Man, I love Apfelwein

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Toot said:
Well, it's now been a FULL two weeks for my apfelwein. I'm still getting one bubble every ten seconds. Still cloudy.

I yelled at it to hurry its ass up. I don't think it did any good. :(

Patience Grasshopper. Now is the time to start another batch. :cross:
 
That would require another fermentation vessel. And another carboy. And a propane burner to cook the wort. Too many unjustifiable acquisitions before Xmas. Sadly, I think I've done all I can until this lousy Xmas season is over.

Of course, making matters even worse, is the seven birthdays that may family has between the 10th and 27th of December. My dad, mom, a cousin, 2 uncles, and an aunt. This makes it a very difficult time for me to start brewing. :(
 
If you do it my way, all you need is another carboy. That's it. Nothing to cook. Just sanitize the carboy, add the juice, dextrose & yeast. Total process is less than 30 minutes including sanitizing stuff.
 
EdWort said:
If you do it my way, all you need is another carboy. That's it. Nothing to cook. Just sanitize the carboy, add the juice, dextrose & yeast. Total process is less than 30 minutes including sanitizing stuff.


But I already have 5 gallons of your apfelwein in process!!! I need to know how long that's gonna last me. And besides, I'll undoubtedly adjust the recipe to my own taste after sampling it.
 
I sampled my apfelwein tonight. Its still bubbling a bit, but fairly slow. I added bentonite to it to it. I'll rack it before I bottle it.

Man it tasted good. A bit young. Its very smooth. No fore or after tastes at all. It needs a bit of sweetening. One could really get hammered on that stuff.:cross:
 
EdWort said:
Congrats! Did you use my recipe or did you modify it? If so, how?

I followed your recipe to the letter. That's some potent stuff! The crazy thing is, it just keeps going down easier with each glass. A guy could get really messed up with this stuff.
 
Hows the hangover with this stuff? I had one last night that was really, really good. I could easily see myself easily putting a couple away at one sitting.
 
It wasn't too bad. I had four glasses, plus a glass of espresso stout and some scotch, so I'm not sure what caused what :)
 
orfy said:
'cause that's what I stock in my brew cupboard for priming ale. DME is less fermentable than sugar so it'll add some sweetness to the cider, sugar will ferment out and add no sweetness.
That is exactly the reason I was leaning towards DME - have it handy in my fridge and it may sweeten it up just a tad.
 
Been in there for 12 days and it is pumping out a bubble every 10 seconds. Still a light foam top and very much cloudy. I think I have looked at this carboy more than any other brew I have ever done. My wife thinks I am a lunatic - crouched down in the hall closet staring at a bottle of cloudy liquid.
 
I'm on day 14 and pretty much have exactly what you described. But the foam on top doesn't quite completely cover the apfelwein. It's maybe 50-75% covered and it makes interesting swirling patterns as the yeast does its thing.

Oddly, there's one spot of the carboy where most of the bubble activity is coming from and another spot where the bubbles are slightly larger and not moving around. I chalk it up to slight temperature variations as I'm keeping it near an outside wall. It's interesting though.
 
Chimone said:
Hows the hangover with this stuff? I had one last night that was really, really good. I could easily see myself easily putting a couple away at one sitting.

If you get hammered, try to remember to drink a liter of water and take a couple of aspirin before hitting the hay.

Works every time for me.
 
alemonkey said:
I followed your recipe to the letter. That's some potent stuff! The crazy thing is, it just keeps going down easier with each glass. A guy could get really messed up with this stuff.

Ahh, now you see the forest for the trees! Good job! Enjoy!
 
Since we now finally are racking up the drinkers of Apfelwein; I gotta ask. Does it upset anyones stomach? I've only opened two bottles thus far a week or so ago (2 separate nights) and it gave me a bit of rot-gut shortly after drinking it. I was not feeling all that well so could have been acute, so shall drink some tonight again and see what happens. Thought I'd ask though.

BTW - this thread is second in posts only to the Fantasy Football thread I believe!
 
i made a batch on tuesday dec 19 and by wednesday night it had foamed up into the airlock even though i had left 3" of space. the bubbles are about as large as a fingernail - not compact like beer krausen. i used lavlin ec1118 yeast.
by thursday it had backed off to just under the airlock. when i made apple cider there was very little foam.
anyone else have this probem?? i just used canned allens apple juice and 2 lbs of dextose as per ed's recipe
 
rod said:
i made a batch on tuesday dec 19 and by wednesday night it had foamed up into the airlock even though i had left 3" of space. the bubbles are about as large as a fingernail - not compact like beer krausen. i used lavlin ec1118 yeast.

Had you used Montrachet wine yeast as my recipe calls for, the foam would have been 1/4 inch max and you'd be seeing thousands of little bubbles running up the sides of the carboy.
 
EdWort said:
Had you used Montrachet wine yeast as my recipe calls for, the foam would have been 1/4 inch max and you'd be seeing thousands of little bubbles running up the sides of the carboy.

I see no reason to deviate from the recipe. I figure, when something is great as is, why screw with it?
 
