# Crab apple wine fail



## Darren (Aug 2, 2010)

OK I touched on the problem in intro's (I'm new) so here is the full post. Last year I made a crab apple wine with instructions from wine store. Prior to this I had made 4 "kits" 2 red 2 white all cellar classics I believe. I am now an expert n'est pas? Here is my record.

Looking to make 5 gal.
Froze 20 lbs crab apples, thawed and mashed (still have blisters)
10 oz white grape concentrate
sugar, campden tablet, yeast nutrient, pectin enzyme power, water added everything instructed, covered waited 24 hrs @ temperature added yeast.
Stired must daily kept temp constant for 5-7 days.
Sept 28 started
Sept 29 added yeast
Oct 4 SG 1.020
Oct 8 SG 1.014 (rack to carboy)
Oct 20 SG 0.996 (added bentonite after racking)
Nov 1 rack wine (add 1 campden tablet 1/2 tsp stabilizer)
stir 3 times a day for 3 days
Add finings
Nov 16 rack to fermentor and then bottled. I suspect this was my downfall bottled way to early Instructions were very exact up to adding finings then it just said if clear add conditioner to sweeten and add antioxident. Stir well and bottle.
From what I gather here (reading posts) racking can be done monthly for 3-4 months. Rack to carboy and leave for 5-6 months then rack and bottle. Leaving about 9-10 months from start to bottling. Not my 6 week rush.

I want to do another batch this year but do not want to waste all this energy if I am going to mess it up. I can always to that again but if I know where I may have erred I can reduce my chances of screwin up. 
I am OCD on sterilizing everything so do not think this is the issue.


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## JasonH (Aug 2, 2010)

Hello and welcome. You are probably correct in where you went wrong. I'm sure you still had plenty of solids left in the wine when you bottled. These can spoil easily and ruin all your hard work. I have never made a kit (I know they are fast), but I do know that rushing through a homemade batch from scratch is a bad idea. I usually rack my wines 5-6 times over a period of 6 months before I even consider bottling. It seems like you have a good idea of what your doing, just take your time and it will be a success.


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## Minnesotamaker (Aug 2, 2010)

Darren, 
I didn't see in your post what made your wine a fail. Was it cloudy? bad tasting? popping corks? Outline your displeasure and you'll likely get specific recommendations to help you with your next batch. 

I'd agree that you really rushed this batch. Most wine kits are specially formulated for quick processing; that's one of their attractive traits. Wine from fruit can easily be a 4 to 12 month process before bottling. 

I really like crab apple wine. I make it EVERY year.


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## xanxer82 (Aug 2, 2010)

Apple takes a lot of time to clear. I still have mine in the carboy. Also, the flavor is weakend by the fermentation. You'll need to add some flavor back by using a can of frozen apple juice concentrate a couple of weeks before bottling. DONT FORGET TO USE SORBATE!


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## Darren (Aug 2, 2010)

Sorry my bad. The wine this spring had a thin white line from neck to base of the bottle from laying on its side. When opened the wine was almost like it had been carbonated, slightly bubbly, and did not taste good at all. Not sure how to describe it. It did have a slight apple flavor but was flat if that makes sense. I dumped it all down the sink. When dumping the bottles it did come out almost like champagne quite bubbly.


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## Green Mountains (Aug 2, 2010)

Hey Darren, nice to meet you. (I'm a Darren too).

The bubbly taste that you describe sounds like you didn't degass nearly enough. Degassing will help the solids held in suspension fall out which will give you the added benefit of a clearer wine.

I've messed a batch or two myself so don't get down on yourself, just learn from your mistake and give it another go.


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## Darren (Aug 2, 2010)

Mght not have degassed enough and certainly didn't wait nearly long enough. I was just in the backyard and looking at the crab apple trees I might not have enough to make a batch this year. Not sure why but not many apples this time. Do they go in cycles?? I picked the sucker clean last year to get my 20-25 lbs.


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