Apple Wine Recipe – Simple & Rich Apple Wine
Apples are one of the fruits that can be easily gathered around the beginning of autumn. There are countless trees not only in people’s gardens but also escapees that grow wild.
The problem with a lot of these apple varieties that have grown free is the way the apples taste. Many wild apples can be bitter and sour. Whilst this means they aren’t all that good for eating the plus side is they are perfect for making wine.
This apple wine recipe is very easy to do and if you can find a couple of trees near you then the fruit will be completely free. If at all possible you will be best served if you can find a mix of apples. Blending different varieties together will even out your wine and create a more complex finish.
This wine recipe really is better with foraged apples which are usually more bitter, astringent and tart. If you have to use sweet-eating apples then blend them in with other varieties such as crab apples or even cooking apples if possible.
Table of Contents
No Need To Juice The Apples
This apple wine recipe does not involve pressing the apples as you would make juice for cider making. To make wine from apples is far simpler as we will be fermenting the pulp. What this means is that we are relying on pectic enzymes and yeast to do the work for us.
Just as wine from grapes is made by simply crushing the grapes and then fermenting on the grape skins, making apple wine follows this same process. We just need to chop or crush the apples and then ferment with the apple in contact with the yeast. This action breaks down the structure of the fruit and releases the sugars and juice that we want.
Pectolase or pectic enzyme is used prior to fermentation which is an enzyme that naturally breaks down the structure of any fruit. This aid in the extraction of juice without the need to juice the apples.
Preparing The Apples For Making Wine
Before we can make the wine you will want to sort through the apples. You will want roughly 3kg of apples to make a gallon (4.5 litres) of wine.
If you have foraged apples from trees in the wild or from your garden give them a good clean first of all. Remove bad apples or cut out parts of any damaged apples. You can leave the peel on the apple but you are best to remove the seeds if possible. Remember that you aren’t going to eat the apples so the cores still contain juice and flavour still.
If you are foraging apples then you can prepare them and freeze them in batches. By freezing the apples before making the wine the cell structures will break down. When defrosting the apples more of the juices will naturally be released. This means if you cannot gather all the apples in one go you can save them and make the apple wine later in the year.
What You’ll Need To Make Apple Wine – Makes 1 gallon / 4.5 litres
- Small Fermenting Bucket
- Demijohn
- Large Pan
- Syphon
- Fine Straining Bag
- Potato Masher
- Airlock & Bung
Apple Wine Ingredients
- 4kg Apples peeled and cut up into small chunks/cubes just prior to making wine to avoid the apples going brown
- 4.5 litres Water
- 900g Sugar
- 1 tsp Yeast Nutrient
- 1/2 – 1 tsp Acid Blend (if you are using tart apples use less acid)
- 1/2 tsp Pectic Enzyme
- 1/4 tsp Wine Tannin
- 1 Campden Tablet
- 1 sachet of Yeast (we recommend Lalvin EC-1118)
Apple Wine Method
1. Begin by heating half the water with the sugar in a large pan. Bring to a boil and simmer for a few minutes.
2. Take the prepared apples and place them in the fine-straining bag. Put this in the bottom of the fermenter and pour over the boiling water. Add the remaining half of the water and this will bring the temperature down so it is lukewarm. Add the tannin, yeast nutrient and acid and stir thoroughly.
3. A few hours later when the must have cooled even further add the crushed Campden tablet and stir through the must. Cover and leave the wine for at least 12 hours.
4. 12 hours after adding the Campden tablet add the pectic enzyme, stir thoroughly and leave for 24 hours.
5. After 24 hours add the yeast by sprinkling onto the surface of the must, no need to stir. The yeast will now ferment the wine. Stir the must daily with a sanitised spoon to ensure all the apples are broken down.
6. After a week lift out the straining bag with what remains of the apples. Let the bag drip dry but avoid the temptation to squeeze the straining bag. Leave the wine to settle for at least 24 hours.
7. After the wine has settled for around 24 hours you can syphon the wine into a demijohn. The wine now needs time to condition and clear. Rack again after a couple of months to aid in the clearing. Condition for at least 4 months before bottling.
8. Should you wish, you can back-sweeten the wine following this method. If you prefer a sweeter, richer wine then this is a good option.
Hi Neil. Following this recipe, at which step should I take a “before” specific gravity reading?
To take an opening gravity reading the best time to do so would be just before you add the yeast.
Hey Neil, can I ask what the ideal room temperature is when the wine is in the fermenting bucket and when its in the demijohn? thx for your time! thx for the reciepe
The yeast strain you use will determine the ideal fermentation temperature, it is almost always stated on the packet. For most yeast strains it is around 18-22C (64-72F) give or take a few degrees.
