Wanted to do a small batch of honey crisp

[dralarms]

Just to see what flavors come through. Food city has 3lb bags on sale for 3 bucks, sent the wife to get 30 bags, which normally would get me 6.5 to 7 gallons. Well she came back with 50 bags. Guess a big batch is in order.

 

[Deezil]

How's this coming along?

150lbs?
~10-12 gallons?

I've been meaning to try a straight honeycrisp, as its my family's favorite newer apple, and I'm actually planning on planting a few trees of it in a few years.

 

[dralarms]

Heck, their still in the boxes, had to start a golden delicious to free up freezer space. Gonna start cutting them up tomorrow.

 

[Arne]

Think you are running on my timeline. I've had almost 3 gal of honey to make some trad. mead for a couple of months and don't quite seem to get around to it. Wish most of our fruit didn't get hit by the late frost last spring. I prefer the melonols, by bro. in law who provides the honey likes the trad. Arne.

 

[Deezil]

Yeah, I'm sitting on about 5 gallons of honey myself.. 21 quarts i think?
But I havent even had time to fart, let alone make some mead lol.

I need to get some apple cider and some pears though, before they're gone.
I like my Apple-Pear blend, on the dry side with some body. It's more 'chardonnay' than it is 'riesling'. Sans 'butter', lol.

I could probably whip up a traditional or bochet batch of mead too..
Hmm..

 

[dralarms]

Take them back, HC is good to eat but not for cider, if you really pat attention to eating it its just sugar and snap and not much real depth of flavor that will last thru making a cider. Do you have any orchards at all around you? Winesaps and Goldrushes are around right now, both of those would make a much much better cider. WVMJ

Well everyone has their own opinion. People kept telling me that golden delicious was not good to make wine out of too. I can't make enough, everyone loves it.

Didn't ask your opinion on my choice of apples.

Sorry to sound harsh but I'm tired of people telling people on here that what they are doing is wrong.

There is something to be said for blending apples, certain types bleND together to really make a fantastic wine, but unless you have make the honey crisp by itself then you really need to backup and leave your opinion out of it.

And who said cider? I said wine.

 

[fivebk]

I made 2 gallon with honey crisp apples it's almost a year old and ready to bottle. The flavors of the Apple come through nicely. I think it just might turn out to be one of my best apple wines to date. I say go for it!!!!!!

BOB

 

[ibglowin]

Check any and all political remarks at the front door please.

Ok, so I guess that I'm not allowed to use that persons name?

 

[dralarms]

Update.

The honeycrisp wine is the best straight apple wine I've made so far. Turned out so good that I bought 4 bushels this year. Just took it out of primary and got 22 gallons with no water added.

 

[dralarms]

How's this coming along?

150lbs?
~10-12 gallons?

I've been meaning to try a straight honeycrisp, as its my family's favorite newer apple, and I'm actually planning on planting a few trees of it in a few years.

I started 6 trees from seeds and got them growing. Not big enough to do anything with but I have 1 that's about 18 to 24 inches.

 

[BernardSmith]

I don't know that seeds will get you the apples you think you are growing. Specific apples are usually grown from grafts. Not sure why that is the case but I believe that that is the reality
http://www.bhg.com/gardening/vegetable/fruit/how-do-i-plant-seeds-from-grocery-store-apples/

 

[AkTom]

Sorry to ask a rookie question... how do you prep your apples? Or, a link to a fruit preparation thread.
Thanks

 

[dralarms]

I don't know that seeds will get you the apples you think you are growing. Specific apples are usually grown from grafts. Not sure why that is the case but I believe that that is the reality
http://www.bhg.com/gardening/vegetable/fruit/how-do-i-plant-seeds-from-grocery-store-apples/

Well I got trees anyway. Might not get apples but I'm going to try

Sorry to ask a rookie question... how do you prep your apples? Or, a link to a fruit preparation thread.
Thanks

I freeze them, let them start thawing, run them through a crusher and add a bunch of pectic enzyme, then after 24 to 36 hrs (when the fruit reaches room temperature) I add sugar and yeast. Oh I put a bowl of kmeta in the top of the bucket while the pectic enzyme does its job to keep the fruit from browning.

 

[grapeman]

Good to hear about how well it turned out dralarms. They are a very tasty apple.

Not trying to be negative here and only letting you know that what you will get from those seeds will be nothing like the apples you got them from. Virtually all of the apples you buy now days are crosses of two varieties and the seedlings are just like children, not two are the same and none are identical to either parent. They will grow into apple trees for sure, but if the seeds came from Honeycrisp, they will not grow Honeycrisp apples. They are produced by grafting scion wood or buds onto rootstock selected for certain traits. The dwarf and semi-dwarf trees come from various rootstock. When I grew apples I used to dabble in grafting. You can get catalogs of different rootstock materials. You then take either scion wood or buds and graft onto that. The spliced tree is planted in a nursery for a year to make the graft stronger and then the next spring moved to the orchard. The rootstock is developed in programs throughout the world. I used ones made here in the US, one from Russia that gave close to full size trees with good scab resistance and even a highly dwarfing P-22 selection from the Polish program.

With the above said, go ahead and see if they will grow for you. They may be very good apples when the trees eventually bear. The process is fun and like the lottery, you never know!

 

[Stressbaby]

I agree, I say go for it. Every grafted variety of apple started as a cross somewhere back down the line.