Apple Wine
A 1-gallon recipe for homemade apple wine made with fresh-pressed cider or store-bought apple juice. Yields about 4 standard wine bottles.
Servings: 20 glasses, makes 1 gallon, or about 4 bottles
Equipment
Ingredients
- 1- gallon apple juice see note
- 1 lb Sugar about 2 cups
- 1 tsp yeast nutrient
- 1 tsp acid blend
- 1/2 tsp Pectic Enzyme
- 1/4 tsp tannin powder
- wine yeast see note
- Optional ~ Campden Tablet and Potassium Sorbate for Stabilizing I do not use these
Instructions
- Start by removing about 1 quart (4 cups) of juice from the gallon, then pour the remaining 3 quarts into your fermentation vessel.
- Take 2 cups of the juice you removed and place it in a small saucepan, setting aside the other 2 cups for later use. Gently warm the juice in the saucepan over low heat.
- Once warm, add all the other ingredients (except the yeast) to the saucepan and stir until everything dissolves completely. Turn off the heat and allow the mixture to cool to room temperature.
- When the juice mixture has cooled, pour it into the fermentation vessel with the rest of the apple juice.
- In a small container, dissolve the winemaking yeast in about 1/4 cup of unchlorinated water. You’ll only need 1/5 to 1/2 of the yeast packet for this batch, so set aside the rest. Let the yeast sit for about 10 minutes to rehydrate.
- Once the yeast has hydrated, add it to the fermentation vessel with the apple juice mixture.
- Top off the fermentation vessel with the remaining apple juice you set aside earlier, filling it until the juice reaches the base of the neck. Be sure to leave 2-3 inches of headspace to allow for bubbling during fermentation.
- Cap the vessel with a rubber bung and attach a water lock filled with water. Place the fermentation vessel in a cool, dark area and allow it to ferment for 7 to 10 days. You should see active bubbling. If the bubbling pushes juice into the water lock, clean it out and reattach the lock as needed.
- After primary fermentation, use a brewing siphon to transfer the wine into a clean vessel, leaving behind any sediment.
- Re-seal the new vessel with a water lock and let it continue fermenting in a cool, dark place for at least 6 weeks, though it’s better to allow it to ferment for several months, up to 6 months, for a smoother taste.
- Once fermentation has fully finished, carefully bottle the apple wine in clean wine bottles. Store the bottles in a cool, dark place and let them age for at least one month. The wine will improve with age, and if you prefer a sweeter wine, you may need to back-sweeten it at this point (see notes for back-sweetening instructions).
Notes
Apple Juice
Use any preservative-free apple juice or fresh-pressed apple cider. Avoid juice that contains sodium benzoate, potassium sorbate, or potassium benzoate, since those preservatives will inhibit your yeast and prevent fermentation. Pasteurized juice and juice with added ascorbic acid (vitamin C) are safe to ferment. Fresh-pressed unpasteurized cider from a local orchard has the brightest flavor, but organic apple juice from the grocery store also works well.
Yeast
Lalvin ICV-D47 is recommended for apple wine. It enhances the fruity and floral character of the apples and tops out around 15% alcohol, which leaves enough residual sweetness for balance. Lalvin QA23 is a clean-fermenting alternative for a slightly drier finish. Champagne yeasts like Red Star Premier Cuvée or Lalvin EC-1118 work well too but ferment dry, so increase the sugar to 1½ pounds per gallon if you want any residual sweetness.
Sugar
The recipe calls for 1 pound of cane sugar (about 2 cups), which produces a semi-sweet finished wine with the recommended D47 yeast. Use brown sugar in place of cane sugar for warm caramel notes that intensify the apple character. Bump the sugar up to 1½ pounds for a higher alcohol or sweeter wine, especially if you are using a champagne-style yeast with high alcohol tolerance.
Stabilizing and Backsweetening
If at the end of secondary the wine is too dry for your taste, you can backsweeten. Move the wine to a clean container to avoid stirring up sediment, then add 1 Campden tablet and ½ teaspoon potassium sorbate to stabilize and stop any remaining yeast activity. Wait 24 to 48 hours, then stir in a simple syrup made from equal parts sugar and water. Start with about ½ cup of sugar per gallon and adjust to taste. If you bottle without stabilizing first, the added sugar can restart fermentation in the bottle and cause bottles to burst under pressure.
Aging
Apple wine is drinkable after about a month in the bottle, but it improves significantly with longer aging. Six months produces a noticeably smoother and more complex wine. A full year is even better.
Nutrition
Calories: 174kcal | Carbohydrates: 44g | Protein: 0.2g | Fat: 0.3g | Saturated Fat: 0.04g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 0.1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 0.01g | Sodium: 8mg | Potassium: 192mg | Fiber: 0.4g | Sugar: 41g | Vitamin A: 2IU | Vitamin C: 2mg | Calcium: 15mg | Iron: 0.2mg
