Better than Apfelwein...

Williams 728
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Brandon O said:
I just keep a yeast cake going from one batch to the next of 3068.
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If you wash the yeast, 3068 refrigerates very well and can be used for months. I just use a sanitized spoon and pull out a few spoonfuls from a mason jar to start each batch. I'm going to rig up an old sauerkraut jar today with an airlock on top and a blowoff tube going into the jar with purified water to catch the yeast from the blowoff and just use that from batch to batch. I've been making my cider lately buy using 3068, a half pound of dextrose, pectic enzyme, yeast energizer, yeast nutient, and leaving the fresh cider in the one gallon jug replacing the cap with a stopper. Just pour a little juice out, pour your dextrose in, shake it up, throw the stopper on top and put the blowoff tube in a mason jar of sanitizer. It works great and takes about 2 minutes to get going.
 
Just started another two gallon batch. The farm I go to for cider sells fresh crushed, non-pasteurized cider for $4.99 a gallon and it usually has an OG of 1.065 before adding any dextrose. The weihenstephan yeast works great on it. I have five gallons that I made with Cotes de Blanc yeast three months ago that I think is not quite undrinkable but it is a struggle getting the first one down. I'm just going to let it age until it either dissolves the carboy or gets better.
 
Ok, here's a rundown of the batches I've done with various yeast and sugar combos, from best-so-far to merely pretty danged good. The pound values below refer to dextrose.

BEST
Montrachet with 0# - apple comes through better. Table cider. Me likey. Wife likey.
3068 + 2#: fruitier, much less harsh than monty but does make krausen
Danstar Munich dry + 0# - Almost beery with but with a distracting woody/twiggy flavor.
Montrachet with 2# - like a very dry white. No one but me likes it, really.
ONLY PRETTY DANGED GOOD

Right now I've got a batch of 3068+0# that I will bottle in mid-Jan; I have high hopes for it.

The takeaway from this is if you haven't tried AW without sugar (or with less sugar) I'd encourage you to make a gallon test batch of it. I think it's more like ciders, less like wine, and generally more pleasant IMO. Your Mileage May Vary.
 
DO the wheat beer yeasts require a lot more headspace or are the similar to the montrachet?
 
Monte requires near-zero headspace in my experience. Since I do AW in 5gal glass carboys I use a blowoff with the weizen yeasts.
 
Definately need some headspace or a blowoff tube for the 3068 (or a bucket of soapy water and a mop...it will be sticky Shiite that you will be cleaning up!).
 
Same here, woke up this morning to a slight mess and had to rig up a blow-off tube, I just used one of the gallon jugs from my Apple Juice and Sar-San laced water and we are good to go. Head space is a must with the wheat yeasts, Makes for a cool project, I can't help but watch it since it is so active, the brew just keeps bubbling and working away.
 
It is so much better with the 3068 yeast though. I have some that I did with champagne yeast in September that I decided to turn to vinegar. I can't even drink it after having the cider with Weihenstephan yeast. Mine took three weeks to ferment and clear. I'm drinking some right now uncarbonated and it is excellent. I think I'm going to buy a kegging sysstem tomorrow and I can't wait to get five gallons on tap! Much better than EdWort's Apfelwein in my opinion. That stuff tastes like cheap hootch. If that's how they like to drink it in Bavaria then more power to them.
 
Anybody used the 3068 with something other than apple juice? I've made a few batches with Cotes de Blanc and a couple different ale yeasts. Cotes was too dry for my liking. Also, what kind of FG are you guys getting with the 3068? I may try to crash it around 1.006 unless it doesn't drop that far.
 
BWRIGHT said:
Anybody used the 3068 with something other than apple juice? I've made a few batches with Cotes de Blanc and a couple different ale yeasts. Cotes was too dry for my liking. Also, what kind of FG are you guys getting with the 3068? I may try to crash it around 1.006 unless it doesn't drop that far.
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I think that is about where I ended up. I started at 1.080 or so. I use unpasteuized cider from a local farm for 4.99 a gallon and it works great. Cotes stripped out all the good flavor but 3086 leaves it much better tasting. I'd be embarrassed to serve the cotes cider to anyone.
 
Have you ever used anything other than apple juice? If you started at 1.080 you must have put at least 2# of dextrose in there. That puts you at 9.6%.
 
BWRIGHT said:
Also, what kind of FG are you guys getting with the 3068? I may try to crash it around 1.006 unless it doesn't drop that far.
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IIRC I'm finishing 3068 batches around 1.002-1.003. I had a batch that stalled at 1.008 and it was seriously good. I probably should have killed it with meta or whatever vintners use and bottled it still but I nudged it along to the normal FG I have been experiencing.
 
fratermus said:
IIRC I'm finishing 3068 batches around 1.002-1.003. I had a batch that stalled at 1.008 and it was seriously good. I probably should have killed it with meta or whatever vintners use and bottled it still but I nudged it along to the normal FG I have been experiencing.
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The best 3068 batch I've made so far finished around 1.004, had a nice sweetness to it to go along with the esters from the yeast. I've been adding 2# dextrose but I'm going to do one soon with just straight juice and 3068 as others have mentioned.
 
fratermus said:
Ok, here's a rundown of the batches I've done with various yeast and sugar combos, from best-so-far to merely pretty danged good. The pound values below refer to dextrose.

