Man, I love Apfelwein

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FuzzeWuzze said:
Way too many cloves. Most people put 2-3 in max and many think its too much, at 8 i hate to break it too you but its going to be undrinkable for a very very long time...fish some of them out if you can somehow lol.
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I don't know... I made a one gallon batch with two cloves and it's actually very tasty. I did also put in a little more than the proportional amount of sugar so there may be some extra sweetness offsetting the cloves. Since I put two one gallon I think the eight in five gallons might be ok.

I also kept the fermentation to a tight six weeks. I worry (maybe unnecessarily) that leaving any extra organic matter in there too long will create off-flavors.
 
Glad I checked this thread. My batch has been in the fermenter for a month as of today. Still have held off taking a sample, and I guess I'll let it sit for at least another month. Just wanna have it ready for the holidays. :)
 
Can I bottle/cork this? Also, I read that you can carbonate this, where do I find that information?

Thanks!
 
Having trouble finding an answer. Read the first 50 pages or so and tried a search. I want to bottle and carb with a can of apple concentrate. Will this work? I followed the recipe but used 2lbs brown sugar instead. I don't want bottle bombs but am not sure how concentrate would work. Thanks!
 
My god this site is evil. Going through a brewing course and just got into brewing and came over here to share a link when I found this thread. I have not had this stuff since I was stationed in Germany 92-94 and hit the Apfelwein Fest in Trier GE. Street vendor near the Roman Aqueduct gave us a free full glass which we quickly drank and reached into our pockets to take a few bottles back with us to Strassberg Kassrne. I remember waking up the next morning feeling fine but thirsty. Drank a couple glasses of water and started getting a buzz again. Someone told me the reason was because of all the sediment in the wine was still in our stomach and still had alcohol in it. Dunno, but I remember being pretty messed up for a couple days from that stuff. Man I miss that. Guess I'm going to have to make a batch of this too.
 
Sean0718 said:
Can I bottle/cork this? Also, I read that you can carbonate this, where do I find that information?

Thanks!
Click to expand...

One more tidbit, if you plan to carbonate, do not use wine bottles/corks. Use beer bottles/crowns, flip-top bottles, or champange/corks. Use a bottling environment that will handle the contents being under pressure.
 
I'm the guy who made the spiced version w/ cloves/spices, honey in place of sugar. I bottled this last week. I ended up back sweetening it with 8oz of lactose (non-fermentable) and priming with 6oz of priming sugar (6.25gallon batch). I also re-applied the spices in a tea format for good measure.

It tasted really good, not boozy at all. It definitely needed the back sweetener as I think the honey and spices dried it out (probably didn't need to add any spices before fermentation, they weren't really coming through). Excited to see where it ends up. Definitely a bit of a concoction.

Anyone else backsweeten with lactose and carbonate??
 
opus345 said:
Yee Haw! I think you will end up naming it "The Clove Bomb" Apfelwein batch. Good luck and let us know how it turns out.
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Thanks! Maybe I'm doing something wrong... cloves are tiny little black things right? I hardly got any flavor at all from them in the 6.5gallon batch. Maybe they were too old? Hmm. Or maybe they're so powerful I'm mistaking them for the "dry" character :cross:

Also worth mentioning: The "protein" or whatever from either the honey, spices, brown sugar, or all of the above did cause a blow-out with my non-krausen Montrachet yeast. Found that pretty interesting. After 24 hours they all rose to the top, foamed up, and my blow-off tube worked fabulously. But after they vacated the vessel, there was just fermentation and no krausen. Very strange.

Also fermentation started up *immediately* upon adding priming sugar. That was interesting never seen that before.

Final Recipe:
6gallons of kroger 100% apple juice
3lb of honey
1lb of dark brown sugar
1 tsp cinnamon, 1 tsp nutmeg. 8 cloves.

honey + brown sugar + few pints of juice on stove top to a boil, added cloves, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Threw all of it into the fermenter, topped off to 6.5gal.

Fermented out 3 weeks w/ montrachet yeast. Needed blowoff tube.


At bottling, primed with 6oz of priming sugar, backsweetened to taste with 8oz of lactose (non-fermentable sugar). Added another 1.5tsp of cinnamon, 1.0tsp of nutmeg since the spice really didn't come through. No more cloves added ;)
 
I made an account just to post on this thread!!!

