DaveVanO
Well-Known Member
i realize that the main post says racking to a secondary is not necessary...but if you have lees at the bottom of your apfelwein. Should you rack it to a secondary after the 4 weeks. THEN bottle and age?
i realize that the main post says racking to a secondary is not necessary...but if you have lees at the bottom of your apfelwein. Should you rack it to a secondary after the 4 weeks. THEN bottle and age?
I just made a batch I plan to leave in the primary for four months, then bottle age at least two more months. From what I've read, this is fine especially if you are using a carboy filled up to the neck as buckets have more surface area at the surface to risk oxidation once the co2 isn't pumping out anymore after fermentation slows down. Feel free to correct me if this isn't true.
Krios said:So I brewed a 1 gallon batch of this but then I decided to go farther.
Now I'm only up to page 192 so I don't know if this has been done before, but...
I bought too many cans of apple juice concentrate and seeing that they were meant to be diluted into 1.13L of apple juice, I decided to try brewing twice the apfelwein at once. Three such cans means almost a gallon of apple juice, therefore if you dump 15 cans in a 5 gallon batch (3 in a 1 gallon batch) and fill the rest with apple juice, you get double apple juice which turns into double apfelwein.
So I brewed a 1 gallon batch of that.
But THEN, I still had 1 gallon glass jugs lying around so I also brewed this:
TrippelApfelwein
-A 1 gallon jug
-6 (SIX) x 283 mL cans of apple juice concentrate (the only ingredients must be vitamin C and apple juice). One can contains rougly 107 grams of sugar as per the ingredients label.
-A little over half a gallon of apple juice as with regular apfelwein (Just fill the gallon jug to 2-3 inches of top)
-EC-1118 yeast (required considering the acidity and OG will make the jug a yeast thunderdome)
-1/2 teaspoon of yeast nutrients
a) Let the concentrate melt into a liquid inside the can, on your countertop.
b) Sanitize jug/carboy (please don't make a 5 gallon batch of this...)
c) Use a sanitized funnel to pour the concentrate in the jug.
d) Add nutrients and fill up to near top with apple juice.
e) Shake it madly and then wait for it to go up to room temperature. (It will be quite chilly because of the concentrate)
f) Rehydrate and pitch EC-1118 yeast as per instructions.
Measured S.G: 1.110, potential alcohol around 13-14%, not an ounce of sugar that wasn't made by an apple.
I fully intend the apple taste to be comparable to being punched in the mouth by the greek godess of apples.
I pitched this yesterday, the EC-1118 is bubbling away nicely. It will probably be aged on medium toast oak for six months to make it drinkable.
If it's horrible I may just make it into applejack and sip the resulting 6X Apfelwein very carefully...
Some manufactures use pectin enzyme commercially. Some use centrifugal clarification. Centrifugal clarification leaves the pectin dissolved in the liquid, but removes the particulates that usually get trapped in it and cloud the liquid. SO, eh maybe. I always add my own pectin enzyme, it isn't expensive and it eliminates one possible concern. Not that pectin will make your brew taste bad, it just won't completely clear.There's pectin in the concentrate and in clear apple juice? I thought they used pectinase industrially to clear it. It was perfectly clear before pitching the yeast, though dark amber and extremely sweet and appley when tasted.
Anyhow, what's done is done, I might be short 2$ of juice, 3$ of concentrate and 5$ of jug for a year if it's undrinkable in the first months...
I believe pectin is a non-fermentable carbohydrate. It's a dietary fiber because your body can't break it down. Chemically though, it is a water soluble carbohydrate. I fail to see how it's presence or absence would change the percentage of fusel alcohol produced?You might end up with high fusel alcohol due to the high amount of pectin in that batch. You might want to age that for 1+ year to calm it down a bit.
I read it on a distillers forum, and noticed some side effects of it from the batch I made when I used to much sugar. It could have been the sugar not really sure, but it was a lot warmer and the hang overs where really bad from only two or three glasses lol. Methanol is the cause of a lot of that. (Methanol might not be a fusel, but it's not the type of alcohol you want to drink!)
I'd say its more likely to do with too much sugar. If the yeast gets stressed out, that's often when it produces undesirable effects. Too much sugar could have allowed the yeast to produce more alcohol more quickly than it would have preferred.
We don't talk about distilling here, but it is a pretty different situation. They seem to prefer high alcohol high speed fermentation and let their distillation processes clean it up later.
After two weeks, the airlock is still bubbling. Smells awesome. Ferm'ing in the low 60s, so I thought it might go a little slow. Can't wait to try.
jiggs_casey said:This time of year, my basement is a constant 62'. I brew a batch of this every year right around Christmas. Give it at least a month before you try it. Just pour it back into the same juice containers you bought it in and store it away!
jiggs_casey said:This time of year, my basement is a constant 62'. I brew a batch of this every year right around Christmas. Give it at least a month before you try it. Just pour it back into the same juice containers you bought it in and store it away!
Wow, really, same containers? That would make it even easier! Are you using priming sugar before bottling, or are you going straight from fermenter to bottles?
If it was done fermenting you won't need to sulfite it.
Thanks. Just to be sure I'm clear, I'm fairly certain that the fermentation is done. I haven't checked the gravity in a few weeks, but it was right around 1.00 the last time I checked. I plan to check it one last time before I bottle.
I was more concerned with stability for longer term storage. I was thinking more about oxidation and acetobacter than the yeast and sugar. I have StarSan to sanitize everything before I bottle, I just want to be sure I don't end up with vinegar.
Bamsdealer said:Picked up some juice today... what temp should this be fermented at? I have no experience with wine yeast other than using it to bottle...
tochsner said:Okay, I am sure the answer is in the thread somewhere but it's a lot to sift through. I made a back of Apfelwein just like the recipe. It's to dry for my taste. What is a good way to sweeten it? Seems like if I put in some sugar, that would just get the yeast going again. Does fake sugar like splenda work? How much do you use?
No. Therefore yes. I have 8 claret bottles full of still cider in my wine rack.Most likely an answer to this in the previous 1100 pages, just I am entirely too lazy to spend 100 hours reading all of them.
Does this stuff have to be carbonated? Can it be bottled in wine bottles? I have zero beer making supplies.
Thanks!
Will
No. Therefore yes. I have 8 claret bottles full of still cider in my wine rack.
Okay, I am sure the answer is in the thread somewhere but it's a lot to sift through. I made a back of Apfelwein just like the recipe. It's to dry for my taste. What is a good way to sweeten it? Seems like if I put in some sugar, that would just get the yeast going again. Does fake sugar like splenda work? How much do you use?
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