Man, I love Apfelwein

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jdcoffman said:
I'd like to mark this occasion by saying that I'm now making the 1,000th post on this thread! that's really awesome! :)

Congrats EdWort for all the hard work and time put into this thread... I'd say there are other homebrew forums out there who wish they had this pmany posts total!

Thanks! It's hard to believe there are 1,000 posts on this thread. Is this a record for HBT?
 
Thanks guys. Over 36,500 views. Did we hit 500 gallons yet?

SWMBO just phoned me to tell me she floated the Apfelwein keg. I guess I'll be bringing a keg in from the garage cooler when I get back in town and starting a new batch. That one only lasted 3 weeks.
 
Well, I tried to start my first batch today and got so darn excited I screwed the thing up... used nearly 5lbs of dextrose instead of 2... I guess if I start working on that airplane I've always wanted maybe I can use this for fuel?

Damn i'm an idiot. any ideas on how to salvage it?

I guess, I could try siphoning half of it into another carboy and adding 2 gallons to each carboy?

Of course then i've got 10 gallons of apfelwein that I don't even know if I'm going to like (although you all keep telling me that I will, so hopefully that's the case! lol)

le sigh.
 
jdcoffman said:
What do I need to do to kill off the yeast? Is there an appropriate FG that I should be aiming for?

Without knowing your starting gravity, it's hard to say.

It's up to you to decide. Calculate your alcohol percentage ((Starting Gravity - Current Gravity) x 131)). If the alcohol is where you want it, take a taste. If that's fine...hasta la vista my yeastie friends. :rockin:
 
Poor little yeastie beasties, they've always done so well for me! K-meta kills 'em off doesn't it? I think i might have a little extra sitting around, I'll have to look up the dosage though.

I might just cry a little as I dump it in.

After about 12 hours I haven't seen any action yet from the little guys (since pitching) but I'll give them time, I trust that they'll make me a proud daddy as they multiply like little yeasties do so well.
 
Ive got some 6.5 gal carboys sittin around, and was thinking about making this. If i just use 6 gallons of Apple juice instead of five will I be fine? Should I add a little extra dextrose too?
 
jdcoffman said:
Well, I tried to start my first batch today and got so darn excited I screwed the thing up... used nearly 5lbs of dextrose instead of 2... I guess if I start working on that airplane I've always wanted maybe I can use this for fuel?


When I spoke to Lesaffrey Yeast (Makers of Red Star Montrachet) they said 2lbs will give you 5% ABV.

Ed regularly says his recipe turns out 8.5% w/ 2lbs of sugar. So the base cider will make 3.5% ABV

You are boosting your cider by 12.5% for what will probably 16% ABV!!!!

I would cut it with cider now or at drinking time. You could leave it go the full strength. If its too much sugar the yeast will stop on its own and the rest will be for sweetness. Nope - Just checked it will work up 18%

If you go that route might go get wine bottles & corks then serve it at the dinner table.


I drank my cider from October (not apfelwein) it 7.5%. Its frickin' dangerous. :drunk:

I was brewing last night, racked my Dort over the 2ndary and started brewing another Pilsner. The last I remember I was already to pitch the yeast....

I woke up on the couch at 7AM. Thinking WTF!!!! I don't remember pitching it, the yeast was gone. I know I didn't drink it too.

8.5 will be just as dangerous. At least at 15.5% you'll definately taste the alcohol.
 
Tophe96 said:
Ive got some 6.5 gal carboys sittin around, and was thinking about making this. If i just use 6 gallons of Apple juice instead of five will I be fine? Should I add a little extra dextrose too?

6 gallons in a 6 1/2 gallon carboy may be a little close. My first batch of Apfelwien had a great kruesen on it (see below).

I used half the sugar and used brown sugar. My latest batch was 5 gallons of just applejuice and Splenda. I want a low ABV and a sweetly carb'd version.

This time there was hardly any foaming but it is fun to watch the yeast action in this much clearer version.

CiderKruesen_12Hrs.jpg
 
I picked up some Dextrose and Montrachet for my Apfelwein today...

Unfortunately they only had a 4 LB bag of dextrose...

Crap.

