Man, I love Apfelwein

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Heh I do seem to get that impression from this thread that more is always better :mug:

I just don't have that many bottles around and SWMBO is already grumbling about the Takeover of the Laundry Room as BrewHaus.

Also I am TORN between the paeans to Apfelwein here and the similar sentiment about Graff over THERE, so I thought I would make a small(er) batch of each and enjoy the taste testing :drunk:

My usual 1 gallon batch size did seem TOO small, and I thought it was time I used those 5 gallon carboys that have been collecting dust for so long. I've gotten ONE almost clean enough..the other might need some more attention.

Thanks Gussymo, looks like I should be OK even if I kick myself later :D
 
Well, it was time to join the party. I made 2 one gallon batches last night. I wanted to do a side by side between Montrecht and Cotes des Blancs. I kept the rest of the recipe the same as Ed's origianal with the addition of some yeast nutrients (scaled down of course). (

What/how much/what schedule Yeast nutrient did you use? I was thinking of adding some FERMAX to see if extra nutrition cuts down on the sulfur production. Usually staggered additions are recommended for wines/meads, but with lower OG's in Beers and Ciders, it probably might as well go all in at the start.

From reading the thread, I think Rhino Farts may be an important rite of passage in the Apfelwein ritual, so maybe no nutrient ;).

Speaking of messing around with the recipe, I realized I didn't have enough Dextrose either, but it seems that people have had good success with Brown Sugar, so I will probably do half and half.

EDIT 29-Aug-2009

Joined the Apfelwein brewing club.

2 Gal America's Choice Apple Cider
1 Gal America's Choice Natural Apple Juice
(Hope this isn't TOO Cheap to make decent Apfelwein. After I bought it, Mott's went on sale for $0.99/half gallon. Might have to dump in some better juice along the way.)
0.6 lb Dextrose
0.6 lb Light Brown Sugar
2 tsp FERMAX Yeast Nutrient
1 pkg Red Star Montrachet

OG = 1.063
 
Do you think I could let a batch of this stuff ferment in a 74 degree basement?
I am really wanting to make this stuff.
 
I've read the entire thread ... even "search this thread" ... do you add k met or anything before bottling? Or is that not a problem because a batch doesn't seem to last very long in anyone's house.
 
O.K., I got the Montrachet yeast and corn sugar, now I just need the Apple juice and I am in business. I am so excited even if I am a couple years late......
cool, thanks. I might see if can score some yeast today and get it going.:mug:
 
Also I am TORN between the paeans to Apfelwein here and the similar sentiment about Graff over THERE, so I thought I would make a small(er) batch of each and enjoy the taste testing :drunk:

Even though a lot of people prefer one over the other, I have to say I like both.
Apfelwein is perfect for those times when you want something just a little lighter and/or drier than Graff. And Graff is perfect for all the rest of the time, pretty much. :D
 
What/how much/what schedule Yeast nutrient did you use?

Ummm...I used the stuff from Northern Brewer called Yeast Nutrient. It calls for a teaspoon per gallon so that is what I put in when I pitched the yeast. I assumed it was that simple. I saw yeast dancing around in about 3 hours and it is bubbling away nicely now.:mug:
 
Ummm...I used the stuff from Northern Brewer called Yeast Nutrient. It calls for a teaspoon per gallon so that is what I put in when I pitched the yeast. I assumed it was that simple. I saw yeast dancing around in about 3 hours and it is bubbling away nicely now.:mug:

I used Fermax. Also stated for use at 1 tsp/gallon. I only used 2 tsp, though. The yeast were mad. They are putting out Rhino Farts at just about 24 h post pitch. Thinking of adding another tsp now..
 
Even though a lot of people prefer one over the other, I have to say I like both.
Apfelwein is perfect for those times when you want something just a little lighter and/or dryer than Graff. And Graff is perfect for all the rest of the time, pretty much. :D

Putting in an order for the ingredients for Graff. Figure if I start a batch of GRAFF next week, I could be drinking it while waiting for the Apfelwein to age. Heh thinking of adding another carboy to the order too :rockin:
 
I've read the entire thread ... even "search this thread" ... do you add k met or anything before bottling? Or is that not a problem because a batch doesn't seem to last very long in anyone's house.

You can stabilize it if you aren't planning on bottling it to carb but it doesn't seem necessary. I have had year old batches which are just fine without stabilizing.
 
Yeah, you need to go 4 weeks. I really don't bother with a secondary, I just use a 5 gallon carboy.

It will ferment out dry, but you'll still note the apples and it can be sweetened with Splenda or Lactos, but everyone who has sampled mine tends to like it just the way it is. It shows by the speed of the empty kegs.

I've got a simple question. When you add Splenda to make it sweeter, when do you add it? Thanks.
 
