Spiced Apple Wine Recipe - How to Make Apple Pie Wine at Home! 

I put up a batch of this (spiced apple wine) about 6 months ago. I cracked a bottle today to enjoy while sitting in the sunshine and I just keep being surprised by this wine. It just keeps getting better and better! It's light, flavorful, apple forward, and with lots of complexity. Almost like a nice Riesling with apple and spice notes. It has become my favorite white wine. And I'm amazed that something so simple can be so good. Thanks for everything you do!

I know I've said this before, but imma say it again: I recommend trying an apple wine where you boil down the juice to raise gravity instead of using sugar. I tried it and LOVED the way it tasted. The concentrated apple flavor is really nice. With the spices here it would be a bit of a waste because the extra apple flavor probably wouldn't come through. Regardless, love your videos, you guys are awesome!

I used "mulling" spices from World Market to make a spiced cider. Ended up back sweetening using honey (3 cups, approximately in over 5 gallons.) I left the spices in the fermented cider for 3 days and the spices really stand out, in a GOOD way!

Made this exact thing 3 months ago, did not put any pectic enzymes beforehand or clearing agents afterwards, it's been in bottles for a month now and it's perfectly clear, whiskey color. In fact, it cleared out within a week after I racked it and degassed it. So, just wait...it probably will clear out. I popped a bottle open as I was watching this, it is amazing! More apple pie due to those spices but I don't mind at all. :))

Can't wait for the next video! Awsome work!

Looks amazing. I have so many things I want to try now!

I just tasted my first batch of this (Spiced Apple Wine) at 4 weeks. I'm VERY pleased! Even this young it's much better than many commercial white wines I've purchased. Aroma was mostly apples with a nice overtone of spices. The flavor started with a flood of spices then the apple came in behind. The finish was more spices and a little roughness at the end. I attribute this to youth. I think this will get much better in the coming month or two. The spice level was about right to my taste, so I rough racked to get it off the spices. OG was 1.113, gravity today was 1.008 (ABV ≈14.2%). I expect it to keep going a little in secondary/conditioning (I used 71B) but don't know how much. Depends on our Illiterate Fungus Friends (IFFs). I'll check it again in a month or so.

i love that i come home to this video with these exact ingredients to do this very thing!

Hi Derica and Brian, I started this exact recipe back in June and I have some really nice bottles of wine! They finished just in time for my in-laws to come up and try it! It turned out great! 😋 Thank you so much! Just started a new batch today!

Brilliant, informative as usual. You can also use glycerin in the airlock, especially if you're bulk aging your wine, as it will never evaporate. You can also suspend a clove in the glycerin to repel any bugs. It's 100% safe and is sometimes used to backsweeten. Keep up the good work 👍🏻.

Thank you guys I been watching for few day and it helped me a lot

I put a 1/3 piece of a cotton ball in the top of my airlock and it keeps the fruitflys out and still lets it outgas, really try it works wonders

I made some on April 4th. Still bubbling away. Thank you guys for the inspiration!

Bottling spiced metheglin, drinking your easy grape juice wine, making spiced apple wine…pretty sure I just rewatched the sugar calculations five times bc I keep getting metheglin brain or grape wine brain or Hendricks kilju brain…omgoodness I just spit out cider when Brian said otherwise know as WUS 🤣 love you guys so much and no it’s not your brews talking

I made an Apple Wine with this same yeast, and lots of spices (cinammon, clove, cardamom, star anis and ginger), turned Very good

I tried this! I know you recommend following a known recipe when new, but I tweaked it to fit my situation(metric). I ended up with a gently spiced 11.5% wine with a nice full mouth feel.