Im using the recommended yeast strain for apples. Lavin EC-1118 with fermentation temperature of 95°-98.6°F I don’t have an ideal spot to maintain that temperature house stay an average temperature of @72° do you. Will this turn out ok? You recommended a little more fermentation time???
You want to make sure the temperature doesn’t drop below 57F or rise above 82F. Too cold and the yeast will go dormant, too hot and they will die.
If you can maintain this range you should be good.
Cheers
Hi Isaac, bit late I know but only just found this site when searching for a recipe for apple wine (which is currently on the go!). Regarding keeping a steady temp, I bought a cheap single electric blanket, put it on lowest setting and it seems to work a treat! Cheers
Hi, I followed the ingredients minus the acid blend as the apples I have are quite tart and initial hydrometer reading was only 1.064. I had to add an additional 250g if sugar to get the reading up to 1.076 but am worried that additional sugar will make the final wine too sweet. Do you think it will? If so is there away to add sugar for ABV but keep final wine semi dry?
A good wine yeast will ferment a starting gravity in excess of 1.090 without any problem so the additional sugar shouldn’t pose a problem. 900 grams of sugar should have been enough sugar to get a starting gravity of around 1.077 so you may have more than a gallon of wine.
you say, Avoid the temptation to squeeze the straining bag…(It’s too late…) What happens if you have?
It is not a big concern, it may make the wine a little hazier but the flavour will remain just the same.
That made me chuckle, I could just visualise the scene, all going well then a quick glance at the instructions…….Oh shit!
…Hi, I would like to use your recipe for a yield of 19 litres as I have a (5 gallon U.S.) carboy……Will multiplying your recipe by 4 for all the ingredients produce the same quality of apple wine?….Any suggestions…Thanks Michael
Yes, scaling up in this way is exactly right.
Why do you need to add water?
I did it by just cutting my apples into slides, adding sugar on to each layer, and then I closed the jar.
Alcohol just eventually came up to fill the jar after a few days.
I didn’t drink it, it was just an experiment to see what happen.
But can you explain why do you need water?
Using apples alone would work if you have enough juice to make the quantity required.
The water and sugar in this recipe work to turn the apples into 4.5 litres of 12-13% wine.
Earlier in the thread you mentioned a sg reading of this wine to be 1.076 which as it turns out is what my current reading is before adding the yeast. With 1.076 equating to a aortic ABV if 10% I’m a little confused why you now mention 12-13% which is where I really want to be?
I can see how that seems confusing. When I make this wine it always ferments below 1.000 and usually around 0.985. I hope this makes sense.
A wine like this can be good for back sweetening if you find it too dry for your tastes.
Hi Neill
I’m almost a complete novice a at brewing but very keen to start
Can you recommend a good starter kit at a reasonable price?
I’ve already got the apples from various kindly neighbours and frozen them ready to start as soon as I get the kit
Kind regards
Barry Magee
Hi! My yeast packet contains 5 grams. Should I use the whole packet for this recipe? It seems that is a lot?
Yes the whole amount is fine.
How much do the apples break down? It seems I still have a lot of the Apple slices left after a few weeks
It can depend on the variety of apple. The flavour and sweetness will have still been drawn out of the apple so I wouldn’t worry too much.
Hi, I’ve racked for the first time after making the wine in October but it doesn’t taste very alcoholic. It’s very dry so I assume the yeast has used all of the sugar and it does coat the glass when swirled but very few legs. Will this change if I leave it for a couple of months before racking again and bottling? Chris
Homemade wine will always develop and change as it ages. Wait and see how it progresses.
I have now got to the stage where I have syphoned it into demijohn and understand I need to leave it for several months. Does it need to be in the dark and what kind of bung should I have in it? Sorry – have never made this (or any other kind) before!
If you can leave it in the dark that would be great. It is just like storing wine in a cellar so dark slightly cool is great.
Hi, this recipe looks great and I’m about to try. I have a few issues though. I live in Namibia and some of these ingredients are impossible to get (especially now, during the lockdown). Specially 1 tsp Yeast Nutrient
1/2 tsp Pectic Enzyme
1/4 tsp Wine Tannin
1 Campden Tablet.
Now, I believe I can make the wine without these. (even if its a bit cloudier etc) But do you recommend any changes to the recipe to replace these things? Thanks very much.
You can make wine without these things and you are right the pectin in the apples will cause haze. You can introduce tannin by adding a few large handfuls of chopped raisins or currents.
You will also want to add yeast as soon as the ingredients are combined and cooled to room temperature if you are not using a campden tablet.
