Starting an Apple Wine

[peterCooper]

Hydrometer arrived!!!
SG on the apple wine 1.000 exactly
SG on the Barolo .994

Racked the apple off the lees. (actualy is still going)

 

[peterCooper]

Added about 1/2 oz of Freanch Oak heavy toast.
Took a taste test. tasted fairly dry but still a pronounced apple taste.
Actually quite strong but a very pleasant taste. Clean aftertaste too. Not
cloying like some of the medium sweet whites.

 

[MedPretzel]

 

[peterCooper]

Now I've got to wait a little longer. It still producing the occasional bubble
so I think I'll leave it until Wed/Thurs before fining and stabilizing. Of course
I'll take another SG reading and have a littel taste.

 

[peterCooper]

Stablilzed and fined.
Now something interesting has happened. It's clearing in bands. There are
three definite bands showing, the lowest being uncleared and extending
about 6 inches up the carboy. The next band is clearer (somewhat) and
goes another 4 vinches up the carbo and the rest appears clearer still
(actually if I shine a light I can see a beam though it is still very cloudy.
Sorry, no pics, the wife has the camera up in missouri.

I marked the levels on the bands with scotch tape to see if they shift
overnight.

 

[Waldo]

That is very interesting Peter. Have never seen that before myself. Will be interesting to watch this post. I now have my sparkling cider applewine in bulk storage and will probably leave it until spring. I did bottle a green apple reisling this weekend that was really good. Edited by: Waldo

 

[peterCooper]

And shift they did. The lower band dropped about 3 inches, the upper band
an inch. I guess it's to do with the fineness of particles. Usually there is a
continuous range of particle sizes and the smaller the particle, the longer it
takes to drop out.. Maybe with this there are a some large sized particles
and some much smaller ones so they drop out at different rates leaving the
bands.

Even when they have gone, there is still a lot of clearing to do.

 

[n5odj]

Peter,


My apple wine did the exact same thing. Just like yours, there were three distinct bands. Being the impatient one, I used some KC fining & the next morning the whole thing was crystal clear.


Robert

 

[peterCooper]

OK so tell me about KC fining

 

[n5odj]

This was the first time I've used KC, but was impressed enough to use it again. It comes in a two sided packet of liquid. Mix in the first & then the second..... one right after the other worked for me although the instructions didn't specify a particular length of time between the two.


Robert


Here's from the website where I ordered it:



<TABLE width="100%">
<T>
<TR>
<TD vAlign=top align=left width="100%" colSpan=4>LQ SUPER-KLEER K. C. FININGS </TD></TR>
<TR>
<TD vAlign=top width="100%" colSpan=4>
<DIV =product_deion>High speed liquid clearing agent. A one-two punch combination of Kieselsol and Chitosan, the 1.35 oz. package is sufficient to clear a five or six gallon batch of BEER or WINE in one to two days! Easy to use!</TD></TR></T></TABLE>

 

[pkcook]

Peter,


I've never posted here, but read regularly to get tips. I made a cherry/white grape wine that produced the rings when clearing. Being the cheap one, I just waited it out and the wine cleared out like a crystal. I sweatened with a tart cherry concentrate (1/2 cup)I found online http://www.brownwoodacres.com/cherry.htm. It did cloud the wine quite a bit and after 2 months never cleared. I only made a gallon, so I opted to bottle (november)and drink myself. I took a bottle home to KY for Christmas and the taste was "WOW." Everyone loved it"floaties" and all.


I would love to repeat this batch, but was wondering if there was a method tocleara wine that the concentrate clouds without filtering?


Pat

 

[masta]

Pat,


I am making a mead "Cherry Melomel" with this same cherry concentrate. Their products are awesome with amazing concentrated flavors. Did you make the wine with the cherry concentrate or just sweeten with it?


Adding a fining agent like the Super Kleer K. C. when adding the concentrate should help to clear it. You can also only use a portion of the packets if you are making a small batch less than 5 gallons and save the rest for another time.

 

[pkcook]

Masta,


I used two 64oz bottles of cherry/? and one bottle of Welch's niagra and only sweatened with the concentrate. I also did an oregon red raspberry (canned) and used the red raspberry concentrate ($$$) to sweaten. Boy, what a difference! This concentrate is high power! Both the Cherry and the Raspberry showed drastic improvements from the concentrate. I opened another bottle of the Cherry last night and what a difference a couple of weeks make in the bottle! I only have 3 bottles left and I would love to hold on to a couple for at least a year to see the difference.


Brownwood Acres has a sale on the the raspberry and I was thinking about trying a batch with just the concentrate. The Pomegranate sounds good as well.


I will try the Super Kleer on the next batch and maybe try the cold stablization technique I spent all night reading about from the forum

.


Pat

 

[peterCooper]

Once you get started you can't stop.

Pat,

I'm thinking about filtering. I know the buon vino filter is out of my reach
but I think the Vinibrite I could go for. It'll take a bit longer to filter, but still
less than an hour for a 6 gallon batch.

I've only read one post where someone worried about filtering stripping
taste and color but other who use filters don't seem to think it does.

I think George has the Vinibrite for 30 something dollars. Not much to
produce spectacularly clear wines.

 

[pkcook]

Peter,


I read the thread on Martina's gravity feed filter, and think this would be the way I start.


You are right about getting started. So far I've made welch concord, peach, watermelon, raspberry, grapefruit, pineapple, black table grape (wally world), and cranberry in 1 gallon batches. The watermelon was a bust! I broke down and bought two 6 gallon carboys and a larger bucket and repeated the peach batch. The peach retained the peachy flavor extremely well.With that much wine, Iexperimented with different sweetnesses. I made 5 bottelsdry, 10 bottles semi-sweet, and 15 bottles dessert style (My wife likes the really sweet stuff!).


My brother-in-law has 35 acres in wine grapes in KY, sothis fall I will attempt my firstCabernet Franc from fresh grapes (my payment for helping to harvest).


Pat

 

[Harry]

Welcome Pat


Let us know and we will go and help with the harvest for some grapes LOL


Harry

 

[pkcook]

Thanks Harry,


Last year the birds enjoyed more of the cropthan anyone, so I wasn't needed for the small harvest. Hopefully this will be a better year.


Pat

 

[Waldo]

Could you make a wine just from the concentrates?

 

[pkcook]

Properly reconstituted, this stuff is the closest to the tree/vine that I have found! I am confident that the concentrates would make very good wine. I'll be sure and keep you posted on the progress when I receive it and get a batch started.


Pat

 

[Waldo]

Thanks Pat...I may order me some of the Blueberry and give that a whirl. My gallon I made from berries was really good and is now gone and left me wanting more