Hey Derica and Brian! I want to thank y’all for all the work you put into your videos to explain how to make these products! I started my first batch last Saturday 11/4, using Publix Premium apple juice, 1.2 lbs of sugar, 1 clove, 8 all spice berries and 1 cinnamon stick and about a gram of Fermaid O. OG was a little lower than y’all’s at 1.900, but should still yield around 12% if it goes to 1.000. I also ended up using Lalvin D47, but should be ok because it has a 14% tolerance. I am looking forward to it finishing fermenting in a few weeks and then conditioning it for a few more and hope it is ready in time to enjoy for Christmas! Thanks again for all of the advice and inspiring us viewers to make our own! Cheers!

I can't be the only one who noticed... "Nothing that ends with an -ite or an -ate..." "From concentr-ate... Totally ok..." 😂🤣

Ha! I did something like this a year and a half ago. Main differences were I did 2 cloves, and some brown sugar (with 71B). The aging reeaally helped mellow out the spices side of it for mine. I call it an Apple Pie Wine. And then my one buddy suggested trying to infuse some butter taste to it (to get it even closer to the name) by fat washing some butter in a spirit and adding that...

Hi Derica and Brian, Your mate from Australia here. Actually brewing a batch of apple cider at the moment myself. A bit off topic, but an idea for a future video for you here: Yesterday I was a farmer's market and bough some lovely mead from this lady who has her own apiary. We were chatting and she told me an interesting technique in her brewing I have not considered before: when she brews her mead she uses 4 different yeasts all in one batch. She claims that 4 different colonies in one brew provide a better rounded and interesting flavour. And her mead is actually really nice. Will probably test this theory in my next brew myself. Keep up your good works, your videos rock.

Is it bad that whenever Brian says they’re going to “take a reading”, I flash to a certain scene in Spaceballs where Barf is praying very loudly and quickly?

Hello Derica and Brian, I really appreciate your videos! I am new to brewing, having tried canning and pickling. I made the "Basic Mead" May 28th 2022 and the "Apple spice wine" June 8th which brings me to my predicament ; I assembled 3.68lbs sugar with 1.050 apple juice, 8 all spice, 1 clove, 2 grams red star classic with 2 grams Ferm Go and pitched wet. 24 hours later I added 1.5 ferm O... after that I realized my mistake was three times over from the recipe of 545 grams sugar(1669g) . Since I have gassing through the airlock I can assume that fermentation has begun(9days). Essentially I have to let time go by before checking the gravity?, O yeah, the SG was so far down on the bulb it was off the scale, I heard some talk on your videos about dividing and refermenting. So my question is to wait until after fermentation? Divide to three and add water, cause i feel like adding more apple juice/? Do I shake to help split the ingredients? Do I wait to see if the yeast comes back or re-pitch the yeast? Can I save it ? or do I need to pitch it? All information would be helpful. You'll be happy to hear since that I have two more ferments; another apple spice wine; 545g sugar, 3qt apple juice, 8 all spice, 1 clove, 1 cinnamon stick, 1.108 SG, 2 g fermo and 6g go ferm with 5g red star classic, pitched wet. Capsicumel mead; 5 jalapenos 8.9oz, rasins 3.8oz, honey 3.5lbs, twinings black tea 1cup, 1.150 SG, 1g ferm start, 17ml distilled water and 5g red star classic, wet pitch. I saw mentioned you were a little high on FG so I adjusted the yeast? Did I mention I was grateful to you guys for all the information and effort your put into your channel! Thanks again, I have no way to repay you other than gratitude. Sincerely, Kevin

This is making me wonder what other spices you could add to a spiced brew, and the effects that that might have. I've been eyeing your Spiced Metheglin recipe with interest, with a view of making something that tastes similar to a spiced rum. I know that I was considering fennel at one point. Might also consider vanilla (although maybe not with apple). Also, liking the new plan of splitting two-part brews more evenly. Feels more manageable to watch that way.

Very nice. This would make a great Christmas wine. I usually use just 2 cups of white table sugar and 1 tablespoon of McCormick's Apple Pie Spice. Very delicious after racking and aging for 2 to 3 weeks.

