Man, I love Apfelwein

[truvr]

I couldn't help but it find it strikingly similar to say, a white wine like chardonnay, but quite dry with a faint hint of apple.

That is exactly the impression I got from my first batch when I tasted it after a couple of weeks in the bottle. The longer it ages in the bottle the more the apple character comes back though. I do think that chilling and carbonating helps as well.

 

[J187]

That is exactly the impression I got from my first batch when I tasted it after a couple of weeks in the bottle. The longer it ages in the bottle the more the apple character comes back though. I do think that chilling and carbonating helps as well.

Interesting... I'd prefer it to have more of a white wine flavor than anything I think. As long as the apple is there.

 

[Leadgolem]

Well, it's been 6 days now since I degassed it and added champagne yeast and pectic enzyme. It's still cloudy from stirring up the lees. Hopefully it will settle out eventually, I would have expected it to by now but so far, no luck. I have another couple batches in the basement, so I added pectic enzyme to those as well, and champagne yeast to 1 of them to see if anything happens, so far I think that one looks a little clearer than the one I didn't repitch.

Your batch won't clear until well after fermentation is complete. Active fermentation is almost always cloudy.

If you want to speed that up, you can add a finning agent after you hit FG. Something else that will speed things up is pasteurization. The yeast is still swimming around in your batch.

Interesting... I'd prefer it to have more of a white wine flavor than anything I think. As long as the apple is there.

Then make sure you serve it dry. Even a little sugar is going to radically alter the way your brain interprets the flavor profile.

 

[dave8274]

Your batch won't clear until well after fermentation is complete. Active fermentation is almost always cloudy.

If you want to speed that up, you can add a finning agent after you hit FG. Something else that will speed things up is pasteurization. The yeast is still swimming around in your batch.


Then make sure you serve it dry. Even a little sugar is going to radically alter the way your brain interprets the flavor profile.

I don't care much about speeding it up, I'm just hoping I didn't do any damage. Basically, when I degassed it last week, it stirred in the yeast and it hasn't settled out at all. I don't see any signs of fermentation though, no tiny bubbles rising in the fermenter.

 

[Texastrooper]

You could, but powdered sugar is 97% table sugar and 3% corn starch. I would just use table sugar.

Thanks. I did not know that.

 

[Texastrooper]

Is there a way to get the apple wine even "drier"? I am used to the dry apple wines from the Odenwald region in Germany. These are made mainly from wild growing apples which are really sour and almost uneatable but which are great for wine. I love the Ed-Wort version and we drink a lot of it. But I wonder what a good way could be to make it "dryer".
Different yeast or adding sour apples into the fermenter?
Unfortunately here in Texas we are limited to the apples in the store since the climate down here is not really suitable for apple orchards.

Thanks a lot

 

[Leadgolem]

Is there a way to get the apple wine even "drier"? I am used to the dry apple wines from the Odenwald region in Germany. These are made mainly from wild growing apples which are really sour and almost uneatable but which are great for wine. I love the Ed-Wort version and we drink a lot of it. But I wonder what a good way could be to make it "dryer".
Different yeast or adding sour apples into the fermenter?
Unfortunately here in Texas we are limited to the apples in the store since the climate down here is not really suitable for apple orchards.

Thanks a lot

It sounds like you are wanting something that's more tart, not exactly drier. You could add some acid blend the finished product. You could also see if somebody around you has a crab apple tree, and add the fruit from that to secondary. I won't eat a crab apple, but they make a good flavoring for any kind of cider.

 

[wywarner]

I'm trying this recipe with Red Star Pasteur Champagne Yeast, everything else I left as is. Are there any consequences for this substitution? (this probably sounds like an incredibly noobie mistake/question)

 

[gcdowd]

I've been trying to kill this keg of apfelwein but it keeps coming and coming :rockin:

 

[Grimster]

That is exactly the impression I got from my first batch when I tasted it after a couple of weeks in the bottle. The longer it ages in the bottle the more the apple character comes back though. I do think that chilling and carbonating helps as well.

