Apfelwein Concerns - Advice Needed

Hey guys,

I started my first batch of apfelwein on the 10th, and it is also the first thing I have ever tried as far as home brewing. I am using a 6 gallon Better Bottle with a rubber stopper made for it, with a 3 piece airlock.

The "sanitizer" I used was One Step (http://www.love2brew.com/One-Step-8-oz-p/san001.htm). I have since read that this was maybe not the best choice.

I took a large bowl, and added water and measured out some One Step. I put in all the airlock components and my stopper and set aside to soak. I took my better bottle, and put in a bit of dish liquid (was full of dust, styrafoam, etc) and shook it up nice and good. I rinsed and shook again several times and also cleaned the outside by hand. I made sure all the soap was out and rinsed well. I then put roughly 2 gallons of water into the bottle, measured out my One Step, and shook. I let it sit for a few minutes, then shook again. Let sit another minute or so then dumped it and shook as much as I could out.

I then followed Ed Worts Apfelwein directions exactly. Montrachet yeast, two pounds of dextrose, etc. I then moved it to my closet and let it be. The next morning I checked on it, and it was bubbling like crazy, and I could see the yeast at different levels. Skip ahead to this evening, and it is still bubbling out of the airlock about every 2-3 seconds and it is definitely cloudy.

Now here is where my concern is. The first couple of days my entire apartment had a unique odor, but now it has died down to almost nothing (or I am used to it). Smelling the airlock, it smells wine-ish to me and no vinegar, but when my girlfriend smells it (she hasn't been smelling it all day every day), she says it smells like an apple vinegar almost. This has me worried, since I know vinegar is a very bad sign. How should this smell? is a slight vinegar smell normal or is the batch potentially ruined? How early can I pull a sample out?

I can still see bubbles rising to the top of the juice if that matters.

Thanks for the information! Just trying to figure out if I should just go ahead and restart, since I am only a few days in. I am worried about waiting a month and finding nothing buy vinegar.

Here are a few pictures of the last few days:

When the sugar ferments out, and especially with commercial juices with added vitamin c, you're left with a lot of sourness that was previousky hidden by sugar sweetness. Combine that with fresh alcohol smell, and I could see many of the uninitiated thinking vinegar.

Thats not to say that I know for sure thats what happened, but thats my suspicion.

Yeah, one-step is not a great sanitizer. Its a good cleanser, but I would always rinse it with Star-San (others prefer iodophor.)

The bigger concern is the dish soap... that should never touch brewing equipment in my book. Even washing the glassware, if you have enough of it, is better done with a cleanser which washes clean.

Looks and sounds fine to me. You can get some smells that you've never experienced before from this hobby.

Stick with it!

Thanks for your replies! I am going to wait it out and see what happens; I am a lot less concerned about it now.