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Still struggling to get the apple and rowan wine off the ground...i find I'm constantly thinking about it and it's driving me nuts!

Thinking of using 20 lbs cooking apples [that's what my 'free' apples are unfortunately for the wine] and 4 lbs rowan berries. Going to try freezing the berries overnight to see if that will make a difference

So - if I get to the stage where I have a pure juice from the said apples and rowans, [thru' boiling the fruit - no sugar - for approx 30 - 45 mins and straining off the juice from the pulp, an overnight business!] what do I do then?

I had thought of...

Sugar: 3lb to every 1 gallon of juice [will this be enough or will I need more? Cooking apples & rowans are not a sweet combination]
Juice from 1 lemon
yeast & nutrient

Add sugar to 1pint of boiling water so it dissolves better
Add to juice when cool, along with yeast & nutrient.

Into a demi-john - leaving a gap from about the shoulders for a vigorous ferment [well, in case!] Bung and airlock

Once it's settled down after approx 1 week [???} fill up to the neck with ...what... some "left over" juice?? and then fit bung and airlock [filled with a sterile solution] and rack if necessary after ...a couple of months??

Now I know I'm green, and after reading this, so will you!! Just hope that once you've stopped laughing you'll take pity on me and give me some advice please. I've no doubt missed the most crucial bit out, but fingers crossed you'll tell me.

Are raisins/sultanas another form of nutrient for the yeast? Could I use them instead?

Living in hope for some peace of mind...

Nana Caz

Yes, it'll work - except there's enough fruit there for four gallons of wine. One point - don't even think of boiling the apples. You'll end up with a liquid which tastes of stewed apple and is packed full of pectin. Just chop them up - skin, cores and all - and cover them with water containing the juice of a couple of lemons or a heaped teaspoonful of citric acid (tartaric would be better still, but not many people have that). Yes, use sultanas. Chop or mince a pound or so (I use the Magimix), add to the rowanberries and pour boiling water over the lot. After an hour, bash the rowanberries into submission with a big stick, than add that lot to the apples. For four gallons, without knowing anything about your apples, I'd add ten pounds of sugar dissolved in hot water, then top up with enough water to bring the total used to about 3 3/4 gallons (the rest will come from the fruit, and you can always top up later with water).

When the temperature is down to warm, add one level teaspoonful each PER GALLON of yeast nutrient, Pectolase (good, but not absolutely necessary), and yeast. I'd also add one crushed 5mg tablet of Vit B1 per gallon (again, not absolutely necessary).

Cover well and leave - the fermentation will begin within 24 hours. After that, you need to stir twice or three times a day (the fruit will be trying to climb out of the fermentation bin) for four or five days - the longer the more intense the flavour - and certainly no longer than a week.

Strain (don't squeeze the muslin unless you want too much mush) and fill up your demijohns. By now, there won't be a violent fermentation, so you can fill them to near the top (leave a half-inch or so) and stick on your airlocks.

I assume you know the racking, waiting, racking, waiting routine. Don't bottle until you're absolutely sure that there ain't a yeast cell in existence in that wine. Better still, leave it to mature for a year before you bottle it. You'll have a very pale rose (now called a blush, I believe) with the ideal alcohol content for that style of wine of 12%.

One thing more - it will almost certainly need to be sweetened. When you get to this bit, don't overdo it. Add sugar syrup a little at a time and taste all of the time.

Best of luck.

EDIT: Just reread your post - the ONLY wine which is made from pure juice is grape wine. All other fruit juices must be diluted to avoid massive overflavouring or intense acidity. Cider is made from pure apple juice - apple wine is a much subtler taste.

MKG, you are a wonderful warmhearted human being!!!!! Thank you so much for detailing everything out for me.

I took the quantity for the apples and rowan berries from a receipe in a book by C J J Berry and he said that altho' the quantity of fruit seemed excessive, the taste was well worth it. Well I thought, if it's good enough for him and he's written a book about makin' wine, then that'll do for me...and that is precisely how I managed to land myself in such a quandry and haven't even got the rowans picked yet. I love doing all the research bit [yes I know, I know!! but I don't get out much!] and get so bogged down in minutia...sod it...my-new-sha...I lose the thread of whatever it is I'm trying to find out.

Errr, just read that back to myself...I think that's what I mean...hmmm!

Seriously, thank you. Didn't know about the pure juice thingy. Going to give it a try, fingers crossed.

Nana Caz