MCH
Well-Known Member
The closest brewing store is over 2 hours away. I've got all the ingredients to brew a batch of Apfelwein, except for the Montrachet wine yeast. Is there a suitable replacement that I may be able to find locally???
The closest brewing store is over 2 hours away. I've got all the ingredients to brew a batch of Apfelwein, except for the Montrachet wine yeast. Is there a suitable replacement that I may be able to find locally???
we all agree that pretty much ANY wine or beer yeast will give acceptable results, but the problem is that HE HAS NO LHBS!The closest brewing store is over 2 hours away.
we all agree that pretty much ANY wine or beer yeast will give acceptable results, but the problem is that HE HAS NO LHBS!
SOOO. If you have anything on hand, use it. If not...DO NOT try bread yeast.
The only thing you need to know about Apfelwein yeast is: Red Star Premier Cuvee.
Let's count the ways. Starts fasters, clears fasters, no farting. less aging-to-drinkability, but most importantly tastes better.
Yeah Ed, 6 gallons (two, 3 gallon batches). It's good, and I made it twice to give it another chance. But, Cuvee smokes it in every regard, so I go with it now. Would I use Montrachet if that's all that was available? Definitely. Lots of respect here for the original recipe and you for bringing it to us.
I did this with a gallon batch as an experiment. I had an extra gallon of Motts apple juice sitting around and an empty gallon fermenter but no brewers yeast. I figured why not, if it was terrible I would only be out like three bucks. So I mixed it up with bakers yeast and an unmeasured amount of corn sugar. It fermented out within a week and tasted pretty sharp and tangy. I bottled and carbed 4 750ml bottles and forgot about them for about 3 months.Don't even think about bread yeast.
I know you are.
Stop it.
You mention it tastes better, but how?
The Cuvee taste is completely different than Montrachet. If it veers from true Apfelwein style for the sake of tasting awesome, I can live with that.
I did this with a gallon batch as an experiment. I had an extra gallon of Motts apple juice sitting around and an empty gallon fermenter but no brewers yeast. I figured why not, if it was terrible I would only be out like three bucks. So I mixed it up with bakers yeast and an unmeasured amount of corn sugar. It fermented out within a week and tasted pretty sharp and tangy. I bottled and carbed 4 750ml bottles and forgot about them for about 3 months.
Just this past weekend I found them in the closet and figured what the hell. I chilled them and took them over to my buddies bonfire. They were fantastic. I am not just saying that considering they were made with bakers yeast, they were actually excellent cider and everyone there thought so.
Now that I have made enemies out of all of you I might as well suggest it as an interesting experiment. I don't know that I would risk 5 gallons to it, but in a one gallon batch it was fun.
I can see not wanting to use it if you are making something you are planning to celler. But if you are just wanting something to drink it works suprisingly well. Like I said, mine sat for about 3 months and I would say they were probably peaking about then. I liked it quite a bit more than with montrachet.I'm actually planning on trying a batch with bread yeast soon (call me a hypocrite) just for sh!ts and giggles. I think the reason it is generally frowned upon is because after aging, the complexity of flavors is no where near as good as other brewer's/vinter's yeasts.
tom777 said:Toppers - I hope the Premier Cuvee is as good as you say..
The Premier Cuvee batch has now been bottled for just over 1 1/2 months.
Hell I don't know anymore, so I will just split my batches from now on and see what people like. This recipe and apple juice in general is so forgiving, that's part of the fun.
Next up is 3068, thats supposed to be good.
Cote des Blancs: the first thing I noticed about this was the lack of any smell... Very smooth though and quite different from the others I think. Quite drinkable.
Good. I had read in another thread the the Cote De Blanc left a strong buttery taste in a members batch.
Since this is my first Apfelwien batch, I was praying that it would turn out drinkable.
Hmm, about 2 seconds after that post I cracked a bottle of Montrachet and it is really good. It is almost aging better than the Cuvee if that's possible.
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