First wine - a simple apple wine from concentrate

Post date: Aug 01, 2012 1:55:22 AM

Yesterday (July 28th - the date of this post got screwed up) I went to Modern Brewer in Sommerville (where Bob and Amy get their stuff) and got a couple of things to start off. I have brewing supplies, but I'm really rusty at this whole thing, and winemaking is different enough, that I thought starting out with 5 gallon batches was probably a mistake. After talking to the guy there I got 2 1 gallon jugs, a spare airlock, some Campden tablets, pectic enzyme, and 2 packets of a white wine yeast that he said people liked for fruit wines. I also got "The Joy of Home Wine Making" by Terry Garey. I think it very consciously mirrors the style of Papazian's book (which I liked quite a lot), down to the super cheesy black and white pictures in the author's kitchen, and the catch phrase "time is on your side". Seemed like a good place to start.

The book launches into winemaking with a chapter called "your first wine", which has a recipe for a simple apple wine made from juice concentrate and table sugar. Should be hard to screw up...

Recipe:

1 12 oz. can of frozen apple juice concentrate

2-1/2 c. white sugar

The juice of 2 lemons

5 Campden tablets

1/2 tsp. pectic enzyme

Water to make 1 gallon of liquid

1 packet Red Star Cotes de Blancs white wine yeast.

I followed the book recipe fairly closely, although I didn't boil my extra water (I never did for home brewing, so I hope that carries over), and I pitched the yeast after an hour (since the must was at room temperature). The recipe said to wait for 24 hours to pitch, but that made me nervous - I never like to leave nice sugary bacterial growth medium lying around waiting to be colonized by stray critters. I will investigate to see why that recommendation was made - hope I didn't screw up already...

7/28/12 4PM

Started

7/31/12 7:03PM

t's now been fermenting for 3 days, and seems to have settled into a nice rhythm - I get a bubble in the airlock every 1-2 seconds, very regularly. It is very opaque and light looking, with the yeast churning away (although it is much finer than beer yeast - I don't see the convection of trub the way you do with beer - just fine bubbles breaking the surface). The other difference from beer is that there is much less junk floating in it other than yeast. That will change when I get to actual fruit wines rather than concentrates. Other than a very small amount of lemon juice, it was all just liquid before the yeast went in.

I did find out on further reading what the deal is with the 24 hours to pitch - that is to let the pectic enzyme do its stuff (I'm not sure how yeast activity would keep it from breaking down pectin, but there you go.) So I may end up with "pectic haze", which will make the wine less than perfectly clear, but doesn't apparently change the taste. I'm already fairly certain this wine won't be winning any awards, or competing for them, so not a big deal this time around. Next time I'll wait.

8/1/12 6:24AM

I decided to be slightly more scientific about the fermentation rate - it is actually 20 bubbles per minute as of this morning.

8/17/12 7:28AM

Racked the wine today. It was fairly uneventful. The wine is nice and clear, taste is very rough (cidery), but clearly alcoholic and not unpleasant. Let's see what some more time does for it. Forgot to mention - was much better about sanitation this time. Used bleach for everything (1/2 oz per 2.5 gallons). This always worked for beer, so I'm optimistic.

8/29/12 2PM

Fermentation has been stopped for several days. Fairly clear, no obvious yeast on the bottom. Racked. FG 0.998. Tastes nice, very dry - I like it a lot. Don't think it needs to age much. Could become my house white...

9/22/12 10AM

Racked, stabilized with 2 crushed Campden tablets in a cup of boiled water, and bottled.  Got 4 and 7/8 bottles.  Very nice, seems balanced, not sweet but not acidic.  The wine is very clear, only a hint of haze.

9/24/12 9PM

Tried the 7/8 bottle after chilling in the fridge.  Not bad for a first effort.  Light, pleasant, enough acid for balance.  There was a slight off flavor, maybe a little hint of turpentine.  If you told me this had been mixed with a small amount of retsina, I would have believed it.  I liked it more than Constance, but not objectionable in any case.

10/5/12

Took two bottles of this to the Paulist retreat, where it was very well received.  Will make this again.