Man, I love Apfelwein

Williams 728
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BayviewBob said:
Do you have a recipe you can share for the black cherry apflewein?
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Sure, I just followed the regular recipe, but I swapped out 1 gallon for 1 gallon of all natural Black Cherry juice that I picked up Sprouts. To be honest, the last time I tasted it, I am not sure there was enough flavor there to justify the cost. Maybe the flavor will come out a little more with time, I know the regular apfelwein has a better apple flavor after a few months. However, I have no tasted this since it was ~2 months old.
 
KillerKellers said:
Sure, I just followed the regular recipe, but I swapped out 1 gallon for 1 gallon of all natural Black Cherry juice that I picked up Sprouts. To be honest, the last time I tasted it, I am not sure there was enough flavor there to justify the cost. Maybe the flavor will come out a little more with time, I know the regular apfelwein has a better apple flavor after a few months. However, I have no tasted this since it was ~2 months old.
Click to expand...



Thanks, I just picked up some apple juice and some black cherry concentrate yesterday at Pilgrims whole foods, and was going to make something up.

Thought I would see what you did.

Next year I am going to pick some of the tiny little cherries from my black cherry trees and see what I can do with them, besides let the birds eat them. They aren't much bigger than the pit, but have a nice TART flavor.
 
BayviewBob said:
Thanks, I just picked up some apple juice and some black cherry concentrate yesterday at Pilgrims whole foods, and was going to make something up.

Thought I would see what you did.

Next year I am going to pick some of the tiny little cherries from my black cherry trees and see what I can do with them, besides let the birds eat them. They aren't much bigger than the pit, but have a nice TART flavor.
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Oh yeah, worth a shot for sure! I do like the color it has, and I think it will look great in wine bottles (when I buy a corker.. and have time to bottle it!)
 
FYI for all of you Arizona Ed Wort's Apfelwein makers. Bashas grocery store has Mott's 64oz apple juice on sale for 99c. Limit of 4. It works out to be $1.98 a gallon. Just make multiple trips when you're out.
 
LiquidGold said:
FYI for all of you Arizona Ed Wort's Apfelwein makers. Bashas grocery store has Mott's 64oz apple juice on sale for 99c. Limit of 4. It works out to be $1.98 a gallon. Just make multiple trips when you're out.
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Me=Jealous, but I did clip a coupon out of the paper Sunday that was a dollar off two treetop juices.:rockin:
 
Lots of thanks and praise to Edwort!!!

I've been making Apfelwein for about 8 months now. I have been using 1.2L tins of "Allens" apple juice (pasturized with vit c added). This makes great liquid panty remover (my pants are at the knees right now lol). I start a new batch (23L) at the beginning of every month.

At first I was making many 1 gallon batches in order to experiment with different amounts of sugar, yeast nutrient, as well as different types of juice and yeast.

In the next few weeks I'm going to pick up 50L of organic, non windfall, fresh pressed apple juice. I'm going to divide this into two batches, one that uses Edworts basic recipe, and one that I will sweeten with honey and maple sugar as well as add cinnamon sticks.

Here is my el-cheepo booze recipe:
17 1/2 tins Allens apple juice < $1 CDN per can
1 pack of Lalvin 1116 (I perfer this to 1118 or D-47 but this is just personal taste)
1 kg of dextrose ( can sub cane sugar also can up this to 2kg for added pop)
1 1/2 heaping tsp of yeast energizer (more makes it foam over the air lock)
All told < $30 CDN for 23L of fun!!!

HAZZAA!!
Thanks again
 
PS: I find that cider that doesn't use non Windfall apples has a bruised apple taste to it. I define cider as being non filtered apple juice.

The recipe in the post above uses apple juice (filtered apple cider)
 
Damn you Ed Wort. I need to buy some more carboys now to put this into a 15 gallon rotation. 4 weeks old and quite the tasty sneaky devil it be.
 
I know the chemical differences between corn and cane sugar... what are the differences when using them in an application like this??
 
JamesM said:
I know the chemical differences between corn and cane sugar... what are the differences when using them in an application like this??
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I'm no scientist, but I do know that there isn't a big taste difference(to me.) I've made this stuff with only cane sugar, with a mix of cane/corn, and with only corn sugar. When all kegged and aged about the same amount of time, I really couldn't tell a difference, but I'm also not a judge. When I use cane sugar, I try to go with a premium organic or fine grain one though.

I think this goes back to the argument which is better to prime with, cane or corn sugar? Well, they're both 100% fermentable, but people argue flavor differences. When I haven't made it to the homebrew store, I just make the adjustment to use cane in a pinch. I've never been able to tell a difference in this application either.

Oh yeah, I've also used 1/2 brown/corn sugar and couldn't tell a big difference. Idk if this was much help, but I've made it enough times to tell you that there really isn't that big of a taste difference (to me.)