Hope this helps and best of luck to you.
Cheers
I didn’t read the comments! That will teach me. I didn’t have any tannin (but have now ordered some) so used black tea?! Do you think that’s ok?
Not a problem at all.you can add tannin at any point before bottling so if you try the wine and think it is lacking then you can add a tiny amount before you bottle the wine.
I have no idea where to get these ingredients, any suggestions or can you just use sugar and yeast
I know it may be difficult to get some of these ingredients at the moment. You can use yeast and sugar but ideally you will need a yeast nutrient. If you cannot find any online then try adding a few handfuls of chopped raisins.
Could this be bottle conditioned and carbonated like a cider?
Yes, it would require bottles that can be crown capped or corked and caged. Just make sure the wine is fermented to completion and then use a priming sugar calculator to work out how much sugar is need to carbonate the wine.
Hi! We are making apple wine for our first wine making attempt. We need to be gone for a week. Can we cut up the apples, freeze them a couple weeks and make the wine when we return?
If so should we cut and chop with or without the core?
Many thanks!
Freezing is great and will help to break down the cells of the apple. The core is fine to include.
the seeds will cause a bitter flavor to your wine. I agree that freezing helps break down the fruit ao the yeast can better utilize the sugars.
Hello, how vital is the peeling and more importantly the removal of seeds? Thanks
Peeling, not so much. Some people don’t peel their apples. I would remove the seeds as they will introduce astringency.
Whoops.. just made this up.. about to add my Campden tablet and realised I’ve used 4kg of chopped apples not 4kg of apples to make 3kg of chopped apples.. well actually I’ve chucked in 8kg as I’m doing twice the amount.. doh
I’m sure it will turn out great!
Ooops yes I did the same! But since my hubby is following a recipe which asks for 10kg of apples I’m assuming my 4kg will be fine! 🙂
What difference does it make if the apples turn brown 🤔
No a lot of difference. It may slightly alter the finished wines colour but once the wine has cleared it will look like a lot of normal white wines.
Hi. I’ve now got my Apple wine in the demi John’s with the air locks on top. It is bubbling once about every minute, quite slowly. I have it in a warm room. Is that what is meant to be done now? Do I just leave it for a while? It’s quite cloudy but is changing in appearance from a fruit juice look to more like wine. It’s been there for about a week. Shall I just leave it. Thanks
Fermentation will slow and the airlock will completely stop bubbling. The latter part of fermentation allows the yeast to clean byproducts of fermentation and the wine to clear. This takes some time so try not to worry about the little visual signs of fermentation. All the best!
hi Neil. Your conversions from gallins to litters is a bit off. 3.78L is 1 US gallon. Also you should always pitch your EC1118 yeast before you add it to your wine must. Not pitching or rehydrate your yeast will stress the yeast and possibly cause your fermentation to stall out. Been making wine for some time and I too have made these mistakes
You mention a potato masher under tools, but no mention of it in the method. When does one use this and for what?
The masher is good to break down the apples a bit when they go into the fermenter with the boiling water. They don’t really need mashing but it is good to break them down a bit.
Thank you for the recipe. I have about 50lbs of apples sitting in my garage ready to start the wine making process. I have never made apple wine but have made cherry, plum, nectarine, tomato and other “juicy fruits” wines. I usually steam extract the fruit for wine making. Have you done this with apples? I wonder how it would be different with such a “pulpy” fruit. Thank you
I haven’t done that. It sounds like it would be a good experiment. I have frozen the apple and allowed to thaw in the fermenting vessel and this breaks down the cell structure of the fruit. I would think steam would have a similar effect
Hi !
What is the difference between apple wine and apple cider?
The strength is the first difference as a fair amount of sugar is used to boost the ABV of apple wine to between 12 – 14%. Apple cider is made with purely apple juice, no water or sugar and will typically reach around 4 – 7% ABV. Hope this helps.
If I am upscaling the recipe to 3 or 4 times do I need to increase the yeast amount accordingly as well?
Typically one wine yeast sachet is enough for 5 gallons so just increase the ingredients by 3 or 4 except for the yeast. Hope this helps.
Hi Neil. How can I make sure fermentation is stopped??
A hydrometer is the easiest way to ensure fermentation has finished. Typically if you take two consecutive readings a couple of days apart and they show the same reading on the hydrometer you are good to continue. Hope this makes sense!
Making this wine for the second time from apples we grew (they aren’t the best apples, but they’re great for wine). This recipe is fantastic! We back sweetened with honey and it tasted like a mix of mead and a hard cider. Highly recommend using defrosted apples, it smells better which is saying a lot.
Sounds great. Nothing better than using your own home grown apples.