First Time Brewers - Trying EdWort's Apfelwein!

Hello Everyone,
A friend and I saw EdWort's Apwelwien on the internet and thought that we would try it out. We are looking to start out batch this Saturday. There is a local homebrew store around here (Cambridge, Called the HomeBrew Emporium), that we plan to drive out to. They stock the BetterBottles and the caps and the yeast etc.

For our first batch at least, we are going to adhere to EdWort's recipe and not try any of the countless variants it seems you guys have been doing.

So our question is, do you guys have any tips for first timers?

Our more specific questions are...
1. What is exactly meant by sanitize the equipment? Does this simply mean wash them or do we need to use some sort of special chemical? Reading on here I saw that bleach was listed in chemicals that could be used, so we are planning on just doing that unless something comes highly recommended.
2. Storage - after the initial 4 weeks of fermentation, can we then just leave it in the better bottle and drink as we please or should we get some sort of storage device? We have done some research about bottling and kegging, but is there a cheap way to store that would work for a first batch?
3. Carbonation - we are highly interested in carbonating the stuff, but as first time home brewers, we have no idea how. Also, we are looking to keep this on the cost low side, so a cheaper carbonation option would be best.

Anyways, thanks in advance for any help you guys may give. We are very exited to start what we hope will become a lifelong hobby :rockin:

1) Sanitize means to clean the equipment to the eye (get dust off) and use a food safe sanitizer like this one http://www.austinhomebrew.com/product_info.php?products_id=513 to get all of the nasty little germs off.
2) Best advice would be to buy a bottling bucket like this one http://www.austinhomebrew.com/product_info.php?products_id=248 and bottle your Apfelwein in 12 oz beer bottles like these http://www.austinhomebrew.com/product_info.php?products_id=992 with a capper like this http://www.austinhomebrew.com/product_info.php?products_id=988.
3) Carbonating is as easy as adding a bit of corn sugar like this http://www.austinhomebrew.com/product_info.php?products_id=423 which has been dissolved in some boiling water into your bottling bucket at bottling time.

The guys at the homebrewing shop should know about all of this. If you're going to buy all of the equipment that I just posted, and you're really thinking homebrewing is something that you want to do, I'd reccommend buying a starter kit like this http://www.austinhomebrew.com/product_info.php?cPath=178_33_52&products_id=11357. And buying this book http://www.austinhomebrew.com/product_info.php?products_id=1505.


My biggest advice is to buy that book first. It is a book I'd say around 75% of us homebrewers use/used as our bible at some point in our home brewing career. It has all of the info you just asked about and much much more. Also, I used Austinhomebrew.com as a site to show you pics, you don't have to get the stuff from there. With that said, that's where I buy all of my equipment/ingredients.

If you have any quesitons, just let me know.

You'd make a great grade school teacher, Half Pint.

lol.

Thanks for all the usefull information. We will definately be sure to get the sanitizer and we didn't know carbonating was that simple. However we are considering bottling in wine bottles because we rip through wine here and have a ton laying around. We were wondering if this was a good idea, could we still carbonate, and what the/going rate for a beginner corker was?

Bubbalu said:

Thanks for all the usefull information. We will definately be sure to get the sanitizer and we didn't know carbonating was that simple. However we are considering bottling in wine bottles because we rip through wine here and have a ton laying around. We were wondering if this was a good idea, could we still carbonate, and what the/going rate for a beginner corker was?

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Let me just go ahead and say NO to carbonating in wine bottles. The thing is, wine bottles are not designed to be pressurized and can/will explode if you try to carbonate a beverage in them. Here is about the cheapest corker you can buy http://www.austinhomebrew.com/product_info.php?products_id=1336 and they go up from there in price, quality, and ease of operation. Now, you can bottle your apfelwein still, I do sometimes, and currently have 2 cases of still apfelwein aging from last January that tastes great. Read through the Apfelwein thread to find out how much priming sugar people are using for their apfelwein. If you have any more questions let me know.

J

I am hoping I wont need to ask any more questions, but god knows I will. Just 2 for now...the first regards yeast nutrient. Edworts recipie does not call for it but it seems alot of people use it in their wines. So my question is should we use it and what kind? My second one is a question I asked in my origional post but I am still unclear about. Can we just leave the stuff in the carboy and drink as we please or do we need to properly bottle it? Once again thanks for all the help....I admit I am asking you guys to hold my hand through this first run but it is much appreciated.

First off, let me say you are WAAAAAAY overthinking this. As a first time brewer, I know it is hard, but you need to relax!

Edworts apfelwein is about the easiest recipe you can make in both the realms of beer and wine.

Mix juice sugar and yeast, wait a few months. Many wines call for numberous time-sensative chemical additions and Apfelwein has none of these.

If you want to carbonate it, you MUST must MUST bottle or keg. Carbonating in carboys or wine bottles is asking for a projectile cork/stopper at best, and a pipe bomb at worst.

Get a 5 gallon glass or plastic carboy, follow his recipe and you will be fine. The nice thing about the apfelwein is it takes a long time to reach its prime so it will give you plenty of time to research, and collect bottles. You can buy bottles, glass or plastic from homebrew stores, or you can collect corona bottles, as well as brown or green bottles.

To add to halfpint's post

Get one of these: http://www.austinhomebrew.com/produ...10773&osCsid=f12ac2efed97ae84100c7050328df5ec

With one of these:http://www.austinhomebrew.com/produ...d=920&osCsid=f12ac2efed97ae84100c7050328df5ec

And sanatize with starsan or follow this: https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f11/bleach-no-rinse-sanitizer-pinch-195477/

If you want to carbonate it, get a packet of this: http://www.austinhomebrew.com/produ...d=423&osCsid=f12ac2efed97ae84100c7050328df5ec

Get this with some caps: http://www.austinhomebrew.com/produ...d=987&osCsid=f12ac2efed97ae84100c7050328df5ec

And use this to fill the bottles: get a few feet of this: http://www.austinhomebrew.com/produ...d=957&osCsid=f12ac2efed97ae84100c7050328df5ec

and one of these to help fill: http://www.austinhomebrew.com/produ...d=979&osCsid=f12ac2efed97ae84100c7050328df5ec

And every beer/wine maker needs one of these: http://www.austinhomebrew.com/produ...d=801&osCsid=f12ac2efed97ae84100c7050328df5ec

And this will make your life easier: http://www.austinhomebrew.com/produ...d=248&osCsid=f12ac2efed97ae84100c7050328df5ec

Bubbalu said:

do we need to properly bottle it?

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Yes, you need to bottle it. Although you could drink it out of the primary fermenter, you risk contaminating the entire batch and making it undrinkable. Bottle it.

Ahhhhhhhhh whewwwwwwwww. Ok deep breath taken. Not going to worry about the storage or carbination at all until we make the damn stuff first. I would just like to know about the yeast nutrient though (sorry it is bugging me and sometimes I swear I have ocd)sorry...

Bubbalu said:

Ahhhhhhhhh whewwwwwwwww. Ok deep breath taken. Not going to worry about the storage or carbination at all until we make the damn stuff first. I would just like to know about the yeast nutrient though (sorry it is bugging me and sometimes I swear I have ocd)sorry...

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No need for it, Montrochet is a monster, but for piece of mind you CAN use it!

Germelli1 said:

No need for it, Montrochet is a monster, but for piece of mind you CAN use it!

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Ok thank you verry much we will let y'all know how it turns out.