Apple wine

[rob]

Who has a good apple recipe?

 

[dralarms]

I do, I'll look it up in a bit.

 

[Deezil]

Last year I made a really nice Apple-Pear wine; they fermented separately, with different yeasts but I'll be trying a honey-version this year fermented all at once with 71B-1122... The batch from last year spontaneously MLF'd itself, it's excellent dry.

For 5 gallons, what I'd do:

4 gallons apple juice/cider
30lbs apples, cored and sliced
20lbs pears, sliced
Sugar @ 1.085
TA @ .65%

Pectic enzyme & bentonite in primary

There's two ways it could go from here - dry finish + MLF & sweet finish + 71B

With a dry finish w/o MLF, or a sweet apple wine, i'd pretty much go to 71B-1122 because it'll consume ~20% of the malic acid in the wine; if you like a crisper finish or you get a low TA crop, D-47 is nice....

If you MLF Apple, it opens up a lot of opportunities for yeast selection... BA-11, W-15, R-HST - almost anything you'd use for a Riesling or a Chardonnay; although the grape styles are different, the yeasts aligned for those work well with Apple.

I use Opti-White/-Red, FT Blanc/Rouge (pre-ferment must additions) & Booster Blanc/Rouge (rack to secondary addition) for all my fruit wines; helps to lengthen the finish, prop up the mid-palette, stabilize color, enhance aromas.. Might consider it..

Pear helps to prop-up and flesh-out the Apple flavors; helps the Apple shine

 

[DoctorCAD]

Every winemaker should have the purple book.

 

[rob]

Thanks Deezil,

 

[dralarms]

Deezil's is better than mine. Mine was straight apple, about a bushel, cored and frozen, put in fermenting bucket and let thaw, mashing what I could, added sugar to get to 1.100 and yeast, also some tannin (1/2 tsp per gallon). It's hard to clear, but when finished it is pretty good. I've had people tell me it's like biting into a crisp golden apple.

 

[seth8530]

Should come out pretty good, you can do a lot my playing around with mixed varieties of apples.. no CLOVES! Do not do it....

 

[LonelyMassachusetts]

I followed the purple book for my last batch. It came out decent, but noticeably different than my previous apple wine. For my first batch I hand picked mcintosh apples (my favorite). For my second I used bulk-bought cider. It could have been any blend of apples, I have no idea. I just tried some of my first batch and the apple jumped right out. In comparison the second batch is thin and tasteless.
And Seth, sorry, but those cloves already went in. ::

 

[Arne]

Use fresh juice, I don't cut with any water. Plenty of pectic enzime to start with. Last time part way thru the ferment threw Half a 48 oz. jar of real lemon in. This was in a 5 gal batch. Also 3 tsp vanilla extract. ( store bought ) Think I started out about 1.090. Sorry Seth, used about 8 cloves, a couple spoons of cinnamon (I used ground but you could use sticks.) Ferment out, back sweeten to taste. Hmm, gotta find me some more juice. LOL, Arne.

 

[seth8530]

Hehe, well I am sure yalls wine will survive the cloves so long as you keep track of the clove level. I have found once you got too much it really does not leave. Infact, some of my oldest wine in cellar is my cloved apple wine.... and its not because it taste awesume lol.

BTW, have yall considered MLF? Apples have a good bit of malic acid in them if I recall correctly.

 

[Arne]

Yep, keep the clove level down, it is still there, but not overpowering. MLF? Only once, and it wasn't on purpose. Maybe twice, once apple and once cherry. Both came out very nice, but took off on their own. Was about to bottle each of them when they started fermenting again. Glad they started before bottling and not after. Arne.

 

[salcoco]

reduction of malic acid in apple will leave a very flabby wine. Commercial wine makers of apple wine are limited to adding acid as malic to the wine preferment. I had friends who cold stabilized there apple wine for to long a period and had a flabby wine, no aroma or flavor. added malic acid and all was well it was an entirely different wine. I would adjust preferment juice to 6g/l with malic acid and use a fruit beneficial yeast like FermBlanc or Cotes De blanc.

 

[Deezil]

Sal, I've gotta disagree..

While commercial entities might have their hands tied, us home winemakers have free-range of all the tricks and tweaks we can think of.. And i've gotta say, that regulation is ridiculous when you factor in malic acids instability, but it is what it is.

What I disagree on, is MLF or cold-stabilization making a flabby Apple wine. I have a carboy that would have you shaking your head. The aromas and flavors are different, but not missing in action.

But, I'm starting to think the secret lies in these autolyzed inactivated yeast additives i've been using (and preaching, but seem to be catching on rather slowly). Although I believe that the pear addition helped too. These inactivated yeast fractions though, they've made a world of difference in my wines; so maybe thats why my MLF'd Apple-Pear isn't flabby.

 

[beardy]

But, I'm starting to think the secret lies in these autolyzed inactivated yeast additives i've been using (and preaching, but seem to be catching on rather slowly).

What is these magical ingredients you speak of and???

 

[Deezil]

Opti-White
FT Blanc (or Soft)
Booster Blanc

Opti-Red
FT Rouge (or Soft)
Booster Rouge

Opti-White/-Red & Booster Blanc/Rouge are yeast-derived / autolysed yeast fractions.. Specific parts of specific yeast strains, intended to enhance various aspects of the wines character/structure

FT Blanc/Rouge is a series of tannins, that can be used at various times but I prefer to use them upfront