Anyway, I started this process about three weeks ago. This is my first attempt to make wine. I decided to do this because it looks pretty easy. I used a 5 gallon plastic carboy with

5 gallons of Simply Apple
2 pounds of dextrose
1 pound of lactose
and I forgot the yeast I used :/

I know these questions are probably answered and I will go through the 1000 pages of this thread to see if they are there, but here are my questions:

After 3 weeks, is it supposed to still be cloudy? I know it was originally said that after 4 weeks its good to go, but I didnt think it should be this cloudy


The bubbling stopped last week. Does this mean its done fermenting?

Also, the was no sulfur smell. Could this be because of the apple juice I used or did I do something wrong?


I am sorry for the stupid questions. Like I said, this is my first attempt and I want to try to learn as much as I can about the process
 
Longhorn,

First, welcome to HBT, we're glad your here.

Second,

I have read reports of 4-8 weeks before it will clear. Mine have usually cleared within 6 weeks. I have never used a non fermentable sugar/sweetener during fermentation, so this may change the clearing timeframe.

I think the sulfur smell is a function of the yeast used. I use Lalvin D47 and have never had sulfur smells.

The release CO2 is a visible sign of fermentation, but fermentation can and does happen without the bubbling. The best way to be absolutely sure when fermentation has stopped is to test the gravity on three successive days. If the gravity does not change, fermentation has ended. You can purchase a Hydrometer($10-20)/Refractometer($30-150) to perform the gravity tests.
 
If you are still around the site when you taste this stuff, you'll have to let me know how it tastes. I wanted to use simply apple for my next batch. I love that juice but for some reason did not use it for this batch.
 
opus345 said:
Longhorn,

First, welcome to HBT, we're glad your here.

Second,

I have read reports of 4-8 weeks before it will clear. Mine have usually cleared within 6 weeks. I have never used a non fermentable sugar/sweetener during fermentation, so this may change the clearing timeframe.

I think the sulfur smell is a function of the yeast used. I use Lalvin D47 and have never had sulfur smells.

The release CO2 is a visible sign of fermentation, but fermentation can and does happen without the bubbling. The best way to be absolutely sure when fermentation has stopped is to test the gravity on three successive days. If the gravity does not change, fermentation has ended. You can purchase a Hydrometer($10-20)/Refractometer($30-150) to perform the gravity tests.
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Im guessing I can get a hydrometer at my local HBS? Thank you for the answers. I was a little worried because our air conditioner broke last week and the temperature got up to like 86 or 88 for a day or so. I didnt know if that could have killed the yeast.

One more quick dumb question: Will the wine clear up as much as typical apple juice or the apple juice I used? Like Simply Apple in the bottle is already not that clear so will the wine end up looking like it?


ArrogantDusty said:
If you are still around the site when you taste this stuff, you'll have to let me know how it tastes. I wanted to use simply apple for my next batch. I love that juice but for some reason did not use it for this batch.
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Of course! Well remember I added 1 lb of lactose to it so its a little different from the original recipe
 
txlonghorns23 said:
Im guessing I can get a hydrometer at my local HBS? Thank you for the answers. I was a little worried because our air conditioner broke last week and the temperature got up to like 86 or 88 for a day or so. I didnt know if that could have killed the yeast.

One more quick dumb question: Will the wine clear up as much as typical apple juice or the apple juice I used? Like Simply Apple in the bottle is already not that clear so will the wine end up looking like it?




Of course! Well remember I added 1 lb of lactose to it so its a little different from the original recipe
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it should be as clear as the original juice, especially if you pasteurize or cold crash since all the live yeast in suspension will die/go dormant and fall to the bottom of the bottle.
 
Hello! This is my first post here :mug:

I started a three gallon batch of apfelwein, mostly following EdWort's recipe, ten days ago and it is already clear (see my brew log in my signature for pictures and details). I tasted a few sips tonight and it really wasn't too bad - I don't have a superb pallet, but it was reminiscent of a dry white wine with some tropical flavors. SWMBO agreed.

I strayed from the recipe in that I re-hydrated the yeast and added apple juice to the re-hydrated yeast incrementally to acclimate it and I also used energizer and nutrient after the lag period.

I'm guessing my unusually fast fermentation and clearing is due to the temperature (75-79 degrees F), acclimated and re-hydrated yeast, and nutrient and energizer additions. I'll probably bottle it after about another month in the BetterBottle.

Anyone else have an experience like this? Also, I had Chimay blue for the first time tonight - it was glorious!
 
UPS dropped off the yeast and other items at 5. Just put 5 gallons in the closet about 20minutes ago. Now the wait.

