Apple wine

[Ravenrob]

Hi , I’ve just joined today, and have a quick question.
I’ve recently moved on to a house with an apple tree in the garden. So I thought I’d have a go at making some apple wine..
Now some of the apples may have grubs in them, do I have to cut out the bad bits or just crush the apples grubs and all.
I know it sounds disgusting, but the reason I ask is. Surely the professional cider makers don’t go through the process of checking every apple and removing grubs.. also tequila has a grub in it.
What are your thoughts please

rob
York

 

[Stevieboy]

Firstly - Hello and Welcome!

Do you know the variety?

I've always found apple wine quite difficult to get right - you'll have work quick to avoid the oxidation in the apples once pulped - tastes ok in cider but not a wine.

I would remove the grubs and the bad bits - but that's personal choice.

 

[Tess Tickle's Brewery]

Hey Rob - I'm in York too.

There will be a better technique probably, but if it was me, I would chop in half, dip in lemon juice and quickly freeze before they oxidise. Leave them three days in the freezer and definitely do remove the bad bits yes, major cause of bad flavours. I would treat the water / pulp with campden to kill the lurgies.

 

[Mr_S_Jerusalem]

I like this recipe.

Although personally I would campden tablet the mixture and leave it 24 hours before adding the yeast, which he doesn't seem to do.

 

[Moonraker]

Hi Rob, I watched a pressing at a local cider maker (The Newt in Somerset) the apples were sorted by hand and bad ones removed - why keep in things that may give a tainted taste to the end product when you have the opportunity to remove them at the outset? (In tequila the grub is whole, not mashed into the liquid...)

We just tried a bottle of my "Pomona" from last year, apple wine made with high-alcohol tolerant wine yeast and dark Muscavado sugar. It came out at 21% and is very apple-ey, dark, sweet and strong! (We cut it with cheap supermarket cider).

It's always good to have an apple tree in the garden.