Just had to stop by and say you guys have inspired me to try making my own wine and mead. I just finished putting this one in a gallon bottle. Thanks for getting me going on this.

This is my favorite recipe. I've made it several times, also i have used other juices like cranberry.

I make strawberry wine it turns out so good when you put strawberries in primary and secondary

Made this recipe for my first wine. I just finished bottling it and it tastes amazing.

Making this for Thanksgiving!

I gotta do this. Just started a batch of mandarin orange mead because your recent video and was thinking about what to do next.

Twaaak your packet! That and the proverbial red bucket of sanitation. I love y’all’s euphemisms. Thank you from North Carolina.

Love these vids! One tip that ive found is vegetable glycerin is great for your airlock! Cheers!

I started an Apple Grape Wine back in February and it's fully done fermenting, and I'm going to experiment with different flavors in conditioning phase. I started with a 3/1 ratio of Apple juice to Grape juice (concord). It's a Great starting blend. It still has the Apple bite to it, but I'm going to try and mellow out the sharpness of the Apple. Anyways, I just wanted to say thank you two for having such a wonderful channel which is very helpful and easy to follow.

I've been watching all of your old videos, and we just put this together tonight but in a 2 gallon batch! Hopefully it turns out as good as the Acerglyn did!

We’re making this right now and plan to do the first racking tonight assuming it’s done (95% sure it is). However we’re putting the spices in secondary because this is our second brew and we’re hoping the high ABV protects us from some newby mistakes. With that said, I tasted it last week and it tasted like a candy apple. Even with out spices it’s one of the best things I’ve ever had!

I recently did this and it stalled. I tried to get it "unstuck", but it just wouldn't go. So I just called it and put it in conditioning. It's sweeter than I would like it and the AVB is lower than I'd like it/expected it to be @ 8%.....but it tastes pretty good. I actually now have an apple Cider mead going and so far everything is going amazingly. I'm excited gor this one to finish.

I would love it if you guys made a video on brewing Ethiopian Tej!!!!!

Hey I used Costco apple juice as well! Hard to believe I haven’t brewed since last year around this time. Going to try glass gallon jugs of “cider” from sprouts, kings, or Whole Foods, method this year to save some sanitizing. Was thinking of making it a little stronger since you have said in the past that at a certain point it becomes a wine. Well looks like this came out just in time… although it looks like you posted this three months ago lol… I wanted to age for a good three months for the holidays… but running out of time.. should have checked back sooner!

I have just followed this recipe to the letter and found my abv was matching yours....a miracle since I am using UK measurements! But to my horror I added bread yeast instead of brewing yeast , just grabbed the wrong one from the fridge. I know from watching (nearly) all your videos that this is not a catastrophe but will it make the finished result cloudy?

I wanted to try this recipe, but didn’t have that juice around, so I decided to experiment. I used an unfiltered shelf stable apple juice, specifically Signature Farms Honey Crisp apple cider blend, and Lalvin EC-1118 yeast because I had them both on hand. Everything else was the same. After fermentation and conditioning, it was definitely not clear, but I didn’t expect it to be. It looked pretty much like the juice that went in. Surprise! If I took my specific gravity readings correctly, and did the math right, it was about 14% abv! Yeah, it has a kick! It’s very dry, but it really has an apple flavor to it. My opinion: Yeah, it’s good! Someone else should try it!

The semantics that defines a brew as wine, cider/hard cider etc. If your brew taste good and if it has alcohol in it. It's all joy juice unless you over indulge so drink responsibility.

currently waiting the delivery of some yeast for about 10 gallon of apple wine, aiming for 5 gallon of about 12% and 5 gallon of 15-16%. not spicing mine as my partner is allergic to cinnamon and ginger. have you ever used malic acid in your apple brews,? I find it makes apple brews more of a crisp apple flavour

Do you have a place you can direct me to, to learn about the gravities and how you came up with the calculation for the sugar?

