Man, I love Apfelwein

BoxerDog said:

I did a bacth in my Mr. Beer since my Carboy is full and I was wondering what to look for in my mr.beer keg to make sure that yeast was pitched right.


I noticed in Eds carboys that you could see how cloudy they got , yet it didnt have much krausen at the top. The Mr.Beer keg is dark brown.


Also when I pitched my yeast, it sank to the bottom of the keg, it was a champagne yeast.

There was an increased smell that I noticed this morning, pitched it
Any suggestions? How do I know that the yeast took and if it didnt should I repitch it?

Pitched it yesterday at around 6. Thanks

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You should still be able to see that it is clearing. I just bottled the batch I made in my Mr. Apflewein and at 2 1/2 weeks I was able to tell it had cleared quite a bit.

Do you have to boil anything?

LouT said:

Do you have to boil anything?

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I asked that too. No you don't have to boil it, to my amazement. This is another one of the attractive features of the apfelwein.

I think I will always have a batch going, one after another. This way, even if I can't find time to brew, I'll always have apfelwein.

Here we go after 11 days. The batch on the right is 30 days old today and is still has a few tiny bubbles rising up to the neck. The other two are still going like gangbusters.



As soon as I keg the one on the right, I'll start another batch.

I would like to maybe add some fruit blueberries to this. Can that be done? (sorry if this has been covered I did not read every page).

Fish said:

I would like to maybe add some fruit blueberries to this. Can that be done? (sorry if this has been covered I did not read every page).

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Next time read every one of the 73 pages in this thread before you post a question!!!!!!


Sorry. It's the EAC wanna be in me coming out.

Actually, I haven't read all 73 pages either but I don't remember anything about adding fruit. I don't see why you can't. I'm far from an expert but I would make sure that apple and blueberry go together. Sounds like it might be good.

Fish said:

I would like to maybe add some fruit blueberries to this. Can that be done? (sorry if this has been covered I did not read every page).

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I think that would work. I would try Oregon Fruits out of a can. They are available at the grocery store or Super Wal-Mart. Raspberry or blueberry sounds good, maybe even a tart cherry. 1 or 2 cans ~ 16 oz each.

Sanitize your blender, add the pasteurized fruit, puree, then add to the fermenter. Don't boil this or you'll have cloudy cider

All the canned stuff is good to go. I made a honey blueberry beer that was OK, not my style but it fermented well. No infection either. The blueberry was subtle. I used one can for 2.5 gal.

Fish said:

I would like to maybe add some fruit blueberries to this. Can that be done? (sorry if this has been covered I did not read every page).

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I guess so, but then it would not be Apfelwein. It would be a Apfelheidelbeerenwein.

Any thoughts on trying this with German Hefe-weizen yeast - WLP300 - to pick up some clove/banana fruityness? Just bought the juice today, would like some feedback before I ruin 5 gallons of juice. My fermentation area is usually 65-72F. Is the temp as crucial for this apfelwein? Thanks!

LouT said:

Any thoughts on trying this with German Hefe-weizen yeast - WLP300 - to pick up some clove/banana fruityness? Just bought the juice today, would like some feedback before I ruin 5 gallons of juice. My fermentation area is usually 65-72F. Is the temp as crucial for this apfelwein? Thanks!

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If you haven't made it before my personal opinion would be to go with the dry montrachet yeast. It costs only .99 (for me anyways) and is a tried and true recipe. I'm just thinking of that style yeast and something in me says it wouldn't be a nice match. Anyways, you could always try something different later after checking out the original recipe and if you ever did wl300 I'd probably do a 1g test batch. Your ferment temps are great...

Crazy Buzzard said:

You should still be able to see that it is clearing. I just bottled the batch I made in my Mr. Apflewein and at 2 1/2 weeks I was able to tell it had cleared quite a bit.

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It just took about 2.5 days to get going, there is a slight foam and lots of bubbles.

Thanks desertBrew.

I made a new batch two days ago and this one is looking a little different.

It hasn't started fermenting yet but I see white small foam starting to show up.
This foam is also not quite the type of begginning fermentation I get.
I always am using the same ingredients.

Usually the krausen forms around the edges in small bubbles and then goes in.

What would a bad batch start to look like?

Its a possibility that there is nothing wrong. Any one of the three main ingredients could be different. Especially the apples used in the juice, some may be sweeter and variety blend may be different.

I used 5 gallons of the same brand; the fruits are from 3 different places.


Not all three countries are on each bottle, some only have two listed. Since the juice is from concentrate, they may not be from the same picking seasons, bottle to bottle.

I thought about this potential contamination problem with the corn sugar. I bought 4lbs. So I have the other two sitting zip lock bagged in a large tupperware tub.