Ok, Ive got everything I need to make a batch of this stuff, I am just really concerned with the sulphur smell. Is it really that bad? Will it permiate through the floor if I do it in the basement? My wife will kill me if the whole house stinks like rotten eggs. Then again my Kid's will too if I stink up the basement because that is their finished playroom.

I am going to use EdWorts exact recipe, only difference is I couldn't get Tree Top apple juice, so I got Motts.
 
Just an idea to deal with the smell:

1. Take a ziploc baggie and poke 10+ small holes in it
2. Stuff two or three crumpled up dryer sheets in the bag
3. Place the bag over the airlock after it starts bubbling (filled with vodka) and secure with a rubber band
4. Take it off after a couple weeks. The threat of rhino farts should have subsided.

I don't think you will have any rhino farts escaping the basement with this setup

By the way, the rhino farts really do smell like a bad case of ass. My wife got pissed at me for putting it in our bedroom closet.
 
Just an idea to deal with the smell:

1. Take a ziploc baggie and poke 10+ small holes in it
2. Stuff two or three crumpled up dryer sheets in the bag
3. Place the bag over the airlock after it starts bubbling (filled with vodka) and secure with a rubber band
4. Take it off after a couple weeks. The threat of rhino farts should have subsided.

I don't think you will have any rhino farts escaping the basement with this setup

By the way, the rhino farts really do smell like a bad case of ass. My wife got pissed at me for putting it in our bedroom closet.

That sounds like a great idea. Has anyone ever tried this set-up? BTY thats funny it was in your bedroom closet..........man my wife would have been pissed too! How long does the smell last for? Did you move it???
 
Ok, Ive got everything I need to make a batch of this stuff, I am just really concerned with the sulphur smell. Is it really that bad? Will it permiate through the floor if I do it in the basement? My wife will kill me if the whole house stinks like rotten eggs. Then again my Kid's will too if I stink up the basement because that is their finished playroom.

I am going to use EdWorts exact recipe, only difference is I couldn't get Tree Top apple juice, so I got Motts.

I made it with 3 gal of cheap applejuice and added 2 tsp of FERMAX Yeast nutrient (see upthread). Rhino Farts started in less than 24h but were only really bad for maybe the next 12-18 h. Still some lingering but only if you get close to the airlock. Since it is in the basement close to the diaper pail, there is some scent camouflage ;) Not so bad. Don't know if it was luck, the yeast nutrient, or the cheap apple juice that eased the stench..
 
I made this with the Kirkland brand of apple juice from Costco and never had the sulfur smell. Was I just lucky? Or is this normal with some brands of juice?
 
Going to try this next week first thing!

Curious why this is 'drinkable' after 6 wks or so and why some of my brewing buddies have let their cider condition for 9 months +

Thanks for the fantastic recipe!
 
I made this with the Kirkland brand of apple juice from Costco and never had the sulfur smell. Was I just lucky? Or is this normal with some brands of juice?

That's what I use and I get very little sulphur smell. At least compared to what some people describe here.
 
Going to try this next week first thing!

Curious why this is 'drinkable' after 6 wks or so and why some of my brewing buddies have let their cider condition for 9 months +

Thanks for the fantastic recipe!


it is somewhat drinkable at 6 weeks but does get better with age. you will lose the yeast bite and he alcohol burn as time goes on. Also if you plan on carbing it, the carbination will get better with time. At first its very little, then it will get supercarbed like champagne.
 
I'm guessing you mean carbonation of any sorts? When you say 'supercarbed' do you mean in the keg only or can you achieve that same uber-bubbliness by bottling and just using the 3/4c. of dextrose that EdWort prescribes?

Thanks

it is somewhat drinkable at 6 weeks but does get better with age. you will lose the yeast bite and he alcohol burn as time goes on. Also if you plan on carbing it, the carbination will get better with time. At first its very little, then it will get supercarbed like champagne.
 
I'm guessing you mean carbonation of any sorts? When you say 'supercarbed' do you mean in the keg only or can you achieve that same uber-bubbliness by bottling and just using the 3/4c. of dextrose that EdWort prescribes?

Thanks

It will become supercarbed just from normal bottle carbonation. Mine was nearly flat even a month after bottling, but after three or four months, it was like champagne.
 
The Kirkland juice from Costco was $6 for 2 gallons. So it cost me $18 for juice for one batch with an extra gallon of juice for drinking. This was cheaper than most other places.
 
it is somewhat drinkable at 6 weeks but does get better with age. you will lose the yeast bite and he alcohol burn as time goes on. Also if you plan on carbing it, the carbination will get better with time. At first its very little, then it will get supercarbed like champagne.

I would think that if it became as carbonated as champagne it would be an issue with exploding bottles and possibly caps blowing off.

