Green apple wine 1st attempt/ s.g questions

[Whodat1972]

Hello,

So this is what I done...

1/2 of water mixed with 7 pounds of sugar
3 gals of water (real spring water)
10 pounds of green apples
half tablespoon of acid blend
full tablespoon Pectic enzyme
1/3 tables spoon of Diammonium Phosphate
2 pills of Campden tabs.

In A 5 gal bucket with a air lock on. I plan to wait over 48 hours to pitch my yeast. My S.G. is at 2.2 or 10%? or 1.25? This is without my pitch so....


I'm hoping someone can guess what I'm gonna turn out with, and anything I can do to maybe to change any mistakes they think I've made . Thanks~

[rad14701]

What mistakes do you think you've made based on the mandatory research you've done...??? You've done it, right...??? If you don't know, you shouldn't be experimenting... Instead, you should be sticking with Tried and True recipes...

Are you making beer or wine, or are you making a wash that will be distilled...??? If the latter is the case then your post is in the wrong location...

[NZChris]

I don't know because I don't use these when I make it

water
sugar
acid blend
Pectic enzyme
Diammonium Phosphate
Campden tabs

[Whodat1972]

Mandatory research seems to be a joke....Everyone seems to have there ways of making wine. However, based on what I've read, the only thing I could be seeing being wrong is adding Diammonium Phosphate. Prob just a tad too much nutrient. I think I have made the right base. Exactly who am I going to be hurting by experimenting???? This is wine like the picture shows, the one/s to the right of it is UJSM/s.

However, if it does tastes too tart, or just not taste worthy , I'll just run it.



I'm not trying to be rude Rad, but with what I'm adding, and am trying to do, you can tell that I've done some research. But this is my first shot at wine.

[SoMo]

I don't make wine I've consumed a bit tho, I think you are off the mark for wine. My .02$ pull the apples out throw them in the blender purée add back in and run that as an apple whiskey. Maybe research a little more on wine then try again.

[shadylane]

deleted
because I was editing for grammar while another member was posting.
My next post is the good one.

[NZChris]

The Campden would probably stink up the distillate if you ran it.

[shadylane]

Hello,

So this is what I done...

1/2 of water mixed with 7 pounds of sugar
3 gals of water (real spring water)
10 pounds of green apples
half tablespoon of acid blend
full tablespoon Pectic enzyme
1/3 tables spoon of Diammonium Phosphate
2 pills of Campden tabs.

Is it 3 gals of water, or is it 1/2 of the total, as in 6 gals?

[Whodat1972]

Hello,

So this is what I done...

1/2 of water mixed with 7 pounds of sugar
3 gals of water (real spring water)
10 pounds of green apples
half tablespoon of acid blend
full tablespoon Pectic enzyme
1/3 tables spoon of Diammonium Phosphate
2 pills of Campden tabs.

Is it 3 gals of water, or is it 1/2 of the total, as in 6 gals?

3 and a half...total

[rad14701]

As mentioned, the apples need to be puree'd or pressed, and you need more... Not nearly enough apple juice in there to make much apple wine flavor... Is this a recipe you found or just something you thought up yourself...??? In all of my years of research I've never seen an apple wine recipe like this one which is why I was questioning... When I used to make wine I used a fruit press and only fermented the resulting juice... Only a couple recipes ever had pulp in the ferment...

[MichiganCornhusker]

I was talked into making a dandelion "wine" this spring, this looks a lot like that.
I looked around for the most legit dandelion recipe I could find, but they were all pretty much just sugar water, maybe a little citrus, and then a bunch of dandelions.
I think you probably have a better chance of getting something with a little flavor out of this than my dandelions. More like a green apple sugar wash than a wine, or even cider, but it might turn out to be a drinkable thing.
But, I agree, if you really want to get the most out of the apples, it seems like grinding them up would be the ticket. If your goal is to ferment and bottle as a wine, I say go for it. I haven't done enough sugar wash to know what to expect if you were to distill this. Good luck.

[Whodat1972]

As mentioned, the apples need to be puree'd or pressed, and you need more... Not nearly enough apple juice in there to make much apple wine flavor... Is this a recipe you found or just something you thought up yourself...??? In all of my years of research I've never seen an apple wine recipe like this one which is why I was questioning... When I used to make wine I used a fruit press and only fermented the resulting juice... Only a couple recipes ever had pulp in the ferment...

I was talked into making a dandelion "wine" this spring, this looks a lot like that.
I looked around for the most legit dandelion recipe I could find, but they were all pretty much just sugar water, maybe a little citrus, and then a bunch of dandelions.
I think you probably have a better chance of getting something with a little flavor out of this than my dandelions. More like a green apple sugar wash than a wine, or even cider, but it might turn out to be a drinkable thing.
But, I agree, if you really want to get the most out of the apples, it seems like grinding them up would be the ticket. If your goal is to ferment and bottle as a wine, I say go for it. I haven't done enough sugar wash to know what to expect if you were to distill this. Good luck.

