiment) and they were all good. Except for the cyser that I added too much elderflower liquor to. Not a big fan of that one and I still have gallons, lol.


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## seth8530 (Dec 21, 2013)

Yeah, apple is actually quite a cheap juice in which you can make some rather good wine or cider with. I had plans to make a cider this fall. .But, I was a little bit too far invested in other wine based expenditures to pursue it too far.


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## Downwards (Dec 21, 2013)

Cider is also really interesting to me, but involves me really stepping out of my comfort level- carbing and stuff... I have plans of getting a keg system together for wine on tap in korney kegs. Maybe after that I can go there- cider in a keg with a bit more CO2 to avoid having to carb bottles.


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## seth8530 (Dec 21, 2013)

Yeah, I have actually been thinking of a way that does not involve pasturization, to get a sweet bottle carbed cider....


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## Downwards (Dec 21, 2013)

Or a whole keg! I would like to get away from bottles all together unless I'm taking a bit to someone else. We'll see! Sorry for getting off topic..


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## seth8530 (Dec 21, 2013)

Nah, I reckon it was all relevant lol. Good luck with kegging, I like looking at pretty full bottles too much to do that, but I understand it is MUCH easier.


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## AbstractBrewer (Dec 22, 2013)

seth8530 said:


> Yeah, I have actually been thinking of a way that does not involve pasturization, to get a sweet bottle carbed cider....



Back sweeten with a non fermentable, then add corn sugar to carb as you would beer? Thats my plan with the batch I have clearing now. Of course there will be sediment as is the case with anything naturally carbed, a non issue for me.

I will be doing this and bottling into ez-cap bottles. Im only 4 weeks in, planning this for the 4th of July.

Chris


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## seth8530 (Dec 22, 2013)

In eccense yes, the plan would be to take some wart (wort? wert? wirt?) extracted at a very high temperature to get as many complex sugars as possible... Then ferment it with a very high attenuation yeast strain to remove all the fermentable sugars that we possibly can. 

Once that is done we think we would boil the alcoholic complex sugar wert to create a complex hopefully hard to ferment wert syrup. We would then add this syrup to the cider to taste, check to make sure it does not re-ferment and then bottle using simple sugar to carb it with. So I guess technically it would be a graff, but for me it is only a means to an end.

BTW, welcome to the forums!


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## AbstractBrewer (Dec 22, 2013)

Thanks for the welcome.

You make it sound a bit overly complex! Or maybe I am just a bit simple...... lol

Could we not just make some Apfelwein? Let it ferment out to .990 or so. Add some non fermetable sugar to taste, ie. splenda? Mix, and let settle for another day or 2... (Sweet is not my thing, so I doubt that I sweeten btw....) Then add your dextrose and bottle to carb it up?


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## ou8amaus (Dec 22, 2013)

AbstractBrewer said:


> Thanks for the welcome.
> 
> You make it sound a bit overly complex! Or maybe I am just a bit simple...... lol
> 
> Could we not just make some Apfelwein? Let it ferment out to .990 or so. Add some non fermetable sugar to taste, ie. splenda? Mix, and let settle for another day or 2... (Sweet is not my thing, so I doubt that I sweeten btw....) Then add your dextrose and bottle to carb it up?



I tried that exact method last year and for some reason it took months before it even got a slight carbonation... And it never cleared properly. Not sure if it was the splenda or something else that threw it off... Still have a few bottles and although it tastes good, it never really lived up to my expectations.


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## AbstractBrewer (Dec 22, 2013)

Maybe the ABV was too high for the yeast being used? Did you use a wine yeast? Curious, as maybe my effort is doomed to failure.


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## ou8amaus (Dec 22, 2013)

I used EC-1118 and I had added enough brown sugar in the primary to get up around 9%... I fermented dry and added 1-2 cups (I forget exactly how much) of COOKING splenda (ie 1 cup splenda=1 cup sugar). Also added 200 grams dextrose. Stirred it up and bottled it. Maybe there is something in the cooking splenda vs the more concentrated packet version which threw off the bottle carb ferment.


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## AbstractBrewer (Dec 22, 2013)

Interesting. I assume this is for 5 gallons? Ill be adding 500 grams of dextrose to carb up. I wonder if there just wasn't enough fermentable sugars to significantly carb it up? I dont know much about Splenda, so I have no info on that.


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## AbstractBrewer (Dec 22, 2013)

Sorry. 150 grams. I knew I was off somewhere. Maybe the Splenda is to blame.


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## seth8530 (Dec 22, 2013)

AbstractBrewer said:


> Thanks for the welcome.
> 
> You make it sound a bit overly complex! Or maybe I am just a bit simple...... lol
> 
> Could we not just make some Apfelwein? Let it ferment out to .990 or so. Add some non fermetable sugar to taste, ie. splenda? Mix, and let settle for another day or 2... (Sweet is not my thing, so I doubt that I sweeten btw....) Then add your dextrose and bottle to carb it up?



I would not say overly complex, just different. Ie, I am not a huge fan of using artificial sweetners in wine and I think a slightly malty flavour from the wart addition might actually work quite well with a cider. So if I was wanting just sugar I might use something like lactose, but I hope to get something different.


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