Cheap Apfelwein for All. Preservative free juice.

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madewithchicken

madewithchicken

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For full details about apfelwein see:
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f25/man-i-love-apfelwein-14860/

This is not a new idea at all and i do not take credit for it. But I thought it should get it's own thread. If you are having issues finding preservative free apple juice for your apfelwein take a look in the frozen section.

Frozen apple juice concentrate is great for apfelwein. And it is a little cheaper in my case. A 12oz can makes 48oz of apple juice. that means 13.3 cans per 5 gallon batch. (That is 16 even for a 6 gallon batch which usually works out in most fermentors.)

Sometimes my local grocery has them on sale for $0.79 each (regular is less than $1.) That is $11 for the juice part.

At the same store a half gallon of juice is $2 or more.

Frozen cans are easy to store and take up little space in the freezer. I stock up when they go on sale.

**EDIT**
Make sure your apple juice is close to room temp before pitching yeast. Not sure what would happen if you still have half frozen chunks of frozen concentrate in there.
 
I was thinking about posting this myself. The local walmart and target sell the concentrate for $0.82/can, and I figured I'd use 15 cans and skip the dextrose. So $12.30 for the concentrate (or $2.19/gal). I priced out juice at walmart and sam's club and it was $3.02 and $3.22 respectively, so the concentrate is much cheaper. I was going to call it recession cider since it's under $15 for 5 gallons.
 
I think you can get creative with this too. Toss in a few cans of a different kind of juice to mix it up a little. Cranberry, grape, peach...

I know those flavors usually cost a little more, but when you already have several carboys full of regular apfelwein, you might as well experiment.
 
drunkatuw said:
I was going to call it recession cider since it's under $15 for 5 gallons.
Click to expand...

I call it "party brew" because for $45 you can have 15 gallons and throw a nice party. the term "party brew" usually applies to anything i was never planning on drinking myself.

Although my friends have taken to staying away from anything i call "party brew." In the past i have had ingredients include canned potatoes, pretzels, Darjeeling tea, and creamed corn.

But this time i can throw a party and drink what i serve. Any body want to come to my party on Feb 14th? (I think i just hijacked my own thread.) There should be 10 gallons of apfelwein and 5 gallons of some ale of some kind. I would still bring your own beer though.
Pissoff3.bmp
 
novafire said:
I think you can get creative with this too. Toss in a few cans of a different kind of juice to mix it up a little. Cranberry, grape, peach...

I know those flavors usually cost a little more, but when you already have several carboys full of regular apfelwein, you might as well experiment.
Click to expand...

Cran-Apple is great if you back sweeten it a bit. But i can not find the one i used anymore.
 
If you use concentrate, you don't add the corn sugar?? Or can I make 5 gallons from concentrate, then still add the corn sugar and come out with edwort's recipe?
 
cabot said:
If you use concentrate, you don't add the corn sugar?? Or can I make 5 gallons from concentrate, then still add the corn sugar and come out with edwort's recipe?
Click to expand...

You could make 5 gallons from concentrate and then add the corn sugar and it will be the same as Edwort's. I was going to make 5 gallons from concentrate and then add 2-3 more cans of concentrate to boost the OG. I'm hoping this will give more apple flavor and perhaps not finish quite as dry as Edwort's since corn sugar tends to dry things out.
 
drunkatuw said:
You could make 5 gallons from concentrate and then add the corn sugar and it will be the same as Edwort's. I was going to make 5 gallons from concentrate and then add 2-3 more cans of concentrate to boost the OG. I'm hoping this will give more apple flavor and perhaps not finish quite as dry as Edwort's since corn sugar tends to dry things out.
Click to expand...

i tried something like this. i did 18 cans in a 5 gallon batch. my friend said it has a "concentrate" taste to it. I think he is high.

but i am not sure it was directly comparable to apfelwein. i used ec-1118 yeast which dried it out a bunch.
 
I just started a batch last night with 12 cans of concentrate and 2 pints of frozen strawberries, the kind that are full of sugar, for 5 gallons. As of this morning it was fermenting like mad. Can't wait to give this one a try. Now I am trying to decide how to prime it for bottling. Priming sugar or more juice?
 
madewithchicken said:
i tried something like this. i did 18 cans in a 5 gallon batch. my friend said it has a "concentrate" taste to it. I think he is high.

but i am not sure it was directly comparable to apfelwein. i used ec-1118 yeast which dried it out a bunch.
Click to expand...

I think your friend is crazy. All the apple juice at the store says "made from concentrate", so I don't see how it would taste any different than using tree top apple juice. But then again, I have yet to make it will all concentrate, maybe in the next couple weeks I'll try it out.
 
i made mine with all concentrate and then added about a pound of brown sugar and i think i used Cotes Des Blanc and its very dry. but it has a slight apple smell but not really any apple taste.
 
drunkatuw said:
I think your friend is crazy. All the apple juice at the store says "made from concentrate", so I don't see how it would taste any different than using tree top apple juice. But then again, I have yet to make it will all concentrate, maybe in the next couple weeks I'll try it out.
Click to expand...

