Last year I started fermenting apple cider, and through various experiments have come up with a fairly strong apple wine. The first batch was fun, while I did not have the tools to obtain an original gravity measurement (nor final) I can say with confidence that the product finished as at a very dry 10% abv. This recipe took about three weeks to complete a ferment at room temperature, and while it was technically drinkable then it was not very good. I used cinnamon sticks, brown sugar, some raisins, and champagne yeast in the process. After three weeks it was not bad, though not bubbly like many ciders you get at the store these days. With each passing week it got a little better... but didn't last very long. I only made a gallon and a half and used the glass bottles the original cider came in to ferment the product after purchasing a couple of bubblers to monitor the yeast activity.
Since batch 01 I have added clove and not used raisins, a couple of times I have used honey at the end of the ferment to both improve flavor and inhibit further fermentation... clove, honey, cinnamon, with Brown sugar seems to create the best flavor. By adding more sugar using the Champagne yeast I have since been able to calculate (with OG and FG measurements) an abv of about 13.8% with my strongest batch.
My next batch will also be for a stronger variety but hopefully more malty. The plan is to add more sugar, since I have found that the yeast will not persist in a solution of 13.8% or higher, the yeast should essentially not be able to consume the extra sugar and this should (theoretically) improve the malty-ness and flavor. After that batch I want to try using a different yeast. I suspect that if I use a beer yeast that the yeast will not remain active at the higher abv values, and I can get a 5-7% product that retains just a little of the maltiness... similar to off-the-shelf ciders. More of a beer and less of a wine.
I was able to make a lemonade that came out a little over 7.2% using the champagne yeast, but of course there was no sugar left in it. Still it was pretty good after a couple weeks aging, and still bubbly. I have yet to make a second batch of it, but consider this, we used fresh squeezed Meyer's lemons. Yum. White sugar in this case, was really good over ice, straight, we even tried it with a shot of bourbon in it. Delicious! The truth of it is, it is not very difficult to make a malt beverage or ferment a fruit juice, the trick is making it palatable. Next time I might try adding come ginger into the concoction. We shall see.
Cheers!
