Hey all. I haven't posted for awhile, or brewed for that matter, but I launched another couple of batches of xxxxxWEIN today and I think it's about time to dig out the gear again.
Anyway, I wanted to share a couple of things I've been doing with the Apfelwein.....
I've made probably 200 gallons of Apfelwein since my first batch of Edwort's recipe. I stuck to the outline and didn't really experiment much at first, but after my wife and most of my friends had the wrath of Apfelwein upon them over multiple occasions and began to avoid me and my 22 oz. bottles of the elixir I thought I'd try to change it up.
I started carbonating my Apfelwein after probably 5 or 6 batches and have not gone back since. The bubbles are nice, although I think it makes it even a little more drinkable and therefore a little more dangerous. I feel like the sparkling version lets some more of the flavors out and makes them slightly more lasting, so I've stuck with it.
I don't know about everyone else, but after a dozen sessions or so I found myself still looking for a little more flavor, maybe a little residual sugars from the apple juice or something. Don't get me wrong the stuff was good and very easy drinking, but the taste was a little shallow for me and I was still looking for more a lasting flavor to keep me from taking another sip quite so quickly. I'm the type that drinks what's in his hand, and rapidly, so the lesser the alcohol the better or my night comes to end quickly....my wife's the same way, but probably 100 lbs lighter than I am making her ability to cope with the situation a little rough - - - alright I'll just say it, she's a pain in the neck Apfelwein drunk!! .....so the story continues....
So over time I pretty much annihilated everyone that I turned on to my wicked little beverage and even after an experience or two with it people just couldn't help but slam the stuff down, but after a little experimentation with yeast, initial dextrose levels, and even some pre-bottling dilution I've managed to make something that people can tolerate at least a little bit more.
I've also found a couple of variations that I'd certainly recommend to anyone.
I started with champagne yeasts, obviously dry finishes with the ability to resist alcohol up beyond 16% resulted in some of the higher alcohol levels and more tasteless renditions. Since then I've tried a few different white wine and red wine yeasts and so far I found that I like Red Star's Pasteur Red yeast and I start with 3 cups of corn sugar. The batch I started today I pitched Red Star's Côte des blancs wine yeast and went back to 4 cups of corn sugar to 5 gallons of Tree Top apple juice. I thought I had used teh Côte des blancs before, but after reviewing my journal apparently I hadn't, so we'll see what happens.
Some other things I played with.... Cran-Ranspawein and also a Cran-Raspa-Apfelwein - yes I'll admit that the wife and I concocted those names AFTER a couple of bottles, but they stuck so we use them.
Cran-Raspa-Apfelwein started as a blend, I made two separate 5 gallon batches one using apple juice and one using cran-raspberry juice. I started with 3 cups of corn sugar in each one and I pitched Pasteur Red. I let both go in the primary for 4 months, racked to a secondary for 2 weeks, then bottle half of the two with a 50/50 blend and a wee bit of corn sugar to sparkle it up. The early aged bottles we opened (1-2 months) were a little funky, good but pretty tart and a little tough on the cheeks and pallet, but later......wooohoooo...... very yummmy especially served very cold. Since then I've mixed the juices in the primary and I've gotten the same results, no need to blend post-fermentation I guess.
The stand-alone Cran-raspawein is also very nice, but inherently tart. I'm still playing with this one a little bit and in my current 5 gallon batch I substituted 1 gallon of cran-grape and added 2 cups of corn sugar before pitching Pasteur Red. The mix was very good going in to the primary and had an OG of 1.050. Once fermentation has stopped we'll see where we end up.
Moving forward I'm going to play with the sugar levels a little more and try another yeast strain or two for grins and then I'm going to go in to blend mode. I'd like to try some other juices such as blackberry juice and blueberry juice and then blend them in multiple varieties with each other along with the the apple and cran-raspberry versions. - - fun stuff...time to get back in to the beer brewing now too....
Cheers.
