Man, I love Apfelwein

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Just opened up my batch to bottle and found this. Any idea? This is my first batch so not sure exactly how it is supposed to look.
 
I followed the directions to the T. Put it in the fermentor on 8/11. Mixed with corn sugar and bottled tonight. It is very good as is. I think with the carbonation and a few more weeks it will be lights out fantastic. Stoked. Thanks to all that post here...great to learn from you all.

My FG was below 1, I am guessing with temperature adjustment from 72 to the calibration at 60 it was about dead on a 1. Is this the norm?
 
Pollard, man, I feel bad after posting my first batch. I am not sure what it is but I don't have any more experience at it than you. It may be fine as is, I am sure a real brewer will chime in shortly one way or the other. What type of yeast did you use? Also, don't get discouraged, it will work out.

My batch did not have anything on the top.
 
Pollard, It looks like an infection but I wouldnt let that stop me from bottling it and drinking it. It may be a good idea to keep all the bottles cold to prevent the infection from advancing.
 
I noticed from the last batch I brewed using 4lbs of corn sugar has resulted in massive hang overs.

I have a batch going now with 2lbs of corn sugar, so once that one is finished I am going to try to cut the sugar in half and see how the hang overs are with a lower percent.

http://homedistiller.org/intro/methanol/methanol

Do any of you dedicated wine makers know how to clear up the methonal content of high pectin fruit wines?
 
I made this in Oct 2011, and now it's Dec 2012... I didn't like it at 6 months, so I just left it in the carboy...

I tried it tonight and it's f-ing awesome...lesson learned, let it be because it'll become awesome at some point. Making another batch of this tomorrow to put it on a 6 month schedule.
 
H im sorry if this has been asked but there are so many posts on this brew its hard to find out !! lol
i want to make this in a uk 5 litre demi john, can some one reproduce this in the right amounts for a demi john please?, and then what would be best to do with the grew? put it in bottles?,and if so do i have to add gas to it?
many thanks
lee.
 
H im sorry if this has been asked but there are so many posts on this brew its hard to find out !! lol
i want to make this in a uk 5 litre demi john, can some one reproduce this in the right amounts for a demi john please?, and then what would be best to do with the grew? put it in bottles?,and if so do i have to add gas to it?
many thanks
lee.

Doing some calculations came out to 4 litres of juice and .19 kg of dextrose. I would think that would work out well for you. I would think carbonation would be a preference. I like the idea of a highly carbonated one so I added enough sugar when I bottled to bring it up to 4 volumes, but it also tasted really good without any carbonation.
 
Doing some calculations came out to 4 litres of juice and .19 kg of dextrose. I would think that would work out well for you. I would think carbonation would be a preference. I like the idea of a highly carbonated one so I added enough sugar when I bottled to bring it up to 4 volumes, but it also tasted really good without any carbonation.

brllian thanks, im onwith it this afternoon!! :mug:
hmm just a thought (.19kg)=190 grams is that per litre?
 
mixed up my first batch of this stuff yesterday. followed directions with the exception of the addition of about a tablespoon of Super Ferment. hoping to cut down on sulfur smells and maybe hangover-causing byproducts. it was fermenting away nicely this morning. gonna try and wait 5+ months before kegging.
 
Looks like a TBSP of Super Ferment is not sufficient to totally remove the sulfur off gasses. Haven't done a batch with none, so I can't really tell whether it helped at all, but it does smell a tad "rhino-farty" in then manroom right now.
 
Haven't done a batch with none, so I can't really tell whether it helped at all, but it does smell a tad "rhino-farty" in then manroom right now.

Breath deeply in the man room. Take it all in. It's a manly smell.

Seriously though, I have made 2 batches. The first with just a tad of yeast nutrient and the second with a healthy dose. The second smelled less, although still had an "aroma" for about 36 hours.
 
Thanks; that info's good to know. I'm ok either way; SWMBO's pretty lax because she knows how much I love this hobby. And, as long as it makes apfelwein, I'm a happy camper!
 
Just Bottled 3 gallons of this yesterday!! tasted AWESOME but pretty strong.. I'm sure the alchohol taste will mellow out with a month or so bottle conditioning.. I didnt get the recipe broke down quite right from 5g to 3g so I ended up with a 9.6% ABV Great Recipe!!
 
I understand that time in the bottle is hugely beneficial to cider/apfelwein. I'm just curious if it needs to be kept refrigerated after a few weeks, and then kept for say 6 months or more? Or is it ok to keep it in (glass) bottles in the cupboard for 6 months (at say between 60-80 degrees F)?
 
As much as I tried to, I can't read all 1000+ replies, so I figured I'd ask a few questions here.

After at least 4 weeks, you can keg or bottle, but it is ok to leave it in the carboy for another month or so. Racking to a secondary is not necessary.

Apfelwein really improves with age, so if you can please let it sit in a carboy for up to 3 months before bottling or kegging, then let it sit even longer. Here's what some folks think.

The above states that its not necessary to rack to secondary but it also says that you could leave it up to 3 months before bottling. I've always understood that too many weeks on the yeast cake can be bad...so does this mean I should rack to secondary?

Essentially, this is what I was thinking of doing..i'd pitch a batch in my carboy, then in 4 weeks, I'd rack to secondary, and pitch a second batch immediately on the original yeast cake.

Then both could age in their carboys until both May and June receptively, where I could then bottle and serve in June and July?

Does this sound reasonable...i just don;t want to tie up bottles for 6months if I can avoid it.
 
So there's no issue with aging in the Carboy and repitching onto existing yeast? I understood there were potentially two trains of thought to both possibility?
 
Is there any difference between aging for 6 months in the carboy and bottling after 1 month and aging in bottles for 6 months? This is assuming that the apfelwein is already clear.

