Man, I love Apfelwein

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So I made my second batch this morning....first batch was made with Mott's, and this time with Tree Top.

The first go around, I had no problem w/ foaming...took me just under 15 (w/out sanitation) to make the batch. Great!

This time, there was foam for days! I checked the bottles and got the right juice...used the same amount of sugar- but when it came time to add the last 3 gallons and the yeast, it took FOREVER for the foam to die down!

When I mean to say it took forever, I watched TWO episodes of Sunny in Philadelphia and the foam hadn't budged. I had to go to sleep, so I finished any way. I had to just pull the funnel out, pour slowly, and wipe away the foam that was spilling out of the carboy! Now there's a little foam left after 8 hours...what went wrong? Did I shake too much?
 
Help, I've got a question that I'm sure has already been answered somewhere, but I'm too lazy to look!

I know that yeast ferment until there are no more fermentable sugars, but does it take wine yeast longer than ale yeast or about the same time. I'm a wine newb and have only delt with Ale strains. I pitched my Lalvin 1116 (they were out of montrachet) last saturday following Ed Worts recipe to the (T) and it's still fermenting, but seems to be dying down. Seems to be about the same time frame of an ale yeast. Is this typical or should I throw another packet of yeast in there?
 
wcarter1227 said:
it will be fine, if anything the foam shows you did a good job aerating the juice so the yeasties should have enough oxegyn to go buck wild.

:mug:
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So is it possible I didn't shake enough on the first batch since I didn't get this reaction? Would the brand of juice make this big of a difference?
 
jhonda00 said:
Help, I've got a question that I'm sure has already been answered somewhere, but I'm too lazy to look!

I know that yeast ferment until there are no more fermentable sugars, but does it take wine yeast longer than ale yeast or about the same time. I'm a wine newb and have only delt with Ale strains. I pitched my Lalvin 1116 (they were out of montrachet) last saturday following Ed Worts recipe to the (T) and it's still fermenting, but seems to be dying down. Seems to be about the same time frame of an ale yeast. Is this typical or should I throw another packet of yeast in there?
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You should be fine. Wine yeast or ale yeast, your starting gravity is closer to an ale than a wine, so the time frame will be about the same. Wine yeasts aren't necessarily 'faster' they just generally have greater alcohol tolerances so they can ferment higher OG musts (or worts..or apple juices :) ) completely where ale yeasts will not. I don't think you need to pitch any more yeast, but the best way to tell is to take a sample gravity and see how far the fermentation has gone.
 
If you're looking at your airlock to determine that its done fementing, it will get confusing. I assembled my last batch at least 6 weeks ago and I saw bubles when I glanced at it the other day. With apfelwein, you need to just assemble it and forget its there for about 6 months.
 
The amount of foam has varied with each batch I've done. I blame the brand of juice because that's the only variable that was different, and I shook the hell out of them all. I also have done the funnel slow pour wipe foam trick, and had an ant invasion because of it. Ants love apple juice.
 
Yeah, I've got to go back and double check I wiped it all up! At that point, I had just gotten off the night shift and just wanted to go to sleep lol
 
Just got done making my Apfelwein, per the instructions. Made 6 Gallons, using 2.5 pounds of dextrose. Pitched the Montrechet, and it's sitting quietly in the basement now.

Do I need to worry about light with this brew?
Our days are kinda weird here lately, some days it's 78, and 50 at night, or 65 during the day and 40 ish at night.
 
so i'm starting to read this hella long post cause i'm planning on making this, but i just wanted to ask real quick about the yeast i want to use. right now i have a cherry plum mead fermenting and i'm going to rack it off into my secondary, i want to use the yeast cake from this for my wine. its the red star(i know i'm gonna butcher this but here goes) pasteur champagne(that looks right) yeast. i know that it will dry the wine out alot, i'm thinking about adding 5 cans of concentrate along with the 5 gallons of juice and 2 lbs of brown sugar. will i still get a little bit of sweetness? or am i going to have to back sweeten? i'm trying to avoid back sweetening, i'd rather just put enough fermentables in there to make sure its go some sweet left to it. the only wines i drink are sweet wines, port, eiswine, moscato, chaucers traditional mead to name a few. i really can not drink dry wine. i once bought a bottle of merlot and had one sip, it sat in the fridge for the next year until i threw it away.

is the 5 cans going to be enough extra to make sure this is sweet when it finishes or should i add a few more cans? i'm not worried about the alcohol content, i know its going to be really high, i'm just worried about it being sweet.

