Apple makes good wine. Don't remember how much (if any) extra sugar is needed. Does need tanic acid if I remember right. Looked for a real good book I have (had) with lots of fruit recipies. Will msg you the title if I find it.
Basically always started with as fresh of juice as possible, camden tablets to kill natural yeasts then later add tannin and wine yeast and put into carboys. I used champane yeast as it will make a more potent wine as it is more alcohol tolerant.

 

I took 4 gallons of apple juice (couldn't find any apples cider with out peservatives in it yesterday) and 3 lbs of brown sugar added some yeast from the local home brewing shop and have it fermenting, just playing around with it, we'll see how it turns out, I don't like wine with a real dry taste, but I had some hard pumpkin cider from a local winery that I really liked, just shooting for something along those lines but trying for Apple flavor

 

I been wanting to try it, I got the airlock haven't done it yet.

 

I'll let you know how mine turns out, what I've been reading I got to let it sit 7 to 10 days, taste and if I like bottle, if not let it sit longer???

 

There is a wine and beer making supply store near the sq in Bowmansville called "The spirit of '76". They could probable help you.

 

Make a couple gallons each year when I make apple cider. Don't add a thing. Just put it under an air lock and when it stops bubbling it is finished. I really like it and it definitely has a kick.

 

Make a couple gallons each year when I make apple cider. Don't add a thing. Just put it under an air lock and when it stops bubbling it is finished. I really like it and it definitely has a kick.

Hey farm guy do you make your own cider? Or where do you get cider with no preservatives?

 

Wine making 101:
Hope I am not being condensending with this reply but only helps some guys out. Used to make a hundred or so gallons a year of fruit wines a year.
Yeast eats the sugar. poops out CO2 and alcohol. Yeast dies from too much alcohol (or quits working because it ran out of sugar). The key is having just enough sugar that the yeast dies from alcohol and there is still residual sugar to give the desired sweetness. This is a perfect world as the yeast will not reactivate and you did not have to add sulfides to kill the yeast. I always made a very dry wine as there was no more sugar for the yeast to eat, and I did not have to add sulfides to stop the fermentation process. Sulfides give me a headache. I use champain yeast as it is very alcohol tolerant and give the most "potent" pruduct (if that is what you desire). You blow up bottles if your wine starts re-working once you cork it. (usually because it wasn't really done working or was put into a warmer area)
When you start you must sterilize the juice (camden tablets) or the natural yeasts will take over and give a bad taste. Pasturized juice is "clean".
If you are using crushed up fruit then pectic enzyme will be needed to break down the fruit pulp and it will need to sit a few days working in a larger container like a clean garbage can before being strained into carboys.
Don't fill your carboys more than 3\4 full on the first run. Siphon into clean carboys after a few weeks and then every few months after when you see an accumulation of lees.
There are a few additives that help things along depending on what kind of fruit you are using: yeast nutrient, som B vitamins, and tannins for the "twang" so desired from "real wine" reds.
I am still trying to find the main book I used that had great instructions for making all kinds of wines but the black hole of the basement is winning.

When making fruit wines I used about 2-1\2 lbs of sugar per gallon with 2-4lbs of fruit and champane yeast.

 

Not condensending at all, that's why I posted to get info

 

B292...I make my own cider. Very easy to do. I get free apples and then use meat grinder and sausage press to make about 50-80 gallons a year.

 

Ok, can't find my book.
I am 98% sure it was "Winemaking as a Hobby" by Ace & Eakin. Published 1973 by Penn State. I had the '77 edition. Republished 1994. Wayyy expensive for the couple that are on amazon, but figured out the Extension still sells them. 10$. Just order 2 copies to replenish my library of books that I seem to give away. They have 200+ more copies in stock in case there is a mad rush of HPA buyers.
Winemaking as a Hobby

 

The closest neighbor to my first home of my own was an old farmer and his wife. They were close to eighty..and the nicest people on earth. They also drank like fish...both of them ! The old lady constantly made and consumed "Mickey Mouse Wine" her term. She took the frozen concentrate juice with Mickey on the label.. Heated it up..added water and sugar....let it cool..then added bread yeast. She jugged it with an airlock and set it on the cellar steps for several months. There were always several jugs " in process "...and it didn't taste half bad !