Hopes this helps,
J
 
I made 10 gallons of Ed's recipe back in 2007 & have enjoyed every last drop of it. I started another 5 gallons Sept 19th. On October 19th, I moved to secondary and decided to get fancy with it. I added:

3/4lb Golden Raisins (bought sunmaid, had to soak/rinse)
2lb Raw Sugar
1.5lb Clover Honey
2 x 12oz Apple Juice concentrate
~8 cups water to dissolve
and re-pitched some Montrachet for good measure

I'm excited to see how my additions in secondary effect the flavor. Now I just have to wait. :drunk:
 
Anybody try serving it hot? Maybe with some cinnamon and nutmeg?

I'm thinking about bringing some 'witches brew" to a Halloween party.
 
arturo7 said:
Anybody try serving it hot? Maybe with some cinnamon and nutmeg?

I'm thinking about bringing some 'witches brew" to a Halloween party.
Click to expand...

if you check out Ed's first post (the one with the recipe on pg 1,) at the very end of his thread, he has a suggestion for a grog.
 
arturo7 said:
Anybody try serving it hot? Maybe with some cinnamon and nutmeg?

I'm thinking about bringing some 'witches brew" to a Halloween party.
Click to expand...

That's a good question. We have a big party we're going to this weekend and I was planning on bringing some of my apfelwein but wasn't sure everyone would enjoy it just straight up. Usually someone would have a hot drink at the party so something like this would be perfect. Maybe some sort of spiced hot cider mixed in as well or something.
 
EdWort said:
What else can you do with this recipe?
EdWort says, "this makes a great Grog in the winter time. Take a quart in a sauce pan, add some rum, turbinado sugar, and float a cinnamon stick in it and simmer for a while. Serve hot in mugs. It'll warm you right up."
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There ya go!
 
Made a batch in March, kegged it in May, man it tastes way better than it did a few months ago. Tasted like el cheapo wine before, now it is good.
 
ruffdeezy said:
Made a batch in March, kegged it in May, man it tastes way better than it did a few months ago. Tasted like el cheapo wine before, now it is good.
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I've got that from people. Tastes like a cheap home made wine. I reply, no it's cider. Not wine. I've never heard of cheap cider. I can agree with you that it's better after a minimum of two months and is damn near amazing at 6 months. That's the oldest I've ever tried it or as long as I could keep it w/out drinking it.
 
I went to my LHBS, and when I asked for "dextrose" they said "sure, we have that" and gave me a bag labeled "corn sugar." same thing?
 
Thanks! Google just told me that too, but I wanted to hear it from an actual brewer. My LHBS isn't always the friendliest, and I was afraid to ask. She's mean!
 
Has anyone ever made a black satin sorry, there was a bar we used to go to that called black it a black satin, but I think most people know it as a black velvet. Sorry.
 
WIP said:
What is a black satin?
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marubozo said:
No, but it makes a good snakebite.
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You can call it whatever you want, black satin, black velvet, or snakebite, but it's all the same. These things have a quadzillion names depending on what bar you order it from, but all some sort of fizzy yellow fruit beverage (fizzy wine or cider) floated with stout. I just made 10 gallons of Bee Cave Porter and I was thinking about doing it with that since I have them both on tap. Ed's porter is kinda like a light stout if you've ever had it.

What do you guys think?
 
Does anybody else feel dirty buying 5-6 gallons of apple juice? I'm always afraid somebody thinks that I actually drink this stuff in juice form. And that's gross.
 
haha yeah first time i did it here, i felt so sketchy. i had to buy in 1.2 litre cans too so the cashier was just amazed as i kept putting up cans of this stuff non stop. kinda funny
 
I buy juice from the Cash and Carry over here (food service suplier) for about $3 a gallon. Then they don't think it is for me. lol (total cost minus nutrient is around $19)

I made a video of the process. Kinda boring. A couple changes.

 
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Hi all....

I've been lurking for a few weeks soaking in as much info as I can. Thanks to you all I have a nice IPA that's dry hopping and about a week away from bottling. I tasted it today as I was adding some hops and it was awesome! Anyway, after reading this thread for a few hours I decided to go ahead and start an Apfelwein and I have a question or two.

I think I've confused myself after reading other cider threads that talk about cold crashing to stop the yeast from fermenting. Let's say that I don't want to let my Apfelwein completely ferment out to 1.000 or below. If I want it a little sweeter and less dry would stopping fermentation at 1.010 be sufficient? If so, what's the best way to stop fermentation? I assume that if I don't do anything to stop it and bottle with priming sugar at 1.010 I would run the risk of exploding bottles since the yeast would still be fermenting?

Lastly, in Ed's original post he mentioned using the original apple juice containers to bottle with as long as you do not carbonate. If I decide to go this route for part of my batch do I need do anything specific with the lids or do I just sanitize and screw them back on?