Thanks in advance!
 
I understand that time in the bottle is hugely beneficial to cider/apfelwein. I'm just curious if it needs to be kept refrigerated after a few weeks, and then kept for say 6 months or more? Or is it ok to keep it in (glass) bottles in the cupboard for 6 months (at say between 60-80 degrees F)?

I keep mine in cases at 72 while it ages.
 
timcadieux said:
So there's no issue with aging in the Carboy and repitching onto existing yeast? I understood there were potentially two trains of thought to both possibility?

You planning on keeping the 2nd batch on all that yeast for 6+ months? I've definitely had autolysis problems from keeping it on too long, and I know somebody else who has as well.
 
I have kept it in primary for 2 months without any issues, but I'm leary of going past 3 months on the yeast cake.

You can use the same yeast cake, but we are talking <$1.00 for the packet of yeast, splurge a little and buy two packets. :)

Start two simultaneous batches and bottle at 2 months or do 2 sequential batches and bottle at the 2 month period for each batch. From your sig, it looks like you have number of primary and secondary containers available. If you run out, then it is a perfect excuse to buy more.
 
Ho. Ly. Moses. That stuff is gonna be good!!!

I started my batch on 10/22 and bottled it tonight. Left to my own devices and without referring to the calendar I'd have left it until the end of the week but no need to be picky when the family Christmas is on the horizon. My only glitch was that I had no corn sugar but used table sugar instead and bottled 36 16 oz bottles and two 12 oz beer bottles. And put the rest of it on ice and tasted.

That stuff is gonna be really good once carbonated. It's good now. It's going to be a very merry Christmas for the Pedersens.
 
I ran across this thread when I was looking up Spike Your Juice, I thought that thing was a good deal, but man was I wrong! I'm picking up some better bottles tomorrow and going to try to make 5 gallons this week. This is going to be my first time brewing anything, besides Spike your Juice, if you can even call that brew :X

I think I'd be too impatient to wait 6 month, how dry, or typical ABV would it be at the 4 week mark? I intend to make another 5 gallons or 2 at the 2 week mark.
 
pood said:
I ran across this thread when I was looking up Spike Your Juice, I thought that thing was a good deal, but man was I wrong! I'm picking up some better bottles tomorrow and going to try to make 5 gallons this week. This is going to be my first time brewing anything, besides Spike your Juice, if you can even call that brew :X

I think I'd be too impatient to wait 6 month, how dry, or typical ABV would it be at the 4 week mark? I intend to make another 5 gallons or 2 at the 2 week mark.

It would almost definitely be fully fermented at 4 weeks - so as dry and as high ABV as it's going to get - but it would still be pretty harsh. Maybe you should do two batches immediately on the same day, if you don't want to wait that long for your first batch. That would allow you to really get a pipeline started.
 
I have been wanting to start a batch of Afpelwein for a while now. So a couple days ago I pitched my first batch of Apfelwein. This morning I woke up to the overwhelming smell of rhino farts filling up the room.....it was awesome! I'm really looking forward to trying this stuff.
 
I ran across this thread when I was looking up Spike Your Juice, I thought that thing was a good deal, but man was I wrong! I'm picking up some better bottles tomorrow and going to try to make 5 gallons this week. This is going to be my first time brewing anything, besides Spike your Juice, if you can even call that brew :X

I think I'd be too impatient to wait 6 month, how dry, or typical ABV would it be at the 4 week mark? I intend to make another 5 gallons or 2 at the 2 week mark.

Have a gallon of Sprite available if you're going to try to drink it that early. Or just have a few shots first to kill your tastebuds before drinking your Apple rocket fuel. You'll taste the alcohol and not much Apple. My buddies and I drank some when we bottled it after about four weeks and it resulted in frequent cringes and headaches the morning after. Several months later, it's developing nicely. It starts getting good around 4 to 6 months.
 
It would almost definitely be fully fermented at 4 weeks - so as dry and as high ABV as it's going to get - but it would still be pretty harsh. Maybe you should do two batches immediately on the same day, if you don't want to wait that long for your first batch. That would allow you to really get a pipeline started.

Maybe I well, why is the original thread suggesting 2 weeks afterwards?
 
Just to stagger the flow. I know I don't want to spend half a day bottling ten gallons or more lol
 
That's too bad, anyone in Seattle want to sell me a gallon of well aged Apfelwein?:)
I think you are kidding, but selling homebrew is not legal and talking about illegal subjects tends to get threads locked.

I've done a few batches of apfelwein now. Not this exact recipe, but the same general idea. I've noticed that if I add 1 normal dose of yeast nutrient and yeast energizer for every 5% of target abv over about 7 I get something that doesn't require as much aging to be drinkable.

For instance, I've got some 16% abv apfelwein. It spent 2 weeks in primary, 2 weeks in secondary with some bentonite to clear. It was just barely drinkable when it came out of secondary. It was ok after about 2 more weeks. After about 2 months it's actually quite nice.

I've had basically the same experience with other high abv brews. That makes me think that a fair number of the high abv brews are producing off flavors because they are nutrient deficient.

No hard science, but I'm going to keep using nutrient in everything with a highish abv target.

EDIT: At the target abv of this brew, I'd personally add 1 normal dose of yeast nutrient and yeast energizer. The directions are on the packages, but usually 1 tsp nutrient/ gallon and 1/2 tsp energizer/ gallon.
 
Just to stagger the flow. I know I don't want to spend half a day bottling ten gallons or more lol

Right, but since he doesn't want to be patient, he can get them started at the same time and still stagger the bottling so that he gets his first batch quickly and a head start on the second batch. ;)
 

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