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Moonshining

  • Thread starter Vbkid
  • Start date

Vbkid

Getting There...
So after 3 months in fermentation I finally got around to bottling 5 gallons (25 bottles) of apple wine. I had tried the stuff when I was i nGermany a few years ago, and when I looked to buy it online I found it was much cheaper just to make it myself! The stuff tastes great, real authentic. It is pretty much just pure apple juice, sugar, and yeast. About 10% alc by volume now, delicious.
My girlfriend was even nice enough to design a very chic looking label for all the bottles, just need ot get aorund to printing them out!
 
Home wine making is lots of fun. Congrats on your achievement.
It should be really good by Christmas.
:drunk:
 
Does anyone know of an original recipe for sundew leave liquor?? I know it exists and I think it would be interesting to make...
 
going to make some this fall.....aint going to have enough apples off my young trees to do a batch with only my apples but im gonna mix in a bunch of Firecracker red-fleshed large crabapples with some good store bought apple juice, should really up the flavor......
 
I used inexpensive gallon sized 100% apple juice from the grocery for mine, tastes how it should, but I've heard of people using different apple and/or cider for different effects
 
ive made that kind.....tasted really bland to me though it may have been the brand of juice which is why i want to add the crabapples......if i want to drink something nearly tasteless ill drink light beer :D
 
Watch the store bought apple juice / cider, sometimes it has preservatives in it that can kill the yeast.
 
ascorbic acid is the only preservative used that is fine to mix with yeast.....anything else will likely kill it......
 
Congratulations. That's a good way to start, similar to making a batch of wine with grape concentrate or a batch of beer from a kit. If you like doing it and like the results, you can use better ingredients and more complicated processes to make it even better.

A lot of people have gotten into making hard cider in the last decade or two and grow specific cider apple varieties to blend. Some, known as the bitter-sharp varieties (I think) aren't so good for eating but supposedly make an exceptional cider when blended with other varieties. The red-fleshed apples Rattler mentioned should work in the same way because they probably have higher tannins than more typical apples.

As for preservatives and yeast, wine yeasts tolerate high levels of sulfur and that's why campden tablets, which release sulfur dioxide, are used so often in home winemaking. I've used them when making wine, but never for beer and don't know anyone else who does either. Maybe beer yeast isn't as tolerant of sulfur as wine yeast, but I don't know.
 
  • #10
What I meant was that often it is difficult to get a ferment going when using store bought apple juice or cider because of the preservatives added to them before bottling.
The bottlers foolishly believe that the majority of consumers do not want the juice to ferment in the bottle so they take steps to prevent it.
If you have found a brand that works that's great. They are getting harder to find these days.
 
  • #11
I dunno, Rocketcaver. People are getting a little wiser and not wanting preservatives in their stuff.

My bio teacher told us how he made an alcoholic beverage using a coffee can and kool-aid, lol.
 
  • #12
What I meant was that often it is difficult to get a ferment going when using store bought apple juice or cider because of the preservatives added to them before bottling.
The bottlers foolishly believe that the majority of consumers do not want the juice to ferment in the bottle so they take steps to prevent it.
If you have found a brand that works that's great. They are getting harder to find these days.

actually even up here in the middle of nowhere i can find 3 varieties that just use ascorbic acid for a presevative......plus it has the added benifit of being good for you as its just vitamin C........
 
  • #13
actually even up here in the middle of nowhere i can find 3 varieties that just use ascorbic acid for a presevative......plus it has the added benifit of being good for you as its just vitamin C........

There's an apple mill here that sells apple cider that was literally squeezed minutes ago. Nothing added at all and it tastes amazing. They lose some business though from parents who are worried about germs and everything, but I think it's better for you without all that crap in it. Besides, it never lasts more than a day anyway!
 
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