BEST
Montrachet with 0# - apple comes through better. Table cider. Me likey. Wife likey.
3068 + 2#: fruitier, much less harsh than monty but does make krausen
Danstar Munich dry + 0# - Almost beery with but with a distracting woody/twiggy flavor.
Montrachet with 2# - like a very dry white. No one but me likes it, really.
ONLY PRETTY DANGED GOOD

Right now I've got a batch of 3068+0# that I will bottle in mid-Jan; I have high hopes for it.

The takeaway from this is if you haven't tried AW without sugar (or with less sugar) I'd encourage you to make a gallon test batch of it. I think it's more like ciders, less like wine, and generally more pleasant IMO. Your Mileage May Vary.
Click to expand...

Ok, it's the end of January, and I'm on the edge of my seat waiting to hear how the 3068+0# batch is coming along. I had to run out the the LHBS this weekend to pickup another hydometer and made sure to get some Wyeast 3068 while i was there for the sole purpose of making a batch myself.

Was planning on starting it tonight, but got dragged into an issue at work that spoiled a good 3 hours, but I'm glad actually because i was going to add sugar to mine but would rather hear how yours turned out first.
 
Tiamat said:
Ok, it's the end of January, and I'm on the edge of my seat waiting to hear how the 3068+0# batch is coming along.
Click to expand...

It's only been in the bottle for 2 weeks but I'll throw one in the fridge to test drive tonite.
 
Sub your 2#s of dextrose for 2#s of light DME and you will have a great apple cider, with a slight malty finish. I find the body the DME adds help support the fruity esters and even give it a stable background flavor.

The 5 gallons apple juice, 2#s DME, 3068. Best recipe ever.
 
Brandon O said:
Sub your 2#s of dextrose for 2#s of light DME and you will have a great apple cider, with a slight malty finish. I find the body the DME adds help support the fruity esters and even give it a stable background flavor.

The 5 gallons apple juice, 2#s DME, 3068. Best recipe ever.
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Huh...DME, interesting. Never occured to me, I'll have to give it a shot.
 
Just like to throw my two cents in here for just another apfelwein version. I made a batch of Edworts (5 gallons tree top juice) 2 pounds dextrose, and then I used 3068. I let it ferment out fully. At 5 weeks it was at .998...I then stabilized with sorbate and bisulphite and let sit 48 hours. During that time I got my corny keg ready and put in two cans of apple juice concentrate and 1/4 pound clover honey. I racked onto this. I then chilled and carbed. It's been in the keg now for 3 weeks and it is a BEAUTIFUL thing! taste is clean, crisp, tart and sweet. FG came to right around 1.012..some of my friends say it tastes alot like granny smith woodchuck. On pouring it..it has nice bubbles in the glass, and a nice head that disappears fairly quickly.

Again, its a really good recipe and I'll be making it again.

Dan
 
fratermus said:
It's only been in the bottle for 2 weeks but I'll throw one in the fridge to test drive tonite.
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Tasted it last night. It was just barely starting to carb; I use sucrose for priming and it can take a bit longer to carb. I suspect I am still tasting some of the 4oz of priming sugar (is that possible?) but it is fruity and very nice. I imagine it will dry a bit more as it carbs up further. As slow as it's going I'd guess it'll be mid/late Feb before it's carbed up correctly.
 
So what do ya'll think about me pitching some apple juice onto the yeast cake from my AHBS Belgian Wit kit, it uses WLP-400 yeast? How would I go about doing this, just pour apple juica onto the yeast cake after I transfer to secondary? Do I need to transfer out of my plastic primary after a week or two to glass? Thanks!
 
This afternoon I plan on going to my LHBS to pick up some wheat yeasts among other variates. My plan is to make four - six half gallon test batches to see which yeasts I prefer. Very small batches but only to serve the purpose of side by side comparison with my girlfriend. (no I don't have to obey quite yet).

I think I will do as Airtight did and use about 45g for beer yeasts and about 90g for wine yeasts (if my calculations are correct). If not then I will use 45g for all batches minus the control group that has no sugar added and uses Montrachet.

I also have a half batch of Ed Wort's original recipe currently clearing.
 
SkylerChaBro said:
This afternoon I plan on going to my LHBS to pick up some wheat yeasts among other variates. My plan is to make four - six half gallon test batches to see which yeasts I prefer. Very small batches but only to serve the purpose of side by side comparison with my girlfriend. (no I don't have to obey quite yet).

I think I will do as Airtight did and use about 45g for beer yeasts and about 90g for wine yeasts (if my calculations are correct). If not then I will use 45g for all batches minus the control group that has no sugar added and uses Montrachet.

I also have a half batch of Ed Wort's original recipe currently clearing.
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half a gallon will get you about 4 12oz bottles, which is really low. I'm working on a series doing yeasts side by side as well, but 1 gallon batches are as low as I'd go because you want to try some of these as they age, some yeasts are better younger, others age better, etc. I would think the goal is to find out which yeasts you perfer at what age.
 
