Crabapple wine taste?

[Jal5]

Have an opportunity to pick all the crabapples i would like. But what does the wine taste like? A really heavy laden tree with small fruit red color. Thanks.
Joe

 

[salcoco]

like apples

 

[meadmaker1]

Tarter apples seem to me, to carry the apple flavor to the finished product better.
I even like pressed juice with tart apples better, Grand kids call it jolly rancher juice. I have access to truck loads of free apples, the big ones are for getting enough juice to justify the process but i always pick crab apple trees clean, and usually first, and they dont have to be chopped before grinding. Free and easy, my two favorite criteria for wine fruit. Labor intensive and expensive always leaves an off taste to me lol.

 

[Jal5]

Thx guys. These crabapples are not perfect odd lokking spots etc. I guess we have to cull bad ones before freezing?
Joe

 

[Jal5]

So tomorrow I will check out the crabapples and my son reports they seem to be ripe to him.

Any other tips before we launch into this are aporeciated!

Joe

 

[Donatelo]

Wash those very thoroughly and cull the bad spots. I remove the stems and seeds. The seeds have a small amount of arsenic in them. Had a dog that loved the apple cores that my kids gave her. Later, at the vet they told me "no no no!" Dog survived , but lesson learned.

 

[Jal5]

That makes sense thanks. How many pounds of fruit for 5 gal. Wine? I will be picking them next weekend. Still felt hard to me yesterday. Joe

 

[Donatelo]

This is the only recipe that I have and it isn't finished.
Cyser

May 12th, 2018- This is a one-gallon batch of apple mead. I started with one gallon of fresh, not from concentrate, apple juice, two pounds of clover honey and two small packets of Chaucer’s brewing spices (cinnamon, orange peel, and nutmeg) that I had left over from a bottle of mead. Added one teaspoon of yeast nutrient, one teaspoon of yeast starter, one cinnamon stick, ¼ teaspoon of nutmeg, two clove stems and one teaspoon of tannin. Shook it up and added a packet of EC-1118 yeast. Sg is 1.100. Covered the bottle with an old black tee shirt to keep out the light. Installed an airlock.
May 13th, Air lock is perking along nicely.
May 14th: Still perkin’ . Smells so nice!
May 16th : Added honey water to top up the jug. The mead is still cloudy. Still perking.
May 19th , I checked it today and the air lock is still bubbling nicely, not cleared yet .
May 28, : I tasted this, and syphoned it into a fresh carboy. It tastes acidic, but the PH is 4.06. The SG is .996. ABV is 13.65. It is still cloudy, and I need to add a clearing agent.
July 1st, Seven weeks into this Cyser and the SG is .994. Going to bottle this and wait til December for it to mellow out. Tastes a little harsh and a little acidic now. Hoping for a better taste after a little age.
July 23rd. Have not bottled this yet. I topped it off with a little bottled water and tested the SG at .994. It has a little bite on the front of the tongue. Slow to age, I suppose.

 

[meadmaker1]

That makes sense thanks. How many pounds of fruit for 5 gal. Wine? I will be picking them next weekend. Still felt hard to me yesterday. Joe

I think ive been near 4 to 1 buckets of apples to buckets of juice. It will depend on size of the apples and how juicy they are though. (Smaller ones pack more densely) I only use straight juice for apple. Never water. I often use apple juice in place of water in other fruit wines

 

[Jal5]

Are you crushing the apples for the 4:1 ratio? I plan to freeze them then do the strainer bag in the bucket method. But maybe that won’t work with that much fruit? I will use 100% apple juice to top off too.
Joe

 

[Donatelo]

Wash, halve, destem and remove seeds, then place them in a blender and thoroughly chop. pour the mush into a clean dish towel and squeeze as much juice as you can into the sterilized fermenter. You can add some of the pulp after you get the desired amount of juice. Then you can follow any number of recipes. The one that I listed is for Cyser = apple mead. All meads take an eternity to turn out sweet and mellow.

