Grape and Apple Wine Recipe
If you have a grape vine and don't know what to do with the grapes, here is our guide to making a fantastic wine - if you don't have quite enough grapes.
You can substitute the apples for a good quality pressed apple juice or even pear juice.
Use white grapes to get a great white wine or red grapes give a great light red or rose depending on how many apples you use. This is a great recipe if you don't have enough grapes to make a full gallon of wine, it also helps give the wine extra body and acidity.
You will need:
10lb grapes
8lb apples - mixture of varieties is best. Cookers and Eaters are fine to use.
10 oz sugar
2 tsp citric acid
1/2 tsp tartaric acid
1/2 tsp tannin or 1/2 a cup of cold strong tea.
Campden Tablets
1 tsp Pectolase
All purpose White Wine Yeast (Or All purpose Red Wine Yeast)
1 tsp Yeast Nutrient
Fermentation Stopper
Wine finings
Equipment: (We have a fruit wine starter kit if needed for £25)
Brewing Bucket
Demi-John with Air-Lock
Siphon
Muslin or Straining Bag
Steriliser
Hydrometer
Thermometer
Bottles & Corks & Corker
Method
Press the apples and grapes so that you have a 1/2 gallon of juice from each. The measurements should give you equal amounts of juice, but this may vary depending on the juicyness of your fruit.Pour the grape juice and apple juice into a fermenting bucket.
Add in the sugar, citric acid, tartaric acid, tannin and stir until everything is dissolved.
Take a hydrometer reading and save this for later, this will give you an approximation of the finished alcohol content, if you would like it a little stronger, then add a little more sugar.
Add a crushed Campden tablet and the Pectolase. Cover and leave for 24 hours.
Stir in the yeast and yeast nutrient.
Put the lid back on loosely and transfer to somewhere luke warm (approx 18°C) for 10 days.
Transfer the liquid into a demi-john to the top of the shoulder. Fit a bung and airlock (half filled with steriliser water) and transfer to a cool corner in the house, ideally between 16°C and 18°C to allow for the the fermentation to complete. This can take up to 6 weeks.
Once the fermentation has completed, rack the wine off the sediment into a clean, sterilised demi-john. Add 1 crushed Campden tablet and the fermentation stopper (as per the instructions) and stir.
Refit the airlock and leave for 48 hours.
Add the wine finings as per the instructions and allow the wine to clear.
Once clear, take the final hydrometer reading. This will tell you the proof of your finished homemade apple and grape wine.
Bottle and ideally leave for 6 months for its full flavour potential to be reached.