Man, I love Apfelwein - Page 55

**EdWort** · 01-11-2007, 02:49 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Schlenkerla

Ed - Thanks for the recipe.By the way my 5 gal carboy is 1" from the brim. I did not get it all in my carboy. I had an extra 6 oz of cider leftover.

I use Better Bottles and I usually have about 4 oz. left over simply from the foam from shaking up the two gallons with the corn sugar, so that's OK.

With Montrachet yeast, it will ferment out lower than 1.000, so expect a dry cider. The main thing is to keep an open mind and have two to three glasses before passing judgment. Most folks who've tried it that way can see the light and come summer, they'll have a very refreshing cold drink when it is hot out.

Just remember the kick.

Gangsta RIB · 01-11-2007, 03:54 AM

OMG this thread is insane. Anyway, I already killed my 5 gallons, made with ale yeast and it was delicious. However, a friend of mine, gonzoflick, brought over some using edworts original recipe, and I must say, dry is the way to go. It seems to have a much cleaner taste. And this is coming from someone who hates dry wine....

Stonedog · 01-11-2007, 12:23 PM

Update! My batch of Ed's Apfelwein is chugging along nicely! 5 burps per minute out of the airlock! Air temp is 65 this morning....will warm up to about 67 when the sun gets up full. Apfelwein is nice and cloudy too....which I assume means that the yeast is doing its business!

Now the waiting!!!!

JohnnyK68 · 01-11-2007, 04:54 PM

Yep Mine also is really active @ 70* using Ale yeast. Looking forward to this. Still never saw any thing about anyone having sucsess bottle carbing this like a beer. Is it possible?

Stonedog · 01-11-2007, 10:36 PM

JohnnyK68...I plan on giving it a try! I bottle carb...its all I have ever known to do...I add 1/2tsp of priming sugar to each 12oz bottle....so far....no explosions....

I just make sure that I put ONLY 12oz per bottle and ONLY 1/2 tsp per bottle....each bottle has a line marked on the side...so I know how much to put in each bottle exactly.....

I just let it sit in the bottles, in a room, at room temp for another week...then chill it in the fridge...worked great for the first batch of cider!

werb · 01-11-2007, 10:57 PM

I just wanted to chime in as a fan of this thread (and long involved, useful threads in general). One of my other hobbies is building speakers and there is a famous thread on open baffle speakers that went on for a year and a half (and is still going I think). And yes, it inspired me to build a pair of open baffle speakers.

Anyway, I took the plunge on December 30 using the EdWort recipe. From all appearances, things are coming along swimmingly. Has anyone tried any other of Costco's juice offerings with this recipe? I know they have a passion fruit blend and polmagranite, athought it is expensive.

Cheers to you all

MikeRLynch · 01-12-2007, 12:19 AM

I've pretty much done this exact recipe with pomegranate and a pom/blueberry blend juice. It comes out nice, but needs to age a lot longer than the apple. The pom gets a bit tart straight out of the carboy, but samples from the bottles i've put down show it's smoothing out nicely. If you can afford the juice, and have patience, I would definitely suggest trying it.

**Schlenkerla** · 01-12-2007, 01:12 AM

I came home from work today only to find my "S" bubbler filled with cider.

I was concerned about fermenting too low yesterday and sent off an email to Lesaffery Yeast Corp (Montrachet yeast mfg'r.)

Here is their reply; (I was at 57'f, now at 59'F)

Montrachet is a robust yeast and works best between 59-86 F. You are a few
degrees low, but this will just slow the fermentation down a bit. In my
home fruit wine making, I usually try to stay between 65-75F. Some fruit
based wine makers actually prefer lower fermentation temperatures because
it helps retain volatile fruit flavors and aromas. Most of our wine yeasts
will perform at the temperatures in your basement, just more slowly. The
exception is our Cote des Blancs strain. This strain is recommended for
fruit based wines and apple ciders because of its own contribution to the
fruit aromas of the wine. This strain is temperature sensitive and will
not ferment below about 55 F.

I replied today asking for a recommendation on carbonating naturally. I'll share tomorrow.

Ed - You created a monster!!!

**EdWort** · 01-12-2007, 01:14 AM

Cool. I usually ferment mine between 68 and 73 according to my digital thermometer.

**Biermann** · 01-12-2007, 02:58 AM

I know I've said this before. . . but mine still looks like watered down pus.

I'm afraid to try it.

Ok, I'm going to stop whining about it and I'm going to go do it right now.

I'll post results (if I'm still alive afterwards)