I think the "concentrate taste" came from using 18 can instead of 13.3. I have never had any issues with using just the normal amount.
 
Okay before you take advise from this guy you should go to his website (1920fairfax.com.)

It is insane, although a bit funny, but I can not believe that you can brew in a house like that.
 
StupidAboutBeer said:
Okay before you take advise from this guy you should go to his website (1920fairfax.com.)

It is insane, although a bit funny, but I can not believe that you can brew in a house like that.
Click to expand...

Hey, I am not sure how to defend myself here. 1920fairfax.com is not real I guess is the best thing i can say.
 
madewithchicken said:
For full details about apfelwein see:
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f25/man-i-love-apfelwein-14860/

This is not a new idea at all and i do not take credit for it. But I thought it should get it's own thread. If you are having issues finding preservative free apple juice for your apfelwein take a look in the frozen section.

Frozen apple juice concentrate is great for apfelwein. And it is a little cheaper in my case. A 12oz can makes 48oz of apple juice. that means 13.3 cans per 5 gallon batch. (That is 16 even for a 6 gallon batch which usually works out in most fermentors.)

Sometimes my local grocery has them on sale for $0.79 each (regular is less than $1.) That is $11 for the juice part.

At the same store a half gallon of juice is $2 or more.

Frozen cans are easy to store and take up little space in the freezer. I stock up when they go on sale.

**EDIT**
Make sure your apple juice is close to room temp before pitching yeast. Not sure what would happen if you still have half frozen chunks of frozen concentrate in there.
Click to expand...


room temp them for sure (I do it in a pot on the stove - not hot just thawed and about 70*) sometimes I use Apple concentrate as a replacement for sugar in my ciders. gives the final brew a real "appley" kick

however I just started a batch of apple/blueberry and the blueberries were still slightly frozen when I added them to the room temp aplejuice - there was condensation on the sides of the carboy... pitched it anyway (dry pitch)- it just took an extra 24 hours for the yeast to really take off - thats all.
The EC-1118 went mad and blew through the airlock 2 days later (4 pounds blueberries, 4 pounds of sugar, 4 gallons of Apple juice and a 16 ounce can of concentrate will do that I suppose...) so the yeasties didn't seem to preturbed at thier cold soak for the first 8 hours or so.
 
Finally got a chance to throw this together this week. I used 15 cans of concentrate at $0.88/can, so it cost a total of $13.20 to make 5 gallons. I pitched a slurry of S-05 yeast. The OG was 1.052 and I plan to cold crash when the gravity is around 1.015 and then rack to secondary and add potassium sorbate and some campden tablets.

I took a gravity reading 24 hours after pitching and it was down to 1.032 and tasted really good (although a little too sweet). I'm hoping it's down close to 1.015 tonight (48 hours after pitching) so I can get this in a keg soon.
 
When the gravity hit 1.014, I transferred to secondary, added the campden tablets and potassium sorbate. Then I left the carboy in the chest freezer at 34 degrees for a week. When I kegged it last week, the gravity had dropped to 1.010. I took my first taste last night after being on the gas for a week and it tasted great! It still had a good apple taste, but not too sweet like a lot of commercial ciders.

My plan was to have this ready for when my sister comes to visit from Japan and her plane lands tonight, perfect timing!
 
I buy 2gal of Treetop at costco for less than $7
that is about $20 for 5gal and 2lb of dextrose and a pack of yeast...

I think it is more fun to use the 1gal bottles... mabye I will add a can of another fruit next time.... my last batch i added 2lb of honey (still waiting for results)
 
My wife does the grocery game- a website that tells you when to use your coupons from the Sunday paper. Over about 6 months she got me 6 gallons of treetop- FREE.
 
drunkatuw said:
Finally got a chance to throw this together this week. I used 15 cans of concentrate at $0.88/can, so it cost a total of $13.20 to make 5 gallons. I pitched a slurry of S-05 yeast. The OG was 1.052 and I plan to cold crash when the gravity is around 1.015 and then rack to secondary and add potassium sorbate and some campden tablets.

I took a gravity reading 24 hours after pitching and it was down to 1.032 and tasted really good (although a little too sweet). I'm hoping it's down close to 1.015 tonight (48 hours after pitching) so I can get this in a keg soon.
Click to expand...

I used s-05 yeast one time for this and it came out awful.
 
I found apple juice on sale at Walmart for 1.98 per 3qt bottle this weekend. I bought six bottles and a pound of dark brown sugar for .82. So for around $13 I have 4.5 gallons bubbling happily away in my living room even as we speak. I guess I should add in the .87 for the Lalvin EC 1118 yeast. At the rate of consumption on this stuff, I doubt that this batch will be ready before my last batch is gone. I'm going to need to make bigger batches!
 
The walmart by me has no sugar added apple juice for 1.99 a gallon right now. Im going to go pick some up later today and make some apfelwein
 
Great idea on the concentrate! I have my first batch fermenting now and I can't wait to try it. I am all about bringing the cost per batch down. Hopefully it tastes better than it smells :) Other posts said it smells like rhino farts during fermentation and I would agree.
 

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