Man, I love Apfelwein

My first batch is now 6 weeks old. I followed Ed's recipe but added 2 packages of yeast (mistake on my part). Tried a cup last night, I can taste a slight hint of rubber, my wife says its "yeasty". I may degass it and ride it out for a few more weeks and try again. My 2nd batch, made w/ brown sugar is now 4 weeks old but I haven't tried it yet :cross:

My Apfelwein is 2 months old and makes the wife gag. I'm going to give it another month or two in the bottles before I dump it :-\

Verio said:

My Apfelwein is 2 months old and makes the wife gag. I'm going to give it another month or two in the bottles before I dump it :-\

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Does it make YOU gag? If not why dump?

Verio said:

My Apfelwein is 2 months old and makes the wife gag. I'm going to give it another month or two in the bottles before I dump it :-\

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How long has it been in bottles, and is it carbonated? Try putting a splash of 7up in there.

I got the slight rubbery taste as well; I just assumed that it was the stopper. I pour some off (plastic carboy, so I can do that) into a glass container, usually a mason jar. After a day or so there's no more rubbery taste, and I don't have to mess with bottling, since this is my first foray into the winemaking world.

It's WAY too dry for me plain (so far, anyway...it's not quite two months old). As far as mixing with 7up, it reads bitter to my taste buds with apfelwein. I use gingerale, and it is possibly too good, LOL.

Verio, what about it makes her gag? There is a chance you have a contamination in your batch, giving it an off taste.

My EC-1118 batch (supposed to taste just like German Ebblewoi!) is still bubbling away after a week, and there is much less of a sulfer smell with this yeast strain. I'll let you know how I like the taste when I drink it many months from now. I also have a batch from June I am going to bottle soon (next weekend if I have time). I was going to let it age longer, but I decided I'd rather age it in bottles and start another 5 gallons of apfelwine going. I'm thinking of going back to Montrachet Wine Yeast for my next batch simply because I have two packages in my fridge still.

Ok....I just started 2 4-gallon carboys of apfelwein, and one gallon using bread yeast, just as an experiment. Also 3 gallons of hillbilly wine, and 1 of cranberry. Now I need to brew some gingerale for the apfelwein. The one empty carboy I have left may soon be filled with either Joe's Ancient Orange Mead, OR organic apfelwein, depending on what I find during my visit to the health food store today.

Yeah, I'm hooked .

i used cotes de blanc yeast and about 5tsp of nutrient in mine and after only a week my gravity dropped from 1.064 to 1.012!!!!! didn't think it would drop so fast. still pretty foggy though, will take some time to clear out.

I just started drinking mine. Primary for 5 weeks, then 1 week carbed in keg. I'm sure it gets better with age, but I will have to make several batches at a time if I'm ever going to sit on it that long. Surprisingly good this early.

I made my batch with cotes de blanc as well. I forgot to take a OG. I tested it last night after 24 days in the fermenter (temperature was in the low 60's the entire time), and it was down to 1.008 (if I remember correctly). It also tasted a bit sweeter than I expected. I will check it again next week and see. It is still quite cloudy.

When it is done fermenting (if it is not already), is there something that I can do to help it clarify, or should I just wait it out?

verbal144: A long slow fermentation is preferable to a short intense one. Assuming you added your 5tsp to a 5 or 6 gallon carboy; you way overloaded the amount of nutrient. I usually use less than a teaspoon for 6.5gallons.
You may find, as a result, some off-flavors have developed. if so, don't let that discourage future efforts. Off-flavors may be banana, bubble-gum, band-aid, rubber...
German producers strive for the coldest, slowest fermentation possible.

KurtB: Assuming that you used pasteurized juice and didn't boil any of it, just wait it out. If you used non-pasteurized juice you are probably still OK. If you boiled it...well, it will never clear without filtering and fining.
It tasted a bit sweet because it still has sugar in it.

ok I did it excatly per the EdWort recipe. Started on 1-11-2011. Last night I tested the gravity at 1.00

I tasted what was in the cylinder and it kinda tasted like Chardonnay?

I know I should wait 4 weeks to clear, and then wait 2 months to drink, but hell it tastes ok to me now.

FWIW, I did my first batch with EC-1118, and my 2nd with Montrachet (bottled last night!) and both had equal amounts rhino fart, as far as I could tell. Both tasty though!

Just an update: I started two batches on the 23rd (three if you count the experimental gallon with bread yeast), and for the last couple of days, you can actually hear the tiny bubbles!

I'm having SO much fun.....

brpruett said:

verbal144: A long slow fermentation is preferable to a short intense one. Assuming you added your 5tsp to a 5 or 6 gallon carboy; you way overloaded the amount of nutrient. I usually use less than a teaspoon for 6.5gallons.
You may find, as a result, some off-flavors have developed. if so, don't let that discourage future efforts. Off-flavors may be banana, bubble-gum, band-aid, rubber...
German producers strive for the coldest, slowest fermentation possible.

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i'll have to try less nutrient next time, the container i got from LHBS said use 1tsp per gallon so i did. i'll have to research using nutrient more.

verbal144 said:

i'll have to try less nutrient next time, the container i got from LHBS said use 1tsp per gallon so i did. i'll have to research using nutrient more.

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The product you have may be less 'concentrated' than what I use. Yeast with too little nutrients also produce off-flavors, so following directions on the label is not bad. Sometimes I think that labels tell you to use more just so that you buy their product more frequently.

brpruett said:

KurtB: Assuming that you used pasteurized juice and didn't boil any of it, just wait it out. If you used non-pasteurized juice you are probably still OK. If you boiled it...well, it will never clear without filtering and fining.
It tasted a bit sweet because it still has sugar in it.

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Thanks for the reassurance.

