What if I use apple juice for my wort?

Will it work? and if so, any reccomendations for a kit that goes with it? I am thinking something very light, summertime brew.
Oh, and its my second batch, so kinda easy on the recipes...
Thanks, and have fun with the answers!!


Norm

Well then you'd be making hard cider.

Apple juice and yeast makes cider.

If you were thinking about using apple juice instead of water in a summer ale, I can only say that mixing cider & ale tastes really bad. Buy some hard cider & try it yourself before you commit to a batch.

Since apple juice by itself will give you 4-5% ABV, making a 'light' summer ale based on juice isn't possible.

Make a batch of cider & a summer ale. You'll have twice as much to drink & they'll taste better.

ok, just learning. The reason for asking was I had a green apple beer from some microbrewery that I got at World Market and it was very good, so light it was almost clear, kinda gingerale color, and tart like a green apple
may look at the brand next time I'm in there...
ok on the summer ales, any reccomendations?

If you decide to try the cider route with the store bought apple juice make sure there are no preservatives, it willl kill the yeast.
100% pure apple juice.

ok on the summer ales, any reccomendations?

Click to expand...

Wheat beers are always good for those hot summer days.

Hmmm...fermented apple juice....have I heard of that before?

Oh, wait, it's only the single most popular beverage on this site!

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=14860
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=20383

Use hefe (WLP300, etc) yeast with straight apple juice (pasturized, no preservatives) --- comes out great!

LouT said:

Use hefe (WLP300, etc) yeast with straight apple juice (pasturized, no preservatives) --- comes out great!

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What was you're OG on that? Eds requires addition of sugar in his recipe. Does the wlp330 ferment dry?

mike

Oh,
I just realized that there was a misunderstanding about my question, I was asking about using apple juice in addition to water and malt extract and hops. to just add a flavor, not as the whole thing. Now, however, I am going to have to do a batch of hard cider, Geez I hope I do not get as addicted to drinking the stuff as I am getting to Making the stuff!

MLynchLtd said:

What was you're OG on that? Eds requires addition of sugar in his recipe. Does the wlp330 ferment dry?

mike

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My OG was about 1.050. It finished dry eventually, but since I kegged and carbed it we started drinking it when it was still around 1.012. I think it ended around 1.008 eventually. SWMBO preferred it drier. I think it carried a nice apple flavor and even though it ended at 1.008 it seemed to have some residual sweetness, not near as much as Magners or Woodchuck, though.

Movinfr8 said:

Oh,
I just realized that there was a misunderstanding about my question, I was asking about using apple juice in addition to water and malt extract and hops. to just add a flavor, not as the whole thing. Now, however, I am going to have to do a batch of hard cider, Geez I hope I do not get as addicted to drinking the stuff as I am getting to Making the stuff!

Click to expand...

Please try it and tell us how it turns out. Maybe experiment. Boil a quart of apple cider for 20 minutes. Make it a really vigorous boil. Then chill it and see how it tastes. If it's adequate, then go from there...

Keep the hops very low. Aim for something like a cross between a lambic and an apple wine. Maybe use some rice solids to keep the malt from dominating the apple flavor. Low AA hops. Keep the IBU's around 10-12 or so.

I agree you should try it.. if you do you should send some out to us to try.. I would love to try it.. sound interesting.. don't know if I could do a whole 5 gal batch tho..
I highly recommend that you DO NOT heat the apple juice... heated juice takes FOREVER to clear if it ever does.. I have a cider I made in November that I heated and it still is hazy.. Do a partal Boil and add the chilled juice to the fermenter later would be my suggestion.. also are you thinking of using juice or cider?? I would go with juice.. the cider might be too strong and try to take over the beer taste.

SpamDog

LouT said:

Use hefe (WLP300, etc) yeast with straight apple juice (pasturized, no preservatives) --- comes out great!

Click to expand...

man i love that avatar!!!!

and yes i have a buzz, but that's not why i love it!

madrean said:

man i love that avatar!!!!

and yes i have a buzz, but that's not why i love it!

Click to expand...

You want grillz? Or are you into guys with braces, remembering the "wonder" years!
I guess we could start a thread about grilles/avatars...

