Just Started My Christmas Apple-Cinnamon Wine - Dec. 8

You mean he cant physically wipe his own butt cause he is really buzzed or it hurts to wipe his butt, I'm confused but intrigued all at the same time.

I think I will try using this yeast in place of the normal wine yeast in my next fruit wine. I've been doing the 5 gallon recipes and they call for so much sugar, fermentation is sluggish. I suspect this might solve the problem. Thanks again for sharing.

CampFireWine said:

I can't emphasize enough that 15 batches and a year of research went into the making of these wine recipes. Any deviation including changing ingredients or techniques used in the making of this wine will be catastrophic or take 1 to 2 years of ageing to fix. No changes are recommended. Just about any juice flavor or sugar type can be used or even mixing with fresh fruit in the primary, but short of that, I would leave it alone.

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Well, I couldn't resist the temptation I picked up 5 gallons of apple juice at wal-mart and ordered the superyeast from Midwest... Now, I'd like to follow your recipe, but modify it for 5 gallons (all my carboys are 5 gallon) and I don't want any fruit or cinnamon. Your recipe calls for 10 lbs of cane sugar and 6 lb of brown sugar. That seems like an inordinate amount of sugar. Ed Wort's Apfelwein only calls for 2 pounds. I know you are making much stronger fare, but would something somewhere in between work? I would like it to be on the dry side. It looks like the distiller's yeast could probably convert about 18 lbs (from Leener's). I assume it would simply be dryer if I didn't use that much sugar ( and less abv ).

Personally I wouldn't use a carboy for primary fermentation just because the off gases can't excape as well as in a bucket. I haven't tried a lower ABV yet but I don't see any reason why it wouldn't work.

CampFireWine said:

Personally I wouldn't use a carboy for primary fermentation just because the off gases can't excape as well as in a bucket.

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Yeah, I was referring to secondaries. I have a 7.9 gallon bucket for my primary.

I haven't tried a lower ABV yet but I don't see any reason why it wouldn't work.

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I think since mine will be a 5 gallon batch, I should shoot for 15lbs of sugar or less to stay on the dry side. My apple juice has about 1lb/gallon or 5 lbs so 10lbs or less of cane sugar should do the trick. Thanks for sharing your recipe! I'll let you know how this one turns out.

Your welcome and good luck.

Be sure to rack to secondary and airlock before the sugar runs out if your going for dry.

You may just be able to close the lid and airlock the bucket as well. I forgot about that.

what was the starting SG?

okwine39 said:

what was the starting SG?

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He didn't say, but he did say how much sugar he put in (5.5 lb for the apple juice (~1lb/gallon) + 16 lbs sugar) ~9.7kg sugar in 24L, or about 23.8% ABV potential, with a yeast that will do ~20%, so with a sweet finish.

pitched the yeast on some of this recipe two days ago, got my fingers crossed, it smells good and the yeasts are working away

@okwine39 You may want to check your SG today to see how close to racking you are.

thanks cfw here are my numbers so far
01-27-11 SG 1.140
01-30-11 DG 1.088
02-01-11 SG 1.058
It is still very actively fermenting and seems to be progressing nicely it is starting to get some alcohol kick to it and no offensive odors or flavors

Sounds good so far. Are you using a brew belt to keep it warm?

no brew belt its doing well where it is hanging right in there around 70-73 degrees

OK. It may take a day or two longer but you should be fine. Keep up the good work.

okwine39 said:

thanks cfw here are my numbers so far
01-27-11 SG 1.140
01-30-11 DG 1.088
02-01-11 SG 1.058
It is still very actively fermenting and seems to be progressing nicely it is starting to get some alcohol kick to it and no offensive odors or flavors

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Your on day 8 I think. Is fermentation done?

1.038 tonight if I am calculating correctly I believe that is right around 15% ABV there is still some activity think I will wait another 24hrs and see what the gravity is. I am not stirring at this point hoping to settle some lees

I would not have thought the lower temp would have drug it out that long. Did you use the Liquor Quick yeast?

yes I did it is still 1.038 today

Camp Fire Wine
Original Gravity (65&#8304 1.13
Final Gravity (65&#8304 0.998
ABV% 17.8%

Now just need to clear and then carbon filter when I bottle. I'll post pics when I bottle.

'ApfelWine' is not 'Camp Fire Wine'.

CampFireWine said:

'ApfelWine' is not 'Camp Fire Wine'.

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duly noted (and corrected)

Wyrmwood said:

duly noted (and corrected)

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Thanks. When I first brought this recipe and techniques to the board, everyone thought I was just a drunk rambler and put it down much like they did earlier in this thread. It was everything I could do to prove that it can be done even though I was making it for almost a year before I went public with it. I would hate to see the the guy to who developed the ApfelWine get caught up in all of it.