I added 2 cloves to my spiced maple syrup wine in primary and left the spices in for a month and take it from me, Brian is right here. 1 gallon needs 1 clove. Unless you are trying to make a mouth numbing clove wine, resist the urge to put 2.

This is begging to be oaked! Sounds amazing!

Just made a 2-gallon batch tonight! followed your recipe exactly with the same ingredients, even with Costco Apple Juice. Ended up with a 1.110 gravity on the nose! wish me luck!

I have a weird question if found and removed can you reuse spices?

I'm a little late to this game apparently. Just started some of this for my first brew. I was going to do y'alls mead but saw this and couldn't resist!

When placing an airlock I always remember my science teacher in school telling us about Louis Pasteur’s glass flasks still being clear to this day thanks to the principles of both pasteurising AND the airlock. I have a happy little weird scientist moment and might mumble ‘thanks Louis’ every once in a brew. Methinks it’s high time I started a spiced apple wine. Holiday drinking comes to mind. Thank you for the idea! The other fermenter is destined for strawberry wine. I’ve got lots sinning in my freezer and they’re begging to be used. 😊

Oh my word🤣 You people are just entertaining Truly enjoy the content But the dialog betwixt you is absolutely hilarious “begeesus” shake it baby, don’t break it 🤣

On alcohol and star San in the airlock. I once used Listerine mouthwash (I don’t recommend that) and have accidentally gotten mouthful of starsan water while (which is quite sour ) cleaning my siphon tubes.

Imma try making a chocolate strawberry mead soon ,do yall have any recommendations?

What!? Why would you leave me on a cliff hanger!?!? By the way I appreciate the extra content!! It was a pleasant surprise

so i was thinking about how we sanitize everything we brew with, and this crossed my mind. how do we know the sugar, spices or fruits don't have any bad wild yeast or microbes that would normally ruin a brew?

Had a few blowouts in the last years. Almost all were apple related. My yeast usually feels very happy with apple.

I made a wine inspired by this exact recipe, I think I just upped the abv and used the beast. Turned out great wish I would've saved a bottle. What are your thoughts on luta kviek. I've used voss for a simple cider low abv a lawnmower cider type deal. But I'm wondering if the attributes of lutra kviek would be beneficial to some country wines. It has an alcohol tolerance of 15 percent and is a Norwegian farmhouse strain. It says it loves higher heat and blows through sugar quickly.

So giving this a try, I made some muscadine wine a few months ago, back sweeten it a bit to much.lesson learned. Question on this do you stir it every day like I did for that wine or just let it sit? Thank you

hi brian and derika.the yeast i have on hand is SO-4 and lalvin EC-1118,will one of theses work ? if so,which will give highest ABV.......thanks for your time and help.

I just bottle my Alpine (Hot apple toddy mix) mulling spice wine this week end.

This recipe is going to be my first attempt at homebrewing! I did half the volume and added some orange zest so we'll see how it turns out.

Awesome vivdeo, thanks for sharing. One question; You added 2 grams of fermaid o in one-gallon juice. I am brewing five gallons, so I decided to add 10 grams of fermaid o. Is that right or too much? Thanks again. Tom

Can I use Fleischmann's ActiveDry Yeast on this recipe or is it a must I use wine yeast? keep up the great work

Really glad you started to make a couple of videos fermenting with sugar rather than honey!

Where do you find the glass bottles?

Why have you switched to Red Star yeast? Does it perform better? I am still using Lalvin yeasts and never really had an urge to change.

if I'm not mistaken starsan's main ingredient is phosphoric acid (E338) which is a common food acid in commercially produced foods and drinks including a well known soda from atlanta that comes in a red can

Not gonna say anything.....Didn't need to... faces said it all! haha

In the UK we seem to only be able to get cloudy apple juice that's not from concentrate, it tastes amazing and natural but would it be ok for this? And would it clear?

