Sweet and Tasty APPLE WINE (Home Made Wine Recipes)

Member Name: durham_girl

Product:	Home Made Wine Recipes
Date:	24/04/09 (771 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Tastes great, cheap ingredients

Disadvantages: Can be a bit expensive to buy the equipment needed

A few weeks ago I had a week off work. After 2 days I was thoroughly bored so decided to try making my own wine. It's something I've been wanting to try for ages, but everyday life always got in the way! I'm so glad I tried it though, the results were fab!

Ingredients
- 3kg Apples
- 1kg Sugar
- 250 ml grape concentrate
- 1 tsp pectolase
- Tannin
- 1 tsp acid blend or citric acid
- Yeast
- 1 campden tablet
- Potassium Sorbate
- 2 Demi Johns (I got mine from the local market, pretty reasonable price)

Although the list does look long and full of odd ingredients, I had little trouble finding everything. I got the pectolase and the campden tablets in Wilkinsons and bought the potassium sorbate off ebay. the only thing I couldn't find was the tannin, so I left it out, but it seems to have worked fine without it!

Recipe

- Crush or grate the apples into small pieces. Put it all into the demi john.
- Pour 4 pints of boiling water over the fruit and add the sugar.
- When lukewarm, add the rest of ingredients plus 2 pints of cold water.
- Top up to shoulders of demi-john
- It should start bubbling within 24 hours. If it doesn't, add more yeast.
- After 3 days strain off. The recipe said to use a straining bag, but I didn't have one of these so I used a piece of muslin that I bought from my local market.
- Put into the clean demi john, close the airlock and leave to ferment. This may take a few days or a couple of weeks depending on the temperature.
- When the bubbles stop coming through the airlock, or slow down to about one every 2 minutes, test the wine.
- I performed the taste test, if it's too sweet leave it to ferment longer.
- If it's dry or tastes just right, syphon off into a clean demi john.
- Add 1 campden tablet and the potassium sorbate.
- Leave to clear.
- When clear, syphon into a clean demi john or bottle.
- If it's too dry sweeten with sugar but make sure it doesn't start fermenting again

What I thought of the recipe

I was anticipating a lot of hassle making the wine. Recipes are usually never as easy to follow as they seem and first attempts rarely turn out well! I followed the recipe nearly to the letter and it really is as easy as it seems. The majority of the ingredients were easy to get hold off and not too expensive. The Demi Johns were the main expense, but in the long run they will save me money, as the ingredients themselves are very cheap.

What I though of the most important thing.....THE WINE!

After trying my Dad's dodgy home brew before I was a bit apprehensive about the first 'proper' taste of the wine. I was expecting a sour vinegary flavour, but I was pleasantly surprised! The apple taste is very strong, but not overbearing. It's sweet, but not too sweet and it has a definite kick. On the whole it tastes fresh and crisp and will be ideal for drinking over the summer. The only problem was it went down far too easily! Next time I make it, probably in the autumn time, I'm going to try adding cinnamon to give it a bit more of a autumnal feel.

Summary: Tasty summer wine