Cider and Apfelwein half-batches?

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SudsyPaul

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I'm new to homebrewing, and my wife wants my hobby to benefit her, so I was thinking of making her Apfelwein. The only issue with that is that my wife doesn't want to wait 6+ months for something to drink :p

I have 21L of cold-pressed apple juice that I bought from Walmart, today (some Canadian brand) and I was thinking of doing a half-batch of Apfelwein with Lavlin 1118, and another half-batch of sweet hard cider.

I've found several recipes for dry cider, but I'm looking for a sweet cider that I can make in 3-4 months. My wife likes Magners and Grower's brand ciders... but Magners is super complicated and Grower's is too small to find a clone (and I'm too new to come up with something on my own)

Would 2.5gal of apple juice + 1lb of corn sugar + Wyeast 3068? Primary for 4-6 weeks and rack to secondary for another 4-6 weeks, then bottle for 3-4 weeks?
 
I just had a mini-braingasm. I think I'm going to make a full batch of Apfelwein and then backsweeten 1/2 with Splenda and carb it, and then leave half of it flat and dry.

That way, I get to appreciate the full goodness of the Apfelwein without carbonation or added sweetness, and my wife gets a sweet fizzy drink :) The flat stuff can wait until the summer/fall of 2013 for consumption, too... since I want to give it time to mature before I try it out.
 
I personally think you can get a GREAT session cider in less than 2 months. A couple of weeks in primary, about a month or so in secondary always gives me a nice crisp cider without being mouth puckering. (FG 1.001 - 1.002) This being said, I typically only shoot for 6-8% ABV...the more alcohol the longer you typically will have to age it.

OR...if you make apple wine...just start now and keep the pipeline going. You'll have to wait a long time for the first batch, but then it will be a steady supply ;)
 
Just made another batch with Rougemont apple juice (cheaper brand than the walmart cider) and ended up with an OG reading of 1.062. Close enough to compare juice to juice when it's all done :)

3rd batch using Allen's apple juice is planned for tomorrow.

All 3 batches will use the same yeast. I might make a 4th batch with wyeast 3068, since I have a smack-pack for an upcoming dunkelweizen, but I might step it a couple times and get enough to make my dunkelweizen + another 2.5gal batch of cider.
 
And 3rd batch is made. ended up making a bit more than 2.5gal, and got a OG reading of 1.062.

Can't wait to try all these out. But at 68F, it's gonna be a LONG time before these are done fermenting :S
 
At 68ºF, I think you will be surprised. I typically shoot for around 58ºF for primary and low 60s for secondary. At 68º, most yeast strains will enjoy those "snow bird" balmy temps ;)
 
Here's a pic of the 3 of them on the go:
20130107063747.jpg

Yes, I know, lots of empty carboys! I just bought 8 of them, so I'm working at cleaning them (lots of nasty in them) and I gotta find time to brew some beer (newborn in house, not easy to find spare time)
 
Congrats on all of the carboys. I put all of mine in empty milk crates. They work awesome for moving carboys around. They are easier to carry than the neck handles (which shouldn't be used on full carboys) and it allows you to slide them around without worrying about the bottoms.

111311_carboy.jpg
 
Oh! Genius!! Where do you get those, nowadays? I don't know anybody that works at a grocery store, so kinda SOL.

I'm a pretty big dude and have rubber gloves I use to pick up the carboys. The 5gal one is heavy as sin, but they don't move much :p I also have a carboy hauler on order for further moves.
 
As an update on the cider, all 3 are bubbling away!

The first I made is down to 1 burp every 15-20sec, and the 2 new ones are burping every 2 seconds :D
 
Congrats on the progress!

On the crates, any place like walmart or an organizational store (Bed Bath & Etc) should have them. Just don't skimp on the quality, you wouldn't want the bottoms busting out. A piece of cheap paneling inside on the bottom will also distribute the weight.
 
The Container Store (if you have one in your area) carries traditional milk crates in many different colors.
 
No Container Stores around... but there's a local seller that has them for $15/ea. I might buy a couple. Although I just lifted my 7gal carboy that's filled with Oxyclean water, and no real problems. I'm a pretty big dude (6'5 former weightlifter) so I don't really have issues with the weigh, and with rubber gloves, the grip is good, even with water. I also do everything in 1 part of the basement, so it's not a big deal.

Now back on topic with the apfelweins... they're fermenting away! All 3 carboys are the same orange/yellow hazy mess. It doesn't smell too much like sulphur, down there... but you can definitely tell stuff is fermenting in the back room :p
 
Pickled_Pepper said:
Congrats on all of the carboys. I put all of mine in empty milk crates. They work awesome for moving carboys around. They are easier to carry than the neck handles (which shouldn't be used on full carboys) and it allows you to slide them around without worrying about the bottoms.

And you can store empty carboys upside down to drain the water and keep the dust out.
 
Anybody have any pics of their Apfelwein just before bottling? All 3 of mine are still very cloudy, which is to be expected, but I just wanted to get an idea of what to expect as far as clarity.
 
SudsyPaul said:
Anybody have any pics of their Apfelwein just before bottling? All 3 of mine are still very cloudy, which is to be expected, but I just wanted to get an idea of what to expect as far as clarity.

Top left carboy.

image-3067627996.jpg
 
Anybody have any pics of their Apfelwein just before bottling? All 3 of mine are still very cloudy, which is to be expected, but I just wanted to get an idea of what to expect as far as clarity.

Have you tried cold crashing or chems. To clear it up?
 
Oh, it's so not ready to bottle. It's only been 3.5 weeks since the first batch. Another 3-4 weeks to go, minimum.

Was just curious at what point I should get excited to look at the cider ;)
 
Depending on the batch it can go months before it clears with out chems .... but some never clear.
 
Aww man, I got blueballed. Was totally into reading your experiment but then no final results and no updates in past 5 years. How did they turn out?

That seems to be pretty commonplace here. You'll find a lot of posts in which people write about ideas they want to try, or what they've got fermenting now, but then end up not posting when it's finished. Blueballing... good term for it.
 
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