I am making a batch of steeped apple wine. I started with 21lbs of varied apples, quartered and cored each of them (left the skin on) and filled up a fermentation bucket to the 5 gallon mark before filling with boiling water.
It has now been four days, and I have read the next step is to strain them before adding tea / lemon juice / raisins / sugar / yeast.
I am curious if the strained apples are of any use? should I mash them or are they still good for cooking with?
I kind of went off track with the recipe and decided to approach it differently.
Since there are so many apples (21lbs) and i just dont see how all the good stuff could steep out completely, I decided to add the rest of the ingredients and pitch the yeast with the apples still in the fermenter for the first fermentation.
So I boiled about 4 lbs of raw cane sugar, and another lb or so of brown sugar. Brought the temp of the sugar mixture down to under 100 degrees, and added some pectic enzyme, acid mix, strong black tea, and yeast nutrient. I then pitched my liquid champagne yeast and mixed everything up.
OG was just shy of 1.070
I stirred it this morning, and will continue stirring it daily to avoid mold growth on the apples. Another option I supposed to to somehow weigh down the apples to keep them below the water surface, does anyone have a good technique for this?
Never tried it with a wine, but I suppose you could do something similar to what kraut makers do. Sanitize a plate that fits inside your fermenter (assuming it’s some kind of bucket), place it on top of the fruit, and weigh it down with something to hold it under the liquid level.
Might work ok? I’ve always stirred it a couple times a day if there’s fruit that wants to float on the top.
I am continuing to stir it. After about a day and a half I still do not have any bubbling in my fermentor. I have a vile of cider yeast that I may pitch in there if the fermentation does not start up.