Now I have enough for 2 batches AND I'm gonna have to buy a scale to measure it out.

That's a damn shame.




;)

Ize
 
Ize said:
I picked up some Dextrose and Montrachet for my Apfelwein today...

Unfortunately they only had a 4 LB bag of dextrose...

Crap.

Now I have enough for 2 batches AND I'm gonna have to buy a scale to measure it out.

That's a damn shame.




;)

Ize

Measure my way... 4 lb bag.... hmmm i think about 'here' is half, *dumps into carboy*...
 
DeadYetiBrew said:
Measure my way... 4 lb bag.... hmmm i think about 'here' is half, *dumps into carboy*...


LOL...

Shhhh... SWMBO will just think it's one less thing to buy when AG fever hits me. :D


Ize
 
Alright guys....I went and bought juice today. My selection sucked and I dont have a Sams membership. I bought Meijer brand. I didnt realize it til I got home that they have Vitamin C added. I was reading the half gallon bottles and they didnt have VC added, so I grabbed the big ones without thinking.

Should I not use this juice, whats going to happen? Will I just have a healthier drink?lol.
 
Tophe96 said:
Alright guys....I went and bought juice today. My selection sucked and I dont have a Sams membership. I bought Meijer brand. I didnt realize it til I got home that they have Vitamin C added. I was reading the half gallon bottles and they didnt have VC added, so I grabbed the big ones without thinking.

Should I not use this juice, whats going to happen? Will I just have a healthier drink?lol.

Pretty sure the added Vitamin C is ok....
 
sweet....anyone else have an idea. I was going to make this tonight, unless someone tells me the Vitamin C is bad.
 
I'm pretty sure the vitamin c is there to preserve color. Regardless of it's purpose, I've used juice with it and had no problems.
 
I'd say Vit. C just makes it more healthy... meaning you can drink more before feeling bad about it :)

I'll share my rocket fuel with you if you want...
 
So... my rocket fuel should be movin and groovin by now.. but it's really not.

Here's what I've got so far (I promise I'm TRYING to be patient)...

Exhibit A) A seemingly possessed perfect circle of a ring of bubbles/krueson on the top abotu 2 inches from the sides of the carboy)

Exhibit B) A few stray 'patches' of bubbles inside the circle (none outside, am I being warned by something OUT THERE?).

Exhibit C) I've observed no airlock activity since starting my rocket fuel

So, basically, I see the two signs of some fermentation going on, but the third is a little disheartening because I'm using a brand new plug and airlock with a tight seal, so I can't imagine the air escaping somehow else... but i'm just not sure. We're on Day 4 I think since throwing this all together.

I'm thinking this weekend I might just take a sample out and test it, make sure something's happening maybe?
 
Four days? Get in there and take a sample now.

Maybe your yeasties are in a sugar coma with all the dextrose you added... :drunk:

It may also be (here comes an uneducated guess) that the high sugar content is really overwhelming the yeast and it may take a little longer for them to gain
"strength in numbers".

I dunno. I'm drinking a homebrew and brewing a Wit.

I dunno.
 
Well I just took a quick hydro reading with my thief and dropping in the meter, got 1.082 adjusted (yikes!) ... however when I snuck a taste, I'm not picking up on the alcohol which I would expect at this point...

it tasted like... sweetened applejuice, with some extra 'tack' to the mouthfeel. I don't really know what to think, I suppose I could do a personal evaluation of how much/how little it's fermented out by grabbing a glass and see how many it takes to make Katie Couric look good on the news tonight ;-)

Any ideas?
 
I'd pour half of it into another carboy and top it off with more apple juice (no dextrose this time) plus a fresh packet of Montrachet.

My stuff has never taken longer than overnight to see fermentation action.
 
That's what I was afraid of, and alas I have no more montrachet, just a bag of muntons and some liquid ale yeasts darnit.

I guess I'll place an order for some yeast and whatnot and maybe tackle this again next week.

I'm such an idiot.
 
Mine is bubbling every 35-40 seconds in the airlock. I have no foam or krausen going on.

I used Lavlin D-47 yeast, which ive never used before. Its been almost 24 hours since I pitched the yeast. Im hoping the activity will pick up in the next 12 hours. I do have another pack of yeast for back up if needed.
 
