Has anyone tried 'improving' colour of apple wine with food additive?

[James Burton]

I've just finished fermenting, stabilising and clearing my annual apple wine.
Due to the close attention of a family of squirrels my Cox's Orange Pippin tree has been decimated of fruit this year, and so I visited the local feral trees on a nearby patch of common land, and collected a good haul, plus a few pears.
They fermented out quite quickly (on a heat mat)to 0.998, but when racked, the wine is almost completely colourless.
I would like to give it a small blush, but when I have previously tried this, using a drop or two of Red food colourant (PME brand) the colour settles out after few weeks.
Does anyone have any suggestions to add a permanent glow to my batch?

 

[jof]

Idea for next year: Find a red crab apple tree & add some of them to the mix.

I got a nice pink blush to this year's cider as the crabapple had a bumper harvest.

 

[fluketamer]

100 percent black currant juice in very small amounts adds a nice pink hue to applewine that wont fade and doesn't really affect the taste.

 

[MashBag]

Yup. Buy cordial or juice.
Be gentle...
.. And it will ferment a little

 

[James Burton]

Idea for next year: Find a red crab apple tree & add some of them to the mix.

I got a nice pink blush to this year's cider as the crabapple had a bumper harvest.

Good to know - there are a few roadside crabs I could get to next year, I'll give it a go.

 

[James Burton]

100 percent black currant juice in very small amounts adds a nice pink hue to applewine that wont fade and doesn't really affect the taste.

Good info - I've found small 100% bottles on eBay for £6.50 - I'd be willing to try this out.
Only niggle is 'naturally occuring sugars' - not enough in a few drops to kick off fermentation, surely?
Other than that - referring back to my OP regarding the avoidance of sediment, I might be back where I wanted not to be with the juice - see the label "Sediment is a natural phenomenon"

 

[jof]

Good to know - there are a few roadside crabs I could get to next year, I'll give it a go.

I wasn't originally planning to use crab apples, but I needed a couple of extra litres & they were only available source.
We tasted them expecting them to be very sharp, but were surprised to find them sweet & the tree had a bumper crop, so we couldn't miss the opertunity.

 

[MashBag]

Only niggle is 'naturally occuring sugars' - not enough in a few drops to kick off fermentation, surely?

Yes there is. 100%, cordial, or juice will all referment to some degree. Yeast don't have a concept of "not enough, can't be arsed"