How much priming sugar are you adding when bottling??
 
I hear tell that if you add some yeast nutrients at some frequent interval during fermentation, you will not get sulfur either. I usually smell like that, so it doesn't bother me. ;)
 
I would think that if it became as carbonated as champagne it would be an issue with exploding bottles and possibly caps blowing off.

How much priming sugar are you adding when bottling??

It's not that it becomes super-carbonated, but rather that the carbonation is much more up-front because apfelwein doesn't have the body that beer does, when using the same amount of priming sugar.
 
It's not that it becomes super-carbonated, but rather that the carbonation is much more up-front because apfelwein doesn't have the body that beer does, when using the same amount of priming sugar.


I see what you mean now.........:mug:
 
It's not that it becomes super-carbonated, but rather that the carbonation is much more up-front because apfelwein doesn't have the body that beer does, when using the same amount of priming sugar.

i used 1 liter swing top bottles and coopers priming drops. i bottled mine after 1 month in the carboy. the package said to use 1 drop for a 12 oz and 2 drops for a 22 oz. since 1 liter is about 33 oz i should have used 3 drops but i opted to use 4 drops. so thats why i say mine is supercarbed.:mug:

i also didnt degas when i bottled it so there was some leftover co2 when bottling.
 
I started a one-gallon batch about two weeks ago using Cooper's ale yeast, just the ordinary dry stuff in the gold pack. It's dropped almost clear and has just about stopped bubbling, so today I "snuck" a taste. Very nice, a little sweet, still some apple flavor, and no real alcohol hotness. I was surprised and impressed, as I've not had any till now to taste that good so young. I think I'm going to give this a couple more days to clear and then bottle it up, keep an eye on it, and if it carbs up nicely, cold crash it & enjoy. (I use 12 oz PET bottles, so not worried about flying glass & I can tell by the firmness if they're carbing). Everything else I have going is either going to take a while to be ready, or it's reserved for Christmas gifts. This gallon is just for the brewmeister! :)
 
Opened the first one today! *GLEE*

We decided not to touch it for 14 days after bottling... I love it when I get the chance to use the word "fortnight."

So after a fortnight of aging it is already fracking delicious! Plenty of apple-flavor and it's nice and dry. And it's only going to get better, you say? Damn, we're going to need to make more soon!
 
Quick question. Some folks have used Ale Yeast to leave residual sweetness, and I have seen that the Danstar Windsor yeast is supposed to leave a fairly high gravity. Anybody try Windsor yeast to create a sweeter Apfelwein?

My apfelwein is bubbling away with Montrachet, but there is always the plan for the future.

I did a search of the thread but couldn't come up with any mention of 'WINDSOR'.

I'm probably going to ask this question in the GRAFF thread as well for future reference.
 
The original recipe calls for 2lbs of corn sugar in a 5 gallon batch, so that's about 6.4 oz (by weight) for a gallon. I've made it different ways, and often just use table sugar, even though some folks say they end up with off flavors using table sugar. Personally I've never had a problem. I typically put about 1-1/2 cups table sugar into a gallon and that seems to work out OK for me. Haven't weighed it out but that's probably a higher sugar ratio than EdWort's recipe. But like I say, it's working for me, YMMV.

What I did try, and do NOT recommend, is backsweetening with stevia. Ruined a perfectly good batch of apfelwein. The initial swallow is nice, but the aftertaste is awful, and I have yet to find anything to help it. Fortunately I've about drunk that gallon just trying various things to fix it. I've used stevia as a food sweetener and it's OK, but don't let it anywhere near your apfelwein!
 
I've been thinking about something. I used Kirklands from Costco on my first two batches with the 2 lb. priming sugar as recommended by Ed.My OG on both batches was 1.062. I may be wrong but I think some people are getting a higher OG making the abv higher. Do you guys think there may be different amounts of sugar in the different brands of juice and that may have something to do with the different OG's. It may be interesting to do a little experiment comparing brands to OG using the same 2 lbs. of sugar just to see. Just a thought.
 
Definitely. If you look at the Nutrition Information sidebar on the juice it will show the Sugar content per 8 oz (or 240 mL). Generally seems to be about 28 g (1 oz) making a gallon of juice equivalent to 1 lb sugar/gallon, or about 46 gravity points.

One juice I used (in a batch of GRAFF) said 24 g/250 mL, but it didn't taste any less sweet than the other brands.

Best thing to do would be to just dump some juice in a tube and measure it with a hydrometer.

BTW, my 3 gal batch of Apfelwein with 0.6 lb Dextrose + 0.6 lb Brown Sugar + 3 gal of 28 g sugar per 8 oz Apple Juice was pretty much 1.062-1.063 as well.
 
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