Ed,

This stuff is so good I am making another batch right now using the same, undadulterated recipe - why mess with a proven winner, right?!

What is the lowest temp you have successfully fermented at using the Montrachet yeast?

Thanks.

BrewStef
 
GOOD GOD!! I just read all 43 pages of this thread and my eyes are bleeding!!!:D But this sounds great got an extra carboy so why not! Think the only thing I'm going to change is go with brown suger instead of corn. Hopefully it will impart some more sweetness.

Think I'll make this up on Saturday.

:ban:
 
couldn't find the recommended yeast locally so thats why i used ec 1118.
hopefully it won't hurt the outcome.
thanks for the quick reply ed and others.
rod
 
EdWort said:
Had you used Montrachet wine yeast as my recipe calls for, the foam would have been 1/4 inch max and you'd be seeing thousands of little bubbles running up the sides of the carboy.

I used a Wyeast Champagne yeast (4021) for mine, and I have virtually no foam at all, after four days in the Better Bottle. There was very little foam at all so far, and like you said Ed, I've got those thousands of little bubbles running up the sides.

In fact, if the house is quiet enough, I can hear the bubbles.

It's awesome!
 
I bottled mine tonight, good stuff Ed! I have to leave it for the weekend so I may develop separation anxiety!
 
couldn't find the recommended yeast locally so thats why i used ec 1118.
hopefully it won't hurt the outcome.

I used ec1118. I sampled it the other night. Its good. I think its going to ferment pretty dry, but that is what potassium sorbate and sweeteners and flavoring are for. I think we are going to add a bit of apple juice to it.
 
Wow - mine's just about ready to keg. I clocked it at 1.073 before fermentation, and it's all the way down to 1.002! That's 9.3% ABV! This stuff is gonna be potent!
 
Made my Labels today...


3712-ApfelWeinNew.jpg



If anyone wants the background withouth the text, PM me. I got it off a google search, but it took awhile.
 
Can someone describe the taste so I know what I'm shooting for. I made some, but it doesn't have much flavor and is a little sour. Is that what it's supposed to be like?
 
Is this basically an apple cider? I made one from a kit and it was terrible. Can you use any apple juice? I am not really a cider man but the missus likes it
 
Yes it's cider but because it's strong and people are not carbonating it's wine.

Yes you can use any juice as long as it says 100% juice or 100% from concentrate with no additives/preservatives.
 
BrewStef said:
This stuff is so good I am making another batch right now using the same, undadulterated recipe - why mess with a proven winner, right?!

What is the lowest temp you have successfully fermented at using the Montrachet yeast? BrewStef

Great! I got home from a business trip yesterday and my wife and in-laws blew the keg on a batch before I got home. Fortunately I had a back up in reserve in the fridge in the garage carbed and ready to go. Now I'm down to one backup keg, so SWMBO picked up 5 gallons of Tree Top Apple juice at Costco for me, so I'll start another batch today.
 
So, a question:

I've already bottled my batch of apfelwein, and its a little light on the apple flavor, and there's not a lot of dynamic tastes going on. (Not to say it's undrinkable, I killed a gallon in a week by my lonesome ;) ) I was wondering if I mulled it with spices in the ole crockpot, then RE-CHILLED it, would it taste good? I have a party tonight and i'd like to share my creation, but I'm just not proud of it as it is, however I like chilled drinks better than the hot ones. Would there be a problem with stuff in suspension, or creating a sediment? Just curious.

I've already got a thousand variations on this recipe going around in my head, this is just the latest. A thousand thanks Ed, you've opened my eyes...

mike
 
MLynchLtd said:
So, a question:

I've already bottled my batch of apfelwein, and its a little light on the apple flavor, and there's not a lot of dynamic tastes going on. (Not to say it's undrinkable, I killed a gallon in a week by my lonesome ;) ) I was wondering if I mulled it with spices in the ole crockpot, then RE-CHILLED it, would it taste good? I have a party tonight and i'd like to share my creation, but I'm just not proud of it as it is, however I like chilled drinks better than the hot ones. Would there be a problem with stuff in suspension, or creating a sediment? Just curious.

I've already got a thousand variations on this recipe going around in my head, this is just the latest. A thousand thanks Ed, you've opened my eyes...

mike


Sure you could mull it and rechill it. However, you will boil off some alcohol (ethanol evaporates/boils somewhere around 150 degrees, IIRC). What's worse is that there will be other hangover-inducing byproducts which won't boil off till later. In all honesty, there is nothing wrong with your approach, however, there are better approaches.

I would suggest boiling your mull spices in water, then just adding some water to the cider. That way you aren't heating/cooling it. There is also less of a risk of infection. And it will be easier/faster. Sediment won't kill anybody, don't sweat it.

Have you considered just serving it warm? Ed has provided a recipe for warm cider that sounds pretty good.
 
If you want an apple and spice flavor to it, add some potassium sorbate to knock out the yeast and then mix in some apple juice or apple juice concentrate. I'm going to start experimenting with this as soon as mine stops fermenting.
 
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