Yield: 1.2 gallons (4.5 Liters)
IN THIS ARTICLE Equipment | Ingredients | Step-By-Step | Cleaning
Sweet and slightly tart at the same time, have you ever wondered how to make Dried Apricot Wine at home? Dried Apricot Wine is made from apricots that have been dried in the sun. Originally from Europe, this wine is easily made at home.
You need wine-making equipment, Dried Apricots, yeast, water, and patience to make beautiful Dried Apricot Wine. It’s that simple.
Your Dried Apricot Wine’s flavor, sweetness, and color will strongly depend on the type and quality of Dried Apricots used. Some varieties of Dried Apricots are delicate and have a very mild flavor, whereas others are richer in flavor and color. Part of the fun is discovering the type of Dried Apricot you like most. You can even blend varieties.
What Equipment Do I Need To Make Dried Apricot Wine
- 2.5 gallon pan (a stockpot is a good choice)
- Fermenting bucket
- Carboy (I recommend a Conical Fermenter)
- Siphon (with a pump is helpful)
- Wine Strainer Bag
- Wine bottles (I recommend the flip-top bottles)
- Hydrometer (you really need one of these)
- Long Handle Spoon (for home brewing)
- Sanitizer (no rinse)
What Ingredients I Do Need to Make Dried Apricot Wine
Our list of ingredients is broken into 2 parts, ingredients for Dried Apricot Wine only, then essentials supplies for all fruit wine making.
Ingredients Just For Dried Apricot Wine
- 1 pound (454 g) Dried Apricots
- 1 pound (454 g) Raisins (refer article “How to Make Raise Wine at Home“)
- 3 pounds (1.36 kg) White sugar
Ingredients Essential For Fruit Wine Making
- Winemakers yeast
- 1.2 gallons (4.5 liters) Water
- ¼ ounce (7 g) Citric acid
- ¼ teaspoon Wine Tannin
- ½ teaspoon Acid Blend
- ½ teaspoon Pectin Destroying Enzyme
- 1 teaspoon Wine Nutrient Salts
- 1 Campden Tablet (for wine making)
TIP If this is your first homemade wine, take a look at a Wine Making kit! Each kit comes complete with everything you need to make homemade wine. It will save you a lot of time buying each piece of equipment and all the essential supplies are included.
Master Vintner Fresh Harvest One Gallon Small Batch Fruit Wine Making Kit
Kit Includes: Winemaker Recipe Handbook, 2 gallon plastic fermenter w/ lid, 1 gallon jug, tubing, airlock, screw cap and Straining Bag, Sanitizer and Campden tablets, Pectic enzyme, Acid Blend, Grape Tannin, Yeast Nutrient, Stabilizer, and all-purpose dry Yeast. Racking cane and tubing, Hydrometer.
What Type Of Dried Apricots Are Best For Wine
If you’re making Dried Apricot Wine for the first time, then you’re in for a surprise when you start looking for Dried Apricots! There is a huge variety of Dried Apricots available, but what type should you choose? Each of the varieties will have a different sweetness, flavor, and color. For your first time, it’s worth experimenting with those Dried Apricots that you like to eat. Each type of Dried Apricot will produce a unique wine.
How To Choose The Best Dried Apricots For Wine Making
Once you’ve decided what type of Dried Apricots you’re going to use for your wine, go look at some brands. Check the ingredients list on the label. Be on the lookout for oil on the list as some brands of Dried Apricots are coated with oil to help the drying process. We need to avoid brands that do this. Any oil will affect the flavor of your wine and may interfere with the fermenting process. Always choose a brand that does not list oil among its ingredients. Another item to note is preservatives, for example, Sulphites. Unlike oil, these are not going to affect your wine.
TIP Take a look at the Dried Apricots below, these are a good choice for a first time Dried Apricot Wine maker and a great example of a quality product.
Terrasoul Superfoods Organic Apricots 2 Lbs – Sun-dried | Unsulphured | Fiber
USDA Certified organic, Non-GMO, raw, gluten-free and vegan. A source of dietary fiber, antioxidants, carotenoids, vitamin A, polyphenols. No sulphur, no oil, with no added preservatives.
How To Prepare Dried Apricots For Wine Making
First of all, wash your Dried Apricots in cold clean water. Just rinse the dried fruit. You need to extract the most flavor, color, and sugar from your Dried Apricots. To help achieve this, you need to chop them. Chopping can be done by hand with a knife and chopping board. The quickest and easiest way to chop your Dried Apricots is to use a food processor. They don’t need to be perfectly chopped, roughly minced will do nicely.
How To Clean And Sanitize Wine Making Equipment
I cannot stress this enough, you must clean and sanitize all your brewing equipment before each use. That means everything you intend to use every time. For example, in some of the steps below, we stir our mix with a long handle spoon, so always clean and sanitize the spoon before each use. We want to prevent unwanted “wild yeast” from finding its way into our wine.
For a detailed article on how to “sanitize your wine-making equipment“, this article is one of the best I’ve come across.
What Is A Must In Wine Making
The word “Must” literally means “young wine” and is made of freshly crushed fruit (usually grapes). It contains the skins, seeds, and stems of the fruit you want to ferment into wine. So when wine making, that’s what the word “Must” means.
How To Make Dried Apricot Wine Steps By Step
Step 1
Clean and sanitize your fermenting bucket, lid, airlock, and straining bag.
Step 2
Using a food processor, roughly chop 1 pound (454 g) of Raisins and set aside in a dry bowl. Next, roughly chop 1 pound (454 g) of Dried Apricots and add these to the straining bag. Place the straining bag into your fermentation bucket and cover your chopped Dried Apricots with ½ gallon (2 liters) of cold water and set it aside for 12 hours. Put the lid and airlock on your fermentation bucket to keep out wild yeast.