%255BUNSET%255D.jpg
 
EdWort said:
$15.00 for 5 gallons of Tree Top Apple Juice from Costo or Sam's
$ 3.00 for 2 pounds of Dextrose
$ 0.79 for a packet of Red Star Montrachet Wine yeast

$18.79 for 5 gallons of kick your butt 8.5% Apfelwein or about 35 cents per 12 oz. serving.
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I've never tired "Apfelwein" but I am used to Irish/English hard cider so I don't know what the difference is in the taste and I assume it doesn't taste like wine. What is the taste difference? I also want to try your recipe ASAP. Is the difference the yeast used? In other words would the Wyeast or WL yeast make it taste more like a Irish/UK cider. Thanx for your time. Peter.
 
I've never tired "Apfelwein" but I am used to Irish/English hard cider so I don't know what the difference is in the taste and I assume it doesn't taste like wine. What is the taste difference? I also want to try your recipe ASAP. Is the difference the yeast used? In other words would the Wyeast or WL yeast make it taste more like a Irish/UK cider. Thanx for your time. Peter.
 
I haven't made any apfelwein in a couple years. I've been reading through the thread looking for some juice variations. Cranberry? Rasberry? Grape? The original is great but I'd like to mix it up for the wife... Also, I've read about some alternative yeast strains; is there a consensus on something other than Montrachet that doesn't comprimise the recipe? Those rhino farts are not the wife's favorite...
 
lormeinri said:
I've never tired "Apfelwein" but I am used to Irish/English hard cider so I don't know what the difference is in the taste and I assume it doesn't taste like wine. What is the taste difference? I also want to try your recipe ASAP. Is the difference the yeast used? In other words would the Wyeast or WL yeast make it taste more like a Irish/UK cider. Thanx for your time. Peter.
Click to expand...

Go read the FIRST post for a list of FAQ that answer all of your questions.
 
I've made around 30 gallons of this stuff now. I've added more sugar to bring up the ABV, and I've made to spec of Ed's original recipe.

I've had lots of people taste it and call it hooch, and say "its awful how can you drink it?" But those who like it, LOVE IT!

My favorite way to make it so far has been original recipe with 2kg of corn sugar and put it on tap. 3 tall glasses, and you might be waking up on your best friends Mom's couch!
 
spark_plug said:
I've made around 30 gallons of this stuff now. I've added more sugar to bring up the ABV, and I've made to spec of Ed's original recipe.

I've had lots of people taste it and call it hooch, and say "its awful how can you drink it?" But those who like it, LOVE IT!

My favorite way to make it so far has been original recipe with 2kg of corn sugar and put it on tap. 3 tall glasses, and you might be waking up on your best friends Mom's couch!
Click to expand...

unless you giver her some...you may wake up in her bed!
 
HoppyDaze said:
I haven't made any apfelwein in a couple years. I've been reading through the thread looking for some juice variations. Cranberry? Rasberry? Grape? The original is great but I'd like to mix it up for the wife... Also, I've read about some alternative yeast strains; is there a consensus on something other than Montrachet that doesn't comprimise the recipe? Those rhino farts are not the wife's favorite...
Click to expand...

anyone?
 
HoppyDaze said:
unless you giver her some...you may wake up in her bed!
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Depends how hot she is. If hot, give her the appley rocket fuel. If not, you may need it to not remember.
 
Vox said:
Depends how hot she is. If hot, give her the appley rocket fuel. If not, you may need it to not remember.
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Aw, come on. There's a NSFW section for this kind of stuff.
 
HoppyDaze said:
anyone?
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I have to say, the idea of cranberry juice added sounds yum, though you'd have to keep in mind the change in acidity and adjust to taste. And juice, not cocktail. Mmmmmmmmmm...... I do have an empty 5 gal carboy............!
 
springmom said:
I have to say, the idea of cranberry juice added sounds yum, though you'd have to keep in mind the change in acidity and adjust to taste. And juice, not cocktail. Mmmmmmmmmm...... I do have an empty 5 gal carboy............!
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I split a batch up and did 1gal each of cranberry and apple at 25/75, 50/50, and 75/25%. Consensus was that the 50/50 was the best. The cranberry tannins definitely add to a fuller flavor than the 100% apple.
 
Quick question: my wine is done and it was clear. The last bottle however looks really cloudy. I used Simply Apple and it is made out of pure pressed apples and I think it all sank to the bottom. If this is true, is this bottle safe to drink? If not, what can I do with it?

Pressedapple.jpg
 
Absolutely! The stuff I always got in Germany had sediment in the bottom. I was half tempted to add some applesauce for extra sediment and try to keep it the way I always remembered the stuff. I would imagine you will not get a lot of sediment out of it when you siphon it out to a bottling container or keg though.
 

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