Man, I love Apfelwein

CornyKegs 728
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i was thinking about doing it in a smaller 3 gallon carboy. same steps ? how much space to leave at the top ?
 
egiblock said:
i was thinking about doing it in a smaller 3 gallon carboy. same steps ? how much space to leave at the top ?
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In my opinion I fill it to almost the neck of my carboy..if your worried about a good rapid fermentation. .than use a blow off tube..t
 
Some variation also comes from the juice...different juices and yeasts, there are bound to be differences in what the ferment looks like
 
gatsby174 said:
Some variation also comes from the juice...different juices and yeasts, there are bound to be differences in what the ferment looks like
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I followed the original recipe without any changes. From Tree Top brand apple juice, to corn sugar to the yeast. Edwort states no krausen, so that concerned me a bit.
 
Well Folks, This is what I did. I got into making mead because I can't find it anywhere and it simply gels with me. In the process I though I would make some cider as it was near the end of August and I knew that one of the local farms would be pressing soon. We picked up 4 primary tubs and dropped them off at Trax farms in SW PA. They call and said that our order was done within a week. I didn't do anything special to is. It was fresh, smelled wonderfully sweet, except add some yeast D47 I think, a couple of packages each tub. I mixed in 5 pounds of brown sugar in one tub and air locked it and left it alone. September 1. Labor Day in the US, I think. Yesterday, December 24 I racked it. I sampled each one of the four primaries with a 16 ounce sample. MAN. this stuff is extremely dry, almost neutral in the flavor, perhaps a bit on the really strong side. I was rocked. I mean fellin no pain, I did not gravity it at all but in my experience it has to be above 12% which would make it more of a wine than a hard cider. I was looking for something like the Strongbow that I had in Portsmouth GB at the Sailors Club in 1985, this is as strong as it if not stronger but it is not sweet at all. I just quaffed two glasses and I find it difficult to type.... So. Questions are. How close was this to becoming vinegar? What can I do to increase the sweet apple flavor. I don't mind strong as it obtains the desired effect alcoholic beverages. Oh, Merry Christmas.
 
I cracked a bottle from '09. I think it hit its aging limit. Tastes great, I just remember liking it more last year. Also had it while drinking a lot of other stuff so that could be it.
 
Cracked open two one gallon bottles of this aged properly this holiday season.

One gallon corn sugar then other one gallon brown sugar.

Both great.

Thanks Ed. :mug:
 
GonZolaB said:
I followed the original recipe without any changes. From Tree Top brand apple juice, to corn sugar to the yeast. Edwort states no krausen, so that concerned me a bit.
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Even juice from the same company can have variations, especially from year to year. Different source for apples as prices change, weather patterns influence fruit sugar content, etc...I wouldn't worry about it, add a blow--off tube if your still worried. And remember, RDWHAHB!
 
jv3499 said:
Well Folks, This is what I did. I got into making mead because I can't find it anywhere and it simply gels with me. In the process I though I would make some cider as it was near the end of August and I knew that one of the local farms would be pressing soon. We picked up 4 primary tubs and dropped them off at Trax farms in SW PA. They call and said that our order was done within a week. I didn't do anything special to is. It was fresh, smelled wonderfully sweet, except add some yeast D47 I think, a couple of packages each tub. I mixed in 5 pounds of brown sugar in one tub and air locked it and left it alone. September 1. Labor Day in the US, I think. Yesterday, December 24 I racked it. I sampled each one of the four primaries with a 16 ounce sample. MAN. this stuff is extremely dry, almost neutral in the flavor, perhaps a bit on the really strong side. I was rocked. I mean fellin no pain, I did not gravity it at all but in my experience it has to be above 12% which would make it more of a wine than a hard cider. I was looking for something like the Strongbow that I had in Portsmouth GB at the Sailors Club in 1985, this is as strong as it if not stronger but it is not sweet at all. I just quaffed two glasses and I find it difficult to type.... So. Questions are. How close was this to becoming vinegar? What can I do to increase the sweet apple flavor. I don't mind strong as it obtains the desired effect alcoholic beverages. Oh, Merry Christmas.
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Can't say as to how close to becoming vinegar, since I've tried to make vinegar and it won't turn, lol. But, to add sweetness, stabilize with kmeta and sorbate. Give it a few days then add your sweetener. Sweetening brings some of the apple flavor foward again, sweetening with frozen apple juice concentrate brings out even more flavor. Not sure how practical that would be with the volumes I'm guessing at with the term "primary tubs". For mine, I add 2 cans per 6 gallon batch, plus whatever other sweetener I use, to get close to 1.010
 
I just "brewed" some of this up with the wife on Tuesday. It was so simple compared to beer, and the split shake method worked well to aerate and mix in all the Dextrose. We came in at 1.063 for the OG and it has been pumping away strongly (and stinky too, been keeping it in the office with the door closed).

