Following on from the home brew thread, and one or two other 'what can i make with this spare fruit?' threads.

I will shortly be acquiring quantities of a friend's spare eating apples in return for some wine already made.
Over the next few days/weeks/months I will share the recipe and processes of turning said apples into apple wine and will try to record all the details on here, including how it eventually tastes. I already have the necessary equipment and will start properly once I have the actual apples. ;)

This is going to be good. Do we get to see a few pics of you blasted out of your mind on the end product too? :D

This is going to be good.

I agree! Great idea stackmonkey - I'm really looking forward to hearing how you get on :)

Apples have been acquired - they appear to be Cox's, which is good because they shouldn't need lots of sugar and the wine should finish with a taste distinguishable from any other apple.

Processing will start at the week end.

OK, Part 1 is now done.
take 4lbs of fresh, washed apples.
roughly chop, discarding the cores and stalks
put into large pan, add about 3 litres of cold water and heat to boiling point.
remove from heat and pour everything into 2 gallon sterilised bucket.
add a small amount (less then 1/2 tsp) of powdered yeast, seal the lid on the bucket.
leave for 7-10 days to allow fermentation to start.

How's the apple wine coming along stackmonkey? I was just having a read through this thread again and noticed that it had been over a week - has the fermentation process kicked in? :)

cut out the middle man and go to
www.winesathome.net:thumbsup:

How's the apple wine coming along stackmonkey? I was just having a read through this thread again and noticed that it had been over a week - has the fermentation process kicked in? :)

I'll be transferring it to a demijon this week - I was going to do it this weekend but got a bit 'distracted'.

cut out the middle man and go to
www.winesathome.net:thumbsup:

I already use a different winemaking forum, but you tend not to have any start-to-finish accounts, unless the whole process has been completed and the author knows it has been a success. ;)

This one is real-time, so
a) there may be considerable delays during fermenting and ageing,
b) it is somewhat experimental as I've not done apple wine before and am using a slightly different technique to what i've previously used.
c) it's warts and all, so you'll get to read the bad and good bits, and what i actually do, rather than a recipe for what you should do.

I'm really intrigued by the whole process.. I've never attempted any sort of home-brewing myself but it's interesting to be able to 'tag along' on here :D Where are you keeping the fermenting mixture now stackmonkey? Does it need to be kept in particular conditions? *generates plans for the cellar* ;)

The mixture has thus far been kept under a kitchen cupboard (cos it's out of the way).
In order to try and minimise sediment, I've strained the fruit through a colander into a pressure cooker and then filtered it through muslin cloth (of the sort used for cheap curtains) into a sterilised demijon.
I've then added 1 teaspoon of wine yeast and 2.5 lbs of white sugar until the liquid was at the base of the shoulder of the demijon. Given it a stir and then sealed with a rubber bung and airlock; which has cold water in with a small amount of steriliser to prevent contamination.
Ideally it would go under the stairs for a consistent temperature (helps with clearing the wine) but I've run out of space so it's gone on a shelf in my dining room. This isn't perfect, but is better than the varying temps in the kitchen for this stage.
It's already bubbling away as I write, next to some damson already on the go, and will remain there until I rack it to clear sediment in about a month.
It smells OK at the moment, definitely apple-y, but quite frankly looks like cloudy urine....

ooo Stackmonkey, I'm having flashbacks to my pre-teen years ! Mum used to make loads of home made wine and I remember we had demi-johns all over the house, gently bubbling away - with various degrees of cloudiness !

In addition to this week-end's gardening; I've also racked and filtered my blackberry and elderberry wine (tasting and looking good ;)).
September's damson cordial decided to start fermenting and has now been added to my 1.5 gallons of damson port-to-be via a one hour clean up of my kitchen when one of the cordial bottles blew its top and sprayed said cordial far and wide and high....(think any slasher movie :hihi:)

Apple wine has now used about half the sugar added in and the colour has improved (slightly).

Tonight's task has been racking and filtering 5 gallons of damson wine started in September. Good fruity taste, but not much body yet and a coral pink colour that should clear over the months :)

so when's the tasting ;) :P

Months yet :(. last year's wines started in late summer/autumn were bottled in February and March of this year.
This summer's elderflower has been bottled though and is both nice and potent ;)
Most of the fruit spirits will be left to steep for at least 12 months, but I might strain and bottle one or two of the small rumtofts for drinking at Christmas.
I'm really hoping the damson wine turns out well. last year's batch was my best tasting wine, but also my smallest quantity and I only have 2 bottles (of 8) left.
I'm going to try a Recipe for 'turbo cider' from the Homewinemaking.co.uk site,, called turbo because it's quick to make. It should also be very cheap for 1 gallon.

