Edwort Apfelwein Yeast Experiment

After looking through a couple threads about which yeast to use in making Edwort's Apfelwein, I decided on doing a little yeast experiment myself.

A couple weeks back the SWMBO and I went camping in Duluth, MN. While we were there we went to Fitgers to go on a brewery tour, pick up some growlers, and do the whole tourist thing. All said and done I ended up adding 4 sweet growlers to my collection. Now those 1/2 gal growlers are going to be what I perform this experiment in.

Yesterday, I went to my LHBS and picked up stoppers, airlocks, dextrose, and 4 different variates of dry yeast to test.

The four different yeast I will be testing are:

1. Red Star Montrachet (Edwort's Favorite)
   
2. Red Star Côte des Blancs
   
3. Lalvin K1V-1116 Montpellier
   
4. Lalvin 71B-1122 Narbonne

Ingredients:

1. 2 gallons of 100% Apple Juice (Not from concentrate and NO preservatives EXCEPT Ascorbic acid)
2. 1 lb. Dextrose (3.2oz per 1/2gal same ratio as Edwort's 2lb/5gal)
3. Yeast from above
4. Yeast Nutrient

Equipment:

1. Growlers - 1/2gal (x4)
2. Stoppers - 6.5 drilled (x4)
3. Airlocks (x4)
4. Cleaner (PBW)
5. Sanitizer (starSan)
6. Funnel

Procedure:

1. First sanitize the growlers, airlocks, stoppers, and funnel
2. Open one gallon bottle of apple juice and pour a quarter of it into each of the growlers using the funnel.
3. Open one bag of Dextrose and carefully add 3.2oz. to each of the growlers. (If you use funnel to add dextrose, use a little juice to wash down any that sticks)
4. Add Yeast nutrient as instructed from manufacture
5. Shake Well. When you think your done, Shake it some more.
6. Open the packet of desired Yeast and pour it into the neck of the funnel.
7. Use the remaining juice to wash down any yeast that sticks. You may need to be patient to let the foam die down from all shaking and pouring.
8. Top off growlers to the same level with the remaining juice
9. Put your stopper on with an airlock and fill the airlock with vodka.

Comments:
I will try and post pictures, and other media throughout the experiment.

I will try and post notes about fermentation (will be hard to see since growlers are dark amber in color)

I will post my tasting notes, along with any comments the SWMBO, friends, and family make. (They normally just say whether or not they like it and/or over state the obvious like "this tastes like beer" when they try my homebrew.)

After this experiment is complete, I want to do it again using my favorite 2 yeast from above and comparing them to Wyeast 3068 Weihenstephan Weizen Yeast, and Wyeast 3056 Bavarian Wheat Yeast. I also think it would be interesting to do the same comparison using Wyeast and White Labs liquid yeast.

I am currently doing edworts recipie (slightly less dextrose though, about a lb and a half, maybe more) with safale S-04. I will let you know how that turns out.

This thread should be a great source of information on cider making.

Thanks for doing it.

Went home for lunch and snapped a couple pictures.

Yeast in experiment:


Ingredients:


Equipment:


More to come.

I recently made a batch of Apfelwein using the Lalvin K1 and it turned out great. No "rhino farts" and it fermented out to just under 1.0. I look forward to the results of your experiment!

D47 tends to retain more apple flavor at a younger age in my experience. I would expect the same from 1122

Here is what Lalvin's website says about 71B-1122:

"In addition to producing rounder, smoother, more aromatic wines that tend to mature quickly, it does not extract a great deal of phenols from the must so the maturation time is further decreased. The 71B is used primarily by professional winemakers for young wines such as vin nouveau and has been found to be very suitable for blush and residual sugar whites."

I'm hoping that his yeast produces an Apfelwein that does not need to be aged for quite as long.

Sounds good DangerRoss, I shied away from 71B as I would need to place the carboy in my fermentation chamber. 71B likes to ferment a bit cooler than other wine yeasts and my fermentation chamber is dedicated to beer.

Look forward to hearing results on this. I have had success with the 1116 at 24 deg C. I found 1116 finishes sweet at 1.010 consistently with "No Name Apple Juice - Not from Concentrate" and finishes dry at 1.000 with backyard freshly pressed apple juice.

This weekend I actually got around to starting this experiment. Started off by cleaning all the equipment by soaking them in some PBW.



