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Hi,

I recently asked if anybody was interested in making apple wine at home.
Since a lot of people replied I figured that it should just post it.

As I already said, making apple wine is VERY easy.
Of course you need to have a lot of apples. You can use any kind and
they also musn't be perfect. The ones that fell on the ground are good
enough. The apples must be cut in little pieces and then run trough a
press. We usually have that done at a company which sells apple juice
and apple wine and they get approx 35 litres of juice from 50 kg of
apples. As far as I know, there are also relativly small machines
available from the appropriate stores which you can use at home. Another
possibility is to just buy freshly pressed apple juice from a company.
However you have to make sure that the juice is not treated in any way
for preservation.

After the juice is pressed it is filled into the fermentation container.
We bought ours from a local agricultural supply store. Our three
containers have a volume of 60 litres each. Since cheap apples are only
available in fall here (harvest season) we only make apple wine once per
year and store it in the fermantation containers until it's gone.
OUr fermantation containers are made of plastic and they come with a
little thing that is screwed onto the top of the container. This little
device must be filles with some kind of hard alcohol (it doesn't really
matter what, as long as its high percentage, -> use something that's
gluten free). It basically seals the container but still allows the
gases produced during the fermentation process to leave. Our containers
also have a tap near the bottom so that you can take apple wine out
without opening the seal.

Now that the apple wine is filled into the fermentation container you
just have to let it sit in a cool place until it's done (cool but no
temperatures below 0 degrees C!!!). It usually takes about three months,
sometimes a little longer but there are additives on the market which
speed up the process. We never use any of these additives though.

That's basically all there is to make apple wine. The apple wine is
finished when it is clear and all the fibre and "dirt" settled on the
bottom of the container (--> its very practical to be able to see
through the container!). When you drink it you might want to mix it with
carbonated water, orange lemonade or even with cola. It actually tastes
more sour than apple cider (at least the cider from France is different)
and has at least as much alcohol as German beer (which has approx. 4%).

Cheers,
Oliver