Albundy_33
Member
Ok, I first got interested in brewing at the beginning of the summer when my roommate suggested it because of the heavy amounts of alcohol we consumed weekly. So I bought a winemaking kit and was planning on buying some recipe kits to make. Something came up, and (flash forward 8 months) I finally put the kit to use last month. I have been doing research and reading up on the basics of winemaking and decided to try apfelwein as my first Homebrew.
So on 1-7-11, I modified Edwort's recipe for a 6 gallon batch. The only thing different, as far as the instructions, i did was added Pectic Enzyme and started the wine in my primary (bucket). On 1-23-11, I noticed fermentation came to a halt. I watched the airlock for 2 minutes and saw no movement, so I assumed fermentation is complete. Because I could not find anything about people using buckets for primary with apfelwein, I got worried that the exposure to air in the bucket would hurt my wine. I figured that with fermentation being finished there should be no reason for not racking into my carboy. I did this but my apfelwein was still a bit cloudy (couldnt tell in the bucket) and by now it has cleared. My concern is the yeast that is laying at the bottom. Now if I'm correct most people leave the apfelwein in primary carboy for the entire process, so I shouldn't be concerned about aging the apfelwin with the yeast laying on the bottom. Should I rack again now that it has settled? I would have by now, but I'm real short on cash and dont have a second carboy. (is it bad to rack to bucket, wash and sanitize carboy real quick, then rack back into carboy?)
Because of my success so far (tastes great) with apfelwein, I now decided to start 5 gallons of skeeter pee. With no slurry available, I made a starter with ~32 oz of blueberry juice. Seeing that this is harder to get fermentation started, me being a beginner brewer, I thought I would surely fail to get fermentation started. Using the extra montrachet yeast i purchased for my apfelwein, I made the starter yesterday and pitched it at around noon today. I was very surprised to see quite active fermentation when I got home from work an hour ago. Now, I have a few questions about the pee. First, I read that the pee likes oxidization during fermentation. The recipe says to whip the must a couple times a day. Is this solely to help the fementation? It appears that my batch isn't having trouble so should I continue whipping? Basically, will the end product taste any better from whipping the must throughout fermentation? The biggest concern I have is not contaminating my batches so I dont want to open my fermenter unless I need to add things/ test S.G.
I appreciate anyone who takes the time to read this and help me.
So on 1-7-11, I modified Edwort's recipe for a 6 gallon batch. The only thing different, as far as the instructions, i did was added Pectic Enzyme and started the wine in my primary (bucket). On 1-23-11, I noticed fermentation came to a halt. I watched the airlock for 2 minutes and saw no movement, so I assumed fermentation is complete. Because I could not find anything about people using buckets for primary with apfelwein, I got worried that the exposure to air in the bucket would hurt my wine. I figured that with fermentation being finished there should be no reason for not racking into my carboy. I did this but my apfelwein was still a bit cloudy (couldnt tell in the bucket) and by now it has cleared. My concern is the yeast that is laying at the bottom. Now if I'm correct most people leave the apfelwein in primary carboy for the entire process, so I shouldn't be concerned about aging the apfelwin with the yeast laying on the bottom. Should I rack again now that it has settled? I would have by now, but I'm real short on cash and dont have a second carboy. (is it bad to rack to bucket, wash and sanitize carboy real quick, then rack back into carboy?)
Because of my success so far (tastes great) with apfelwein, I now decided to start 5 gallons of skeeter pee. With no slurry available, I made a starter with ~32 oz of blueberry juice. Seeing that this is harder to get fermentation started, me being a beginner brewer, I thought I would surely fail to get fermentation started. Using the extra montrachet yeast i purchased for my apfelwein, I made the starter yesterday and pitched it at around noon today. I was very surprised to see quite active fermentation when I got home from work an hour ago. Now, I have a few questions about the pee. First, I read that the pee likes oxidization during fermentation. The recipe says to whip the must a couple times a day. Is this solely to help the fementation? It appears that my batch isn't having trouble so should I continue whipping? Basically, will the end product taste any better from whipping the must throughout fermentation? The biggest concern I have is not contaminating my batches so I dont want to open my fermenter unless I need to add things/ test S.G.
I appreciate anyone who takes the time to read this and help me.