Easy recipe for home made "Apple wine"

[Blowmax10]

Here is a cheap (about $25 for 5 gallons) and easy way to make what I call apple wine - it is actually a dry sparkling hard apple cider but its easier to say apple wine to people so you don't have to explain

You will need..

2 pounds white sugar
2 pounds brown sugar
5 gallons of apple juice (the Walmart stuff works great, just watch out for preservatives like Sorbate and Sulfide)
1 pack of dry wine yeast (I prefer Lalvin 71B-122)

For this I'm assuming that you have a fermentation vessel. I use a 5 gallon glass carboy. Stay away from anything like buckets or water bottles that are not PET because they will let O2 in - you can buy a 5 gallon glass carboy for about $27 and a PET better bottle for $26

You'll also need a sanitizer. The old timers used a bleach solution but the problem with chlorine is that it must be rinsed toughly because even a tiny amount left over will give a terrible off flavor. I recommend using a no rinse sanitizer called "Star San" - In my opinion it is the best for this application

Sanitize all your equipment before you get started - don't worry, its quick and easy

The first thing you will need to do is Sanitize the sugar. Your going to want to dissolve your sugar in a pan with as little water as practical. Bring it to a boil (boiling for 10min is better but not essential and will require more water) after that, let it cool on its own or with and Ice bath to speed up the process - its best to use water with no chlorine or chloramine, a Brita filter works but failing that a bottle from the store will work. And if anyone is lucky enough to have good well water then I envy you greatly

Now fill the carboy half way with juice and then add your cooled sugar solution in. Then top off with apple juice - The fill level should look like this



You will have a bit of juice left over but if your like me, it won't be around long

also - the reason that you don't have to sanitize the Juice is because it was pasteurized when it was packaged


Now pitch your yeast and put on an air lock of some sort

You will want to put the carboy in an area where it will stay in the temp range of the yeast. Usually 62 to 70. To cold and the yeast will go dormant and not ferment. too hot and the yeast will love it but will produce longer chain alcohols that will make your wine a one sip hangover machine - I have a closet that I use

A minimum fermentation time is around 10 days to a week (you can judge activity of the yeast by the activity of the air lock) but it will be fine undisturbed for a month as long as your yeast was healthy to begin with. I usually use a bit of Wyeast yeast Nutrient to make sure because its cheap. To long on the yeast cake and the yeast will die and give an off flavor.

There are many options for packaging ranging from bottling to kegging to drinking it straight out of the carboy - I could do a whole section on packaging, in the end it comes down to personal preference

This is ready to be consumed as soon as fermentation is over but benefits from 6 months to a year of proper aging (again, not on the yeast cake) and when properly packaged should have an indefinite shelf life


I hope you guys like this - I don't know jack about most of the subjects here (I came to learn) and figured I could contribute in the one area that I do have some info on

[KirkMcquest]

Here is a cheap (about $25 for 5 gallons) and easy way to make what I call apple wine - it is actually a dry sparkling hard apple cider but its easier to say apple wine to people so you don't have to explain

You will need..

2 pounds white sugar
2 pounds brown sugar
5 gallons of apple juice (the Walmart stuff works great, just watch out for preservatives like Sorbate and Sulfide)
1 pack of dry wine yeast (I prefer Lalvin 71B-122)

For this I'm assuming that you have a fermentation vessel. I use a 5 gallon glass carboy. Stay away from anything like buckets or water bottles that are not PET because they will let O2 in - you can buy a 5 gallon glass carboy for about $27 and a PET better bottle for $26

You'll also need a sanitizer. The old timers used a bleach solution but the problem with chlorine is that it must be rinsed toughly because even a tiny amount left over will give a terrible off flavor. I recommend using a no rinse sanitizer called "Star San" - In my opinion it is the best for this application

Sanitize all your equipment before you get started - don't worry, its quick and easy

The first thing you will need to do is Sanitize the sugar. Your going to want to dissolve your sugar in a pan with as little water as practical. Bring it to a boil (boiling for 10min is better but not essential and will require more water) after that, let it cool on its own or with and Ice bath to speed up the process - its best to use water with no chlorine or chloramine, a Brita filter works but failing that a bottle from the store will work. And if anyone is lucky enough to have good well water then I envy you greatly

Now fill the carboy half way with juice and then add your cooled sugar solution in. Then top off with apple juice - The fill level should look like this



You will have a bit of juice left over but if your like me, it won't be around long

also - the reason that you don't have to sanitize the Juice is because it was pasteurized when it was packaged


Now pitch your yeast and put on an air lock of some sort

You will want to put the carboy in an area where it will stay in the temp range of the yeast. Usually 62 to 70. To cold and the yeast will go dormant and not ferment. too hot and the yeast will love it but will produce longer chain alcohols that will make your wine a one sip hangover machine - I have a closet that I use

A minimum fermentation time is around 10 days to a week (you can judge activity of the yeast by the activity of the air lock) but it will be fine undisturbed for a month as long as your yeast was healthy to begin with. I usually use a bit of Wyeast yeast Nutrient to make sure because its cheap. To long on the yeast cake and the yeast will die and give an off flavor.

There are many options for packaging ranging from bottling to kegging to drinking it straight out of the carboy - I could do a whole section on packaging, in the end it comes down to personal preference

This is ready to be consumed as soon as fermentation is over but benefits from 6 months to a year of proper aging (again, not on the yeast cake) and when properly packaged should have an indefinite shelf life


I hope you guys like this - I don't know jack about most of the subjects here (I came to learn) and figured I could contribute in the one area that I do have some info on

Awesome. I have made 'applewine' many times, just the way you described it. The only addition I would make would be to 'rack' it a couple of times before bottling. This helps to clear it out, remove dead yeast, and refine it. Another thing I like to do is to 'shake it up' after the yeast has slowed to a trickle. This livens up the yeast for another few days. After that I rack it and let it sit in a 'second fermentation' for a week or two before bottling.

I agree with the use of glass carboys, I find that two with airlocks and a siphon hose is all that is needed. When I was first experimenting with brewing, I used plain plastic 1 gallon containers, a balloon, and bread yeast. The result was a very strong (put hair on your chest) but primitive "wine".

[Blowmax10]

Awesome. I have made 'applewine' many times, just the way you described it. The only addition I would make would be to 'rack' it a couple of times before bottling. This helps to clear it out, remove dead yeast, and refine it. Another thing I like to do is to 'shake it up' after the yeast has slowed to a trickle. This livens up the yeast for another few days. After that I rack it and let it sit in a 'second fermentation' for a week or two before bottling.

I agree with the use of glass carboys, I find that two with airlocks and a siphon hose is all that is needed. When I was first experimenting with brewing, I used plain plastic 1 gallon containers, a balloon, and bread yeast. The result was a very strong (put hair on your chest) but primitive "wine".

I think there are two down sides to racking into a secondary - one is that I'm really really lazy and don't like doing anthing extra but your right about clearing the wine. The second is the risk of O2 exposer but that is easily minimized using a racking cane and doing it right.

I have a buddy that just made some wine usning the ballon method - he just wanted a cheap way to make some booze - He said he let if go for 10 days and drank it straight out of the bottle

[Blowmax10]

I just made a fresh batch of Apple wine

,,,,

[KirkMcquest]

Nice........!