digdan
Well-Known Member
Has anyone attempted to add flavor to Apfelwein? Would coffee house flavors like Green Apple and Carmel work well? Or should I leave it alone?
+1
on Evil's advice,
With the coffee house flavors they are packed with simple sugars, which will end up fermenting out leaving you with an unknown flavor. I would try adding some "Sugar Free" flavor to a glass of apfelwein , if you are still going to try....
-Jason
ok, so I flavored some apple wines with "cafe" style flavors. And I've come to this conclusion :
Don't do it! Well... you can with mild success, but if you want to be a rock star... DON'T DO IT.
From my experience I've found this : People don't care for how subtle your wine is, if it tastes like crap. They understand you took months to make it, and they just nod their heads and imagine themselves heaving in their mini brains.
Onto the cafe styles. The simple cane sugar is not good for fermentation. It gives mass cider flavors, and will turn your wine into ... ghetto wine. Or, recipe wine.
If you wish to use these flavors, use sugar free. Use after fermentation, but before force-carbonation/bottling.
For the best flavor, I would suggest subtle hops to play with sugar free flavors. Or better yet.... don't f' with the recipe
My wife is calling, and she is sober so... peace
I'm making my first 5 gal batch of Ed's Apfelwein. I'm planning on racking off a little less than a gallon (space for additives) soon once the fermentation stops, campden and sorbating it, and adding, simmered in some undiluted apple cranberry concentrate and fresh squeezed OJ, 1/8 tsp of each cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice, orange zest, and vanilla. I'll let that sit for a few weeks and bottle at the same time as the 5 gallon batch. Should be good this holiday season! Or not, but it's only one gallon.
Sounds great! Nothing says holidays like cranberries and intoxication. Let me know how it turns out... seriously, I'm very interested.
I've been tempted to rack a gallon test batch onto a lb of raspberries then backsweeten. Sort of like Woodchuck only with a little more kick and more raspberry flavor.
Please explain how to backsweeten. I have a hard cider batch going now. Basically it is 5-gallons of apple juice, no additional sugar, and three packages of frozen raspberries. I used EC-1118 yeast. I've made this before and it comes out very dry and a bit sour but over ice it is delicious. My wife would like it a bit sweeter so hence the reason for asking about backsweetening.
That sounds interesting. How many tea bags did you use for a 5 gal batch? How strong was the flavor?Fruit tea bags work for me.
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