First batch of apfelwein, a bit odd during racking

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Loup

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I was just bottling my first batch of apfelwein this last sunday, and racking it from my carboy to my bottling bucket was a bit weird. It was actually off-gassing so hard that I couldn't sustain my siphon. The siphon would start fine, but the apfelwein would start giving off a lot of a lot of CO2, and the apfelwein/CO2 foam would eventually start backing up into my hose and stop the siphon. It didn't smell at all sulfury, and I actually never got the rhino fart smell during fermentation. The only thing I can think of right now is that I did ferment it kind of cold. It probably started out in the mid to high 60s, but toward the end it probably dropped down to the high 50s. I tasted the apfelwein and it did taste really quite good, but not quite what I was expecting (it tasted a lot like a hard cider.)
 
My first batch (bottled about a month ago) did the exact same thing. I first noticed it when I picked up the carboy and set it on the counter. I think that was enough to agitate it and once it started releasing CO2, it seemed it would never stop. I've never had that happen with beer before. Anyhow, I just waited until it died down and bumped the side of the carboy a few more times and then the siphon worked fine.

It also made getting an accurate gravity reading very difficult. All that crazy bubbling really made the hydrometer float. Eventually I did manage to get a reading of 0.997 though.

I've opened my first bottle and man, it's good. I ended up bottling in 12 oz. brown bottles with priming sugar. It bottle conditioned for about 3 weeks and then refrigerated for 2 days. I've read it gets even better after about 4 months. I hope I have the will power to save some that long.
 
Loup, You might have bottled a bit early. If one of my batches acted like that, I would open a bottle and see if it showed signs of becoming a bottle-bomb. It's common to see some off-gassing, but not enough to break siphon. Good luck. Oh BTW. many people do consider it to be a hard cider.
 
I was actually a bit lazy with this batch, it was in primary for about 2.5 or 3 months, easily over a month since it cleared. I did open a bottle earlier this evening and there wasn't more than a slight hiss.
 
wait why are you racking it?? I just let mine sit and then bottle. the directions say no racking!!!
 
The directions say it is not necessary to rack to seconday, I am racking to my bottling bucket, which seems fairly necessary as I don't much want to try bottling from my glass carboy.
 
keelanfish said:
My first batch (bottled about a month ago) did the exact same thing. I first noticed it when I picked up the carboy and set it on the counter. I think that was enough to agitate it and once it started releasing CO2, it seemed it would never stop. I've never had that happen with beer before. Anyhow, I just waited until it died down and bumped the side of the carboy a few more times and then the siphon worked fine.

It also made getting an accurate gravity reading very difficult. All that crazy bubbling really made the hydrometer float. Eventually I did manage to get a reading of 0.997 though.

I've opened my first bottle and man, it's good. I ended up bottling in 12 oz. brown bottles with priming sugar. It bottle conditioned for about 3 weeks and then refrigerated for 2 days. I've read it gets even better after about 4 months. I hope I have the will power to save some that long.
Click to expand...


How much priming sugar did you use for bottling? Would it be the same amount you use for a 5 gallon batch of beer?
 

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