I guess unless you boil there is always a chance of contamination, one could boil the sugar and use pasteurized juice and be as certain as one could be about good sanititation.

The only thing to do is to wait and see. I bet Ed has never had a bad batch!!!

I think its OK.

Also this batch has formed a weird thin connecting perfect circle that looks strange...

Maybe ill take a pic of it....

here's a photo of my batch from dec 19 with lavlin ec1118 - you can still see the "krausen" marks on the carboy

Did you get that sulfur smell when fermenting? If so when did you get it?

I'm on day 21, no bad smell yet.

Schlenkerla said:

I bet Ed has never had a bad batch!!!

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Nope, not yet. For my first 3 batches, I used corn sugar that I purchased from the Beer Nut in SLC, Utah over 7 years ago and it was a bit hard, but it dissolved just fine. Since then, I have been buying it in 1 lb. bags from Austin Home Brew and Morebeer. Neither give you a decent break to buy in bulk, so I let them do the weighing and bag it in nice one pound bags. It makes it easy pour a pound each in separate jugs to dissolve.

The main thing is to sanitize everything!!!

Schlenkerla said:

Did you get that sulfur smell when fermenting? If so when did you get it?

I'm on day 21, no bad smell yet.

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Mine has been going since Friday 1/19 and it didn't develop the sulphur smell until around Wednesday. I just checked and the smell is now gone. Sounds like you're long past worrying.

My closet doesn't smell particularly sulphuric unless you put your nose right up the the airlock. Argh it stinks! ... the smell of progress *^_^*

a word of caution about the sulfur smell

I didn't have a problem with the apfelwein, but another batch of mead i was cooking got sulfury and stayed that way. The result was a wasted batch of expensive honey and a waste of time. If yours is sulfury more than a couple days, add some nutrient or check out the thread i started in the winemaing forum. Schlenkerla had a good link to get rid of sulfur taste, but you have to act fast to counter it.

just my .02

mike

MLynchLtd said:

a word of caution about the sulfur smell

I didn't have a problem with the apfelwein, but another batch of mead i was cooking got sulfury and stayed that way. The result was a wasted batch of expensive honey and a waste of time. If yours is sulfury more than a couple days, add some nutrient or check out the thread i started in the winemaing forum. Schlenkerla had a good link to get rid of sulfur taste, but you have to act fast to counter it.

just my .02

mike

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This is the link MLynchLtd is talking about in the post above.

http://www.grapestompers.com/articles/hydrogen_sulfide.htm

So far I don't think anybody has had this problem with the recipe. Here it is for inquiring minds.

I used yeast nutrients and didn't get the smell at all. I'm also chugging away at 57'F. Day 22 the air lock is about 70% of maximum. Its like the energizer bunny. Its finally showing signs of slowing down. Slightly...

The nutrient is supposed to make it go faster, I can't imagine how much longer it would go if I hadn't used it in mine.

my two batches will be done this thurs, i have to say as of now the cotes des blancs cleared quicker for me it is a lot more clear then the montrechet, also the airlock smells like apples on that batch. I imagine that is a good thing, i will be bottling it this weekend so i will post the differences between the yeast tastes.

Lord Byron,

I look forward to hearing the taste differences. I read that the cotes des blancs is supposed to be more fruity however it would not work well at low temps. (Like mine.) The yeast maker specifically mentions that it works well with apple cider/juice.

I have a 6.5 gallon carboy and I was wondering if I could put 6 gallons instead of 5 ? I see that Ed puts 5 in a 5 gallon carboy. Thoughts?

BoxerDog said:

I have a 6.5 gallon carboy and I was wondering if I could put 6 gallons instead of 5 ? I see that Ed puts 5 in a 5 gallon carboy. Thoughts?

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It will be fine if you use one of the non-beer yeasts I think. I filled my 5 gallon carboy to the bottom of the neck and there is just a little collection of bubbles, it won't blow out at all.

As a side note, for those of you looking to get really good activity quickly, I ended up heating 1/2 gallon of the apple juice up to 160*F on Sunday to add the corn sugar and a pound of honey and cooked at that temp for 10 min, let it cool in an ice bath and pitched the montrachet yeast at 100*F as it says on the package, I had fermentation within 2 hours, and it is fermenting like crazy today, 2 bubbles/second now.

"It's not Apfelwein"

I was worried about blow out, so I did the primary in a bucket instead of a carboy, but although the fermentation was vigorous, I didn't even get a krausen. I was using the champagne yeast.

I added a teaspoon each of yeast nutrient, fermaid and diammonium phosphate. And a couple of pectic enzyme. No bad smells. The temperature of the bucket rose to 5C/10F higher than the room temperature it was in. After a day or so it was very cloudy, almost white.

