This is not great wine but I am pleased with it. More along the lines of a dry white grape wine. I didn’t have a hydrometer when I made the first batch but in my opinion it finished out around ten to twelve percent. I like the fact that you can pour it into a glass and swirl and get the smell of apples. It’s a little harder to find in the flavor kind of on the back end. I think it would benefit from a crab apple or other juice to give it a little more flavor, as suggested by others here. Honestly I’m pretty pleased I didn’t make vinegar
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I have a three gallon batch of apple wine going for six weeks or so, I added some toasted white oak a few days ago , took a sample tonight, yum, starting to taste a carmel apple flavor.
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I just transferred my cider last night to the secondary. I have 10 gallons going and its really tart. This is only my second time making hard cider last time i used store bought and it turned out great. I used apples from my parents trees which are unknown varieties, all good eating but a little tart. I know they wouldnt make great cider but im hoping for decent. Im wondering can i do anything to make it less tart? I thought about buying bitters and adding that or pressing some red delicious which are getting ripe now and diluting my cider as these have no tartness to me. Only problem, kind of hard to dilute 10 gallons. I was aware that these apples probably werent ideal for cider but i doubt that cider i fermented from the grocery store was ideal either and that was delicous.
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Well you might try adding a non-fermentable sweetener to balance the tartness with more sweetness. Most people can tolerate more tartness or at least notice it less if more sweetness is present.
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The tartness may change during fermentation
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You might try adding a can or two of frozen apple juice concentrate to the store bought juice to give a stronger flavor. for priming bottles, using corn sugar seems to give a little better taste than regular sugar. I make it a gallon at a time also whether store bought or home juiced apples. I don’t bottle anymore because I prefer the currently fermenting cider.
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It’s really tart when racking out of primary? I’ve never had that, but cider usually mellows by the time it’s ready to drink. What yeast did you use, SG/FG?
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Yes, it has been in the primary for 2 weeks, fermenting for 10 to 12 days of that, just racked it last night. I think sg was 1.057 but i didnt write it down, i just remember whatever it was was within the range of what i read it should be. I never did take a gravity measurement when transferring it. My yeast was ec1118. Hopefully, it mellows quite a bit. Right now id compare the flavor to a sour warhead.
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Hmm… I only get that flavor if I overdo Granny Smith, but it doesn’t go away with time. Just blend something into it.
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If you can stand to let it sit in the cellar for a year it may mellow. My cider is usually noticeably less tart after about 6 months to a year. Only one year out of fifteen has it remained too acidic, and even that I got used to after drinking enough of it. If you hold it until next fall, you can add a splash of fresh cider in your glass to sweeten it and cut the acid.
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Its been about six months now and it has mellowed quite a bit. Still pretty tart but very drinkable. A few months ago it was hard to finish a bottle because it was so sour, the other day i had 2 and could’ve had a few more, not overpowering at all. I’ll make sure to let the apples ripen a little longer this year.