Man, I love Apfelwein

Williams 728
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I have read through much of this post, but didn't see whether anyone has used Wyeast sweet mead yeast. I have this yeast on hand and I was curious if anyone had tried it or thinks that it would turn out ok.

Cheers
 
I know I just posted in here, but I am in friggin love with this stuff. New batch on monday. No way this keg is going to last a month.
 
Brew_Meister said:
I have read through much of this post, but didn't see whether anyone has used Wyeast sweet mead yeast.
Click to expand...

Not sure how to link to thread while on Android but there is a cider yeast results thread over in the Cider forum I believe that says the mead has good results (better if unpasteurized) with apple. Would think it's the same for this. The one that surprised me was the poor results with the cider specific yeast strain.
 
Searched the thread, didn't see the answer:

Accidently added 3 pounds of sugar, instead of 2. Will this exceed the ability of the Montrechet to ferment? Do I need to worry about bottling?

Thanks
 
Strangelove said:
Searched the thread, didn't see the answer:

Accidently added 3 pounds of sugar, instead of 2. Will this exceed the ability of the Montrechet to ferment? Do I need to worry about bottling?

Thanks
Click to expand...

I added 2lbs into a gallon by accident - fermented out completely to around 13% amazingly! You're fine :)
 
Accidic said:
Not sure how to link to thread while on Android but there is a cider yeast results thread over in the Cider forum I believe that says the mead has good results (better if unpasteurized) with apple. Would think it's the same for this. The one that surprised me was the poor results with the cider specific yeast strain.
Click to expand...

Thanks! I may just give this a try with the sweet mead yeast. I will post the results!
 
Yesterday, we made two batches, one traditional following EdWort's recipe and one fancy pants one that we played around with using Brown Sugar and different yeast.

While preparing, we discovered a large mason jar in the downstairs beer fridge labeled "Apfelwein 2008."

I can tell you that 2008 was a good year for Apfelwein on my street and the vintage mason jar went down smooth and tasted exactly as it did three years ago.

For those of you making your first batches this year, squirrel a jar away in the back of your fridge and forget about it - you'll be happy you did.
 
Exbeerienced said:
How do I learn how to make this stuff without having to read 8293 posts???
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You can't. I suggest you read them at work though over the next month or so - that way you can at least get paid for it.

Oh but while you do that, might as well dump 5 gallons of pasteurized apple juice in a carboy, and add a couple pounds of corn sugar. Then throw in a packet of montrachet yeast and see what happens.

When you're done reading the posts, take that strange mixture and stick it in bottles and forget about it for 3 months while you start on your Edwort's Apfelwein batch.
 
paulster2626 said:
You can't. I suggest you read them at work though over the next month or so - that way you can at least get paid for it.

Oh but while you do that, might as well dump 5 gallons of pasteurized apple juice in a carboy, and add a couple pounds of corn sugar. Then throw in a packet of montrachet yeast and see what happens.

When you're done reading the posts, take that strange mixture and stick it in bottles and forget about it for 3 months while you start on your Edwort's Apfelwein batch.
Click to expand...

Hah...nice



On that note everyone loves the apfelwein
 
My first batch wsa sweet and awesome. My second, using APple Coder rather than Apple juice (with about 6 cans of concentrate on each batch) came out sour and not at all tasty.

I used the ferment to really low and backsweeten process, then bottle and stove-top pasteurize to get a little carbonation and a little sweetness with both batches. Now that I think of it I used an ale yeast cake in both cases and maybe they were different ones, I will have to look. Will that have an effect?

I bought a couple kegs from a dude in Charlottesville who happens to make hard cider for a living and now that I keg he said I should just 'cold-crash', and that its super easy. I was in a hurry so didn't have much time to chat, but it sounds like I just keg while it's on it's way down before it loses it's original sweetness and throw it in the fridge. Will that stop yeast enough so that it retains some sweetness? I can just carb it on CO2 at that point.

Or, should I keg once the yeast slows down and backsweeten with a non-fermentable? If so what non-fermentable should I use? I don't like the idea of unnatural stuff, but if it tastes good who cares I guess?

Also, can I use irish moss in this, would I just add it when I pitch yeast?
 
It's not necessarily useless. It's a compendium of experiences. To make basic stuff all you have to do is read the first post. If you want to experiment then do a search for the experimented item and you'll probably find someone who tried it.
 
Four years since I learned how to make apfelwein from this thread & I am drinking one right now! Still having fun trying different things. I've probably made over 20 batches. This batch was 1 lb. corn sugar & s04 yeast. So far about 6 months of age. I love it. Thanks Ed.
 
