Yeast for Apfelwein?

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mhermetz

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I know in Edworts is says to use Montract..or something close to that. I was at a local wine brew store trying to pick up some extra airlocks and stoppers for my carboy when i thought i should pick up some yeast for Edworts aphelwein!

they only had one generic strain but it was only 50 cents... so I bought it.
so my question.... do you think Lalvin Ec-1118 saccharomyces bayanus...will work fine?
 
It's champagne yeast and should work. It has a little higher alcohol tolerance than Montrachet and is listed as being a bit faster than Montrachet.

The description for Lalvin 1118 is:
Strong fermenter, low foam, a relatively neutral flavor and aroma contribution. Inhibits wild yeasts. Restarts stuck fermentations.




 
yeah....that low foam thing...Not true at all. I woke up this morning and it's almost reaching the airlock in the 5 gal carboy. It was to my understanding apfelwein doesn't really have a krausen...well this ones putting up a strong arguement against that. I hope when I come up it's either supsided or not moved any higher.
 
Theres a whole lot of threads in the cider forum, and a lot of people seem to prefer ale yeasts to the champagne yeasts.
 
Well the good news is that you have a good fermentation going on. :D I did have one cider that needed a blow off and now that I think about it, it was a Lalvin product too (D-47). I'm not sure if it was the yeast or the brown sugar I used in that one but it just goes to show that you can't believe everything you read about yeast.
 
I've done four batches of Apfelwein with four different yeasts, and I can say for sure that they all needed to wait for almost a year before being good.

I'm really enjoying the batch I made with 3068.
 
I really like WLP300, and it taste good at 3 months and taste fantastic at 1 year.
The krausen level can get pretty high with ale yeast, and the description for Lalvin 1118 is: Strong fermenter, maybe just not so much low foam. :)
I'm sure it will turn out great, just remember its not a beer and time is required. Prepare for a month in primary.
 
I've also tried the Lalvin K1V-1116 which is supposed to be good for fruit wines, turned out just as good as the Montrachet I thought.
 
I've also tried the Lalvin K1V-1116 which is supposed to be good for fruit wines, turned out just as good as the Montrachet I thought.

This is the one I'm trying right now. My LHBS was out of Montrachet and said that this was a close one. Without doing research I bought it. I know nothing about wine yeast and actually have a question of my own if you guys think that you can help. I know that yeast ferment until there are no more fermentable sugars, but does it take wine yeast longer than ale yeast or about the same time. I'm a wine newb and have only delt with Ale strains. I pitched my Lalvin 1116 last saturday following Ed Worts recipe to the (T) and it's still fermenting, but seems to be dying down. Seems to be about the same time frame of an ale yeast. Is this typical or should I throw another packet of yeast in there?
 
Does anyone have any thougths on WLP007 fro Apfelwien?

I have made Edwort's recipe per his instructions, and I like it quite a bit. However, I would like something a little sweeter, but the WLP007 strain has an alcohol tolerance of 10%, I think Edwort's recipe is about 8%, would the WLP007 make it as dry as the Montrachet?
 
Does anyone have any thougths on WLP007 fro Apfelwien?

I have made Edwort's recipe per his instructions, and I like it quite a bit. However, I would like something a little sweeter, but the WLP007 strain has an alcohol tolerance of 10%, I think Edwort's recipe is about 8%, would the WLP007 make it as dry as the Montrachet?

There is a bit more to it than that I believe. All yeast have an attenuation rating, or what percent of the fermentable sugar they will convert. You need to compare the two; I don't know where info specs on Montrachet can be found, but you can get all the info you need on WLP007 by googling white labs and finding their spec sheet on their site for that product.
 
This is what I've found:

Montrachet will ferment to dryness, or 100% attenuation before reaching 8 % and then stop; WLP007 and will give 70-80% attenuation. Based on that WLP007 would be sweeter, but by how much I can't say. Alcohol tolerance isn't really the issue here.
 
This is what I've found:

Montrachet will ferment to dryness, or 100% attenuation before reaching 8 % and then stop; WLP007 and will give 70-80% attenuation. Based on that WLP007 would be sweeter, but by how much I can't say. Alcohol tolerance isn't really the issue here.

Thanks, I was doing some research last night, and having trouble finding the attenuation of Montrachet, I regularly use the White Labs website for info on the individual strains. So ~20% differencein AT, my other concern is kreausen, Montrachet is a low foming yeast, I think the WLP007 will probably kraeusen fairly heavily and I only have a 5 gallon carboy to ferment this in.
 
Just use a blow off tube. You'll be ok. Prepare to empty the blowoff container every day or so though
 
This is the one I'm trying right now. My LHBS was out of Montrachet and said that this was a close one. Without doing research I bought it. I know nothing about wine yeast and actually have a question of my own if you guys think that you can help. I know that yeast ferment until there are no more fermentable sugars, but does it take wine yeast longer than ale yeast or about the same time. I'm a wine newb and have only delt with Ale strains. I pitched my Lalvin 1116 last saturday following Ed Worts recipe to the (T) and it's still fermenting, but seems to be dying down. Seems to be about the same time frame of an ale yeast. Is this typical or should I throw another packet of yeast in there?

Yes that is typical, the yeast will have a burst of activity early on as they consume oxygen and reproduce, then slow down while they are working the sugars. After all, don't you have a lot more vigor when your reproducing than when you are working? :D
 
Does anyone have any thougths on WLP007 fro Apfelwien?

I have made Edwort's recipe per his instructions, and I like it quite a bit. However, I would like something a little sweeter, but the WLP007 strain has an alcohol tolerance of 10%, I think Edwort's recipe is about 8%, would the WLP007 make it as dry as the Montrachet?

There is a bit more to it than that I believe. All yeast have an attenuation rating, or what percent of the fermentable sugar they will convert. You need to compare the two; I don't know where info specs on Montrachet can be found, but you can get all the info you need on WLP007 by googling white labs and finding their spec sheet on their site for that product.

This is what I've found:

Montrachet will ferment to dryness, or 100% attenuation before reaching 8 % and then stop; WLP007 and will give 70-80% attenuation. Based on that WLP007 would be sweeter, but by how much I can't say. Alcohol tolerance isn't really the issue here.

Thanks, I was doing some research last night, and having trouble finding the attenuation of Montrachet, I regularly use the White Labs website for info on the individual strains. So ~20% differencein AT, my other concern is kreausen, Montrachet is a low foming yeast, I think the WLP007 will probably kraeusen fairly heavily and I only have a 5 gallon carboy to ferment this in.

Also, I think the sugars in Apfelwein are simpler than the maltose the WLP007 usually eats so it may very well attenuate more than the 70-80% typical in beer. Realistically, if you want a sweet wine, wait for fermentation to be completely done then hit it with potassium sorbate and sweeten to taste. The potassium sorbate will keep the yeast from starting up again. At least I think that is the way the wine guys do it.

Another alternative is to mix the Apfelwein with apple juice when you drink it.
 
Realistically, if you want a sweet wine, wait for fermentation to be completely done then hit it with potassium sorbate and sweeten to taste. The potassium sorbate will keep the yeast from starting up again. At least I think that is the way the wine guys do it.

Another alternative is to mix the Apfelwein with apple juice when you drink it.

I guess potassium sorbate and maybe backsweeten with apple juice would be another option.
 
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