Apple Wine From Sweet Apple Cider

[PCharles]

I've got a local apple orchard nearby. They make a wonderful sweet apple cider that has no preservatives added. The cider is made from a variety of local apples. The cider sells for about 5 bucks per gallon. I'm hoping to make apple wine from this. I could purchase the apples to process, but figure why bother when the orchard folks have already done the pressing. Considering I plan to adjust TA, add sugar to bring SG to 1.090, and will add yeast nutrient and energizer, are the issues to consider using cider such as this to make wine with?

Thanks for your input.

Happy fermenting,
Paul

 

[WinoOutWest]

I've got a local apple orchard nearby. They make a wonderful sweet apple cider that has no preservatives added. The cider is made from a variety of local apples. The cider sells for about 5 bucks per gallon. I'm hoping to make apple wine from this. I could purchase the apples to process, but figure why bother when the orchard folks have already done the pressing. Considering I plan to adjust TA, add sugar to bring SG to 1.090, and will add yeast nutrient and energizer, are the issues to consider using cider such as this to make wine with?

Thanks for your input.

Happy fermenting,
Paul

Funny - I literally just opened up a cider taster before I sat down at my computer. I made it in the fall from fresh apple cider from our local orchards. I added some cinnamon sticks and backsweetened with some frozen apple concentrate. I wasn't overly fond of it when it finished but 8 months in the bottle has improved it significantly. Its quite tasty now.

 

[PCharles]

Thanks WOW

WOW, Thanks for your feedback. Cinnamon and backsweetening with a bit of age one it. I think I'll give it a try.

Paul

 

[ffemt128]

Both myself and Runningwolf made an apple wine from Apple Cider last October. Mine was more along the line of a Spiced Apple and his was less cloves and ginger. Both turned out quite well. I made an fpac and backsweetened with that.

 

[Arne]

Make sure you start out with 5 gal of juice for 5 gal of wine. Use the straight juice, don't water it down. You mite want to tone the s.g. down to 1.080 or 85. The Alcohol can kind of take cider over if you get too much. Arne.

 

[REDBOATNY]

I have been making apple wine from cider for many years, sometimes blended with sour cherry juice. Most of the cider has about 15 to 18 brix of sugar. I increase it to 20 or 22 brix with white and sometimes brown sugar.

You can also make a sparkling cider. start with a must of 16 to 18 brix, ferment to dry and add 3/4 tsp. priming sugar per quart when bottling. ( like beer) Makes a refreshing summer beverage.

 

[djrockinsteve]

You can use honey to sweeten the apple cide to reach the gravity you desire. It will give the cider a little different taste.

I couldn't buy cider apples that cheap last year so thats basically what I did. I made 2 six gallon batches.

Start off with 6 gallons to end up with a good 5 gallons.

You may use 1 cinnamon stick per gallon for a good taste. 3 sticks in 5 gallons for a lite taste. I placed mine in after it cleared and aged them 6+ months.

 

[PCharles]

All Good Suggestions

Thanks all for your advice. I hope to see cider sometime in August.

Happy fermenting,
Paul

 

[CrashPat]

The next time that I make apple wine it will be mixed with something to add body. Apples are mostly water and sugar, wine made from them has very little taste and no body at all. I want to make some this fall when the apples are ready in WA, I think I will supplement the apple cider with white grape juice for body (or golden raisins, but they disgust me) and add cinnamon sticks. The last time I made apple cider it did not really have much taste, but it was the apfelwein recipe... mostly it just produced hangovers and intestinal gas.

 

[PCharles]

Blending with Apple Cider

Good advise to consder blending. Apple by itself is very light. I'm considering cranberry, kiwi, and banana to blend with it.

I have a local source of kiwi. The source sells most of his large fruit for a nice price, but I can get a discount on the smaller fruit.

Cherry and strawberry are also blending considerations.

 

[ffemt128]

You can add raisins to the primary fermentation to increase body and mouth feel.

 

[dsoares1831]

How did you increase your Brix?

 

[LJPelletier]

Good advise to consder blending. Apple by itself is very light. I'm considering cranberry, kiwi, and banana to blend with it.

I have a local source of kiwi. The source sells most of his large fruit for a nice price, but I can get a discount on the smaller fruit.

Cherry and strawberry are also blending considerations.

Mmm strawberry apple sounds good... but I like strawberry anything

 

[Arne]

We had some cider I started last Dec. Yesterday, had all the kids for Thanksgiving. Poured a bottle in the crock pot, turned it on low and added a few mullling spices. Was not a big hit til I stumbled on let it cool down a little bit. It was pretty good then. Cooling down to not quite room temp. made a big difference in the taste. Arne.

 

[photony]

I also recently started a 6 gallon batch with cider, straight from an orchard press, and added one gallon of pure dark cherry juice (Knudsen brand). I'll let you know how it turns out, but the initial taste I did at second racking indicates good things to come. It's dry now so after a few months I'll backsweeten with cherry & sugar to about 1.010.

 

[Electrojim]

Hi, new member here, but longtime winemaker... although everything I have made so far is undrinkable. Anyway, I saw your postings on apple cider wine and wonder if anyone here has tried making an apple cider/wine from the gallon jugs of apple juice or cider sold at the supermarket? Is there a reason why this wouldn't work? If it has hope, what sort of yeast and process would one use, in a nutshell? The reason I'm asking is that we have a glut of store-bought apple juice from a party, and it would be highly more palatable if fermented, I'm sure. Thanks much, all!

 

[Deezil]

Hi, new member here, but longtime winemaker... although everything I have made so far is undrinkable. Anyway, I saw your postings on apple cider wine and wonder if anyone here has tried making an apple cider/wine from the gallon jugs of apple juice or cider sold at the supermarket? Is there a reason why this wouldn't work? If it has hope, what sort of yeast and process would one use, in a nutshell? The reason I'm asking is that we have a glut of store-bought apple juice from a party, and it would be highly more palatable if fermented, I'm sure. Thanks much, all!

What you're looking for on the ingredients list is Potassium Sorbate or Potassium Benzoate - they're both preservatives that will either keep the wine from fermenting at all, or make it a bear to get started

I've used storebought apple juice, although i went with a brand i know/trust (grew up in the orchards they get their apples from) - TreeTop - and fermentation went great

 

[Electrojim]

Hey, Manley, thanks for the quick response. Neither 'nasty' is listed on the label, only a bit of Ascorbic Acid ("Vitamin C" they say). Any wine yeast okay, you think?

 

[Deezil]

Hey, Manley, thanks for the quick response. Neither 'nasty' is listed on the label, only a bit of Ascorbic Acid ("Vitamin C" they say). Any wine yeast okay, you think?

Yeasts used for white wines would give better characteristics than yeasts geared for red wines

Also, feel free to create an Introduction thread and let us know a lil bit about ya, welcome to the forum and if ya have any more questions, make a new thread in the area pertaining to your question, and you'll get more replies than you bargained for im sure - and we wont hijack this thread anymore