 

[tjgaul]

Is it better to work with barely ripe or extra ripe fruit? Is freezing & thawing recommended?

I have 2 dwarf cab apples in my yard and they are loaded with small (barely bigger than cherries) fruit. I am considering making a one gallon batch of jalapeno - crab apple wine. Could be a drinking wine . . . or it could be a cooking wine.

 

[meadmaker1]

Are you crushing the apples for the 4:1 ratio? I plan to freeze them then do the strainer bag in the bucket method. But maybe that won’t work with that much fruit? I will use 100% apple juice to top off too.
Joe

I crush and press but i posted that to give an idea of how much juice there is.
Freezing treats different fruit differently. Im not sure how mushy they will be.
Im thinking fill a brute to eight gallon with apples then top off with juice to make it stirable and fill all the little spaces. I kinda expect that the apples will be fairly tough, but haven't tryed. Im gona go stick one in the freezer now and see.

 

[mikewatkins727]

Is it better to work with barely ripe or extra ripe fruit? Is freezing & thawing recommended?

I have 2 dwarf cab apples in my yard and they are loaded with small (barely bigger than cherries) fruit. I am considering making a one gallon batch of jalapeno - crab apple wine. Could be a drinking wine . . . or it could be a cooking wine.

I have an old crab apple tree that produces large batches of crab apples every few years. Once made a 3 gallon batch of one of the best apple wines. I picked the crab apples off the ground, washed and crushed them then froze till I had the amount I needed. Tree is about gone so don't expect any more. Last year made a gallon batch from Dolgo crab apples. Still in aging tank.

 

[Jal5]

Well I have 6.5 lb of tart crab apples cleaned destemmed all good fruit that I’m estimating for a gallon of wine. Pretty labor intensive I think. Kind of an experimental wine for us. Now in the deep freeze till I have some time to start it later this year. Spritzed it with a solution of pectic enzyme too.

 

[louieb]

Wash those very thoroughly and cull the bad spots. I remove the stems and seeds. The seeds have a small amount of arsenic in them. Had a dog that loved the apple cores that my kids gave her. Later, at the vet they told me "no no no!" Dog survived , but lesson learned.

I'm new at making wine and my first try will be Crabapple getting ready to harvest them . ANd NOW better half tells me there is arsenic in the seeds, I was planning on using a antigue food/fruit presser or food processer how are you getting the seeds out of your batch you made?.
I have nylon bag and all the ingredients needed now this wrench has been throw in bout seeds have arsenic im using 5/lbs of crabapples your opinion on this is much appreciated.
LouieB
OH today is Thursday night im planning on picking crabapples Tuesday Morging 9/11

 

[louieb]

Well I have 6.5 lb of tart crab apples cleaned destemmed all good fruit that I’m estimating for a gallon of wine. Pretty labor intensive I think. Kind of an experimental wine for us. Now in the deep freeze till I have some time to start it later this year. Spritzed it with a solution of pectic enzyme too.

Hello im new at this (wine making) and chose to start with crab apples wine but im hearing there is arsenic in the seeds did you crush your crabapples? or did you remove the seeds which I find crazy? I try one crab on removing seeds and I almost cut myself trying plus it would take mega months to remove seeds, what did you do may I ask?
LouieB

 

[Jal5]

Washed and froze enough for 1 gallon. Plan to mash them a little once thawed and otherwise will treat like I made the Dragons Blood wine. No removing seeds but not crushing or food processing either. Will add pure apple juice as needed instead of water i think.
True experiment this year.

 

[jigmee7276]

Washed and froze enough for 1 gallon. Plan to mash them a little once thawed and otherwise will treat like I made the Dragons Blood wine. No removing seeds but not crushing or food processing either. Will add pure apple juice as needed instead of water i think.
True experiment this year.

how did it turn out? Really need to know as i made a 3 gallon batch today and didnt remove the seeds.

 

[Rojoguio]

I have 10 pounds of apples I plan on using a food mill to remove seeds tomorrow. I don't see anyone mentioning using a food mill, is there some kind of drawback to using one?