This is going to be one of the first things on my keezer build once I have all of the components to give my wife an alternative to beer and for people who don't care for beer who visit.
 
Just curious, has anyone (besides edwort) entered this into a contest? Is that frowned upon in the competitive beer world, or is it ok to enter a beer that is simply following someone's recipe?

I was looking at a contest entry form and it gave three choices for carbonation levels. Still, petillant, and sparkling were the choices. How would you classify the original recipe carbed using 4 or so ounces of corn sugar?
 
I just found two yeast packets in my fridge. One is BB 12/14 and the other is BB 12/15. I don't remember when I bought them but they have always been in my fridge. Should I use just the BB 12/15 one?
 
h22lude said:
I just found two yeast packets in my fridge. One is BB 12/14 and the other is BB 12/15. I don't remember when I bought them but they have always been in my fridge. Should I use just the BB 12/15 one?
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Both are fine to use. Yeast lasts alot longer in the fridge than the use by date indicates.
 
Just opened a bottle yesterday for me and a friend while we rolled some cigars.

Was so good....ready to start some more on this snowy cold day!!
 
I've got a small (1 gal) batch I started over 3 months ago (October 5) still in the jug I femented in. I'm planning to bottle it sometime in the next week. Will it need new yeast to bottle condition properly? Or will fresh yeast make it carb & condition faster? I started with the full packet of Montrachet in just 1 gallon, fwiw
 
pinkfloyd4ever said:
I've got a small (1 gal) batch I started over 3 months ago (October 5) still in the jug I femented in. I'm planning to bottle it sometime in the next week. Will it need new yeast to bottle condition properly? Or will fresh yeast make it carb & condition faster? I started with the full packet of Montrachet in just 1 gallon, fwiw
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Anyone?
 
I've never added more yeast and I've bottled 6, 8 & 9 months after racking into the secondary.
 
I put my yeast at the beginning and let the whole thing set in the Carboy for 3 months. No secondary racking or anything. It starts to ferment at about 36 to 40 hrs and gets really cloudy for about 2 or 3 weeks before it starts to clear. At about 3 months on the batch you can see I bottled it still had slight yeast activity. At 3 months it is very clear looking. I bottled some straight and conditioned some. At bottling or kegging I racked it into a sterile brew bucket with a spigot and added the 4 or 5 oz. of dextrose to the mix. Stirred it for a few minutes then bottled it. After about 2 weeks it was carbed up and ready to drink.

So, to answer your question. You don't need to add yeast when your going to bottle.
 
sorry i dont feel like looking through all the pages for this answer. Mine is about 2 months in, when I'm ready to bottle i want to try to add some extra flavor to it. Has anyone primed with brown sugar? what is a good amount for 5 gallon batch. Also thinking about throwing some cinnamon in as well.
 
Starting my first batch this weekend with hopefully a second next weekend! Going to try throwing in some cinnamon sticks from Brasil that my friend brought me into the 2nd batch. wooo :mug:
 
jjw5015 said:
Has anyone primed with brown sugar? what is a good amount for 5 gallon batch. Also thinking about throwing some cinnamon in as well.
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Yes. I have. 3/4 cup brown sugar. 1 cup for really fizzy if it's very dry. I boil 1 cup water and add the sugar till it dissolves. Then thoroughly mix it in the 5 gal. batch before bottling.
 
Since I have a ton of equipment for beer but know very little about wine, I'm wondering if there are any advanced techniques that would be helpful for making this.

For example:
Would oxygenating with pure O2 help?
Pitch two packets of yeast or make a starter?
Temperature control at a certain temperature?
Yeast Nutrient?

I could do any of these pretty easily, just wondering if there are any recommendations to improve the apfelwein beyond the standard (and awesome) recipe.
 
No major improvements are needed on this.

Temperature control, yeast nutrients and oxygen are fine. No need to do anything to the yeast.

Changing it up by adding some spice or other juices are the easiest methods to change it up along with adding some frozen concentrate.

After 3 months fermentation, the apple flavor comes back, at 6 months its good to go. You can let it sit for a year with no issues.

It takes me forever to go through this stuff and I have a bunch of 2 year old bottles now, along with some one year old cherry apfelwein on draft. The cinnamon was a good edition to it. Now I am making some cider using WB-05 wheat beer yeast to see how that turns out.
 
