Man, I love Apfelwein

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I made my first batch in early Sept. After 3 months, it had dropped very clear so I kegged it. I tapped the keg a couple of weeks (approx 4 months old). Here are my impressions:

  1. Little to no carbonation after 1 month kegged at 12 psi. It fizzes when it first pours but clears quickly.
  2. Pours a nice golden color and it's extremely clear.
  3. The aromas and flavors are inverted to me. The smell is definitely apple. If I didn't know what it was, at first glance and smell, I would think it's just apple juice but the smell is followed by reminisce of champagne. The taste is the opposite. At first, the taste is semi-dry champagne like with a hint of apple flavor in the back.
  4. The alcohol level is quite deceptive. In fact, I cannot taste any alcohol but I assure you that after 2 glasses, I am beginning to slur my speech!

So overall, this is a good recipe and while I enjoy drinking it, I am a beer drinker so I am not sure at this point if or when I would make another batch. However, I would still recommend it to anyone that likes or enjoys wine and/or champagne.
 
I put my first batch together on 12/20/13 and put it in the corner of my living room so that it would be bubbling away when all the family is over for Christmas. After all the questions I fielded last year concerning my hobby, I figured I could use a visual.
 
hio3791 said:
I made my first batch in early Sept. After 3 months, it had dropped very clear so I kegged it. I tapped the keg a couple of weeks (approx 4 months old). Here are my impressions:

  1. Little to no carbonation after 1 month kegged at 12 psi. It fizzes when it first pours but clears quickly.
  2. Pours a nice golden color and it's extremely clear.
  3. The aromas and flavors are inverted to me. The smell is definitely apple. If I didn't know what it was, at first glance and smell, I would think it's just apple juice but the smell is followed by reminisce of champagne. The taste is the opposite. At first, the taste is semi-dry champagne like with a hint of apple flavor in the back.
  4. The alcohol level is quite deceptive. In fact, I cannot taste any alcohol but I assure you that after 2 glasses, I am beginning to slur my speech!

So overall, this is a good recipe and while I enjoy drinking it, I am a beer drinker so I am not sure at this point if or when I would make another batch. However, I would still recommend it to anyone that likes or enjoys wine and/or champagne.
Click to expand...

Mine was started back in June. No backsweetening and left still, no carbing. Today, I describe the flavor as this.. It's a light and crisp flavored apple-y flavor. Smells like apple and tastes like a light apple juice with a subtle apple flavor on the finish. Best served chilled. My most important description I can give is that the drink/flavor grows on you. The more you drink it, the more you like it.

You can't going into the tasting thinking of what an apple wine will taste like or comparing it to a commercial cider you've had before because you will automatically start comparing the apfelwein to those and think this falls short. It really is it's own flavor and nothing i've had before tastes quite like it. It's "different" and it's quite good. I like it alot. :D

After I drank my first bottle, I remember and then understood why the recipe states "reserve your judgement until after the 2nd glass because it grows on you". Good stuff!
 
I followed Ed Wort's recipe to a "T" but added s-33 Ale yeast instead.
This one: http://www.northernbrewer.com/shop/brewing/brewing-ingredients/beer-yeast/safale-s-33-edme.html

Anybody else do this?

How long should I let it bubble for? I know some people will say "as long as possible" but doesn't this yeast move faster than Red Star Montrachet?

Secondary or not?

I made the original recipe and love it! I wanted to try something different this time, if you have made this how does it differ?

Cheers:tank:
 
Bubbles don't mean anything with regard to fermentation. You can get bubbles from a completely empty carboy if the temperature changes or a weather front passes through. Measure gravity with a hydrometer to determine how the fermentation is progressing.

Follow the timeline suggested in the recipe. The last points of gravity tend to come off slowly, so fermentation will take at least a month. A secondary after that will greatly improve the apfelwein. This stuff gets amazing after 4-6 months. It's worth the wait.

While you are waiting, brew up some more apfelwein!
 
my hydrometer has been floating right around 1.000 for about a week now, hard to get an exact reading due to bubbles (i just dropped er right in the carboy) but this coming weekend i really wanna bottle it and use the yeast cake to start some skeeter piss. It looks relatively clear and will be a month and a few days old this weekend, would there be any harm in bottling it sooner than later? I'll still age most of it for another good few months in the bottles.

One option i have is i could cold crash it for a few hours on the balcony, its winter here. Would i get suck back in my airlock if i did that? Or could i just dump the water out of it and place it back on top just in case a leaf blows in or something
 
Made a batch of this 6 days ago. It's currently sitting in the corner bubbling away, and I have to say the quite often "rhino fart" breeze will blow past every couple of minutes and make my nose twitch. My wife walked in last night and her first comment was "What the hell have you been eating?" :D I pointed to the carboy, she checked it out and said "Hope it tastes better than it smells." Guess we'll find out in a few months. Plan on aging it a while.
 
pokeacow said:
my hydrometer has been floating right around 1.000 for about a week now, hard to get an exact reading due to bubbles (i just dropped er right in the carboy) but this coming weekend i really wanna bottle it and use the yeast cake to start some skeeter piss. It looks relatively clear and will be a month and a few days old this weekend, would there be any harm in bottling it sooner than later? I'll still age most of it for another good few months in the bottles.

One option i have is i could cold crash it for a few hours on the balcony, its winter here. Would i get suck back in my airlock if i did that? Or could i just dump the water out of it and place it back on top just in case a leaf blows in or something
Click to expand...

