First Timer - Apple wine

im a newbee at winemaking. but i reccomend buying a recipe booklet at your supply store, it will guide you, keep the pulp in a nylon bag ,add the ingredients at the right time and use your hydrometer to monitor fermentation. i did and never made batch of anything untill his year and have had good results. lucas

I have made apple wine by cutting up the apples much as you are planning and I have made it from pressed juice. I prefer the way you are doing it. The buckets are a great way to start. Just cover them with a towel to keep flies and other bugs out. Open and stir them twice a day. I would not put them in a nylon bag. You can stir and mash them with your hands better if they are just in the must. Then pour them through a nylon bag and mash it with your hands when you are going to secondary.

If you can find a winemaker supply any where around you, do so. Pectin enzyme is necessary to aid in clearing and it will increase yield of juice. Good wine yeast is key to make good wine. It would be a shame to end up with 20 gallon of ponk after a year of effort because you did not spend 3 dollars for good yeast.

Ray

Thanks Ray, After reading alot about wine making at

,some advice from a friend of a freind, and several post here, I decided to use what others have learned. I did add some peptic enzyme, acid blend, tannin, and I'm using Red Star Pasteur Champagne with some nutrient. It's foaming nicely. I didn't add any sugar although the recipe I'm using calls for sugar to be added to the must. I plan to add it when I go to secondary, at about 2 lbs per gallon. I have a hydrometer but haven't played with it yet. I may also add some Sparkolloid later.

How much mashing do you do when you go to secondary? I'm afraid I won't be able to fill the 5gal secondary once the pulp is removed, and I may have to top off with some distelled water.

I plan to do a 2nd and 3rd batch soon, do you have a favorite yeast for apples? I guess I should see what my supplier carries, and do some research since the yeast seems to be the main factor on what you end up with. Stu

Do play with your hydrometer. It is the winemakers easiest to use and best tool. Champagne yeast is usually a very through and quick yiest. It is probably not a bad idea to slow it down by adding sugar late. With other yeast I would add it at the start. Also, your primary may go very quickly as the champagn yeast will eat up the little sugar in the apples very fast. Be ready to move it after 2 or 3 days.

If you have removed the seeds, do as much mashing as you can. Greater yield. Use a press if you have access to one. If not you will just loose a few percent of juce. No big deal though. It will not effect quality.

Do NOT top up you carboy after moving it to secondary. When you hit that champaigne yeast with the added sugar, it is likely to have a near explosion of activing and foaming the first day or two. If you top it, you could have a real mess on your hands when it blows out through the airlock or even blows the airlock off. Leave the carboy with 1/3 to 1/4 headspace. This will not hurt anything. The CO2 coming off the fermentation will purge this very quickly.

If you do not open the carboy until it is finished fermenting it will be fine. If fact I would say leave it alone for one month after it finishes fermenting. The head space is full of CO2 is will be no problem. That will give it time for most of the sediment to settle out. (If you do get anqcious and open it to check it and the fermentation is finshed, then you must do something about the head space as it will fill with air.) After a month or so, rack it for the final clearing and at that time it is very important to top up what ever vessels you put it in. Get some gallon jugs with extra airlocks for that period. It may be fine to make wine in plastic but I would not want to store it for bulk aging in plastic.

Ray

The primary foamed and bubbled for about a week, then slowed down. I didn't have time to transfer it, so I added 1cup of sugar. Last night,

8 days after adding yeast, I strained the pieces and pulp thru a colander. then strained the juice thru a grain bag. I poured some of the juice into the secondary and added some sugar, more juice more sugar. Some of the sugar didn't dissolve so I stirred the secondary best I could. I was afraid all that straining and stirring would have exposed the yeast to to much O2, but it's bubbling away nicely. One big bubble every second or faster.

I ended up with about 4.25 gallons. I added some water to the left over pieces and pulp, and squeezed out as much juice/water as I could, and repeated until I was able to fill a 3liter bottle. I only added

1cup of sugar to this, and it's bubling too.

I think I still need to stir the big secondary to dissolve some sugar. Is is a bad idea? Will the yeast convert it if it's just laying on the bottom?

I hope to start another 5 gallon Apple batch tonight using EC-1118 if my supply store has it. Stu

Do stir it. Don't think that will hurt anything and no they yeast will not eat the sugar until it dissolves. Be careful if you do not have much head space as it may start bubbling violently when you start to stir it. Could make a mess.

Ray