Turbo Cider:
Take 3 litres of clear supermarket apple juice, pour into sterlised demijon and add 1 tsp of wine yeast. Shake gently to mix the yeast in.
Wait 24-48 hours until any obvious foaming has ceased, then top up until fluid reaches shoulder of the demijon.
It should be ready for drinking/bottling within about 3 weeks.
if you already have the hardware and yeast, I make that a gallon of cider for just under £2.80 :) for the cost of the apple juice. I've also bought some re-useable bottle stoppers for £3 for 12.

You'd be better off topping up with Honey ;)

I am adding that my 4 gallons of elderbery wine is ready (all but the final bottling) - ask Viking ;)
I have a gallon of cider & 2 gallons of perry on the go.

More apples waiting to be scratted & brewed too!

:yay: roll on Christmas!

You'd be better off topping up with Honey ;)

Wouldn't all that extra sugar turn it into more of a normal apple wine, and taking a similar time to ferment out? we're talking about a 1.5 litre top-up here in a cider that doesn't have any sugar added at all.

I am adding that my 4 gallons of elderbery wine is ready

Tastings, please ! ;)

Of course! ;)

Latest update:

I racked off the apple wine last night as it seemed to have a fair amount of visible sediment at the bottom of the demijon and added a level teaspoon of pectolase (to aid clearing) in the process. It has a defined taste to it and is neither dry nor sweet to my taste.

I also racked off my summer fruits (raspberry, blackberry, peach) wine for the 2nd time (and also added pectolase). it currently looks quite clear in the glass but not in the demijon and tastes a little on the dry side but still light and fruity.

edited to remove post (didn't realise you can't post attachments....)

try www.photobucket.com

This week end has had me racking both batches of my damson port and separating one of the 2 batches into 2 separate containers as it had too much 'headspace'.
1st batch has also had yeast nutrient and pectin enzyme added.
Turbo cider has also been racked, and both this and all the damson port has been moved into the understairs area which is cooler and has a more stable temperature.

Right, latest update.
1) Turbo cider has now been sulphited ready for bottling and said bottles are sitting in sterlising solution in my bath..

2) New batch of pineapple wine started this week end. thus far I've put 3 litres pure juice, yeast, sugar, yeast nutrient and pectic enzyme into the demijon and will wait for the initial 'burst' of fermentation to die down a little before adding the extra 1.5 litres of pineapple juice.
Enough sugar has been added to bring maximum theoretical alcohol content up to about 13.5%. it's currently in my warm dining room to give it a good start.

3) I've also started some brandied clementines for next Xmas. Peel the oranges and put into small kilner jar, put about 1/3 their weight of muscovado sugar in and then top up the jar with supermarket brandy and seal. 12 months steeping just make them just about perfect. :)

Yay! I bottled and labelled up my turbo cider earlier this evening! :)

It's quite light in taste and colour, quite a nice taste, though ;), and should be about 6% abv.
I'm working my way through my first pint at the moment. :love:

Pineapple wine has now settled down to normal bubbling having frothed and foamed over no less than 4 times over the last few days.
Next time I'll learn my lesson and do it properly in a fermenting bucket. ;)

Stackmonkey's been a busy bunny today once he got up...

1) Pineapple wine has been racked, strained and stabilised at a specific gravity of 996, giving an alcohol content of 14.1 %. added soime extra pectolaseto aid clearing, too. Tastes nice, but I think it needs some maturing before bottling.

2) Apple wine (that this thread was started for) has had the same done to it, but it somewhat sweeter at 1040 SG and I forgot to measure at the start, so don't know the actual alcohol content.
This tastes very good and is clear, so may be bottled sooner rather than later.

3) Batch 2 of my damson port has also been racked, strained, stabilised and pectolase added and is incredibly sweet at 1090. I'll wait for this to clear better before bottling.

4) Summer fruits wine is racked, pectolase added and stabilised at 994 SG and tastes appropriately dry, but light and fruity too. This also needs to clear better before bottling.

5) Christmas day saw me bottling up my first small rumtoft batch (about 0.5 litre) of strawberry, raspberry and plum of some 5 months' steeping.
this has a really deep red colour and has a soft sweetness to it. Oh yes, it tastes fantastic! :love:
I have another that is identical but for the addition for cinammon that will wait for next Christmas.....

Next due will be racking and stabilising (and tasting ;)) my 2, 5-gallon fruit wine batches.

This is it.

I have now bottled up the apple wine that this thread was started for.:)

It's not as clear as it perhaps should be (patience is a virtue for winemaking), but it does taste great :love: and the 1st bottle is already opened and started.;)

Will definitely do some more next year. In the meantime I wll enjoy. :thumbsup: