Man, I love Apfelwein

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It says ferment at "room temperature".

Room temperature can vary from Florida to Minnesota.... is there a "preferred" temp for fermentation?
 
BryanThompson said:
I fermented a batch at 75 one summer it came out tasting like an eraser. I would say mid to upper-sixties would be good.
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See that is strange because my house temp was anywhere from 75-77F during my entire month in the carboy and it came out tasting great. I didn't use any of the extra sugar, just 5 gallons of apple juice, but don't see why they would be any different.
 
Sippin37 said:
See that is strange because my house temp was anywhere from 75-77F during my entire month in the carboy and it came out tasting great. I didn't use any of the extra sugar, just 5 gallons of apple juice, but don't see why they would be any different.
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Agreed, I fermented a batch at house temps of 78-80 this past month and it came out great, and I did add sugar
 
Mine started at 75, peaked at 79 by day 2 and has leveled out at one week back at 75. I used 2.2 pounds of dextrose per 6 gallon carboy... We shall see soon enough. Today 10 gallons of Skeeter Pee will join the fermentation song and dance!!!
 
I mixed up a 5 gallon batch in a gallon carboy a week ago using montrachet yeast, 1 tsp wine yeast nutrient/gallon & aeration before pitching in the yeast. It fermented at 72F for a week and the airlock bubbling is very slow now. The fermenation didn't smell bad at all. It'll sit on the yeast for 2 months and bottled in 12oz bottles by natural carbonation.

This was too easy...
 
I have a batch that has been sitting in my carboy since FEB. I haven't had a chance to bottle and to be honest have been putting it off as something always seems to come up. Also trying to decide to go the beer bottle route or wine bottles. I know in previous years most let this sit for 6 months primary but now its only 2 or 3. Should I bottle asap or am I good until maybe SEPT?
 
So, I have a confluence of events here and need some advice. While I was away on travel, the SWMBO picked around a quart and a half or so of fresh mulberries and stored them in the freezer. She has been bugging me for a while to make some mulberry flavored apfelwein, and I guess I finally need to follow through.

So, any guesses as to the berry to apfelwein ratio? I have 5 gallons that I am just about ready to go ahead and bottle, so I can easily divert a specified amount to an alternative container. Also, how long would you recommend allow it to sit on the fruit?

Finally, if I am going to flavor some wein, I also happen to have a lot of frozen raspberries too (commercial), and would love a ratio for that as well.

TIA.
 
I have had a gallon batch fermenting for 5 weeks now. I'm going to give it a week or two more before bottling. But is it more preferable to use a normal sealed bottle like the juice bottle the apple juice came in, or to cork and bottle it in glass?

I think I would like it to be slightly carbonated if which bottle I choose affects that.
 
electricvelvet said:
I have had a gallon batch fermenting for 5 weeks now. I'm going to give it a week or two more before bottling. But is it more preferable to use a normal sealed bottle like the juice bottle the apple juice came in, or to cork and bottle it in glass?

I think I would like it to be slightly carbonated if which bottle I choose affects that.
Click to expand...

In general, if you are bottling "still" (i.e. uncarbonated), standard wine bottles and corks are just fine. Whether carbonated or not, the plastic PET bottles the juice (or soda) came in will work for short-term storage (and from the posts, most people have difficulty sitting on this stuff long enough to let it age once bottled), but will eventually allow some pas-through of CO2 out and O2 in, an activity that is encouraged by handling of the flexible-walled bottles (just squeeze something soft and tell me it doesn't put excess pressure on other parts too!). However, if you go much beyond 1-2 volumes of CO2 pressure, you'll want to skip both plastic bottles and corked bottles and use beer bottles with crown caps. I know, they don't have the same presentation effect, but beer bottles can handle a lot more pressure than wine bottles can (champagne bottles go even higher...they're like beer bottles on steroids). If you are unsure at all about how much pressure your beverage will develop, it is always better to err on the side of caution and possibly use unneccessary bottles than have bottle-bombs to deal with...
 
I just kegged a 3 gallon batch that had been aging for 12 months. The smell was awesome, this will be the oldest batch of Apfelwein I've gotten to try and I'm looking forward to seeing what all the "aging" recommendations bring to the table.

On a side note, after letting this sit for a year I'm a little bit bummed out because I know it's not going to last long in the keg, all that time and in a week or two it will be devoured.

Debatebly I'm thinking about grabbing 4 Better Bottles and getting 20 gallons going in the near future so this time next year (hot as hell middle of summer) we'll have around 5 cases worth to last..

Either or, cheers Edwort on a fantastic recipe. This stuff always hits the spot, it's also turned 2 other people I know on to brewing.
 
Just cracked the keg of my last four gallon batch, three gallons of apple juice, one gallon of cherry juice, three pounds of honey, and two pounds of brown sugar...aged about 6-7 months...just delighful....
 
we made a batch around January and it was great... but we found thta we would add a little sweetner when we drank it. so, this time we added 6lb of dextrose to the carboy... any ideas how it might come out?

we were told that we would need to stop fermentation if we didnt want the yeast to convert all of the sugar.. so I bought some stuff to do that.

your thoughts?

thanks in advance
s0nguy
 
s0nguy said:
we made a batch around January and it was great... but we found thta we would add a little sweetner when we drank it. so, this time we added 6lb of dextrose to the carboy... any ideas how it might come out?

we were told that we would need to stop fermentation if we didnt want the yeast to convert all of the sugar.. so I bought some stuff to do that.

your thoughts?

thanks in advance
s0nguy
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You're going to have to constantly measure your specific gravity during fermentation to determine when to stop it. The easiest way would be to have done the recipe like normal and added some unfermentable sugar like lactose to back sweeten it.
 
For those of you modifying the recipe, what have you found comes out the best? I'm about to start fermenting a second batch in my other 5G better bottle but I'd like to do some sort of variation. I have seen everything from brown sugar to cinnamon to cherry juice. Do any of you have a batch that you've completed that was a modified recipe? If so, how did it turn out and what were the quantities of the items you used? Thanks in advance! :)
 
xMalachi said:
For those of you modifying the recipe, what have you found comes out the best? I'm about to start fermenting a second batch in my other 5G better bottle but I'd like to do some sort of variation. I have seen everything from brown sugar to cinnamon to cherry juice. Do any of you have a batch that you've completed that was a modified recipe? If so, how did it turn out and what were the quantities of the items you used? Thanks in advance! :)
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See my recipe a few posts above...three gallons of apple juice one gallon cherry juice three pounds of local honey and one pound of dark brown sugar..some wine yeast..fermented for two..maybe three months..then chilled in the keg for another couple months...one glass is just not enough..more than two and you'll curse Edwort the next morning for posting this thread..
 
After seeing this thread come up on the New Posts page pretty much every day I decided it must be good so I'll give it a shot. Just started my first batch ..... and when I bought the yeast & sugar I made sure to get get enough for 2 batches so I could follow Ed's advice and start another one in a couple of weeks. I'll just go ahead and thank you now Ed :D


EdWort said:
DO YOURSELF A FAVOR AND START ANOTHER BATCH 2 WEEKS AFTER YOU START THIS ONE.
YOU WILL THANK ME LATER! :D
Click to expand...
 
Thought I'd give this a shot but not knowing how I'd like it, and not wanting to commit a fermenter/carboy to it, I'm going small and improvising. I bought a couple one gallon jugs of apple juice and fitted the tops with a fermenter bucket grommet (had a few extra on hand) and an airlock. I put corn sugar in one and nothing extra in the other; used the Montrachet wine yeast.

I may wish I'd fermented more when the time comes, but what the heck, I've got lots of beer to brew!
 
Well my apfelwein has been in the bottle for 3 weeks now and it is fantastic! I followed the original recipe exactly except I didn't throw in any extra sugar, just some sugar to bottle carbonate. It still has a bit of an apple aroma and the taste has some sweetness to it but also a little bit of that natural sourness an apple offers. Definitely a tasty drink and at only 6% ABV I find myself enjoying a little more than I was planning to. Thanks Edwort! :drunk:
 
Hey so my 2nd batch was something similar to this and a year later I'm deep into brewing but haven't made another hard cider/apfelwine. SWMBO says she wants some more so I have a dumb question. Can I make a batch and rack it to secondary in a month and use that yeast cake for a second batch, and experience the same results by just letting the 1st batch (now in secondary) sit for a few more weeks/months? Taking it off the yeast cake won't hurt anything, right?
 
natewv said:
Hey so my 2nd batch was something similar to this and a year later I'm deep into brewing but haven't made another hard cider/apfelwine. SWMBO says she wants some more so I have a dumb question. Can I make a batch and rack it to secondary in a month and use that yeast cake for a second batch, and experience the same results by just letting the 1st batch (now in secondary) sit for a few more weeks/months? Taking it off the yeast cake won't hurt anything, right?
Click to expand...

That's more than fine. Some would even call it ideal.
 
DarkBrood said:
In general, if you are bottling "still" (i.e. uncarbonated), standard wine bottles and corks are just fine. Whether carbonated or not, the plastic PET bottles the juice (or soda) came in will work for short-term storage (and from the posts, most people have difficulty sitting on this stuff long enough to let it age once bottled), but will eventually allow some pas-through of CO2 out and O2 in, an activity that is encouraged by handling of the flexible-walled bottles (just squeeze something soft and tell me it doesn't put excess pressure on other parts too!). However, if you go much beyond 1-2 volumes of CO2 pressure, you'll want to skip both plastic bottles and corked bottles and use beer bottles with crown caps. I know, they don't have the same presentation effect, but beer bottles can handle a lot more pressure than wine bottles can (champagne bottles go even higher...they're like beer bottles on steroids). If you are unsure at all about how much pressure your beverage will develop, it is always better to err on the side of caution and possibly use unneccessary bottles than have bottle-bombs to deal with...
Click to expand...

So, if I kept it in plastic for a month or less would I be okay? If so, I may try some with bottle and cork and some in plastic to see which I prefer.
 
Hey all. My first attempt at this and it's been in the primary for six weeks . It's been at just over 1 sg for at least two weeks steady and is pretty clear. Super strong and dry! Am I ok to bottle? See pics attached. Also, I'm going to sweeten half the batch and bottle the rest as is. I think I want to carbonate, but read it is a process (bottle, carb, and put them in a 140 degree bath) or use splenda/lactose/stevia and rely on any remaining sugar in the batch to carbonate or do I still put some fermentables to carb too? I've read such suggestions, but would like to hear some of your favorite methods for getting this to at least a semi sweet (maybe like Crispin) including the amounts of what you use. Thanks for your help. You're all a wealth of knowledge to budding cider makers such as myself.:mug:

10-8BEB7AE0-872304-960.jpg


10-997DC487-882175-960.jpg
 
Anyone tried this with White Labs English Cider Yeast or Nottingham? What was the difference if any? Thinking of making a 2nd batch as soon as I bottle this one :D
 
I think the biggest failing of Apfelwein is that, once it matures, it spends very little time in secondary and most of its time in a large glass.

By that I mean I enjoy drinking it quickly.
 
To misquote Capt Jack Sparrow, why is the cider always gone?
 
Hey, need some input from you guys.
Got one carboy going and going to start another, wanted to do something different so I got 2 gallons of cranberry raspberry juice, it only lists juices from concentrate and vitamin c, but it almost lists "natural flavors" in the ingredients, do you think is safe?

Oh and I was thinking of using red star champagne yeast, what can I expect to be different using this over the montrachet?
 
Here's to another batch. 5 gallons of juice. Eight 12 ounce cans of frozen apple juice concentrate. Almost 2 pounds of turbinado sugar. OG 1.080
 
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This was too easy to make. Just deposited two gallons in my fermentation fridge. Followed the original recipe on my first go. Thanks for the recipe.
 
I'm going to go ahead and prime with a little over 1/3c + a few tsps if brown sugar for almost 3 gallons. If anyone thinks this will cause bottle bombs please let me know ASAP.
 
Interesting read, I can't believe this thread has more than 1000 pages!