Any reason not to rack after it has hit 0.99? After 17 days I just added 1/2 cup of dextrose, 1/2 tsp k sorb and racked to clean 1g carboy for long term aging.

Did I screw up?
 
Amazed at how easy this was to put together! Put it in the carboy yesterday afternoon and woke up to it happily bubbling away. Cheers!
 
I've used many yeasts for this, starting with Montrachet and eventually deciding that the Lalvin RC-212 was the best tasting product, followed closely by the EC-1118. I happened to notice a new yeast at the LHBS, "Mangrove Jack's M02 Cider Yeast":

http://mangrovejacks.com/products/craft-series-cider-yeast

Not only was this batch the best tasting Apfelwein I have made, it cleared extremely quickly (though I still left it in the carboy for 8 weeks before bottling).

Anyone else try this yeast? Was more expensive than I am used to paying for a packet of dry yeast ($6.50) but I was pleased with the results.

EDIT: HAH! Much cheaper online than at my LHBS!
 
I couldnt agree more with the love of apple wine! I love it!

I like using grape juice with apple juice. I think the two create a synergy which is better than either a grape juice wine or an apple juice wine alone.

Here is a 22.5L (Carboy) Versatile Recipe which I always stick to when making wine, which I thought fit into this I Love Apple Wine Thread!:

Note - Grape Juice - Use red, white or both!

5L Grape, 10L Apple & 3Kg Sugar OR

7.5L Grape, 7.5L Apple & 2.8Kg Sugar OR

10L Grape, 5L Apple & 2.5Kg Sugar

For tropical Notes:

Add 1L of Pineapple Juice OR replace 3L of the apple / grape juice with 3L Rubicon Passion Fruit / Lychee Juice.

For Further Complexity - Add late:

10 Bananas / 1Kg Gooseberries / Currants / Raspberries / Forest Fruits / Cherries / Blueberries / 8 X 410g Tins Fruit: Strawberries / Peaches / Apricots / Pears.

Honey - Replace 1Kg sugar with 1.25Kg clear honey for honey flavour
 
jamesbsmith said:
I couldnt agree more with the love of apple wine! I love it!

I like using grape juice with apple juice. I think the two create a synergy which is better than either a grape juice wine or an apple juice wine alone.

Here is a 5 Gallon Versatile Recipe which I always stick to when making wine, which I thought fit into this I Love Apple Wine Thread!:

Note - Grape Juice - Use red, white or both!

5L Grape, 10L Apple & 3Kg Sugar OR

7.5L Grape, 7.5L Apple & 2.8Kg Sugar OR

10L Grape, 5L Apple & 2.5Kg Sugar

For tropical Notes:

Add 1L of Pineapple Juice OR replace 3L of the apple / grape juice with 3L Rubicon Passion Fruit / Lychee Juice.

For Further Complexity - Add late:

10 Bananas / 1Kg Gooseberries / Currants / Raspberries / Forest Fruits / Cherries / Blueberries / 8 X 410g Tins Fruit: Strawberries / Peaches / Apricots / Pears.

Honey - Replace 1Kg sugar with 1.25Kg clear honey for honey flavour
Click to expand...

Jamesb: This really sounds good, I'm giving it a try. You need to add it to the recipes section.
 
Revvy said:
It'll have this symbol,

pet_recycling_symbol.png


Here's some of the other codes....and some info.

recycleCodes.jpg


1. PET or PETE – Light gauge containers such as store bought pop bottles should be a one time use only. Heavier gauge containers show no evidence of leaching chemicals.

2. HDPE – not known to leach unwanted chemicals.

3. PVC or V – Bad – Strong evidence to show the leaching of DEHA, a known human carcinogen.

4. LDPE – not known to leach unwanted chemicals although not as widely recycled as #1 or #2.

5. PP – not known to leach unwanted chemicals although not as widely recycled as #1 or #2.

6. PS - suspected to possibly leach harmful carcinogens

7. Assorted but usually polycarbonate – Bad – may contain leaching BPA.

Basically though 1 is the best 2 is ok....the other ones besides leaching problems are also the most succesible to oxygen permeability.
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So, I just realized that the Motts 1 gallon bottles are PETE 1. Does this mean I can use them as a primary fermenter??? What about as a secondary for 3-4 weeks? Would primary be under two weeks for a bottle like this?
 
The PET article is very interesting. I have been worried about the oxygen permeability of PET too.

