Apple Raspberry Wine Recipe

By
Sean Timberlake
Sean Timberlake
Sean Timberlake
A freelance food writer with a focus on food preservation, brewing, canning, and foraging. He also leads culinary tours in San Francisco and Italy.
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Updated on 01/12/22
Red apples in basket on dark wood
Westend61 / Getty Images
Prep: 30 mins
Cook: 30 mins
Total: 60 mins
Servings: 50 servings
Yield: 2 gallons

Fermenting is a natural process; making wine is an attempt to control that process. Using a few simple techniques, anyone can make a delicious country wine at home using very few ingredients and supplies.

Winemaking is often intimidating for beginners, so let's keep it simple. It's fermented juice, made using four basic ingredients: fruit, water, sugar, and yeast.

Over time, I've discovered that despite owning all the fancy equipment, I prefer making small batches and most often will use 1-gallon milk jugs as carboys, a chopstick (for agitating), cheesecloth, a siphon, a hydrometer, and an airlock. That's it.

Yeast consumes sugar and, as a byproduct, creates alcohol and CO2. An airlock allows CO2 to escape while keeping air out. Hydrometers measure sugar content, thereby indicating potential alcohol content.

Sanitize your equipment using StarSan or a similar product before each use.

This recipe yields 14 to 14.5 percent ABV (alcohol by volume). The flavor is clean and smooth, with a mild residual sweetness.

Ingredients

  • 1 cup raspberries, frozen

  • 3 cups chopped apples, mixed varieties, frozen

  • 1/2 stick cinnamon

  • 1/2 teaspoon fennel seed

  • 1 dried chile pepper

  • 20 whole peppercorns

  • 1/2 teaspoon sea salt

  • 1/2 lemon, zested and juiced

  • 1/2 gallon water

  • 2 1/2 cups brown sugar

  • 7 1/2 cups granulated sugar

  • 1 packet winemaking yeast, Lalvin EC-1118 Champagne Yeast

Steps to Make It

  1. Add the raspberries, apples, cinnamon, fennel seed, chile, peppercorns, sea salt, lemon zest and juice, and water to a large pot, and bring to a boil. Reduce heat, cover, and simmer for 30 minutes to break down fruits, extract flavors, and destroy wild yeasts. Fruit can be crushed using a potato masher to break it down further.

  2. Remove from heat and add the brown and white sugar. Stir to dissolve. Add 1 1/2 gallons cool water. Take a hydrometer reading. It should read approximately 1.10~ SG (specific gravity). 

  3. Cover with a cloth held with elastic or string (or loose lid), and leave at room temperature (72 F) overnight. 

  4. Line a funnel with several layers of cheesecloth, and strain the mixture to remove fruit.

Primary Fermentation

  1. Sprinkle the package of champagne yeast over top of the liquid, stir, and cover with a cloth.

  2. Agitate daily, and take hydrometer readings until it reads 1.03 SG. 

  3. Use a siphon to transfer (rack) to carboy(s), filling to the "neck" to reduce air exposure. 

Secondary Fermentation

  1. This stage requires an airlock to create an anaerobic environment (no air). Add vodka or water to airlock before use.

  2. When the hydrometer reading is 1.0 or lower for a week, fermentation has finished. 

  3. Rack your wine, top with airlock, and age 2 or more months.

  4. After fermentation has finished, you can enjoy your wine young, or let it age. To age and clear your wine, rack every two months, or when sediment is 1/2-inch thick. 

Recipe from: Adriana Meagher, who lives on a 130-acre farm in the mountains of Columbia Valley, BC. Her passion for a traditional lifestyle led her to create Yogurt Hydro, where she shares her latest adventures whether outdoors or in the kitchen.