Sweetening it a bit before carbonating it really brings out the apple, it's almost like fizzy apple juice after that. And it drinks down like a fizzy cold drink, way too fast and before you know it you're drunk.

 

[Leadgolem]

I'm trying this recipe with Red Star Pasteur Champagne Yeast, everything else I left as is. Are there any consequences for this substitution? (this probably sounds like an incredibly noobie mistake/question)

Not really. Champagne tends to finish pretty dry. Really, this is going to be good with pretty much any white wine yeast.

 

[groz24]

So back on March 3rd I started Ed's original recipe, putting everything into a carboy and it's been sitting there ever since. I'm moving in 2.5 weeks, and am going to bottle it before then, rather than trying to move it still in the carboy. Is there anything I need to watch out for or be aware of, other than don't try too much of it before I get it all bottled?

 

[aholla1]

My husband and I lived in Frankfurt for two years and fell in love with German Apfelwein. We are very excited to try this recipe out. I had one question about the apple juice. Most of the juice at our local grocery store says 100% apple juice from concentrate. Is this ok?

Thank you!

 

[gcdowd]

My husband and I lived in Frankfurt for two years and fell in love with German Apfelwein. We are very excited to try this recipe out. I had one question about the apple juice. Most of the juice at our local grocery store says 100% apple juice from concentrate. Is this ok?

Thank you!

Should be ok, as long as there are no preservatives. Ascorbic acid is the only preservative that is ok.

 

[jstampler]

So back on March 3rd I started Ed's original recipe, putting everything into a carboy and it's been sitting there ever since. I'm moving in 2.5 weeks, and am going to bottle it before then, rather than trying to move it still in the carboy. Is there anything I need to watch out for or be aware of, other than don't try too much of it before I get it all bottled?

7 months in the carboy? That's going to be amazing right away!

Anyway, bottling is a breeze. The yeast doesn't get easily disturbed which can sometimes be a pain. I moved my carboy into place for bottling and pretty much nothing got stirred up.

 

[RhodySeth]

Got the ingredients together to try my hand at this drink that everyone seems to love. Just have a few questions:

I plan to use a Better Bottle to ferment. Will it be alright to keep it in the plastic BB for a couple months?

The BB holds five gallons but I'm only doing a 2.5 gallon batch. I know that with beer the extra headspace in the primary fermenter isn't a problem since the CO2 forms a blanket over the beer. Is it the same with apfelwein or will the extra headspace be a problem?

 

[gcdowd]

I use better bottles with no problems. It's a lot of head space but should be ok. Why not make a full 5 gallon batch? There is little to no krausen so you can fill it to the top

 

[RhodySeth]

I use better bottles with no problems. It's a lot of head space but should be ok. Why not make a full 5 gallon batch? There is little to no krausen so you can fill it to the top

Yeah I know but I've already incurred a lot of aggro from the Wife. She's already expressed displeasure with all the beer I've got conditioning and if she spies a full five gallons of the apfelwien her ire will only grow.

Of course, her ire will probably grow when she spies 2.5 gallons of apfelwien so maybe you're on to something.

 

[aholla1]

This forum has been so helpful! We are planning to bottle the apfelwein in former beer bottles and put a cap on like we would for beer. Would that work or do we need to put it in wine bottles and cork it? Does anyone put in priming sugar before bottling to help with the carbonation? If so, how much?

Thanks!

 

[finsfan]

Cant wait to try this when I get another Better bottle! Is there anyone here who has not carbonating the original recipe? if so, who did it turn out and have you tried it compared to carbed?

 

[Grimster]

Yeah I know but I've already incurred a lot of aggro from the Wife. She's already expressed displeasure with all the beer I've got conditioning and if she spies a full five gallons of the apfelwien her ire will only grow.

