Question about Ed Wort's Apfelwein

So I found Ed Wort's recipe, and see how it seems to be well liked among the Board. I am itching to make some this weekend.
Couple of questions:
He made his in a 5 gal bottle, is a 6 gal bottle too much head room?
He says to wait at least 4 weeks to bottle/keg (wait till it clears), if I bottle it, do I use any priming sugar to carbonate or will there be enough? How long should I wait before trying one for it to carbonate? I am VERY impatient!
Thanks,
Dave

Dave,

First off, you will definitely need to work on your patience. You will never be a happy homebrewer if you're impatient.

I made my first batch of Ed's Apfelwein approximately a month ago. It's technically cleared, but I'm going to leave it in the fermenter for another week or two. When I go to bottle it, I will carb it with priming sugar much the same as we do for beer. I'm sure if you do a search for priming sugar calculator, you'll find your answser here.

Best of luck, and happy brewing.

I'm not sure about the bottling part (haven't got there yet) but as far as 5 or 6 gallon carboy goes, you can fill it almost to the top, i have one batch fermenting right now and it's only 2 inches from the top.

If you've got a 6 gallon carboy why not make 6 gallons of Apfelwein and scale up the corn sugar. 2 lbs for 5 gallons should be 2.4 lbs for 6 gallons.



Oh, and 200 posts

JohnnyO said:

Dave,

First off, you will definitely need to work on your patience.

Click to expand...

My wife tells me that ALL the time!

JohnnyO said:

Dave,

When I go to bottle it, I will carb it with priming sugar much the same as we do for beer. I'm sure if you do a search for priming sugar calculator, you'll find your answser here.

Best of luck, and happy brewing.

Click to expand...

Cool, I just wasn't sure if it needed more sugar to carb, or if it had enough from the apple juice and other corn sugar.
Thanks,
Dave

you can carb (prime) it or leave it still. we prefer it carbed up in our house. and apfelwein takes longer to carb up for me than other brews... maybe due to the higher alcohol, i don't know. so at least 3 weeks in the bottle. the best thing to do with apfelwein is start a batch, wait a week or two, and start another so there will be a pipeline since it takes the better part of 2 months to finish it.

I made a batch and kegged it today. Even after 16 weeks in the carboy it still tastes "hot" and too dry for my tastes.

I backsweetened and will let it age a bit longer. This is not a beverage that you can make in a couple weeks.

HSM said:

Even after 16 weeks in the carboy it still tastes "hot" and too dry for my tastes... This is not a beverage that you can make in a couple weeks.

Click to expand...

Many people have mentioned that this is a recipe that really needs to condition a looooooooong time, both in the primary and in the bottle/keg. I've seen people write about using better wines yeasts, but still complain about the "hot" (or "hoochy") taste.

An alternative I tried recently is Brandon O's "graff" cider brew. It's made with a mini-wort (about a gallon), add four gallons of non-concentrated apple juice, pitch a normal brewing yeast (I used Safale US-05, but others use Nottingham), and you're off! Five gallon carboy with a blowoff tube (small one through the bung), and it was pumping out CO2 like made four hours after pitching.

The best thing about this recipe is the speed with which it's ready. I anticipate four weeks in the primary carboy, and three-to-four weeks in bottles, and BAM! Drink and enjoy. I took a taste of it after almost three weeks, and it's dang tasty.

It's also nice that you only brew a gallon of wort, with very little hops, so you can do it on your stove in a smaller pot.

Whatever you go with, enjoy!