Publix was having a sale on Mott's juice (and still is till the 8th of August), and I couldn't resist. I am basically following the original recipe: 3 gallons Mott's juice (about 6% ABV), 3 gallons Mott's pressed juice (still has some apple in it, much darker color), 1 lb dark brown sugar, 1 lb light brown sugar, 2nd gen Lalvin D47 from a mead, 4 tablespoons of DAP, 2 tablespoons of yeast energizer, 2 teaspoons pectic enzyme. OG gives about 8% ABV, which will ferment completely dry with the D47 yeast.

I'm making a starter for the yeast, they've been in the fridge for a few weeks. Using apple juice, a bit of nutrient and energizer, I'm going to let it stir till the morning before I pitch. I'm also aerating the (wort? must?) using a small aquarium pump and stone. Hopefully, all the combined measures will make for a fast, healthy fermentation.

Here's to hoping for a good turnout!
 
Just made this. I found this recipe today and showed swmbo and she grabbed the keys and said lets go buy some juice!

5 gallons of Apple Juice
2 Lb Sugar in the Raw


I also went another way with the yeast, I used a pack of s23 I found that was four years old! I made a starter using .5 lb dextrose and yeast nutrients. Pitched in to the starter and in 10 minutes I had an inch of foam and a rich yeasty smell. This will ferment in the basement where its 65 degrees year round.

Hope this turns out as awesome as everyone says!
 
KBentley57 said:
Interesting read, I can't believe this thread has more than 1000 pages!

Publix was having a sale on Mott's juice (and still is till the 8th of August), and I couldn't resist. I am basically following the original recipe: 3 gallons Mott's juice (about 6% ABV), 3 gallons Mott's pressed juice (still has some apple in it, much darker color), 1 lb dark brown sugar, 1 lb light brown sugar, 2nd gen Lalvin D47 from a mead, 4 tablespoons of DAP, 2 tablespoons of yeast energizer, 2 teaspoons pectic enzyme. OG gives about 8% ABV, which will ferment completely dry with the D47 yeast.

I'm making a starter for the yeast, they've been in the fridge for a few weeks. Using apple juice, a bit of nutrient and energizer, I'm going to let it stir till the morning before I pitch. I'm also aerating the (wort? must?) using a small aquarium pump and stone. Hopefully, all the combined measures will make for a fast, healthy fermentation.

Here's to hoping for a good turnout!
Click to expand...

You should have a healthy one, even following Ed's instructions and not rehydrating the dry yeast it takes off quick. I just shake every container after i put some in the carboy, then give it a good 20 second shake once everything is inside including the yeast and let it go. Always have furious fermentation within 24 hours, my first one 100% following the recipe is just now starting to slow down fermenting 2 weeks later...i figure by this time next week it will be done and on to clarifying.
 
Well I bottled my first batch today after 6months..... it was a bit too dry for me so I backsweetened with. -1/2cup of splenda...

My sample after the splenda and 5oz of corn sugar. Was way too sweet..... I hope once the priming sugar ferments out. Its drinkable.....
 
Just bottled my first 5 gallon batch Friday after only six weeks. Yes, I know too soon, but I figured it will help me understand how it develops when I make my second batch that I'll age longer, which is today (lol), and compare it. Bottled still as is since it's my first attempt and was weary of the whole bottle pasteurizing after carbing. I tried a sample with splenda which wasn't my preference and some with sprite as suggested which was pretty good. Was overall too dry and white wine like to drink as is to my friends and I. Maybe because I only waited six weeks. Regardless, the bottling party was a good time. FYI, I don't recommend holding the bottling bucket above your head and drinking from the spigot as a good way of emptying the last few bottles worth. ::shudder:: You'll thank me the next morning.
This next batch I will age longer, use UpstateMike's caramel sweetening method, and bottle pasteurize. Wish me luck! Contemplated trying brown sugar, but not sure how it affects the final product. I just left sams club with six gallons of tree top. The guy said, "wow you really like apple juice!".
 
Bottled the 1/2 cranberry 1/2 apple juice version of this I made April 17th today. Crystal clear, smelled amazing, and my SWMBO "accidentally" poured out my taster glass I had cooling in the fridge....
 

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