Of course, her ire will probably grow when she spies 2.5 gallons of apfelwien so maybe you're on to something.

When she tastes it she's gonna ask when are you making more. My old lady loves the stuff.

 

[jstampler]

I just started another batch. I have a 5.5 gallon batch that I started about 10 days ago which has 3.5 gallons of apple juice and 2 gallons of cranberry juice along with some raisins and a cinnamon stick.

This batch I used 5.5 gallons in a 6 gallon carboy. This one is half apple juice and half apple cider. I used 3 pounds of sugar and surprisingly ended up with an OG of 1.080. If it finishes around .994-.996 like I expect, it's going to be over 11%!

 

[gcdowd]

Cant wait to try this when I get another Better bottle! Is there anyone here who has not carbonating the original recipe? if so, who did it turn out and have you tried it compared to carbed?

I've had it with and without carbonation and I feel like a little fizz is better. Not like champagne, but just enough. Maybe 1.5 vols

 

[SupervisingChildren]

SWMBO loves it still, I prefer it carbonated. I do half and half in beer bottles, and use half the regular amount of priming sugar to carbonate. It's stored in the basement though and it usually isn't too carbonated when consumed as the yeast are usually dormant when I bottle. No pasturising as it doesn't warm up or stay bottled for very long either. Good recipe!

 

[Leadgolem]

This forum has been so helpful! We are planning to bottle the apfelwein in former beer bottles and put a cap on like we would for beer. Would that work or do we need to put it in wine bottles and cork it? Does anyone put in priming sugar before bottling to help with the carbonation? If so, how much?

Thanks!

That will work just fine. In fact, I think it's easier to use crown cap bottles for anything you want to carbonate. Messing with wire hoods is a little irritating. Standard corked bottles won't hold pressure, so you'd just end up with blown corks.

It depends on how much co2 you want. I prefer mine between 2-2.5 volumes. A priming sugar calculator is helpful.

Cant wait to try this when I get another Better bottle! Is there anyone here who has not carbonating the original recipe? if so, who did it turn out and have you tried it compared to carbed?

Hmm, it's very nice either way. Though, I do agree it is slightly better carbed.

 

[twofocused]

A few questions from a new Apfelwein brewer.

-If I go 3 months in Primary does it have to be pasteurized?

-I'm looking to make rocket fuel and age it until next winter. Will doubling the sugar accomplish this?

-The plan is to use EC 1118 because it seems more tolerant to upper abv numbers but, I'm open to suggestions.

Thanks, Jason

 

[Leadgolem]

A few questions from a new Apfelwein brewer.

-If I go 3 months in Primary does it have to be pasteurized?

-I'm looking to make rocket fuel and age it until next winter. Will doubling the sugar accomplish this?

-The plan is to use EC 1118 because it seems more tolerant to upper abv numbers but, I'm open to suggestions.

Thanks, Jason

1. No.
2. That would depend on your definition of rocket fuel. I would say that an ABV of 16.5-17.1% could be termed rocket fuel. Though, IMO, that's more on the strong side for wine is all. For that you would want a gravity of about 1.120. Commercial applejuice has a typical gravity of about 1.050. You want to increase the gravity by about 0.070. So , you would want about 350 gravity points for the 5 gallon batch. That means about 8.3lbs of dextrose, or about 7.6lb of table sugar. 42 and 46 gravity points per lb respectively.
3. For the above setup ec-1118 would be fine. If you want really strong stuff you'd just about have to move to something like distillers yeast. There are a couple other yeast strains around that could handle upwards of 20% abv without to much trouble, but I don't remember what they are at the moment.

Distillers yeast stated alcohol tolerance is 23%. It's practical limit is more like 20. IMO, anytime you are going over about 12% you should be adding both yeast nutrient and yeast energizer. Otherwise you are probably looking at a stalled batch. Once you get over 18% I'd double the recommended amounts of nutrients. That's wine or mead nutrients, not beer.