Freezeblade said:
half a gallon will get you about 4 12oz bottles, which is really low. I'm working on a series doing yeasts side by side as well, but 1 gallon batches are as low as I'd go because you want to try some of these as they age, some yeasts are better younger, others age better, etc. I would think the goal is to find out which yeasts you perfer at what age.
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That's a good point, the only catch to it is the vessels I plan to use for fermenting the tests are one gallon to the dot. While the wine yeasts may work fine if filled to the top, the beer yeasts I plan to use would create an overflow of kreuzen. Maybe I will modify the recipe for 3/4 of a gallon and use the rest for head space. Since the batches are small I can't imagine a HUGE foam over.
 
I made a 3068 apfelwein with slurry yeast. I let it go 8 weeks in primary and kegged it. Im drinking it now. It definatly has a different taste than the edwort style. I know im drinking it early, I should bottle some keepsakes off. But it does the trick and does not taste bad in any way. Is a little different color/hazy than the origional but such can be expected with the 3068. Mine finnished at .998
 
NikolausXX said:
I made a 3068 apfelwein with slurry yeast. I let it go 8 weeks in primary and kegged it. Im drinking it now. It definatly has a different taste than the edwort style. I know im drinking it early, I should bottle some keepsakes off. But it does the trick and does not taste bad in any way. Is a little different color/hazy than the origional but such can be expected with the 3068. Mine finnished at .998
Click to expand...

I kegged a batch of this today. I noticed it was not as clear as the classic Apfelwein but the sip I had was tasty. I'm looking forward to getting this chilled and carbed.
 
Just started my first batch with 3068 today... Looking forward to it. I just wanted to say when I opened the pack of yeast it smelt GREAT, very fruity! I have never noticed this before in any yeast. Has anyone else noticed this?
 
Since montrachet is such a filthy fermenter, I would like to try something else so my house doesnt smell so bad. I heard the red star Premiere Cuvee finishes nice and dry but doesnt stink up the house....has anyone here tried that?
 
I just kegged and bottle my first batch last night. SWMBO thought it kinda resembled a chardonnay. It wasn not tart or sweet, just right. Thanks Ed.
 
CPAle said:
Since montrachet is such a filthy fermenter, I would like to try something else so my house doesnt smell so bad. I heard the red star Premiere Cuvee finishes nice and dry but doesnt stink up the house....has anyone here tried that?
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My 3068 produces a pretty potent odor as well.... I think it is just a product of any apfelwein. Although some could be worse than others..
 
After about 18 hrs in Fermentation went crazy nuts and I had to jimmy rig a blow off tube... it seems to have calmed down and the krausen has called down alot... I think this is normal. I am considering just replacing the standard airlock should I, or shouldn't I?
 
Update. Here was my old ranking:

fratermus said:
BEST
Montrachet with 0# - apple comes through better. Table cider. Me likey. Wife likey.
3068 + 2#: fruitier, much less harsh than monty but does make krausen
Danstar Munich dry + 0# - Almost beery with but with a distracting woody/twiggy flavor.
Montrachet with 2# - like a very dry white. No one but me likes it, really.
ONLY PRETTY DANGED GOOD
Click to expand...


New ranking:
BEST
3068 + 0# - upfront apple aroma and flavor
Montrachet with 0# - apple comes through better. Table cider. Me likey. Wife likey.
3068 + 2#: fruitier, much less harsh than monty but does make krausen
Montrachet with 2# - like a very dry white. No one but me likes it, really.
Danstar Munich dry + 0# - Almost beery with but with a distracting woody/twiggy flavor.
ONLY PRETTY DANGED GOOD

The 3068 + 0# tastes and smells appley; you don't have to go hunting for the apple. On the downside, it's taking forever to carb. I'll let it sit a few more weeks and see what happens.

Note that the Danstar Munich has been bumped to the bottom. The twiggy flavor in it seems to be stronger. It's drinkable and less dry, but that wood flavor is distracting.
 
My Cider is finished and tried it last night. Holy crap people this stuff gets you insane Irish fighting drunk while tasting delicious. The cider started off slightly sweet and finished like a draft beer. Freaking amazing.

5 Gals of pasteurized apple juice/cider. I used a mix of tree top and wal-mart crap.
My OG was exactly 1.050. Safale US-05 was my yeast of choice.

Primary - 2 Weeks
Secondary - 3 Weeks

The cider finished at 1.002

I then cold crashed it and added some camden tablets to kill all the yeasts. I back sweetened with 2 cans of Old Orchard frozen concentrate. Tossed it in a keg and force carbonated it exactly like a beer.

Next time I make it I want to add some spices to it. It needs something to give it a slight bite on the first taste. I just don't know what to add.
 
can anyone give me an idea of where 4 gallons of AJ with 1 pound of corn sugar (o.g. of 1.056) should finish using wyeast 3068? i'm getting impatient with mine, which has been hovering around 1.004 for a good 3-4 days now.
 

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