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TWO WESTS AND ELLIOT GARDEN SUPPLIES
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APPLE WINE
INGREDIENTS
TO MAKE ONE GALLONOne teaspoon of citric acid can be added, but the easiest option is to replace a few pounds of the apples with baking apples, that way adding the acidity naturally.
METHOD
This
is a very
easy wine to make, in that you wash and cut up the apples and simmer in
a pan for around 15 minutes in water, making sure the water
covers
the segments of apple.
While hot, the liquid is strained into a fermentation bin containing the sugar and raisins and pectic enzyme, then stirred well.
When it is cool enough (75°F) the yeast is added, along with the nutrient, and citric acid (if you are using it).
This is left covered over for around three days in a warm place, around 75°F (21°C).
The liquid is then strained into a demijohn and topped up with cool boiled water almost to the demijohns neck.
You now need to leave it an a warm place (the same temperature mentioned above) for four or five weeks or more to ferment out.
Apples generally produce a lot of sediment, whether in cider or wine, and therefor need racking, usually every couple of weeks or three.
If the wine has finished fermenting add 2 campden tablets to the demi-john, that way ensuring there can be no unwanted secondary fermentation, so that if you require a sweeter wine, simply add sugar.
You can do it the other way of adding more sugar - see below - (without the use of campbden tablets) and fermenting your wine further, that way boosting the alcohol level, which acts just like the campden tablet effect, without the chemicals.
To top up the demijohn as fermenting progresses, use previously boiled water, then once fermentation is complete leave it in a cool place to clear and mature, preferably in your demijohn (usually the bigger the bulk, then the better the wine) and still under an air lock, for at least 2 months, so that it can be finally racked before bottling.
While hot, the liquid is strained into a fermentation bin containing the sugar and raisins and pectic enzyme, then stirred well.
When it is cool enough (75°F) the yeast is added, along with the nutrient, and citric acid (if you are using it).
This is left covered over for around three days in a warm place, around 75°F (21°C).
The liquid is then strained into a demijohn and topped up with cool boiled water almost to the demijohns neck.
You now need to leave it an a warm place (the same temperature mentioned above) for four or five weeks or more to ferment out.
Apples generally produce a lot of sediment, whether in cider or wine, and therefor need racking, usually every couple of weeks or three.
If the wine has finished fermenting add 2 campden tablets to the demi-john, that way ensuring there can be no unwanted secondary fermentation, so that if you require a sweeter wine, simply add sugar.
You can do it the other way of adding more sugar - see below - (without the use of campbden tablets) and fermenting your wine further, that way boosting the alcohol level, which acts just like the campden tablet effect, without the chemicals.
To top up the demijohn as fermenting progresses, use previously boiled water, then once fermentation is complete leave it in a cool place to clear and mature, preferably in your demijohn (usually the bigger the bulk, then the better the wine) and still under an air lock, for at least 2 months, so that it can be finally racked before bottling.
For
a sweeter wine, simply follow the above procedure,
but
when the fermentation has ended, ignore the point about the campden
tablet altogether and just decant around half a pint of the
wine and warm it up (do
not boil it) and stir in two ounces of sugar, before
returning
the new sugarred solution to the main fermenting vessel.
What this has done is, by heating the half pint, you will have killed off the yeast in that small batch, but when you return the sweetened half pint to the secondary fermenter the live yeast you left inside the fermenter will immediately begin to feed on the new sugar you have just added and produce more alcohol.
This process can be repeated once the fermentation ceases until the yeast is totally killed off by the alcohol level in the wine, checking each time for the SG to be above 1.000.
Once it reaches this state, and no further fermentation occurs, providing of course you have not let the must get too hot or too cold, that way halting the fermentation early, then you know that adding further sugar will only sweeten the wine, so you simply add it to taste.
The wine in this state has enough alcohol in it to kill off any bacteria, just like the campden tablet would have, but without any unnecessary chemical requirements.
It's now time to bottle your wine.
But be warned, an over-sweet wine is not to everyones taste, and if you get up to 1.005 or more, then you are likely to be overdoing it a little, especially for a white wine (1.003 should be considered the maximum for a white wine, but then again, tastes vary).
Also, you have produced the maximum amount of alcohol possible in your sweet wine, maybe around 14 or 15%, possibly up to 16%, so you are advised to go steady with it.
What this has done is, by heating the half pint, you will have killed off the yeast in that small batch, but when you return the sweetened half pint to the secondary fermenter the live yeast you left inside the fermenter will immediately begin to feed on the new sugar you have just added and produce more alcohol.
This process can be repeated once the fermentation ceases until the yeast is totally killed off by the alcohol level in the wine, checking each time for the SG to be above 1.000.
Once it reaches this state, and no further fermentation occurs, providing of course you have not let the must get too hot or too cold, that way halting the fermentation early, then you know that adding further sugar will only sweeten the wine, so you simply add it to taste.
The wine in this state has enough alcohol in it to kill off any bacteria, just like the campden tablet would have, but without any unnecessary chemical requirements.
It's now time to bottle your wine.
But be warned, an over-sweet wine is not to everyones taste, and if you get up to 1.005 or more, then you are likely to be overdoing it a little, especially for a white wine (1.003 should be considered the maximum for a white wine, but then again, tastes vary).
Also, you have produced the maximum amount of alcohol possible in your sweet wine, maybe around 14 or 15%, possibly up to 16%, so you are advised to go steady with it.
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