I got my first batch under my belt. It's farting away as I type. I'm going to bottle around 12/22; which will give me about 2 months in my primary. I would like it to go longer but would like to try some for the holidays. That being said I have decided that I'm going to use 750ml wine bottles and will cork them. So they will be flat but I'm ok with that. If I don't like it I will carb the next batch. Plus I figure if I cork them I can save a few to age 6+ months. A question to those that have gone the wine bottle route. Do I need to do anything special when I bottle them? I have read most of this thread but nothing stood out about this process. I did read something about a wine conditioner? Not sure if I need to do this? Thanks for the helpful ramblings in this thread and to Ed for the recipe.

Mark
 
Searched the thread, and did not find my answer though I'm sure it's there somewhere. I can't find dextrose at my local market, can I use regular cane sugar instead? If so, how much will give me a similar ABV to the 2 lbs of dextrose (corn sugar) in the original recipe?
 
Mine is really getting smooth and clear in the bottles - but it's kinda fizzy. Should have used a camp. tab or somethign before bottling I suppose, right? Next time I guess.
 
wmarkw said:
I got my first batch under my belt. It's farting away as I type. I'm going to bottle around 12/22; which will give me about 2 months in my primary. I would like it to go longer but would like to try some for the holidays. That being said I have decided that I'm going to use 750ml wine bottles and will cork them. So they will be flat but I'm ok with that. If I don't like it I will carb the next batch. Plus I figure if I cork them I can save a few to age 6+ months. A question to those that have gone the wine bottle route. Do I need to do anything special when I bottle them? I have read most of this thread but nothing stood out about this process. I did read something about a wine conditioner? Not sure if I need to do this? Thanks for the helpful ramblings in this thread and to Ed for the recipe.

Mark
Click to expand...

Mark,
I usually carb half in clear beer bottles and bottle the rest in wine bottles. There is nothing extra you need to do for wine bottles as I like mine dry, but you can stabilize and back sweeten if you like. Since this is your first batch of this, i wouild suggest you just bottle and cork. If you find you like it sweeter, you can change that on the next batch, which I suggest you start as soon as bottling is finished. Just remember that if you don't stabilize, there will be yeast in suspension that will settle. I stoere on the side, but chill upright about a week before serving to allow it to settle to the bottom instead of the side of the bottle.
Good Luck and Enjoy

PS don't forget to set some aside to age.

Carl
 
I am getting no rhino farts. The fermentation has been at a furious pace and smells quite nice. It's just starting to slow a bit now.

The only difference was I used 5 tsp yeast nutrient in the 5 gallon batch (1 tsp/gal per the instructions on the nutrient), and aerated the juice well as I was mixing everything together.

I'm sure this will soon get buried and just be some post on page 8XX that nobody will ever read. The idea that the nutrient may stop the farts came from some earlier in the thread, so maybe posting again here can pass it along to some others who don't want their house to smell like rhino farts.
 
verboten said:
Hah...nice



On that note everyone loves the apfelwein
Click to expand...

But now I'm reading about rhino farts. THAT wasn't in the recipe on page one. I'd better actually read these 8000+ posts. Too risky not to. (Sucks being one of the new guys.)
 
Just made my first batch of apfelwein! 6 cans of frozen applejuice concentrate, 2/3 cups of brown sugar, and 12 oz honey. Made about 2.5 gallons, hopefully I didn't water it down too much I think the recipe was for 2gallons.

I'm planning on carbonating it all, do I use the same amount of sugar I would for beer? I'm glad I finally learned about apfelwein, might get a few 1 gallon batches goin whyh I'm waitin for this batch!
 
Exbeerienced said:
But now I'm reading about rhino farts. THAT wasn't in the recipe on page one. I'd better actually read these 8000+ posts. Too risky not to. (Sucks being one of the new guys.)
Click to expand...

Just look on the page immediately prior to this one. I peroused many of the other pages and found what worked well to not have rhino farts.
 
I started mine in a 6.25 gallon demijohn tonight, 6 gallons of Kirkland signature Apple juice from Costco, 3 pounds of dark brown sugar, and Montrachet yeast, topped off with bottled water. It has been over 8 hours and I have not seen any airlock activity, should I be concerned yet? The three mead batches I started are all bubbling nicely...
 
Update: it is starting to work! I get a bubble through the airlock every three minutes or so right now
 
I made this recipe with TreeTop and Safale s05. At about 3 weeks in, the fermentation is still minimal but steady the whole time... Much different than I was expecting from my beer experiences.
 
mistercameron said:
I made this recipe with TreeTop and Safale s05. At about 3 weeks in, the fermentation is still minimal but steady the whole time... Much different than I was expecting from my beer experiences.
Click to expand...

That's interesting. In my case, it fermented MUCH faster than the blackberry wine I had been doing. For the Apfelwein, I got my first bubble through my dual-chamber airlock at about 3 hours. By 12 hours, I was getting a bubble about every 10 minutes. At 24 hours, it was a bubble every 2 minutes, and by 36 hours, I was getting about 3 bubbles/second. It stayed at more than a bubble a second through about 5 days before it really started slowing down.
 
My apfelwein is very slow start compared to the three batches of mead I also started last night, but it is working.
 

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