Next, I added 2 pints of apple juice into each growler. I took a gravity reading of the juice and it was 1.044 before adding the dextrose.



After I add the juice, I weighed out 3.20 oz of dextrose






Then the dextrose and yeast nutrient was poured into the growlers, the cap was secured, and then shake the **** out of it to dissolve everything.



The next step was to top off each growler with more apple juice. I took a gravity reading from all four growlers before pitching the yeast. The OG for all samples was 1.060



Finally, Pitching the Yeast.

I went to go put the stoppers and airlocks in the growlers but the first stopper pushed through mouth into the growler. So I decided to scrap using the stoppers and airlocks and go Revvy style and just put the caps on lightly without creating an air tight seal.

Fermenting at 70F and all four yeast strains are munching away.

AH!!! Nothing like the smell of rhino farts in the morning!

So... What ever happened to this?

banik said:

So... What ever happened to this?

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Patients my friend. In due time I will finish this experiment. For now the four bottles are conditioning in my cellar, anxiously awaiting my arrival.

EdWort said:

Apfelwein really improves with age, so if you can please let it sit in a carboy for up to 3 months before bottling or kegging, then let it sit even longer. Here's what some folks think.

Saccharomyces said:

Six months and it hits its stride. Eight months and it'll blow your mind. It's cheap so there is no reason not to make 55 gallon barrels of the stuff...

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Click to expand...

From the Man, I love Apfelwein Thread

6+ months in now, any results?

DangerRoss said:

AH!!! Nothing like the smell of rhino farts in the morning!

Click to expand...

from my exp with the monchracet, if you hydrate the yeast first, you dont get the rhino stomping grounds. tried it on my 3rd batch and was suprised.

btw, subscribed. cant wait to hear about this. you going to let em ride a full yr on the yeast? I noticed my longer term batches came out better too.

Sorry guys. I have been busy neglecting this thread and also the apfelwein. I was planning on coming back to this around October to do the final comparison.

Anyone tried this with white labs 007 English cider yeast?

So... How did it turn out? It's been a year already.

lived said:

So... How did it turn out? It's been a year already.

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I went ahead and opened two of the growlers and they smelt like straight sulfur. It was awful and could get myself to take a sip it was so bad. I think I over pitched the yeast. Sorry for the let down. I will be redoing this one soon guys.

Did you dump the whole pack of yeast into the growler?

SudsyPaul said:

Did you dump the whole pack of yeast into the growler?

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Not the while pack but I'd say 2/3 or so. I think I over pitched.

K. I'm thinking of doing a half-batch of Apfelwein with 1118, and I was going to toss in the whole pack, but maybe I'll do like 2/3 - 3/4 to be on the safer side.

SudsyPaul said:

K. I'm thinking of doing a half-batch of Apfelwein with 1118, and I was going to toss in the whole pack, but maybe I'll do like 2/3 - 3/4 to be on the safer side.

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I'd scale it back even more. The while packet is for 5 gallons now that I think of it. So if you are doing a 2.5 gallon batch pitch half the packet.

I thought it didn't really matter how much you used for half-batches. I actually ended up making a full batch with 1118

I'll be making another batch in a couple weeks with a different juice and Wyeast 3068.

DangerRoss said:

I'd scale it back even more. The while packet is for 5 gallons now that I think of it. So if you are doing a 2.5 gallon batch pitch half the packet.

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I pitched about 2 grams of 1118 into 1 gallon of juice with roughly half a pound of brown sugar and that was plenty to get through top up with about a quart going into secondary (fired up easily). Good carbonation at bottling with priming too. FG was .996.

Not to thread-jack at all (more to compliment this one) - I'm doing something similar to your experiment, but rather than alternate yeast, I'm seeing what 1118 can do to different brands/qualities of apple juice. https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f32/cider-apfelwein-half-batches-375529/

As stated in my last post (in my thread), I think I'll take one of the last 2 brands of juice, and make an alternate batch with 3068.
So end result will be 3 batches with 1118 and 1 batch with 3068... and once those are done fermenting, I'll just keep pushing through ciders with different juice/yeast combos.

I/4 used as little as 1/8 tsp ec-1118 for a gallon and it's been fine. fermented up nicely without being over yeasty. easy drinking young for sparkling apple juice and later to cider