 

From my experience of what I know about cider is simple...ferment apple cider in presence of air, I get vinegar. Ferment it in air tight container so gas bubbles up through water, you get hard cider that tastes a lot like flat beer but grows on me with each sip. I hear if you add sugar and bottle it you could get carbonation much like the store bought bubbly stuff. This I don't know for sure...I am sure you do get old time hard cider fermenting plain apple cider with a air tight jug or barrel with a hose venting gas under water.

 

Farmguy from what I've read, I'm only on day 2 of fermenting my first ever batch...
You can add sugar and the yeast that's still alive will react again and you can bottle 3/4 full and you'll get a bubbly cider. What I'm aiming for is more of a sweet wine, that's not dry at all. Hopefully I'll come close to my goal if not I'll try again

 

Hey Joe over the years (and I'm not old by any means) talking to old timers, let it be farmers or ridge runners, they've been making wine/liqour/or cider for years that tastes better then store bought!

 

There is a wine and beer making supply store near the sq in Bowmansville called "The spirit of '76". They could probable help you.

I get up that way sometimes for work, I might have to swing in and ask a few questions, the place I go to know targets the homebrew beer guys more

 

Search Edworts apfelwine for endless info

 

you can add sugar everytime you rack it into a clean bottle. when you add sugar and the yeast does not start working the yeast is being killed by the alcohol and now the sugar will be a sweetener, not yeast food.
You can also just add sulfide tablets at any time during the process to kill the yeast and safely then add sugar to desired sweetness. The wife would just add a touch of sugar by the glass to sweeten my dry stuff.
I highly recomend on future batches adding the camden tablets to the juice at the beginning, letting them kill the natural yeasts. The next day you can add a wine yeast. The tablets and yeast are realatively cheap and not much of an extra step. I never had wine that was "ready" before 3 months, useally more around 6 months before all the lees would settle out and the wine would clear. It then will not have that "yeasty" taste some homemades end up with.

 

http://www.homemadehardcider.com/

Sdowns, I heated my juice up to about 180 for about 50 min to kill off the natural yeast, but I bought pasteurized apple juice too, in the future it'll be Camden tablets!

 

http://www.homemadehardcider.com/

Sdowns, I heated my juice up to about 180 for about 50 min to kill off the natural yeast, but I bought pasteurized apple juice too, in the future it'll be Camden tablets!

Yeah, crushed tablets are easy. The frozen juice concentrate mentioned by another poster is another option for experimenting and works great if you need a little filler to top off a working carboy.
It sounds like you are trying more to make wine than hard cider from your earlier post. Apples are the closest thing to grapes as having everything already included. The apples are lacking the tannins (as are some grapes depending on type\region). You can buy a little bottle of tanic acid powder or if I remeber right some rasins will do the trick but don't quote me on that one. When I get the books I'll shoot you a PM of what it says for apple if you don't order one.
I found making decent fruit wine was easier than making beer....berries, plums, peaches, even bananas....my favorite was a mixture of elderberry and fox (wild) grapes when there was a good crop. You just have to be patient and wait for it to be done. have fun.

edit: just read your link. all the info in that article you probably need to get rolling. Always found the hydrometer over rated for how (not) picky I was. You will get the feel of how much sugar to use each time after a few batches if you use the same kind of yeast each time and your apples are similar in sugar content.
The cloudiness of the fresh cider settles out and the wine "clears".

 

Petty sure my Dad, brother, and brother-in-law never added anything? We have a press that is well over 100 years old and used to make several squeezes each fall using 5 or 6 different kinds of apples.

 

Some orchards will sell you unpasteurized apple cider when they make apple cider in the fall. I think it was either $12 or $20 for 5 gallons at Strites in Harrisburg/Hershey the last time I did it. I've made two attempts at cider. The first time I added in sugar per an online recipe I found with Champange yeast and it came out way too strong (12%) and way too sweet. The 2nd time I added no extra sugar and it came out a little dry (which is what I like) at right around 5%.

 

I'll have to check next fall with them, they're right around the corner

 

My brother's used to be a tad on the dry side but was excellent! The type of apples used will have some effect due to differences in sweetness of the different varieties. Brother-in-law made what he called apple jack once, it was nasty stuff the 1st taste or 2 but would knock you on your butt!