crab apple wine

I have a crab apple tree, that for some reason, has produced a huge crop of apples this year (probably due to the wet summer). I want to use this fruit to make wine. But, I don't want the cut up fruit in my fermentation. I just want to crush and use the juice. I don't want to deal with the fermentation bag and squeezing it everyday (I like easy and simple).

Question 1: Does anyone know how much juice would be needed to make a gallon (U.S.) of wine based on the receipe below?

4 1/2 lb crabapples (what is the juice equivalent?) 1/2 pt wht grape conc. 7 pts water 1 3/4 lb sugar 1/2 tsp pectic enzyme 1 tsp nutrient

Up to this point, I have only used concentrates to make wine. This will be my first test with using actual fruit.

Question 2: Other than buying a fruit press, any suggestions on how to press the apples to extract the juice? Homemade solutions needed as I don't want to spend money on anything to press the fruit.

Question 3: Any other receipes for crabapple that would improve on the one above?

Thanks, Joe

Hello Joe,

If your 41/2 lb of apples would yield 50% juice, and if that juice would contain enough sugar to produce from itself a wine with 5% of alcohol (this is my starting supposition), then:

you would have approx. 1 L or +/- 2 pt of juice containing 85 g of sugar per liter.

suppose your concentrate contains 400 g of sugar to the liter or 114 g/half pint, you got then 2.5 pints

you add 7 pints of water, you then got 9.5 pints,

you then add 13/4 lb of sugar or 795 g.

you then have 5.4 L or 1 gallon containing all together 994 g of sugar.

this gives a concentration of 220 g of sugar/L, which, in my tables, would ferment to 12.5 vol. percent of alcohol approx.

I do not know exactly what crabapples are, but according to my dictionnaire, they are some kind of wild apples, and a yield of 50% of juice would be reasonable. Adding pectine enzyme will increase the yield, but it wil also increase the methanol content as it breaks down cell walls that are made of polymerized methanol. And methanol is not so healthy. Although is will only be produced in tiny amounts, even with enzyme, it is better not to do so.

If you deepfreeze the apples and then unfreeze them, they can be pressed in one move with a bag and hand pressure. If you do not want this, you will have to crush the apples with a fruit press e.g. You also can cut the apples in a bucket with an electric handdrill, equipped with som rotating knife that you can buy for very cheap, or you can make yourself. I see no other means to get to the juice.

I have only made wine for some years now with ordinary apples, but it seems to me that you add to much nutrient. Half would still be more than enough.

Wish you a lot of succes! Mark.

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