Advise on Apfelwein from scratch???

My sister asked me to make an Apfelwein recently. She said she had a ton of the stuff in Germany and she misses it. Ive read alot of threads here on how they have taken store bought juice and made excellent stuff. Now I dont doubt that this has worked out for them but I'd prefer to put in more effort than that and see just how difficult this can be from start to finish.

What Id like to know is what type of Apples are best suited for Apfelwein. I have a good friend that works at a packing shed and I can get my hands on a number of apples.

Also I have a crusher and a press but Im not sure of what material (cloth or such) to put the slurry in for pressing. And is there any processing steps that need to be done in order to preserve the juice long enough or hold back natural occurring yeasties and other bugs?

If any of you apple experts are willing to share with me your steps and possibly a few pictures that would be epiclly awesome.

DAlexander said:

My sister asked me to make an Apfelwein recently. She said she had a ton of the stuff in Germany and she misses it. Ive read alot of threads here on how they have taken store bought juice and made excellent stuff. Now I dont doubt that this has worked out for them but I'd prefer to put in more effort than that and see just how difficult this can be from start to finish.

What Id like to know is what type of Apples are best suited for Apfelwein. I have a good friend that works at a packing shed and I can get my hands on a number of apples.

Also I have a crusher and a press but Im not sure of what material (cloth or such) to put the slurry in for pressing. And is there any processing steps that need to be done in order to preserve the juice long enough or hold back natural occurring yeasties and other bugs?

If any of you apple experts are willing to share with me your steps and possibly a few pictures that would be epiclly awesome.

Click to expand...

Just found you post Dalexander! I hope over the last few days you've found the answers to your questions in other posts, but if not:

Types of apples - winesap, cameo, ida red, macintosh, johnathan (spicey), granny smith. (Remember that these are only the ones I have liked/used.)

Pressing/Must creation - Try to find Fine cheese cloth or nylon mesh that will hold your pulp. Remember to LAYER THE CLOTHS in 8-12 inch 'cakes' in the press. This will depend a bit on your personal press of course. An old school material is burlap, but that's a bit too old school for me.
Once pressed, drop in one crushed Campden tablet per gallon of must, and add 1/2 oz of Pectic enzyme for every 5 gallons. This will preserve the juice, and break down the cell walls and pectin, increasing your yield.

Wait 24 hours...

Now test for acidity and specific gravity. Adjust as needed. If you still have lots of pulp, rack to another fermentor.

Now pick a GOOD yeast plus some yeast nutriant and pitch it! Close up your fermentor and wait for the magic to begin!

Hope this helps!