Hi! I have a 12 litres batch of spiced apple wine. Used ec-1118 yeast. It is still fermenting after 15 days. There is still quite good activity in the airlock. Temperature is steady 23-24 Celsius. Is it normal that primary fermentation takes so long?

I have a few meads going currently, and I have noticed that none of them has a Kruesan line. My brews are a little different than yours in that my temps are between 67 and 70 degrees. Is this an issue if they do not create a Kruesan? I assume its ok because my Hydrometer tells me they have reached zero and after waiting another week they have stayed the same, I have then racked them to a conditioning vessel and tasted them and other than they are extremely young have not detected off flavors of any kind. Have you ever had a brew not Kruesan, and does it to your knowledge have any effect on the final product?

Hey Brian and Derica. I really love you guys episode's. Very helpful educational. So if I may ask: what kind of yeast would you suggest using for a sweet apple raspberry wine? And what do you guys prefer your original and final gravity for a SWEET apple raspberry wine? I'm asking cuz I want to make easily drinkable SWEET apple raspberry wine. And when I say sweet I mean sweet where it balances the ethanol taste. I wanna make alot in time for the Minnesota renaissance festival. For my first batch I'm in the middle of I used some fresh juiced honeycrisp apples and 2 12 oz concentrated frozen apple raspberry juice by old orchard and followed the instructions on it put 3 lbs sugar and well... bread yeast since it's an experiment and so far taste great not done yet tho. Didn't get an og for it tho. This is only a 1 gallon experiment obviously Any advice or tips and or your preferences would be much appreciated. Thanks in advance.

As a non-fan of apple products, I still wanted to make fruit wine, so I tried the dreaded (DUN DUN DUUUUNNNN!) peach. 1.130 OG, 1.000 FG, using Lalvin 71b (Feed The BEAST!). Approximately 17.3% alcohol, when it finished. 1 year later, and the brown sugar I used mellowed nicely, making the wine taste like a type of peach melba. If you two ever come across an apple brew recipe that doesn't taste like Mott's apple juice (the sweet apple mouth-coating variety), I might give an apple brew a try. Here's hoping.

My honey blueberry ale I had put blow off tude on it for week. In fact it blow the top off my 5 gallon forminter that was fun

So I started a 1 gallon batch of this 9 days ago, and had an OG of 1.112. A few days ago I noticed my airlock activity had just about stopped. I was curious to see what was going on inside (it's my first brew!) so I decided to take a reading on it to see where I was. My yeast (I used D47 because it came with a kit i bought) powered through that 1.112 all the way down to 0.996! Is that normal for 9 days?! It is still pretty hazy (I know it may not clear much, apples and spices and all that jazz) so I replaced the airlock and swirled a little to degas some. I DID, however, pour a little into a glass to give it a try. Absolutely amazing for being so young. Anyway, I cannot wait to get this bottled and aged a little bit. Maybe by Christmas time I'll have a nice, spiced apple wine to share!

Have you tested the difference of white sugar and raw or turbanado sugar? Is there a difference in flavor? I am assuming that the gravity will be the same but will the flavor be different.

So tried this recipe and i just reracked it after about 4 weeks and it went completely dry, only difference was i used a different brand of apple juice with no preservatives. i took my first sample and the spice were very very strong and the apple flavor was non existent. Is that the way yours tasted right after primary?

I find ginger in cider gives a good spice

Hi, I am from the Philippines! Fermaid O is not available in our country. Are there any alternatives I can use? Or at least a way to have something similar to Fermaid O? Have a good day, y'all!

Help Please.....I am making this and has been fermenting for 14 days now, OG was 1.108 , Had to add more sugar than recipe said to get to the 1.108. Did a gravity check today and its 1.010. Tasted it and it is pure alcohol tasting and little spice taste and no apple taste for the most part.. I used 71b yeast and 2grams dead yeast..... Is this normal for 14days?

Hey Guys! I am new to all this, so I would like to ask if I can use fibrous apple juice for making apple wine?

