Apple Wine

Started a batch of Apple Wine tonight after picking apples from a couple of trees around Bridgenorth on Saturday 20th. I am unsure of the quantity of wine that I will end up with as I messed around with the recipe a bit :) I chose one for a Heavy Bodied wine found here

Recipe

• 22lb of mixed apples - mostly tart apples 16lb approx, the rest sweeter (poss pink lady)
• 6lb sugar after initial fermentation
• 1tsp peptic Enzyme
• Girvin Wine Yeast strain GV2 - suitable for full bodied red and white wine so it seemed suitable
• 1 tsp Yeast Nutrient
• 1 1/2 gallons of water (recipe said 1 gallon but through circumstance I increased) - made 2 gallons

Day 1 - 22/08/11

I stated by cutting up the apples in to random sizes, the recipe said small pieces but I did not read this clearly enough in hind site, I then added and sired in the enzyme. I poured 1 gallon of water over the apples but it barely covered a third of the apples, the originally recipe said I started byit would not but this still seemed odd. I have set aside for 24 hours.

Day 2 - 23/08/11

I looked at the fermenting barrel in the morning and was worried about the level of water, so I and added half a gallon of water.

I pitched the yeast tonight along with the yeast nutrient, but beforehand I used a hand blender to mix up the contents. This meant the contents was more liquid, and I feel will ferment easier.


Day 11 - 01/09/11 - Racking the Wine

I drained off the liquid into a second fermenting barrel, then further liquidised the remaining mixture and pushed it through a sieve, and ended up with 2 gallons of wine. I poured in 6 pounds of sugar into the fermenting barrel and shook it regularly to mix in the sugar. I then filled the two demijohns and a juice bottle, and placed airlocks in them. not the long wait for them to clear :)

Day 12 - 02/09/11 - spillage

Woke up to find the airlocks on the two demijohns full of the wine after the initial heavy fermentation, cleaned them out, sterilised and replaced. all bubbling nicely every second or so now.

Day 18 - 08/09/11 - oh the bubbles

Slowed a little but still bubbling every couple of seconds, there is quite a lost of sediment probably from where i squeeze the most out of the apples. Might rack on in a week or so to get rid of as much as I can.

Day 35 - 25/09/11 - Rack of

As mentioned there was a lot of sediment therefore I racked off the wine into fresh demijohns. I poured the contents into a funnel with a cloth in the top to ensure I got all the liquid out, but will rack off normally a couple more times I would think, managed to get nearly two demijohns worth.

Day 36 - 26/09/11 - slow bubbling

checked today and the demijohns are still bubbling if a bit slower than before

Day 74 -13/11/2009 - Second racking off

Racked off the wine again today which went nice and smoothly. Had a little taste and it tasted like a nice strong cider but definitely wine like :)

plum wine

Started 2 gallon of plum wine with plums off the garden

Recipe to Make One Gallon of Plum Wine

• Plums 6lbs/2.75kilos
• Sugar 3lb/1.5 kilos
• Red Wine Yeast (as directed)
• Yeast Nutrient ( 1 teaspoon)
• Pectolase (1 teaspoon)
• Campden Tablets

Day 1 - 13/08/11 - getting started

Wash the fruit well. Place the fruit in a white food grade bin with lid. Pour over the fruit 2 pints of boiling water, stir well, crushing the fruit gently. When cool, add one teaspoon of Pectolase. Cover and leave at room temperature over night. The next day dissolve the sugar in 2 pints of hot water and add to the bin of plums. Cover closely with the lid and leave in a warm place for 48 hours, then strain off clear liquid 75f/21C pour into a demijohn adding the wine yeast and yeast nutrient leave for the rest of the fermentation time under cork and airlock (pour a little water into the airlock to cover first U-bend). Top up to the neck of the demijohn with cool boiled water. Leave in a warm place out of direct sunlight 75of/21C

Leave until fermentation has ended. There will be some sediment at the bottom of the demijohn so the wine will need to be racked off into a clean vessel and a campden tablet added to preserve the wine. If using a hydrometer the finished S.G. should read 0.998 or lower.

Doubled the above recipe but used frozen plums. The plums seemed to thaw with the first lot of boiling water but the must was ice cold so will add the pectalose later tonight when it is more like room temperature

Day 2 - 14/08/11 - adding sugar

Dissolved sugar in water and poured over the must. Added an extra 4 pints of water (doubling the recipe) and ended up with 2.5 gallon in volume.

Day 4 - 16/08/11 - straining and pitching

Strained the fruit. First poured it through a metal sieve, scraping away the fruit from the holes as it got clogged up. Then collected the pulp in a large saucepan. Squeezed the pulp through a muslin sheet into orange bucket and added it to the fermenting bucket.

Pitched yeast, added nutrient and fitted airlock

Day 40 - 24/09/11 - racking off

Racked off into 2 demijohns. The second demijohn was mostly sediment as I'd left it in the fermenting bucket longer than advised there was a lot of sediment in the bottom half of the bucket.

Day 135 - 27/01/12 - 2nd racking

Racked off into one and a half demijohn, leaving most of the sediment.