Seems like everybody just says to sit on it at room temp for a few months at least; that's what I'm going to do.

Sent from my SCH-I535 using Home Brew mobile app
 
Holy rhino fart! I just put this together yesterday using Montrachet, brown sugar and wine nutrient... it still smells like butt. It is bubbling away though. I don't think I've ever seen something ferment so vigorously. I can actually hear the bubbles in the fermenter. It sounds like highly carbonated soda when you pour it into a glass.
 
j-hemmie said:
Holy rhino fart! I just put this together yesterday using Montrachet, brown sugar and wine nutrient... it still smells like butt. It is bubbling away though. I don't think I've ever seen something ferment so vigorously. I can actually hear the bubbles in the fermenter. It sounds like highly carbonated soda when you pour it into a glass.
Click to expand...

Yeah this stuff goes bonkers. It's all good
 
WOW!
I brewed this up Jan 2013, and got lazy and didn't want to bottle it, so I forgot about it for a while. I recently found it and kegged it up last week (Jan 2014). AMAZING! I'd drink this over many commercial ciders.

A second batch will be going into a fermenter soon! Hopefully I can last and let it condition for enough time this time.
 
Well crap!!
I went down to cold crash a beer for the Super Bowl and noticed a slight film and a few grey/white chunks on my previously clear apfelwein!
So, do I ride it out, or bottle quick from underneath and go ahead and drink it. Tastes good already, that's probably how it got infected. Stole one too many samples!! :) oops!
 
Ok, that's what I needed to hear. May bottle and give it during Super Bowl.
Thanks. Prob not even carb, just wine bottle, chill, and pour.

Thanks!
 
Just to get this into the main thread since it's up-
I recently pitched onto a stirred up montrachet yeast cake from the previous 3 month batch. Fermented fast, happy, and is clearing out nicely now.

I'll be continuing to do this until I notice anything amiss.
 
heya.
first time poster, long time lurker.
i tried to read how much i could from this topic but is huge.
my question is that there is any replacement for montrachet yeast ? i could use "All Purpose Red Wine Yeast " for example ? montrachet it seems like is missing in europe. amazon does not want to deliver here, and co.uk does not have it.
thanks !
 
Have you tried the major online retailers, like northern brewer? Otherwise, look for lalvin 71b-1122.
 
I used Enoferm QA23 yeast, took off really well with some Go-Ferm Evolution

Sent from my SCH-I535 using Home Brew mobile app
 
Hello All:

Made 1st batch of Apfelwein over the weekend (Sun, 1.26) using Motts, Montrachet, 1 cinnamon stick, and Vodka in the airlock. Attached picture is what fermentation looks like as of this morning.

Changed out/sanitized the airlock 3 times....well, b/c I was nervous;\ Is this normal and should I leave it be or continue to change until fermentation subsides?

Thanks!!

IMG_1390.jpg
 
take the airlock off and place a sanitized towel with rubberband on it for the first 5 days, it should help, then put the airlock back on. the fermentation is strong enough (purging co2) in the first five days that there is no risk of infection.
 
alby44 said:
Hello All:

Made 1st batch of Apfelwein over the weekend (Sun, 1.26) using Motts, Montrachet, 1 cinnamon stick, and Vodka in the airlock. Attached picture is what fermentation looks like as of this morning.

Changed out/sanitized the airlock 3 times....well, b/c I was nervous;\ Is this normal and should I leave it be or continue to change until fermentation subsides?

Thanks!!
Click to expand...

You probably shouldn't fill your carboy up so full next time is what I'd recommend.
 
I finally bottled the batch I started back in mid-September. Is the yeast cake any good for another batch? It has only been used once, for the batch I just bottled.
 
Okay, I read the first 200 or so pages of this then skipped and read the last dozen. I may be mistaken but early on there seemed to be the "wait 4 weeks and keg the stuff to drink" and now I am seeing folks waiting 6 months or even over a year.

I have been making beer for a long time, and recently trying some mead. One of the main drawbacks (for me) to mead is the long wait from pitch to drink. My 1st batch of Apfelwein is right at 3 weeks old, straight up Edwort's recipe, but still pretty cloudy. I have no intention of trying it before 4 weeks but I am also concerned that it is so cloudy at 22 days.

Wondering about cold crashing. Anyone do that to clear it out for racking?

I've been backsweetening my meads since I'm not a fan of dry wine, although I am getting a taste for it to be dryer and dryer. Right now the Apfelwein smells pretty damn nasty, hoping the final phases will clear that up as well.

Anyone add any nutrients like Fermaid-K to speed up the critters?

How about degassing, good idea or bad?

Potassium carbonate, good idea or bad?
 
You can drink it early but it only gets better if you wait!
Having a little more tonight. this keg is pretty light but not to worry I have another carboy full downstairs.:rockin:
And yes I do love it.:D

IMG_1559.jpg
 
Edbert: yeah, doesn't smell too pleasant when young. I keg or bottle after 2-3 months. Haven't saved any to age more than 5 months and I've made 10? batches. It goes real quick in my house. I leave it alone after it's in the carboy (nothing else added after yeast pitched).

Sent from my SCH-I535 using Home Brew mobile app
 
I started with this recipe wanting to make apple wine. We bottled the first batch early and ended up with huge carbonation. I guess it depends on what you want the end result to be. After corks blowing out right and left, my later batches are sitting and waiting.
 
Wife n I are enjoying the last of our bottles at about 11 months they're quite a bit better! Worth the wait of at least 4-6 months.


Sent from my iPhone using Home Brew
 

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