In the mean time, shake the carboy up good and transfer 1/2 to another carboy and top both of them off with juice. You may have enough yeast suspended in it to take off by the time you get your yeast.

At 79 cents a pack, I always pick up 4 or 5 when I'm at the local HBS. Ya can never have too much on hand. :)
 
I agree. Split those puppies up, bring down the sugar with some regular apple juice and aerate the **** out of them. Maybe by the time you are able to get some more yeast, the activity will pick back up.

Edwort, what would you have expected his G to be with 5 Lbs of dextrose?
 
BierMuncher said:
Edwort, what would you have expected his G to be with 5 Lbs of dextrose?

Pretty Dang High. The first time I made this, I used THREE pounds of corn sugar for 5 gallons. I took 3 gallons to a party and the people LOVED it. They all got hammered and the next day swore they would never touch the stuff again. :drunk:

I learned from that day to cut the sugar down to 2 pounds and to drink it in moderation (plus down a liter of water and 2 aspirin before heading to bed). :D
 
jdcoffman said:
That's what I was afraid of, and alas I have no more montrachet, just a bag of muntons and some liquid ale yeasts darnit.

I guess I'll place an order for some yeast and whatnot and maybe tackle this again next week.

I'm such an idiot.

Don't worry about starting, it will giddiyup. Mine took four days until I saw bubbles. After day 5 - I had cider in the airlock. :)

I would look at cutting your batch in half w/ plain "PASTUERIZED" cider.

If you don't your liver is going to want to know if you're trying to pickle it to death! :D


BTW - I'm at week #9 and mine is still passin' gas!!!!
 
jus put mine in secondary and im pretty sure its done fermenting after 2 weeks

drank some out of the bucket (which i learned isnt easy an now have it al down my top) and it was sour and had quite a strong alcohol flavour

think for my next one ill make it less strong and not use cloudy apple juice!
 
Mines been fermenting a little over 2 weeks now and the fermentation has slowed substantially. I'm assuming this is normal? But this is my first attempt at making my own wine so I just want to make sure.
 
I started what I thought was a 5 gallon carboy of apfelwine the Thursday before the Superbowl. I put it behind the couch and haven't even looked at it since. When I pulled the bottle out last night, it had magically grown into a 6 gallon carboy. It is nice and clear, tho

Now, I'll admit to being a little buzzed the night I made this. I'm also older than dirt. I know I bought 6 gallons of apple juice, but that was because the wife wanted some for drinking.

I followed the recipe, except for a couple little things. I used 2 lbs dark brown sugar and EC-1118 yeast and apparently topped up to 6 gallons. My wife said she had less than a half a gallon of apple juice to drink after my "expirment"

I'm assuming that it will come out extremely dry. I was planning on bottling this weekend. I was thinking rack it to another carboy, add some campden (how much?) then add cornsugar to sweeten it up to about 1.002. Bottle and age till summer.

OR...should I add the cornsugar (I have 1 lb) and let that ferment down to the level I want then kill it.

Will this work, or do I pour it in the compost bin and start over.

Thanks for the hep
 
Finally ready to bottle my first batch of apfelwein this evening and I have a quick question. I think I recall reading in here somewhere that you back sweetened a batch with Splenda. Can you let me know how much Splenda per gallon that you used? Thanks a million.................DN
 
DNisich said:
Finally ready to bottle my first batch of apfelwein this evening and I have a quick question. I think I recall reading in here somewhere that you back sweetened a batch with Splenda. Can you let me know how much Splenda per gallon that you used? Thanks a million.................DN

Yeah, I did try that experiment with a few glasses, but SWMBO didn't care for it, so I have not used any sweetner in the last 30 gallons or so.

Start out with 4 oz. samples and add 1/2 tsp. till you find the right ratio. Then do the math for the remaining Apfelwein is how I would do it.
 
Well, SWMBO opened a Hardcore and tasted it beside the still, room-temp Apfelwein. She thinks that the Apfelwein is only marginally more tart. So,we just primed and bottled it straight up. Once it is has fully bottle conditioned we'll drink it for a while and decide then if we want to do any tweaking.

-DN
 
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