Apfelwein ready for X-Mas

Hey All,

I fired up my first batch of apfelwein on Oct 18th. It's happily bubbling away downstairs... and I was thinking about gifting some of it around xmas time.
I'm planning on doing 2 beer kits as well, and I thought a tasters pack would be a good gift (and it gives me a good excuse to start a pipeline).


I'd like to prime and bottle the apfelwein so I can be carbed. Here's my big question:

Primary for as long as possible, then prime and bottle, gift it, and tell people to wait 3 weeks before opening it.

*or*

Primary until Dec 1, then prime and bottle so it's ready to go by xmas. Bottle conditioning should mellow it out over time. Not ideal, but more feasible.....


What's the consensus?

If you are intent on giving it as a gift, give it to them and tell them to wait. Apfelwein gets much better with age (obviously) and mine has been in a carboy since June and I am aging until Christmas. For the first 3 months or so, it wasnt very good. Its starting to taste okay now

I would plan it for next Christmas.

I had people would not even touch it when was young, love it when it was a year old. Somethings really need time to come into their own. And that is one of them.

jevehn said:

Primary for as long as possible, then prime and bottle, gift it, and tell people to wait 3 weeks before opening it.

*or*

Primary until Dec 1, then prime and bottle so it's ready to go by xmas. Bottle conditioning should mellow it out over time. Not ideal, but more feasible.....

Click to expand...

Better to bulk age it as long as possible and then allow 3-4 weeks in the bottle so it is well carbed.

It will hit its peak after 6 months so I would suggest having your receivers drink a bottle if they want right away but to save the others as long as they can stand it.

Well the one difference I have found between drinkable Apfell wine and Incredible Apfell wine is two or three bottles. But everyones advice is sound. I started my first two batches back in February and they have continued to improve. My test samples have been so good that I have started an additional three batches as the year goes along.