I didn't add any additional fermentables to the juice, so the starting gravity was only 1.041. It was at 1.002 when I racked it to the secondary for clearing. I added some gelatin and it is clearing very quickly. I may have to add some new yeast, if I want to bottle carbonate it.

my batches were sitting at 61 which was the temp in the area of the house that they were sitting i think cotes des blancs is good to upper 50's i think they say you start having problems at or around 55, i am sure it varies from application to application. I did both my batches in 6.5 gallon carboys i made about 6-6.25 gallon batches. and it worked fine.

Well Ed I bottled up all but about a gallon of the applewein this last weekend! First impressions: It's very dry. Really to dry for my liking but the wifey really likes it! Simply for the ease of this, it's definelty a winner!

I'd like to hear from some people that varied the recipe for a sweeter not so dry end result. I've read some people use brown sugar, did that work for a sweeter outcome? I was wondering if this project might work say with a diffrent yeast. (not dry)

Also any other suggestions to sweeten it up a bit would be appricated.

I followed Ed's recipe exactly.


cheers,

If you're bottling and you want to back sweeten, you have to pick a sugar that won't ferment, like splenda.

newguy said:

Really to dry for my liking but the wifey really likes it! Simply for the ease of this, it's definelty a winner!

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Yeah, I know. But chill it, carb it if you can, then drink 3 glasses and tell me what you think then.

It takes a few glasses, but it's an aquired taste.

EdWort said:

Yeah, I know. But chill it, carb it if you can, then drink 3 glasses and tell me what you think then.

It takes a few glasses, but it's an aquired taste.

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You have said this so many times, I think it could probably taste like goat piss and I think I would still drink 3 pints of it

LOL @ Colorado.

Yeah Ed trust mate I had a few pints of it! It's just I'm not a dry wine fan. I found it to be more enjoyable with some sprite mixed in and some splenda. I didn't keg it this time around, I just bottled it off and left it el'natural Maybe next time I'll try carbing some bottles, or just kegging.

Damn I need more kegs! The only reason I didn't keg is I have a FT clone and a Hefe getting rdy to come up to the plate in a couple weeks.

I also think that I'm going to try and experiment with some different juices using this recipe.

Also any advise on a different yeast strain?

hey newguy Cotes Des Blancs give it a try it is recommended for fruit wines. I made a batch with it as well as a batch with montrechet the cotes batch cleared faster and the airlock smelled like apples also it has lower alc tolerence so it will leave some residual sweetness in the wine depending on your starting gravity. My batches i made 6.25 gallons with 2 lbs of brown sugar and 1 lb of light brown sugar. Mine finished this thurs so i am planning on bottling it then so will post how it tastes then.

I think what the Lord said is right. (No pun intended.)

I read in several places that Cotes Des Blancs is good with apple.

I think the non fermentable sugar route will work.

I think you can also hit with a camden tablet then add a sweetener. After that you have to force carbonate.

I have also read you can add a can of apple concentrate at the beginning of the batch. It must have some unfermentables. I think this would be the easiest. Got this out of In-Cider Section of "Brewing for Dummy's." They say it takes the puckery twang out of cider that most people find objectionable.

Like Ed said, you need to give it a chance first.

First of all, I'd like to say hello to everybody, I'm new here and I've chosen this recipe to be my first brew. Just made it tonight and that month-long wait is definitely going to suck.

Anyhow, I was wondering if 65 degrees is alright for fermentation? Or is it much better to go higher to, say, 70 or 75? Sorry if this was already asked, but I didn't have time to read all 76 pages.

Ed, I have a bone to pick with you.

This durn Apfelwein is too good! So far it has caused me a hangover on two separate occasions. :cross:

I am making a batch today, I was wondering if I should pitch my yeast in a bowl with some warm water? I am using champagne yeast. thanks

dmiller038 said:

First of all, I'd like to say hello to everybody, I'm new here and I've chosen this recipe to be my first brew. Just made it tonight and that month-long wait is definitely going to suck.

Anyhow, I was wondering if 65 degrees is alright for fermentation? Or is it much better to go higher to, say, 70 or 75? Sorry if this was already asked, but I didn't have time to read all 76 pages.

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Hey there and welcome!
This is a good way to learn fermentation.65 degrees is fine but it will ferment slower. At this point relax and let it ferment away.

chillHayze said:

Ed, I have a bone to pick with you.

This durn Apfelwein is too good! So far it has caused me a hangover on two separate occasions.

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I can happen, but I recommend drinking a liter of water and popping a B Complex vitamin before heading to bed. You'll wake up feeling better.

Then again, if you are waking up still tipsy, then you need to sleep longer. :cross: