Crabapples come in various sizes, colora and tastes. Some are golf ball size and others are the size of cherries. Some ripen red and other ripen yellow. Some are incredibly sweet but most are rather tart. Whatever kind you have, they will make good wine.
You can leave the peeling on the apples, but should try to remove the seeds (or at least do not cut or crush them). Wash the fruit carefully and put them (whole) in a bucket containing a gallon of water and a couple of crushed Campden tablets. Push them under the water often over a 4-6 hour period, then drain the water off and crush them in the busket with a piece of hardwood.
Clean and crush the crabapples as above. Boil the water and dissolve the sugar in it. Pour over crushed crabapples in primary. Cover with cloth and allow to cool to lukewarm. Add all ingredients except yeast and set aside for 12 hours. Add yeast and recover. Stir and knock down cap 2-3 daily for one week. Strain through nylon straining bag and let drip drain (do not squeeze). Let stand additional 24 hours and rack off sediments into secondary. Top up if required and fit airlock. Rack every 2 months. After third racking, check specific gravity and taste. If dry, stabilize, sweeten to taste, wait 10 days, and rack into bottles. Allow to age at least a year. [Adapted from Terry Garey's The Joy of Home Winemaking]
My thanks to Ron for the request.