P.S. i'm in the middle of reading this whole thread, i'm on post number 580 some thing(page 15 of 137 pages) i plan on reading the whole thing, but i wanted to ask this before i made it this weekend

thanks for any help you can give me
 
quixand said:
Just got done making my Apfelwein, per the instructions. Made 6 Gallons, using 2.5 pounds of dextrose. Pitched the Montrechet, and it's sitting quietly in the basement now.

Do I need to worry about light with this brew?
Our days are kinda weird here lately, some days it's 78, and 50 at night, or 65 during the day and 40 ish at night.
Click to expand...

As I understand it, sunlight will only skunk beer because of the hops. Someone can correct me if I'm wrong but I believe that I read that there is no danger of sunlight harming apfelwein.
 
the only danger in sunlight is the chance of the direct rays heating up the carboy and causing the yeast to get stressed if they go over certain temps causing off flavors. Either way my first batch of apfelwein fermented at around 85 degrees, and the fussels it did produce subsided after about 4 months.
 
wcarter1227 said:
the only danger in sunlight is the chance of the direct rays heating up the carboy and causing the yeast to get stressed if they go over certain temps causing off flavors. Either way my first batch of apfelwein fermented at around 85 degrees, and the fussels it did produce subsided after about 4 months.
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Im doing mine at 75 hope that isn't to high.
 
CATFISHER74 said:
Im doing mine at 75 hope that isn't to high.
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If you search this thread, you will find that 75* is an average temp. Mine is fermenting in a range from 70*-75* and is just fine. Just relax and keep it out of sunlight like said above.
 
jhonda00 said:
If you search this thread, you will find that 75* is an average temp. Mine is fermenting in a range from 70*-75* and is just fine. Just relax and keep it out of sunlight like said above.
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Thats good i use to do all my brewing in the basement i would just shut off the heat down there.
Now there is a friend staying down there.
 
CATFISHER74 said:
Thats good i use to do all my brewing in the basement i would just shut off the heat down there.
Now there is a friend staying down there.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I ferment in a spare bedroom on a table. The room gets a lot of sun, but I dont worry about it too much. Old habits have tought me to wrap my carboys in a trash bag, so that keeps a little light out and then I cover with a t-shirt or a pillow case that has a small hole cut in the top for the air lock. I quit fermenting in the closet because I would have 2 or three carboys going at a time and there isn't enough room.
 
So I just put up a 5 gallon batch of this noxious smelly beast. First day smelled good, like bread and apples. Day two and three...wtf?. Its a sour all invasive onion and butt smell. Will this taste good when its finished? I am scared that I bought 10 gallons of juice to make two batches and the first smells like this.
 
I searched this thread and couldn't find my answer, but I want to back sweeten mine at bottling with lactose.

How much lactose should I use?
 
I have made it a project to read through this entire thread. On page 170 out of 544. But that is not stopping us from making our first batch. Went down to our LHBS and picked up the corn sugar and Montrachet. Just finished throwing it together and it is sitting in our basement right now. Will be monitoring daily for the first week. Planning on letting this sit and do its work for at least four months. Well, that is not counting some test sips.

Followed exactly (or as close as possible). OG was at 1.070 If FG ends up at .998, that should put it at 9.45% ABV.
 
Followed exactly (or as close as possible). OG was at 1.070 If FG ends up at .998 said:
if you didnt get the juice and the corn sugar mixed well enough the concentrated juice with the sugar will have a higher og, or there is the possibility that the juice you bought had a higher sugar content ulitmatley giving it a higher starting og. either way it should be tasty.

the most important thing with apfelwein is that it gets so much better over time. the yeast bite and the alcohol heat goes away and it gets smoother. but at 9.45% ABV you need to be careful how much you drink in one sitting or you will be calling EdWort a Motherfu**er in the morning.:mug:
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I am new to brewing anything. I started a gallon batch using ED's recipe two weeks ago. I do not have any testing equipment. My airlock has no action and it looks like the yeast has all settled to the bottom of the container. I'm doing this batch in a gallon plastic apple juice container. It is a non clear container and thus I can not see if the Apfelwein is clear. Am I OK to leave it in the container for 2 more weeks before bottling?
 
cantjo said:
I am new to brewing anything. I started a gallon batch using ED's recipe two weeks ago. I do not have any testing equipment. My airlock has no action and it looks like the yeast has all settled to the bottom of the container. I'm doing this batch in a gallon plastic apple juice container. It is a non clear container and thus I can not see if the Apfelwein is clear. Am I OK to leave it in the container for 2 more weeks before bottling?
Click to expand...

