Got Started, wondering if I should restart?

Last night I started a batch of Apfelwein as my first try at this.

All seemed good, woke up this morning to good action in the carboy, stuff is going on. Woohoo right!!

I had a feeling I didn't do something right though with sanitizing. So I re-read the directions and well I didn't do it right. I was supposed to just dump the water/sanitizer out and let air dry. Well I dumped it out and rinsed it, remembering a different part of the instructions. I rinsed it out with chlorinated tap water. Am I doomed? Should I just start fresh or should it more than likely be ok?

I know there is no way of knowing until 4 or 5 weeks down the road….

Just asking based off of experience if I should dump this batch and start a new one!!

You'll be fine, you've got nothing to lose by letting it ride and everything to lose if you start over. If you want to make more, you can. If both batches turn out fine, its win win. But seriuosly , you'll be fine. A lot of brewers add tap water from the faucet and no ill has come of it. Relax.

Alrighty thanks for the chill pill!!

How do you add pics? Would like to throw some up now and then through the process!!

Chlorine dissipates over time. So no issue there.

And if you are worried about infecting your wine with "contaminated" water instead of sanitizer, don't. If you let the sanitizer air dry, it is no longer a sanitizer, surfaces must be wet to actually do anything. I always wet everything and keep it wet while working.

Sounds great, thanks for the replies.

I washed everything, then let the sanitizer sit for longer than the required minute. Then washed it out and began my process. Was more worried about contaminants rather than chlorine. Was thinking the chlorine should help prevent contaminants. Any ways, it's bubbling along nicely, hopefully in 4 or 5 weeks I will be taking my first sip if Apfelwein.

I had to modify it a bit, going to list my recipe:
4 Gal of Tree Top Apple Juice (only 4 left)
1 Gal of Tree Top Apple Cider
64 oz of Tree Top Apple Grape
(seems I have a 6 gal carboy instead of 5 as was marked by the store)
1.3 lbs dark brown sugar
.7 lbs white sugar (was told by SO we had enough brown!!)
Lavlin EC1118

Ok well day two and man is that stuff going.

Nice bubble every 2 seconds and you can just see the surface moving from the action!!

No rhino farts yet, as a matter of fact my spare room smells super sweet when I walk in!! Makes my mouth water.

I can't wait to try this stuff!!

You'll be fine - worst case scenario it'll taste a bit dodgy. Hard cider is strong and acidic anyway, so you'll enjoy it!

Quick update on my Apfelwein. It's coming along nicely. Took an SG and it was .998, I tasted a sample from the tube and I gotta say not bad. It is very dry white wine taste. No hint of apple in there, but I didn't really expect it. I was actually impressed. Thanks Ed!

Pitch Day:


Today:



Image of Applewein and Black Cherry Shiraz kit, next to each other.

Leave it alone, stop tasting, testing and messing with it. It needs to be clear before you do anything with it. It needs 6 months before it really starts to taste like Apple again.

Got it, but that was the first time since 11-19-09 that I messed with it and it was only to test the SG!