"glad heart" wrote:

Negodki: I've been wondering about sulfite levels too. Anderson's
recipe suggested sprinkling a sulfited water solution over apples
periodically when cutting them up to keep them from turning brown. I
stayed well within his max though. Later, I sanitized the must with a
1/4 tsp sulfite.

Citric acid (lemon juice) is used for the same purpose, but neither are
necessary. I've cut up 36 pounds of apples with an apple slicer and knife
without them browning noticeably. But that is also unnecessary. Just put
them in a 5-gallon bucket, and pound them butter-churn style with a (clean
and sterilized) 4x4 post. Or wrap the post in saran-wrap. Much quicker. And
ALWAYS ferment apple on the skins. Gives you the tannin which helps preserve
the wine, and (usually) makes it clear on it's own, and tastes better. (Only
my opinion of course.

I received my new titrets kit and excitedly prepared to test when I
came to learn that in addition to the ampoules and titretor I also
need a valve assembly to draw up the must. So much for testing today.
You'd think they woulda known to set me up with complete kit. I've
been aerating. Thanks.

Just add sulfite until you can taste it, and then go back in time and add
half as much.

It's odd that Anderson's recipe would call for addition of acid blend to a
tart fruit
like crab apples. Intuitively I wondered so fortunately I used 2/3 of his
recommended addition.

I've learned recently that there are also "sweet" crab apples!

How did you reduce the high acid level in your must? I have CaCO3
kicking around but I didn't know I could use that in the primary.
Maybe I should dump in the NaOH solution from my acid testing kit ;-)
Of course that's a facetious comment but you'd think there would be a
base out there compatible with a wine must that one could use to
easily reduce acidity.

CaCO3 or K2CO3 are the "preferred" additives for grape wines. I believe both
should be added as soon as possible, as that will leave the least amount of
noticeable flavour. Acid reduction was discussed in several recent threads.
Search the archives at
http://groups.google.com/groups?hl=e...fts.winemaking.

However, with apples, especially with crab-apples, I strongly recommend
dilution with water for acid reduction. Apples have so much flavour that you
can press and do a second run (with the pressings) that has almost as rich a
flavour as the first. If you haven't yet begun the ferment, add the water
and readjust the SG. If you've already begun the ferment, bring the water to
your initial SG before adding it to the must. One part water to five parts
must will reduce the acidity by about 10% (which would reduced a .79 TA to
about .71, which is where you want to be). Although 1:5 is the maximum
dilution I would recommend for grapes, you can add more to apples. I add 1
gallon of water to 12 pounds of apples, and the wine is still robust and
full-bodied!