Apple Wine Q

[NDengineer]

Good question sour_grapes. The wine has sugar added to target about 11% ABV, and the cider to hit about 5%. In addition, I plan to stabilize the cider and then make it sparkling.

 

[wildhair]

OK - finally got around to pressing the apples. Had 170# total - mostly in 2.5 gal zipper bags @ 10# each. That takes up some freezer space! I have an antique manual fruit press - looks just about like the pic, but the frame on mine is heavy steel, not wood. And mine is not as pretty.
I pressed about 10# at a time, give or take. I put the chopped apples in mesh bags, then strained the juice before putting it in the fermenter. Still took about 7 hours to get it all pressed and everything cleaned up. But it's cold and snowy outside, so............
Here's my test -
#1 - 10# whole, no peptic enzyme water - just washed, air dried & froze. Yield was 12 cups (3 qt) of juice. Was very light in color - almost clear. I put them straight in the press w/ screen liner - no chopping.
#2 - 10# apples = 8# cored & sliced. Soaked in Fruit Fresh, no peptic enzyme water. Yield was 10.5 cups - 1.5 cups less than the same ORIGINAL WT. of whole apples. Color was more amber.

The rest of the bags were 10# of cored/sliced apples, soaked in citric acid water, then 1 cup of peptic enzyme water added to the bag - then frozen. (2 t peptic enzyme to 1 gal water).



Total yield was 15+ gallons of juice. SG was 1.030 raw.

None of the apples oxidized too bad while frozen - but they "browned up" during the thaw (which takes over 24 hrs. btw). I put them all in plastic tubs to thaw to catch any leaks - which they did. I did try chopping some up, but it did not increase the juice output.

Freezing the apples whole was definitely easier, I didn't have a reduction in juice output and the juice was lighter in color since the apples didn't oxidize during thawing. If I have the freezer space - I'll definitely freeze them whole.

 

[Jennifer Patterson]

Interesting thread as I attempt to process 90 pounds of apples from just 2 of my 12+ apple trees! I haven't done much with them in the past few years but decided to try apple wine. I do have a press, although I haven't used it in ages. I do NOT have any freezer space right now. So I am coring my apples, then processing them in the food processor, and plan to press them tomorrow. I know they will oxidize, I thought I read somewhere that it wasn't a bad thing......now I am questioning that decision. I am new to all of this and am sure I will learn. (really wish another freezer would fit in both my budget and my house!)

 

[Scooter68]

With 12 trees, You sound like a candidate for a real apple crusher.

Something along this line:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000XB5UHE/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

 

[Jennifer Patterson]

With 12 trees, You sound like a candidate for a real apple crusher.

Something along this line:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000XB5UHE/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

Lol! I actually have one of those! It hasn’t been used in years, I pulled it out yesterday but it needs a through cleaning. I remember the last time I used it I wasn’t happy with it and used the food processor, which is one of the reasons I decided to use the processor again. I remember it didn’t seem to do a good job macerating the apples, but that was at least 12 years ago! When my kids were home we made apple juice with it and the press, it sure went a lot faster back then! I would process the juice into jars, it never lasted long.

I only got through half the apples today, so I might just clean it up and try it tomorrow.

 

[meadmaker1]

@Jennifer Patterson
Ive read that the oxidized portion will fall out during fermintation.
Ive also seen posts suggesting that kmeta will prevent this fall out.
I have no sites to post but, wine maker mag. had an artical about it a few issues back.
Hopefully someone with more insight will respond.
Otherwise ive not worried about it and get wine the color of apple juice.
And ive worried about it and get wine the color of apple juice.

 

[Jennifer Patterson]

@Jennifer Patterson
Ive read that the oxidized portion will fall out during fermintation.
Ive also seen posts suggesting that kmeta will prevent this fall out.
I have no sites to post but, wine maker mag. had an artical about it a few issues back.
Hopefully someone with more insight will respond.
Otherwise ive not worried about it and get wine the color of apple juice.
And ive worried about it and get wine the color of apple juice.

Thank you! That makes me feel better! As a newbie winemaker, I am afraid I am doing it wrong....but I am seasoned at food preservation, so I think I sorta know what I am doing........LOL!