Wyrmwood said:

then carbon filter

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As long as you follow the recipe, use an open fermenter, stir like I showed, degas, stabilize, and not use pectic enzymes, wood containers, or lots of fresh fruit, then i really don't think there would be much left in there for the need to use the filter after all it is fruit and not grain. I have never used a filter, but thought about it.

dont know why mine isnt falling faster

okwine39 said:

dont know why mine isnt falling faster

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When it gets way up there in the 18% range, it rolls over slowly the last couple of %. It can take me another day to go from 5% to 4% abv, what ever that calculates out to but with the cooler temps, it may take you several days. I think you are pretty close to what the original juice was???

I use a 'Brew Belt' and the internal temp of the fermenter is 80F to 85F and in the summer it can creep up close to 90F If I am not careful. I try to keep it cooler then the 90F though.

apple juice 1.140

okwine39 said:

apple juice 1.140

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I am sure it's fine and just a little slower because of the lower temp. If you like making it, you may want to invest in one of these for $17.95. For this recipe and yeast, their worth every penny, err dollar..

The Brew Belt

http://www.midwestsupplies.com/the-brew-belt-1.html

yep you might be right about that, darn I hate it when I have to order more stuff from midwest

okwine39 said:

yep you might be right about that, darn I hate it when I have to order more stuff from midwest

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You can get them about anywhere. I just borrowed their website for illustration.

CampFireWine said:

As long as you follow the recipe, use an open fermenter, stir like I showed, degas, stabilize, and not use pectic enzymes, wood containers, or lots of fresh fruit, then i really don't think there would be much left in there for the need to use the filter after all it is fruit and not grain. I have never used a filter, but thought about it.

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Yeah, the carbon filter was recommended on the yeast package. I have no idea what the difference is between apple juice and sugar and just using sugar, but figured it might help. The first time I tasted it, I could not finish the sample (very unusual for me...), so I'm hoping the clearing and filtering will alleviate any off tastes.

Wyrmwood said:

clearing and filtering will alleviate any off tastes.

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You would be surprised on what degasing does for it. There is so much CO2 in it that it makes it really acidic. The more gas you take out the better it taste.

If you pull a sample, poor it from one glass to another and back for a few mins and then let it sit for another 5 then taste it.

The carbon is is used to absorb fusel oils but if we limit the production and remove whats left as they form with stirring, they can be keep under control.

I am going to have to argue that CampFireWine has absolutely never, ever tasted truly good homebrew. More likely, it seems as though he is stuck in a perpetual state of noobiness. For quite a while when I was first starting I thought my homebrew was awesome until I learned some patience. But if nothing has lasted over a month in the bottle after a short brewing process, nothing has reached its potential. This is not how we do things.

p.s. Please, for those of you that are looking into homebrewing, please do not make this "terlet prison wine"

Many of us don't have room for a dozen carboys sitting around in various stages of ageing. This is not table wine to wash your food down with and I am pretty clear about that. It's no more "terlet prison wine" then any other juice recipe here.

Hopenstein, Let him do his thing without flaming. If he's wrong, who cares? Go make a batch with his recipe and be OCD about the details, and if it turns out horrendous, pat yourself on the back and toss it down the drain.

I am used to people flaming me, it doesn't bother me in the slightest. It shows peoples ignorance and lack of knowledge and understanding on new ideas or even proven concepts. You'll have that.

It is the nature of the beast. Face to face, I wouldn't dream of saying some of the things I have said on a forum and I consider myself "reserved". There's simply no social consequence outside of the forum, so it's kind of no holds barred. On the other hand, someone who might be more timid in person wields a much greater degree of freedom, so it's not all a bad thing. And it never hurts to thicken your skin a bit.

I'm excited to try my camp fire wine...

In person it's never a problem because they drink it before I tell them how to make it. I remove all doubt before trying to explain it.

SG down to 1.020 tonight looks like it is really slow going but is dropping .004 every two days What do you think Camp Fire? :fro:

I would rack it, degas it, and stabilize it. I like my wine just a little sweet anyway which is how it is supposed to finish.

Here is an email I received this morning about my style of wine.

Why don't you give me a list of what goes into a batch of your wine and what it costs ? Then I can pay you for it and have you make me a new batch. You have me spoiled ! Don't like the store-bought stuff anymore ! hehehe

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Update:
I called her and she chose the strawberry-watermelon for the next flavor.
I used 1 watermelon and 6 pounds of strawberries, apple juice. 15 pounds of sugar, but had to back sweeten. I was thinking about using a white-grape base this time maybe.

I made it after this watermelon batch.
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f85/my-fermenter-205076/