Have you tried a cistelle

I can't get this yeast where I live... Is there any other yeast I could use to get similar results? Thanks!

Have you tried using simple syrup as your fermentable sugars? I've found it gives a much higher gravity reading than granular sugar. My hypothesis is you're getting way more of the sugar dissolved and it's just a more accurate reading since my gravity readings used to be way lower than what I could reasonably expect. Avoids the issues with pouring in granular sugar and you can adjust the liquid volume and viscosity. Very easy to make at home and very customisable, and in my experience far more wieldy than granular sugar or honey

Im doing a 4 gal version of this recipe. Would you times all the spices by 4? Even the cloves?

Do you ever do wild fermentation in your ciders or beers?

Well… i was planning to start on a mead But seeing my package of honey is delayed , spiced apple wine it is 🤷‍♀️ I have been wanting to start brewing on and of for years now You guys gave me that last little push to kick myself in gear So thanks you two for being unequivocally you 😘

When i used 1/8 tsp fermaod o it removed all foam, then i added 18% champaigne yeast for my 1G spiced apple wine. Seams to be circulating and little foam on top, i degased for first 3 days. Is it normal

Can I make it from fresh apples? I have a small orchard but lots of apples. New subscriber (age 67) in La Salle, MI.

Sir. I already made my wine 1 year ago i dont even remember.now i found my home made wine 3 bottle in my cabinet. Drink it and it feels great. The main question. After i open the bottle. I put it back to to the cabinet and still drink it again and again for almost 1 month.. But i see other video about wine. the wine should had been bad after 1-3 days after opening. How to know the wine is bad or ruin. And how long after open bottle home made wine can last?

Can you add the spices after the primary fermentation?

I did a 5 gallon batch using this exact recipe, just scaling it x5. (I even used the Fermaid O.) Not sure why, but I ended up with a super slow fermentation at first, and had a stall at 1.040. I ended up adding rehydrated 71B and putting it in chest freezer heated to 80 degrees F (our house is at 70.) It dropped to 1.020, but the bubbling has completely stopped again. The cinnamon sticks I used were big. Maybe they gave the yeast a difficult time? In any case, I now have a slightly sweeter, less alcoholic version to enjoy.

Hey guys! I've watched a ton of your videos and finally have my first question for you. Last night I started the brew for this recipe (spiced apple wine). Today the brew is very active and has a strong sulfur smell. The Internet has mixed guidance ranging from there's no issue to act now or your batch will be ruined. What are your thoughts? Am I safe or do I need to take some action? I used a whole packet of Fleischmans yeast in a gallon container with a starting gravity of 1.110.

Question for you guys I'm attempting to make a apple pie cyser, added 2lbs of honey about 1/2 lbs of brown sugar and used apple cider, gravity came out to 1.110 added yest checked it this morning and the foam is over flowing but also turned to a jelly like consistency (just the foam) any idea what's going on? Any help would be appreciated

Been watching your videos religiously for a few weeks now. Just wanted to make sure as I'm trying to start my first brew in a couple weeks. If the amount of sugars exceed the tolerance of the yeast, will this make the result sweeter?

I had to stop giving sample to my wife if it's an active fermentation. Her ulcers flare up and she has very serious pains for some time after. I seem to have an asbestos lined stomach, at most I need a bathroom break.

Next time you measure out your fermaid, could you give us the measurement in tsp as well? My scale is not that accurate depending it's mood and how breezy it is in the kitchen. 😁 BTW I LOVE the channel, You guys are doing wonders for hesitant brewers like myself.

So, because of "supply issues" I can't get whole cinnamon sticks in my area. Can ground cinnamon be used? If so, how much?

Do you think these recipes would be good with a pressed apple cider?

Do you have to fill the hydrometer tube all the way up?

if it stalls early what happens...??? can it not sit for secondary if it stalls at say 1.030...???