If you happen to have a hydrometer, take a reading to see where your wine is at. Likely, hydrometer or not, you will need to let it sit for a bit to completely clear.

"There are reports of Apfelwein being left in the primary for 12 weeks with no problems."

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/wiki/index.php/Apfelwein
 
Just got a batch of Apfelwein going myself.

Followed the original recipe except I added crushed Campden tablets (5) in with the dextrose and let the resultant must sit for about 24 hours before pitching rehydrated Montrachet.

I rehydrated the yeast with Go Ferm, and I have made two 1/2 tsp Fermaid K additions--one the morning after pitching and one three days after start of fermentation.

http://i38.tinypic.com/opa691.jpg

http://i34.tinypic.com/mc41ft.jpg

Also got a 1-gallon test batch of "mangowein" going using the same modified procedure. The mango juice was Langer's Mango Nectar containing mango puree. Looks like the puree is starting to settle on the bottom (1/4 to 1/3) of the fermenter with the drop in gravity.
 
Thanks. I will let it go for at least 2 more weeks. I did start another gallon batch this weekend in a glass jug. It's bubbling away just fine.
 
I'm going to start one of these tomorrow evening, my LBHS is out of stock of the yeast Ed suggests. I picked up a packed of Cotes de Blancs, anybody see any issue pitching this instead? TIA.
 
Just started mine yesterday

used a Curvee yeast, and so far i'm having issues with heavy Krausen production. Had to clean airlock out twice already

probably should have went Montrachet, but i was too lazy to go back to the LHBS
 
So far I've made apfelwein (or cider, whatever) with Montrachet, Champagne, Premier Cuvee, Munton's ale yeast, and Cooper's ale yeast. All have been different, but all good to my tastes. Eventually I'm going to get around to trying a gallon with Fleischmann's bread yeast, just for giggles. Yeah, I know it's been done and written about extensively on here, but I've gotta taste it for myself. It's not like it's gonna cost an arm and leg if I don't like it.
 
Only just racked my second batch of Afelwein.

This one used champagne yeast, one pound of dextrose and one pound of honey. IMO, the apple flavor is more pronounced than the normal recipe and the honey is barely present.
 
chucke said:
Only just racked my second batch of Afelwein.

This one used champagne yeast, one pound of dextrose and one pound of honey. IMO, the apple flavor is more pronounced than the normal recipe and the honey is barely present.
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Did you take gravity readings? If so, what ABV did you get?
 
Has anyone ever had a floating smooth, shiny white mass, roughly resembling the shape of a record bowl, growing on their Apfelwein? I don't have a picture, but I've never seen anything like it. The Wein tasted fine, and there were no other signs of an infection other than this weird mass.

I ended up throwing my trusty yeast culture that has been going since early this year and will start over with White Labs 060 when my next AHS order arrives.
 
I have just finished pitching my first batch.

Found Ridgemont 100% apple juice for 95 cents per 1.2 l can at my local No Frills. So I bought 24 cans. The only yeast I had was some coopers from a kit (I have no idea how old it is, I think it may be over a year maybe more)

So I now have a 5 gallon carboy with around 1 lb of golden brown sugar and about 3/4 lb of table sugar (use what you have) I threw in 3 cinnamon sticks on a whim.(not sure that they will do much in the way of adding flavor, it just felt right) I have it set up with a blow off just to be on the safe side.(I had a barlywine blow the lid right off my bucket once after the airlock had clogged up;))

I still have not taken the IG,I should go do that....

If the fermentation does not take off by morning I think I will just pick up another pack of coopers after work a my LHBS

Richard
 
has anyone tried using wyeast 4766 cider for apfelwein? ive made 2 batches of apfelwein both with the red star which turned out both great but for the fall season im looking to make a bit sweeter cider and was wondering if anyone had any good or bad feedback about the wyeast strain
 
been thinking about this recipe for awhile. I'm getting ready to do a belgian, and the last time I pitched on top of a yeast cake, fermentation was impressive, so I was thinking of this recipe.

5 gallons juice
2 pounds belgian blonde candi sugar
belgian abbey II yeast cake

Anybody think this would work out okay?
 

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