For a 20.5-21.1% brew you'd want a gravity of 1.150. Or, 500 gravity points in standard juice. Which would be about 10.8lbs of table sugar.

Juice gravity varies by manufacturer, batch, and time of year. The above calculations also don't account for the increase in volume displaced by the sugar. So, reserve some juice and add your sugar in stages. Fully dissolving between additions, and take gravity readings along the way.

Happy hangover!

EDIT: If you end up with something with a gravity higher then 1.000 at FG, then it's stalled out. If that happens, then I'd personally pasteurize. Otherwise, it's possible for it to get unstuck after being bottled and either pop the corks or blow the bottles up.

 

[twofocused]

You answered all my questions, thank you so much.

I love this forum!

 

[aellis]

Hi everyone,

First post (and first attempt at brewing) here. I wanted to try this before I got into anything more complicated, it seemed like an easy way to get started, and very tasty by all accounts. So, let me tell you what i did wrong, and you can tell me how screwed (or not) I am.

1. I used EC1118 yeast
2. I used table sugar instead of dextrose
3. I didn't dissolve the sugar completely in the juice.
4. It looks like some of the juice contaminated the airlock when I moved the Better Bottle from outside to inside.
5. It looks like a lot of yeast is stuck to the top of the bottle.

All that said, it appears to be bubbling away quite happily. So, should I wait and see, or is there any reason to dump it and start over?

Thanks!

 

[twofocused]

No reason to dump it. Just let it run and enjoy.

 

[twofocused]

On second thought I might dump the airlock and fill it with cheapie vodka.

 

[jstampler]

Hi everyone, First post (and first attempt at brewing) here. I wanted to try this before I got into anything more complicated, it seemed like an easy way to get started, and very tasty by all accounts. So, let me tell you what i did wrong, and you can tell me how screwed (or not) I am. 1. I used EC1118 yeast 2. I used table sugar instead of dextrose 3. I didn't dissolve the sugar completely in the juice. 4. It looks like some of the juice contaminated the airlock when I moved the Better Bottle from outside to inside. 5. It looks like a lot of yeast is stuck to the top of the bottle. All that said, it appears to be bubbling away quite happily. So, should I wait and see, or is there any reason to dump it and start over? Thanks!

1. You'll be fine with that yeast.
2. Table sugar works, you might taste it in your final product but it will be fine.
3. As long as you dissolved most of it you'll be fine. That's another thing that won't ruin it but might leave some off flavors.
4. Take the airlock off, rinse it in water, throw it back on with some vodka in it.
5. Judging by the pic, you might want to tilt the carboy a bit when you have the airlock off to try to rinse some of that yeast off of the sides. Or wait until fermentation slows down (10-14 days) and give the whole thing a good swirl.

Don't dump it. It's your first try. Just getting the experience of the whole process is worth it even if it doesn't turn out "perfect" it should still at least be "good".

Next time definitely use Montrachet and corn sugar though. Corn sugar dissolves much easier.

 

[aellis]

Thanks for the replies all, nice to get some reassurance. Just to clarify, I do have vodka in the airlock, and I accidentally dumped some in through the hole when I was filling it up. Guess It'll improve the ABV though. I thought taking the airlock off was a no-no, as it could let some nasties in, but I'll give it a go. Should I rinse with sanitizer, or is plain water ok?

Definitely learning from the experience.

Thanks again.

 

[Leadgolem]

Thanks for the replies all, nice to get some reassurance. Just to clarify, I do have vodka in the airlock, and I accidentally dumped some in through the hole when I was filling it up. Guess It'll improve the ABV though. I thought taking the airlock off was a no-no, as it could let some nasties in, but I'll give it a go. Should I rinse with sanitizer, or is plain water ok?

Definitely learning from the experience.

Thanks again.

