Apple Wine Racking & Tasting

It was just under three weeks ago that I racked the apple wine into a carboy where it could ferment to dryness.  At that time, I added three cinnamon sticks to add some flavour.  The bubble rate died off after a week, but there has been a low level of activity since then, with tiny bubbles forming on the surface.  This could be outgassing or maybe even the result of malo-lactic fermentation (MLF).  There is a lot of malic acid in apples, so MLF would not be surprising.  Today, I decided it was high time to rack it and perform a taste test.

I siphoned the wine into a clean carboy and added two crushed Campden tablets.  During the siphoning, I dispensed a small amount into a glass.  After stirring the wine to remove sulfur dioxide, measuring the specific gravity, and installing an air lock, I sat down with my notebook, pen, and glass of apple wine.

This is the best wine I have made to date.  The bouquet was of obviously of apple, but there was a hint of pear.  The taste was simply delicious and mild.  I was surprised at how much body it had, given that the ingredients were so simple.  There was hint of butter, which suggests that there may have been some MLF.  The cinnamon flavour was very mild, and in the background.  I only really noticed it at the end.  It confers a subtle amount of spicy 'heat' to the wine.  The acidity was just right.  I tasted it at room temperature, and I suspect it would be even nicer when chilled.

Tasting and the taking of notes.

For me, as a scientist and chemist, it is a joy to sit down with a new wine I have never tasted, and taste it carefully and slowly, with the intent to observe as much as I can.   A certain oenophile colleague of mine once pointed out how satisfying it is to try to describe what you see, smell, and taste.  Wine tasting is a lot more fun when you really slow down and pay attention to the complex mix of aromas and flavours that you experience in your nose and mouth.  A wine tasting wheel is a great help for this.

(As the wine isn't quite finished yet, this may be premature, but thanks to +Bob Perkins and +Pete Bottiglier for some of the tips you shared that I followed with this apple wine.  To your health!)
  

Apple Cider, Apple Wine

As I write this, the room is nice and aromatic, full of the smell of apple.  It seems to me that fermentation enhances the richness of fruit aromas.  It's fantastic.

Here's what I did with all that pressed apple juice.

Apple Cider v.1

This cider is made from the apples from our own small apple tree in the back yard.  It is a Norkent variety that is hardy in our northerly climate.  The yield of apples was modest, and we only obtained about 1 gallon of juice.  I added one crushed Campden tablet to the juice.  Specific gravity of the juice was 1.035, so I added 1.5 cups of sugar, bringing s.g. to 1.050.

Once transferred to a 1 gallon jug, I added 1/4 tsp. of peptic enzyme and 1/4 tsp. of yeast nutrient, stirred.  I was perhaps a little bit too eager and went ahead and sprinkled about 1/3 of a packet of sparkling wine yeast on the surface.  From various recipes and instructions, it seems that peptic enzyme may work better prior to adding yeast and starting fermentation, but I don't see any scientific reason for why that would be the case.  Anyway, I went ahead and added the yeast and placed an airlock on the jug and waited for the magic to happen.

Cider fermentation

Apple Cider v.2

All the other apples that we obtained from generous friends produced in total about 4.5 gallons of juice.  This time, I more or less followed the instructions in the Winemaker's Recipe Handbook (the "purple book").

I added 4 Campden tablets, 1 tsp. of peptic enzyme, and 2 tsp. of yeast nutrient.  The specific gravity for this apple juice was the same as the first batch (1.035).  I added enough sugar to bring the density to 1.055.  I let the juice sit for 24 hours before transferring 3 gallons to a carboy and adding the yeast.


Apple Wine

There was a lot of leftover apple juice from the above cider batch, so I improvised a batch of apple wine.  I diluted the juice to just over 3 gallons, added sugar until the specific gravity was 1.090, and then added a packet of sparkling wine yeast.  That's all.  This batch is currently fermenting away in a plastic bucket with a loose fitting lid.

My plan is to add some spices to the wine when I transfer it to the secondary.  (Does anyone have suggestions on what to add?)

How do you like them apples?

Today, the aromas in my home office/fermentation room are lovely.  There are three separate fermenters in action: two with apple cider and one with an apple wine.  The air is filled with methyl butanoate (the main ester compound that contributes to the smell of apples) and a number of other minor compounds that contribute to the fruity atmosphere.  If I keep the door closed, the aromas build up and become a bit of a distraction.

A couple of days ago, I decided to go ahead and try making apple cider and maybe also apple wine if I had enough apples.  Our own apple tree is still small, and our harvest consisted of a single cardboard box full of apples.  My wife sent out an A.P.B. to her friends to see if anyone had apples they wanted to dispose of, and we quickly obtained an additional 4 cardboard boxes full of apples.

I rented a fruit crusher and press from my favourite store, Wine Kitz - St. Albert, and got to work producing fresh apple juice on our patio.  This was by far the most fun I have had in making fermented beverages. 

The fruit crusher (see picture) consists of a rotating shaft with sharp blades that chop up the fruit into smaller pieces.  Chunks of fruit are drawn into the space between two rotating metal rollers that crush the fruit.  The crushed fruit and juices can be collected in a bucket placed below the device.  Initially, we used a plastic pail to collect the mashed apples, but then switched to a large blue recycling box lined with a garbage bag.

The Crusher: put apples in the hopper and turn the wheel

We dumped the crushed apples into the wine press.  The wine press was fun to use.  Two thick semicircular wooden discs go on top of the fruit, and then you put enough wooden blocks on top of the discs to reach the ratchet plate.  You screw the ratchet plate down by hand until it is sitting on the blocks, and start applying real pressure by cranking down the ratchet plate using a metal lever.  The juice gets squeezed out the sides of the basket and into a collecting tray with a spout.  We collected the juice in a large plastic pail.

My wife and I taking turns using the press.

Under pressure, the juice flows quickly.  Of course, we tasted it.  It was the sweetest, yummiest apple juice I have ever tasted.  In fact, it was so much better than store-bought apple juice that it really makes you wonder why.  The kids loved it too, but I wouldn't let them have much.  It is immensely satisfying to hand-pick several boxes of apples and then use your own muscle power to squeeze out 5 gallons of delectable apple juice.

The products of pressing:  apple juice and pomace.

(This post is getting a bit long, so I'm going to write about the apple cider and wine separately.)