FYI... I tweaked the recipe a little. Here's what I did:

Mixed and added to a 5 gallon carboy -

3 gallons Tree Top apple cider
1 gallon Tree top apple juice
1 gallon 100% grape juice
2 lbs corn sugar
24 oz. apple juice concentrate
5 grams Red Star Montrachet yeast

OG - 1.072
 
Richard-SSV said:
Hi all....

I've been lurking for a few weeks soaking in as much info as I can. Thanks to you all I have a nice IPA that's dry hopping and about a week away from bottling. I tasted it today as I was adding some hops and it was awesome! Anyway, after reading this thread for a few hours I decided to go ahead and start an Apfelwein and I have a question or two.

I think I've confused myself after reading other cider threads that talk about cold crashing to stop the yeast from fermenting. Let's say that I don't want to let my Apfelwein completely ferment out to 1.000 or below. If I want it a little sweeter and less dry would stopping fermentation at 1.010 be sufficient? If so, what's the best way to stop fermentation? I assume that if I don't do anything to stop it and bottle with priming sugar at 1.010 I would run the risk of exploding bottles since the yeast would still be fermenting?

Lastly, in Ed's original post he mentioned using the original apple juice containers to bottle with as long as you do not carbonate. If I decide to go this route for part of my batch do I need do anything specific with the lids or do I just sanitize and screw them back on?

FYI... I tweaked the recipe a little. Here's what I did:

Mixed and added to a 5 gallon carboy -

3 gallons Tree Top apple cider
1 gallon Tree top apple juice
1 gallon 100% grape juice
2 lbs corn sugar
24 oz. apple juice concentrate
5 grams Red Star Montrachet yeast

OG - 1.072
Click to expand...

IDK b/c I've never tried to make anything but dry apfelwein. What I would do if I was you is once it hits 1.020, I'd start tasting it. When it's to the right sweetness, cold crash it.
 
I wanted to make sure that I got 100% juice with no additives, so I went to the local whole food market (called Earthfare where I like, like Whole Foods elsewhere). They had glass gallon jugs of what they called "Natural Apple Juice." They were on sale! However, this is not your typical clear apple juice -- it is cloudy and definitely has some sediment. I'm not sure if it isn't technically a cider.

Do you think it will make a big difference in the final product?
 
I want to know where you people are getting 1 gallon GLASS jugs from???? other than that, how important is the labeling on this? I don't have access to apple CIDER, so I'd have to pay someone to get from an apple orchard. If I send someone to an orchard, what do I tell them to get?
 
Okie dokie. I am getting a wierd fermenting thing going on. I figure it is nothing to worry about, but I thought I would share. It appears to be a clump of unliquified brown sugar being attacked by the yeastie boys. Oh, and I can't see through at the bottom to see what is going on.



Here is what I did with the latest batch...
4 gallons of 100% Apple Juice
1/2 gallon Apple Raspberry Juice
2 lbs dark brown sugar
4 tsp yeast nutrient boiled in 2 cups of water
1 pkt Montrachet yeast

If you want to see my vid of how It is done, it is in my profile called EdWort's Apfelwein Complete.
 
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mikeysab said:
I want to know where you people are getting 1 gallon GLASS jugs from???? other than that, how important is the labeling on this? I don't have access to apple CIDER, so I'd have to pay someone to get from an apple orchard. If I send someone to an orchard, what do I tell them to get?
Click to expand...

The recipe calls for Apple Juice, not Apple Cider, FWIW. A store near me just happens to sell the juice in glass containers.
 
mikeysab said:
I want to know where you people are getting 1 gallon GLASS jugs from???? other than that, how important is the labeling on this? I don't have access to apple CIDER, so I'd have to pay someone to get from an apple orchard. If I send someone to an orchard, what do I tell them to get?
Click to expand...

A lot of the Health Food stores around me (I think Whole Foods as well) have Natural Apple Juices in Glass Jugs. One brand is Knudsen's.

Made a really great Cyser with this stuff! It is pretty expensive though, ~8.99 gal if I recall correctly from a recent check) so large batches will be costly.
 
Recluse said:
A lot of the Health Food stores around me (I think Whole Foods as well) have Natural Apple Juices in Glass Jugs. One brand is Knudsen's.

Made a really great Cyser with this stuff! It is pretty expensive though, ~8.99 gal if I recall correctly from a recent check) so large batches will be costly.
Click to expand...

That's exactly where I got mine -- only on sale for $5.48/gallon! Come to think of it, I should have bought a lot more.
 
I think I'm gonna try a batch of this, but I only have a single carboy and it's in use for the next couple months. Is there any reason I couldn't ferment the Apfelwein in the 5 gallon plastic bucket that I typically use as my primary?
 
drycreek said:
I think I'm gonna try a batch of this, but I only have a single carboy and it's in use for the next couple months. Is there any reason I couldn't ferment the Apfelwein in the 5 gallon plastic bucket that I typically use as my primary?
Click to expand...

That's fine, but you won't be able to see when it clears.
 

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