Ok, thanks. That's why I added the Pectic , I thought that would help release a lot of the juices outta the fruit. And, the acid blend would help it have a sweet tart taste. I kinda was watching a video "How to make wine - Apple by (deleted) "

I kinda missed the fact that he took a 2x4 piece of wood to crush up the apples in his bucket. And was wondering why mine didn't have the musk look that I have seen. I was going to do dandelions, but it got too late in the year...none I can really find now. I haven't started fermenting yet, so Ill just mash them in a bowl and pour them back in. They haven't turn brown or anything yet so I think it will still be alright to do. I'll just crush another Campden to make sure nothing ugly grows while I'm doing it.

update; I tried using a potato masher, but that wasn't getting me anywhere. So I used the food dicer on 80% of it. Live and learn, I'll know better next time. I still have faith it will turn out pretty good

thanks for your help again everyone.

Thanks for the help everyone. I thought it would be a little easier to strain, just sorta chopped up , however I do want really good apple flavor, and crushing them up a little does make more sense.

[SoMo]

You should try that recipe minus the chemicals and make whiskey probably be really good with the tart green apples.

[MichiganCornhusker]

Looks better already. When it comes time to strain, use a nylon paint strainer bag, should work like a charm.

[Whodat1972]

You should try that recipe minus the chemicals and make whiskey probably be really good with the tart green apples.

Ya, I'm definitely going to try that. I bought these apples since they where a good price and on sell, but I do have 2 apple trees in the field. Some early frost killed any hope of having any this year. So I'm trying to figure out some wine that the wife can drink , that don't taste like Mad Dog, and some future reference on running some in the still.

In all the wine making I've seen in video's, they really push that Campden to prevent wild yeast growth, or mold. And some will actually use a can of white grape in concentrate to give it a little more flavor. I do want to try a all natural, use lemon juice instead of the acid blend...etc

[cb_j]

try the ol' "Apfelwine" recipes...
you're flavouring the water with apple, is what it seems.

[SoMo]

Using the yeast Mother Nature made for those apples would probably do a great job.

[NZChris]

It sounds to me like you are doing your research by watching Youtubers who did their research by watching Youtubers who did their research by watching Youtubers .....

Good luck with that. I hope you make something you like.

[Whodat1972]

It sounds to me like you are doing your research by watching Youtubers who did their research by watching Youtubers who did their research by watching Youtubers .....

Good luck with that. I hope you make something you like.

Actually , I'm getting a lot of what I'm doing from theinfoco.com

However, I didn't use concentrated Grape juice. Maybe I should. And I probably added a bit more sugar. Oh, and I didn't use B1 vitamin, didn't see the point.

[jedneck]

Checked one of my wine books for you. Found this
For one gallon
2 lbs sugar
8 lbs crushed of chopped apples
1 tsp acid blend 1/2 tsp if tart
1/4 tsp tannin
1 tsp yeast nutrient
1/2 tsp pectic enzyme
1 pack wine yeast
Boil water add sugar
Put apples in Ferment or and pure in sugar water
Add acid tannin and nutrients
Cool to warm room temp and add pectic enzyme
Cover and fit with airlock
Next day pitch yeast
After primary fermentation rack to secondary
Rack at least two more times in secondary.
Let rest a year and enjoy

[NZChris]

Actually , I'm getting a lot of what I'm doing from theinfoco.com

Having seen what they had you doing to make 'apple wine', they won't be getting my £11. That recipe would be a bit wishy washy for our tastes. I'm sure some people like it. I hope you do.

[Whodat1972]

Checked one of my wine books for you. Found this
For one gallon
2 lbs sugar
8 lbs crushed of chopped apples
1/4 tsp tannin
1 pack wine yeast

Thanks , I'll try that next time. The only difference between this and what I've done is the Tannin, not as many apples and I used distillers yeast. I made a yeast starter with O.J that I pitched after letting it sit for 24hrs.

Thanks for the input everyone. I'm sure my 2nd attempt will be much better

[MichiganCornhusker]

I'm sure my 2nd attempt will be much better

So true, that's the goal for all of us here, always trying to improve and make it better.

[cranky]

My recommendation is to first press your own sweet cider. If that is not an option use store bought apple juice with no preservatives (Tree Top makes one called "Fresh Pressed" that is just pasteurized apple juice, the rest are usually from concentrate and have vitamin c added) and add some frozen apple concentrate to up both the sugar content and apple flavor until you are happy with the S.G., you wont need to use compden or chemicals because the juice manufacturers have already pasteurized it. Make sure you have sanitized all your equipment real well. Then pitch your yeast, air lock it and let it do it's thing. No chemicals or additional nutrients needed but you will need to leave plenty of head room, apples foam up a lot. If you still want to experiment go do some reading on Jack Keller's wine site it is a wealth of information.