Patteurized juice, not boiled, so I will just wait it out.

I am new to wine making, but not wine drinking. The taste just suprized me as I kept reading about how dry it finishes. I figured after 3 week of fermenting that I had to be getting close. It will be interesting to see what it is like in another couple of weeks & months.

BARBQ said:

ok I did it excatly per the EdWort recipe. Started on 1-11-2011. Last night I tested the gravity at 1.00

I tasted what was in the cylinder and it kinda tasted like Chardonnay?

I know I should wait 4 weeks to clear, and then wait 2 months to drink, but hell it tastes ok to me now.

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Ok learned the hard way. Do not drink it at 2 weeks even if it is 1.00. I drank my far share of it wed night and was sick all day thursday. Mostly stomach and not head. I dont think I drank alot to feel that sick, but who knows. Maybe the yeast not being done or something did it. I dont know, but I am not touching it for a while now.

After reading many pages and using google to find a LHBS for a few parts I have a 1 gallon test batch setup, not the exact recipe as the place i went was barely a shop.

Found spartan apple juice on sale pasteurized no additives for 1.50 a bottle.
1 cup of brown sugar since i have it on hand
red star champagne yeast

I don't recall seeing anyone using this yeast but there are allot of posts, I will be traveling to a larger shop as soon as i can and find a packet or 2 of the other yeasts mentioned and corn sugar.

For now its bubbling away slowly after a few hours and my son is amused to watch the bottle writhe around when my cellphone is behind it for some light.

I brewed this last April when I was still working overnight... It sat forever bulk aging (I really couldn't get to it for a while after I went to days). I finally bottled it sometime in August, and it has been aging ever since. Cider isn't my favorite alcohol - I always just find myself wishing I was having a beer... I even lived in Germany for a year and drank the real stuff, but it never was my favorite. The Apfelwein stayed pretty sour almost all the way into November. It wasn't BAD, it just wasn't exactly as advertised.

I had one a couple of nights ago for the first time in a while, and wow, what a difference there is when you let it age out. The yeast did a fantastic job of rounding out the sour and alcohol flavors to really bring it all together. I highly recommend setting at least a few bottles of this aside for aging when you make a batch...

Ok, my first batch is in the bucket. It says in the original recipe to put the airlock on without any waiting period. I assume it means straight away, but I also thought yeast needs to 'breath' for the first 12-24 hours (BTW I'm using English ale yeast).

Should I lock or not?

I hope you left some fermentation room.

drumming102 said:

I hope you left some fermentation room.

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Yeah, I left a few inches. But what about the air lock. Do you put it straight on?

On a side note I mixed up my second batch on November 7 2010, I'm killing the last half gallon of the first batch off as we speak, life is good.... The morning may suck though.

I have had a batch in since the 8th of this month. I just tasted a lil bit since the fermentation was slowing waaaaayyyyyyy down. I had just bought some Hornsby's hard cider and it had a little bit more of the apple flavor i was hoping the apfelwein would have. I thought about getting some green apples tomorrow and chopping them up and throwing them in just to experiment and see what would happen... Anyone have any ideas as to what may happen..

Just put together my 1st batch... Come May well see how it tastes.

My first batch just hit 4 months in the carboy and Im planning on bottling tomorrow night, Im very excited to see how it turns out....

r3bol said:

Yeah, I left a few inches. But what about the air lock. Do you put it straight on?

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yes

Just started my 3rd batch. This morning about 36 hours after assembly, bubbling fiercely, I spotted a (dead of course) spider surfing the crest of the bubbles. Have no idea how that got in there. I sanitized a spoon and fished it out. Hope it was attached to the stopper or something and spent a good amount of time in the StarSan before I put it on.

Hopeful things will still turn out fine.

Sammy75 said:

Just started my 3rd batch. This morning about 36 hours after assembly, bubbling fiercely, I spotted a (dead of course) spider surfing the crest of the bubbles. Have no idea how that got in there. I sanitized a spoon and fished it out. Hope it was attached to the stopper or something and spent a good amount of time in the StarSan before I put it on.

Hopeful things will still turn out fine.

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You have to name this one something crazy and age it forever. MAybe it'll give you super powers

I made one Sunday and used O2 and yeast nutrient for the first time with Apfelwein. We'll see if it makes a difference...

nsw8148 said:

You have to name this one something crazy and age it forever. MAybe it'll give you super powers

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i agree something like "daddy drunk legs"

Heh, definitely will have to come up with a good name.

Spidey Venom? EdWebWein? Drunken arachnid?

Also interesting: Less rhino farts this time. Since nothing changed between the previous batch and this one except the spider, it is clear that the spider is the cause. Thus you should all add a spider to your next batch. Though this was one spider for a 3 gal batch, so you might have to scale it up. Unfortunately I didn't weigh the spider so you'll have to make a judgement call on it.

I've got a batch of apfelwein thats been in primary since Nov 14th....I've been trying to find the time to bottle this! Does anyone see any issues with this long of a primary?

Figured it can't be hurting too bad as it's just recently cleared significantly. I've been slammed lately and haven't had any time to brew. I've got big plans though with a few batches in the works!

My understanding is that this really hits it's prime at 6mo to 1 year in primary, so < 3months shouldn't be a prob.

Has anyone reused the slurry from a previous batch of Apfelwein.

I wonder if it would be ok to dump fresh juice in to the carboy after racking?

ShakerD said:

Has anyone reused the slurry from a previous batch of Apfelwein.

I wonder if it would be ok to dump fresh juice in to the carboy after racking?

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I have, it worked just fine

i know there's a how does it taste section in the faqs on the first page, but i'm looking for something more specific. i don't like wine. it's too dry for me. however, i do like cider. should i tweak this recipe to make it sweeter? or is there a chance i'll like it?