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.)

Valpolicella Racking, Stabilizing, and Degassing

Today, I racked, stabilized, and degassed the Valpolicella wine.  The kit instructions are to do this at day 14, but this is day 19.  I let the wine sit an extra five days because the fermentation was not quite complete at day 14.


After the usual sterilization of equipment, I transferred the wine to a clean carboy via autosiphon, without incident.  During this 'racking' step, I took a sample for a tasting.  Well, well, this is nice stuff.  This wine is dry and gentle.  There are woody and nutty tones with a hint of almond.  The tannins are noticeable at the end.  I have hopes for a very nice table wine that will pair well with pasta dishes.

Tasting.  Note-taking is important when it comes to stuff like this.

The specific gravity was 0.990.  From the starting point, this gives approximately 16% alcohol.  Yes, it's pretty dry.


The next step is the addition of potassium metabisulfite, which is provided with the kit.  Out of curiosity, I used my little portable balance to measure the mass of K₂S₂O₅.  The mass of K₂S₂O₅ was 4.4 g.  For comparison, I weighed a Campden tablet.  It was 0.6 g.  The recommended use of Campden tablets is 1 tablet per gallon of wine.  This is a 23 L kit, which is about 6 gallons.  6 gallons x 0.6 g per gallon = 3.6 g worth of Campden tablets.  So, this amount isn't too far off.

When you add the K₂S₂O₅ to the wine, SO₂ gas is formed (see picture).    The chemistry of this step is quite straightforward, and one of these days I'm going to write a blog post about it.

SO₂ bubbles.  You can get rid of the excess gas by stirring vigorously.

After the K₂S₂O₅, I added potassium sorbate and then a small packet of kieselsohl.  Tomorrow, I complete the addition of clarification agents, and then I wait three weeks until bottling.

Valpolicella Wine Kit

A couple of months ago, I bought a wine kit that was on sale:  Wine Kitz Traditional Vintage Valpolicella.  It is meant to be a nice table wine.  This last weekend, I finally got around to starting it.  The kit consisted of 10 L of concentrated valpolicella grape juice and packets of yeast, potassium metabisulfite, potassium sorbate, kieselsohl, and chitosan - all the consumable materials you need.

Naturally, you start by sterilizing all of your equipment.  Then, you simply mix the grape juice with enough water to give you 23 L and sprinkle the yeast packet on the surface.  The fermentation starts up quickly -  more or less as soon as any dissolved oxygen is used up by the yeast.

10 L bag of valpolicella grape juice

The fermentation is now in progress inside a large plastic bucket.  The bucket has a loosely fitting lid which allows the carbon dioxide gas to bleed out.  Because of this small amount of gas escaping, the room has a background of fruity/bakery sorts of aromas.  The home office always smells nice when something is fermenting.

A little peek under the lid to see the primary fermentation (day 3).

Rhubarb Wine - The Final Result

I bottled the batch of rhubarb wine about 10 days ago.  The clarification step and the bottling were completed without incident. 

Since bottling, I had the pleasure of serving the rhubarb wine to visitors.  They seemed to enjoy it.  Not only did they finish their glasses, but they filled them up for a second round.  I think that qualifies as a success, especially considering the wine's undrinkable state after fermentation.

Chilled rhubarb wine on the deck.  It's perfect for
a hot summer afternoon on the Canadian prairies.

If I could compare this wine to anything, it would be cider.  The wine has good legs, there is a bit of tartness, but it's easy to drink.  The rhubarb flavour is mild and pleasant.  Have it with a slice of apple pie and ice cream and you know you are living the good life.

Cheers!

Sweetening the Rhubarb Wine

 A few days ago, I picked up two bottles of Sweet Reserve from +Jim Miller at the St. Albert Wine Kitz store.  He also offered some thoughts about rhubarb wine and it's extreme acidity.  I learned that it can be advisable to add chalk to the must, just to neutralize the acid.  (Now, why have I never seen that in any posted recipes for rhubarb wine?)

Sweetening the rhubarb wine.  Carboy, bottle of sweet reserve,
wine glasses with different amounts of reserve (sweeter from
left to right), measuring spoon, and notebook)

This morning, I got to work on sweetening my rhubarb wine, which was too dry and acidic to enjoy.  Using a wine thief, I removed approximately 250 mL of wine and placed it in a measuring bowl.  Then I poured out 1/4 cup (62.5 mL) into each of four wine glasses.  Using a 1/2 tsp (2.5mL) measuring spoon, I added different amounts of sweet reserve to each glass, stirred each, and then tasted them all.  Here are the results:

 

Glass #2 was the winner.  The addition of 5 mL per 62.5 mL of wine is a 0.08 added volume equivalent.  Using some algebra, I determined that I needed to remove 840 mL of wine from the full carboy, and replace it with an 840 mL of sweet reserve.  This step went smoothly.  I stirred up the new mixture with my plastic mixing 'stick', and sealed the carboy with an air lock.  My plan is to let it sit for a few days just to make sure it's stable, and then I will clarify it.

Just for fun, after sweetening, the specific gravity was 1.010.  (I haven't worked it the exact amount yet, but this was a LOT of added sugar.)

Happy Canada Day!

Homemade Labels

However much I like the peel and stick labels you can get for wine kits, it's much more fun to make your own.  I like to employ children to help with this.  They love it.

First, ask the young person to draw something related to the type of beverage.  When they finish, scan the image and then make up your label in Powerpoint by inserting the image and adding text.  Resize the label and print!

To stick the label on the bottle, I simply use glue stick.  It keeps the label on just fine.  When you are finished with the bottle's contents, it's very easy to wash the label off because glue stick is more or less water soluble.

It's that easy.  Take a look at the mead that was bottled a few days ago.  The label adds a sort of professional touch.  (Also, notice how clear the liquid looks.  The fine solids have settled out!)

Sunnyside Mead 2014