What I do is ferment in 1 (UK) Gallon glass demijohns, until dry, and then syphon into 5L PET water bottles. I then leave them in these to age, with the plan on leaving my elderberry wines in them for at least a year. I do this so that I can free up my glass demijohns which I just find nicer for fermenting in.

I have read that the oxygen permeability of PET means that those mini bottles of wine you get on planes has a shelf life of only 3 months! I think that the article has a good point in that the thicker PET bottles (such as those I am maturing my wines in) are less permeable. Also, the smaller a vessel, the greater the surface contact the wine has with the sides of the bottle. In a 5 or 23L PET container, the surface contact is MUCH less than these small 1 glass bottles you get on planes.

Glass bottles with corks are recognised as the best things for storing wine in, but cork itself is oxygen permeable. Some commercial wine producers actually allow a monitored amount of oxygen ingress as they believe this helps the maturation process!

I therefore feel OK in leaving my wines in 5L PET bottles for up to a year and maybe a little longer, but time will tell! Maybe a little SO2 / campden should be added every 3 or 6 months?!
 
I dont think white oak is oxygen permeable. Red is, but barrels arent made from red. Still, alcohol does manage to permeate the oak and the volume does decrease slightly over time. The contents are monitored and therefore opened so small amounts of oxygen does get in that way. Wine does require a certain amount of oxygen for it to mature, but not too much otherwise the rate of change will produce unfavourable flavours or oxidise.

As far as I can tell, there hasnt been the research as to how much oxygen the PET containers we use will let in. Surely if PET is used for water and other drinks, it cant be too bad for wine? I just dont know for sure, but Im willing to take the risk in storing my elderberry wines in 5L PET for a year. Im sure it will be safe.
 
... I am yet to hear someone say that fermenting or storing their wine in PET spoilt the wine, although people do usually keep quiet about their not so successful wines!

Ill certainly keep everyone posted if my gets spoilt!

I have developed a mentality in my wine making where if I am not happy with my wine I bin it. I make a lot of wine, and life is too short to get frustrated with every sip you take of a poor brew. The key is to learn the lessons and put them into practice. Saying this, I have found I bin less and less wine these days. This mentality I think actually gets you making decent wine sooner as you learn more quickly!
 
Just started a 1 gallon batch of Apfelwein at around 8% and a 1 gallon batch of Apple Wine at 12%. Used Motts apple juice, table sugar, and EC 1118 yeast.

Going to leave the apfelwein in primary for a month and rack to another 1 gallon jug and possible back sweeten to my liking before I bottle about a month later.

Apple wine I will rack after 6 days into secondary then back sweeten and bottle.

Hope it works out!! First time ever making wine.
 
jamesbsmith said:
I couldnt agree more with the love of apple wine! I love it!

I like using grape juice with apple juice. I think the two create a synergy which is better than either a grape juice wine or an apple juice wine alone.

Here is a 22.5L (Carboy) Versatile Recipe which I always stick to when making wine, which I thought fit into this I Love Apple Wine Thread!:

Note - Grape Juice - Use red, white or both!

5L Grape, 10L Apple & 3Kg Sugar OR

7.5L Grape, 7.5L Apple & 2.8Kg Sugar OR

10L Grape, 5L Apple & 2.5Kg Sugar

For tropical Notes:

Add 1L of Pineapple Juice OR replace 3L of the apple / grape juice with 3L Rubicon Passion Fruit / Lychee Juice.

For Further Complexity - Add late:

10 Bananas / 1Kg Gooseberries / Currants / Raspberries / Forest Fruits / Cherries / Blueberries / 8 X 410g Tins Fruit: Strawberries / Peaches / Apricots / Pears.

Honey - Replace 1Kg sugar with 1.25Kg clear honey for honey flavour
Click to expand...


How "late" do you add the tins of fruit? I'm thinking a week, let primary fermentation slow down then add fruit?

I started with 4.5gal of Apple Juice + 1gal of White Grape and Mangrove Jack's M02. I'm going to add 4 x 15oz cans of peaches (no sugar added) and 2 x 15oz cans of apricots (no sugar added).

my wife and her friends like sweet wines, i considered saving the juice and using it to back sweeten before I bottle it instead of adding it to ferment.

Any thoughts? or better ideas about how to do that?
 
Yes! Wait until it slows down, mash it up with a sterile masher and add it. Leave it in there for a couple of days and strain it back out.

Yes, back sweeten with juice or sugar, but you will need more juice (about ten times the volume) of juice to sweeten as you would sugar, which will dilute the wine down. Add 1g potassium sorbate and a crushed campden tablet / gallon of wine when back sweetening to stop it re-fermenting, or add to each bottle prior to drinking.
 

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