Step 3
After your chopped Dried Apricots have soaked for 12 hours, add your chopped raisins to the straining bag and return the straining bag (Apricots and Raisins inside) to the ½ gallon (2 liters) of water in your fermentation bucket. With the freshly sanitized long handle spoon, move the straining bag so that any lumps are broken up and the water will reach all the chopped ingredients. Put the lid and airlock on your fermenting bucket.
Step 4
Fill your large pan or stockpot with 2 to 3 gallons (2.5 liters) of water and bring to the boil. Take it off the heat and add 3 pounds (1.36 kg) of white sugar. Stir with a freshly sanitized long handle spoon until the sugar is dissolved.
Step 5
To your fermentation bucket add ½ teaspoon pectin destroying enzyme and the hot water containing the dissolved white sugar. Again, stir with a freshly sanitized long handle spoon and put the lid and airlock on your fermenting bucket. Leave for 12 hours so the pectin destroying enzyme has time to do its work. Congratulations, you have created “Dried Apricot Must”!
Step 6
After resting for 12 hours, your Dried Apricot Must will have cooled to room temperature. An ideal temperature will be 68 Fahrenheit (20 degrees Celsius), but that’s not essential. You can now add your citric acid, wine tannin, wine nutrient salts, and one crushed Campden tablet. Using your freshly sanitized long handle spoon, stir your Dried Apricot Must thoroughly and replace the lid and airlock. You should wait 24 hours before proceeding to the next step.
Step 7
A full 24 hours after adding your citric acid, wine tannin, wine nutrient salts, and one crushed Campden tablet to your fermenting bucket, you’re ready for the next step. Move your fermentation bucket to a place where you can keep the temperature between 60 to 72 Fahrenheit (15 to 22 degrees Celsius). Sprinkle your Winemakers yeast on top of your Apricot Must. Once again, replace the lid and airlock. Leave your fermentation bucket in a place where the temperature is consistent. Consistent temperature helps with the flavor. Fermentation will be obvious after about 12 hours. You’ll notice bubbles in your airlock.
Step 8
For the next 7 days, once a day open your fermentation bucket and stir your Apricot Must with a freshly sanitized long handle spoon.
Step 9
After 7 days of fermentation, open your fermentation bucket and remove your wine straining bag containing your Dried Apricots and Raisins. Hang the straining bag over the bucket for a couple of hours to let any liquid inside drain out. Once you’re done letting it hang, remove the straining bag altogether and replace the lid and airlock on the bucket. Leave it for 2 days to settle.
TIP Use a stick or wooden dowel across your bucket. With string, tie the straining bag onto the stick to let it hang. This will let any remaining liquid drain.
Step 10
After letting your Apricot Must settle in your fermentation bucket for 2 days, clean and sanitize your 1.5 gallon Carboy. Using your freshly sanitized siphon, transfer your Apricot Must to the Carboy leaving any sediment behind. Replace the bung and airlock on your Carboy. Put it in a warm place to ferment for 30 days.
TIP Use a Conical type fermenter instead of a Carboy. The Conical fermenter allows you to easily remove sediment.
3 Gallon Conical Fermenter – Small Batch Fermenter
Fast Ferment is a professional home brewing kit for the beginner or experienced to enjoy home made beer, wine, cider or kombucha. Our 3 gallon size is perfect for those 1 or 2 gallon batches as well as splitting a larger batch down into 2 gallon or 2. 5 gallon batches.
Step 11
Using a freshly sanitized siphon, transfer your Apricot Wine (yes it’s now wine!) to a separate freshly sanitized Carboy, leaving all sediment behind. Repeat this process once a month, over the next 4 months. This process is called “racking off” and will result in a perfectly clear wine. Repeating the racking off process 4 times over 4 months is really important.
If you have a Conical Fermenter, you don’t need to rack of to another Carboy, you can simply rack off your sediment from the tap at the bottom!
Step 12
Once your Apricot Wine is clear, it’s ready to bottle. Clean and sanitize your wine bottles before transferring your Apricot Wine from the Carboy. I like to use flip-top bottles as they can be reused over and over, which is great for the environment. Of course, you can re-use old wine bottles as well.
How To Clean And Sanitize Wine Bottles
Used bottles must be cleaned carefully and thoroughly. To prepare a bottle for sanitizing, it should be soaked in a solution of water and bleach for 20 minutes. Make the solution as 1 tablespoon of bleach to 1 gallon (3.8 Liters) of water. Before removing your bottles from the solution, scrub the inside of each bottle with a nylon bottle brush to remove anything left behind. Now rinse your bottles in fresh water until all traces of the bleach solution are gone. The bottle is now ready for your sanitizing solution. I recommend using a no-rinse sanitizer.
TIP Use no-rinse sanitizer. It makes sanitizing much faster and less mess is created.
FastRack One Step No Rinse Cleaner
It gives a non alkaline brewery wash to the brewing supplies and equipment and therefore requires no rinse.
Conclusion
Homemade Dried Apricot Wine is something special. Its sweet delicate flavor is delicious and a real surprise to those who have never tried it before. It’s perfect for sharing with friends and family. Better still, you can make delicious Dried Apricot Wine all year round, because you’re using dried fruit. You’ll never run out! The tools and ingredients are inexpensive, easily accessible, and can be used over and over. Whether you drink it after 4 months or 2 years, you’ll be able to enjoy a delicious Dried Apricot Wine that you made yourself.
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