Topic: Crabapple Wine

[GrannieAnnie]

We picked 24 lbs of crab apples today after being shocked to see the squirrels had surreptitiously stripped most of the tree bare! Then after washing them I  decided to try the freezer trick to see if that makes them easier to mash.

[GrannieAnnie]

3 gallons bubbling away. Looks like there's a lot of starch in it that will be a pain to settle out. Freezing the crabapples made them much easier to mash which simplified that part of it. Then the fermentation got stuck- too chilly- but a heat pad wrapped around the tub got it rolling in 6 hrs.

[GrannieAnnie]

Now wait a minute- can this be possible. I posted this not two minutes ago and already it says there have been 100 views of it.
That can't possibly be accurate. What gives on the number of viewers???

[PurpleHeather]

I rather think that crab apples will have a lot of pectin in them which could make the wine cloudy. There is some anti pectin stuff from wine shops but if my memory serves it should be added at the start of the mash.

Not to worry, Serve the end brew in dark coloured wine glasses!!

[grawrc]

Don't know about all the viewings but if your wine is proving difficult to clear a couple of teaspoons of wine finings should do the trick once the fermentation is over. Then racking once the gunk has settled.

I had a glass of last year's blackcurrant wine yesterday. It tastes like the smell of the blackcurrant bush covered with fruit. Really dry, quite sharp and really nice with cheese and oatcakes.

[GrannieAnnie]

Don't know about all the viewings but if your wine is proving difficult to clear a couple of teaspoons of wine finings should do the trick once the fermentation is over. Then racking once the gunk has settled.

I had a glass of last year's blackcurrant wine yesterday. It tastes like the smell of the blackcurrant bush covered with fruit. Really dry, quite sharp and really nice with cheese and oatcakes.

that sounds lovely, Grawrc. I've added finings but it doesn't look a whole lot clearer yet. May have to resort to dark glasses like Heather suggests.  I also made some fine peach vinegar this summer :-[