 

[Scooter68]

Oxidation of apples is really hard to prevent in large quantities without virtually a commercial process. I just accept it and do what I can to minimize. Last time I had apples to work with I only had about a bushel and they were so badly pocked and picked at that I had to hand cut them all up to remove the bad spots. I suppose in a proper apple orchard they would have been dumped. BUT I got about 1 1/2 gallons of juice as I remember. Point of all that is that I cut them into a bowl and every time I had enough for a one gallon freezer bag, I dumped in about 1/2 tsp pectic enzyme in a 1/2 cup of water and put them right into the fridge. Still a lot of browning but not as bad. (I also sucked out as much air as I could before I closed the bags. NOT a high tech approach but for me for that time around it worked.

 

[Jennifer Patterson]

Just for fun, as I am looking for information on the best way to clean and sanitize my cider press, I thought I would share which one I have. Purchased 20+ years ago, but in storage in the barn for the last 12, PLUS the cover I had on it disappeared over the years! When the last helper (kid) moved away we stopped making juice.
https://www.happyvalleyranch.com/Homesteader-Cider-Press-Grinder-_p_9.html

 

[Scooter68]

Perhaps One Step - It's no-rinse cleaner/sanitizer. It's not long lasting once mixed (About one week) but for big job like you have it should be fine. I used to use it but since my needs were small, a mixed gallon bottle would lose it's effectiveness way before I used it up.

Here's their corporate line on the product:
One Step Removes: The residues of home fermentation hobbies on glass, metal, and plastic surfaces. Use One Step to clean mash tuns, boiling vessels, fermenters, chillers, spoons,rakes, fermentation locks, and any other equipment that is used in the brewing,winemaking, or fermentation process.

How It Works: One Step consists of a buffered alkalinity and active oxygen. When dissolved in water, the result is an alkaline solution (approximately pH 9.5) presenting 0.1 percent free oxygen and 1000 ppm alkalinity (as Na2O). The following modes of action are represented in the resulting aqueous solution:

 

[wildhair]

I tried to minimize oxidation by placing the cut apples in a bowl with Fruit Fresh & then then freezing - it helped. They didn't oxidize too bad in the freezer. But when I thawed them - they browned up anyway. The ones that didn't oxidize at all were the ones I froze whole. That juice was much lighter in color than the juice from the chopped apples.

So far, I have around 100# in the freezer & a full box in the fridge ~ and that was from an "off" year on my Yellow Transparent tree. I may have to press them to make room for the Wolf River apples which ripen in late Sept.

 

[Jennifer Patterson]

So today I did a little experiment, after talking it over with my hubby I realized that the reason I used the food processor to macerate my apples all those years ago, (instead of the grinder on the cider press), was because I didn't think I was getting all the juice I could from them.

Yesterday I cored and processed 45 pounds of McIntosh apples in the food processor. Took hours! I don't know how many but my back was killing me when I stopped. Today I ran them through the press and extracted about one gallon of juice per 15 pounds of apples.

Then I used the grinder on the rest of the apples (another 60 pounds 18lbs of Hazen, 14lbs of Dolgo crab, and about 30lbs of McIntosh) and pressed them, again I got about one gallon of juice per 15 pounds of apples. I then took some of the pulp from the batch from the grinder and tried running it through my juicer (25-year-old Champion) After about the first quart of pulp I gave up, I put the works into a straining bag and let it sit, there was maybe 1/4 cup of juice and 3/4 cup of pulp that looked like thick applesauce. I decided that just using the apple grinder and the press is a whole lot easier for about the same results as the more labor-intensive methods.

I then went out and picked more apples! 19lbs chestnut Crab, 13lbs Hazen, 18lbs State Fair, 16lbs Zestar, 9 lbs McIntosh........I will press them tomorrow, then mix everything together and start my wine. My goal is 3 gallons of Apple wine, and 3 gallons of Apfelwein with some extra of both for topping off.

I do plan to pick more chestnut crab apples and freeze them then mix them with some Dolgo crab already frozen for crabapple wine at a later date.

IF I can find more freezer space I "might" pick more apples and freeze the juice for later......but at this point I think I am done. The deer will like the treats when the apples left on the trees fall to the ground.

All my apples are cold hardy varieties, I never spray and don't have disease or insect troubles on them. Birds, deer, other critters and neighbors are my biggest threats to my harvest.