It's much less of a deal then most people think. It is possible, but not likely, for you to get something in your batch from a missing airlock. At least in the length of time it's going to take to rinse it and put it back on it isn't likely. Honestly, even if you just took the airlock off and left it off it would probably be fine at this point. The yeast has a huge headstart in your batch, so there aren't that many things that could get in it that would ruin it. Water is fine, sanitizer is fine too.

Personally, I only use spirits in my airlock if I'm having problems with fruit flies. They will sometimes manage to crawl in through an airlock filled with water, but they won't even try with one full of spirits.

 

[Wulvaine]

Thanks to Leadgolem for answering all my questions back at the top of page 1165! Got all my equipment tonight and decided to go ahead and make the higher-ABV batch my first batch. Ended up with a specific gravity of around 1.095, which should put me in the neighborhood of the 12.5%. I used yeast nutrient in hopes of avoiding rhino farts.

Looking forward to getting to try this in a few months, haha.

 

[GNBrews]

The best way to avoid the rhino farts is to keep the fermentation temperature below 68F.

 

[BrewerBear]

The best way to avoid the rhino farts is to keep the fermentation temperature below 68F.

Also depends on the yeast you are using.

 

[Grimster]

Distillers yeast stated alcohol tolerance is 23%. It's practical limit is more like 20. IMO, anytime you are going over about 12% you should be adding both yeast nutrient and yeast energizer. Otherwise you are probably looking at a stalled batch. Once you get over 18% I'd double the recommended amounts of nutrients. That's wine or mead nutrients, not beer.

This sounds like something I'm gonna have to try. I have an unhealthy obsession with making things as powerful as possible. Hmm a 20+% abv apfelwein carbed up like champagne and sweetened before kegging sounds like a good sneak up on you and kick you square in the ass kinda drink.

 

[dave8274]

I used Tree-top just as the OP said, but on the label it did show a something like 31g of Carbs and 28g of sugar, so maybe that's the issue?

I'll try these suggestions. I actually have a drill mounted degassing wand because we just made a wine kit.

Edit: I just went ahead and degassed it. I got quite a geyser, but I think I got most of the CO2 out. I'll go grab some pectic enzyme and yeast when the LHBS is open later, any idea how much enzyme I should use, and should I wait a few days to do this now that I have degassed??

Also, will the champagne yeast change the taste of the final product?

Just an update. 8 days ago, I degassed my batch from 8/4. I added pectic enzyme to 3 batches, that one, and 2 others from 8/6 and 8/10.

I also pitched Champagne yeast into the 8/4 and 8/10 batches.

As of today, the 8/4 batch is still a cloudy mess from the lees I stirred up, so I didn't bother checking the hydrometer yet.

I did check the other 2 batches this morning. The 8/6 batch (no repitch) is sitting at 1.000-1.001. The 8/10 batch (with the champagne yeast) is at 1.000. Neither is clear yet, but the one I repitched looks lighter.

Both hydrometer samples tasted really good, so that's a plus. I'm hoping to bottle by the time they are in primary for no more than 3 months as the recipe says, so hopefully they all clear out in the next 4-5 weeks.

 

[Wulvaine]

Before I shift into "relax, don't worry, etc." mode, I just want to be sure nothing's wrong, haha. I pitched about 24 hours ago, and so far I don't have much activity in my fermenter. I've seen other people say that after 24 hours it should be bubbling noticeably, but I'm assuming they're probably brewing in slightly warmer environments; it's already getting pretty cold in my part of Idaho and the room the fermenter's sitting in is probably around 65 degrees.

After pitching, over the next few hours I could see lots of yeast in suspension and the numbers increased by the hour. Now they're no longer visible and the batch is cloudy. There are some very tiny, barely visible bubbles slowly rising in some of it. I have a bit of yellow foam on the top; I'm hoping that's just from the yeast/nutrient and doesn't represent any kind of infection.

Anybody hear any red flags amidst all that?