All I can say is that it is good "oorphy" didn't see this! I was done with a batch, so I pitched 4 lbs of brown sugar and 3 gallons of water onto my yeast cake(which contained hops, dark dme etc from the previous stout) and I ended up with some sort of rum like beer. It was delicious(and cost me an additional $3.79 to make) but oorphy threw a fit! "IT's NOT BEER" he screamed through the replies! Good luck with that, it will probably be drinkable, and may just be the best thing you ever brewed! Good Luck!

cheezydemon said:

All I can say is that it is good "oorphy" didn't see this! I was done with a batch, so I pitched 4 lbs of brown sugar and 3 gallons of water onto my yeast cake(which contained hops, dark dme etc from the previous stout) and I ended up with some sort of rum like beer. It was delicious(and cost me an additional $3.79 to make) but oorphy threw a fit! "IT's NOT BEER" he screamed through the replies! Good luck with that, it will probably be drinkable, and may just be the best thing you ever brewed! Good Luck!

Click to expand...

Now I find another thing I have to try!! first with the Apfelwein now this.
Is there an area to keep up with the wild flavorings, one-off attempts and such as that. As I said I am a TOTAL noob to brewing, and now I wanna try all kinds of craziness!! I even thought about coffee in a beer, And was noodling it at work last night, trying to decide what beer and figured an Irish Stout, since the charachteristics are already sort of chocolatey-coffee like. anybody try that?
Norm

Movinfr8 said:

Now I find another thing I have to try!! first with the Apfelwein now this.
Is there an area to keep up with the wild flavorings, one-off attempts and such as that. As I said I am a TOTAL noob to brewing, and now I wanna try all kinds of craziness!! I even thought about coffee in a beer, And was noodling it at work last night, trying to decide what beer and figured an Irish Stout, since the charachteristics are already sort of chocolatey-coffee like. anybody try that?
Norm

Click to expand...

I've got a cafe mocha stout that will be done conditioning in another week or so. I'll let you know how it turns out. But plenty of other people have done coffee beers. Search the boards and you'll find plenty of ideas/suggestions. (I added 32 ounces of espresso to the secondary for mine).

Yeah, I swear less than 5 minutes after posting my last, I saw a post about making a car bomb flavored beer, and the poster was making a Irish Stout with coffee!!
Guess I'll have to work on the watermelon beer (yes that's a joke)

Movinfr8 said:

Now I find another thing I have to try!! first with the Apfelwein now this.
Is there an area to keep up with the wild flavorings, one-off attempts and such as that. As I said I am a TOTAL noob to brewing, and now I wanna try all kinds of craziness!! I even thought about coffee in a beer, And was noodling it at work last night, trying to decide what beer and figured an Irish Stout, since the charachteristics are already sort of chocolatey-coffee like. anybody try that?
Norm

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Yep. Done all the time. Coffee really enhances some of the burnt, roasted, and (of course), coffee flavors and aromas.

Movinfr8 said:

Yeah, I swear less than 5 minutes after posting my last, I saw a post about making a car bomb flavored beer, and the poster was making a Irish Stout with coffee!!
Guess I'll have to work on the watermelon beer (yes that's a joke)

Click to expand...

A brewpub in Boston (I believe it was the next to Fenway Park) had a watermelon ale on tap when we visited a few years ago. It was the beer my wife liked best.
If you want some really wild recipes for fermented wines look at some of the recipes on this site http://winemaking.jackkeller.net/request.asp
It seems some people will ferment anything.
Coffee and Chocolate are quite common in Porters and Stouts even in commercial beers. I have not cared for them myself but some people really like them. I prefer my stouts with malt and hops only.

Craig

how did it turn out?
I just started brewing and my first batch is still in the carboy only 3 days old. I added 100% apple juice, along with water, to my wort. I'm hoping the yeasts eat the apple juice sugar and leave the apple flavor... one way to find out, though the suspense is killing me. I sit by my carboy for days and days... just staring at the bubbles... waiting... waiting...

Wait... if I post this reply you won't actually get an email about it most likely will you?