Apfelwein yeast question

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MCH

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The closest brewing store is over 2 hours away. I've got all the ingredients to brew a batch of Apfelwein, except for the Montrachet wine yeast. Is there a suitable replacement that I may be able to find locally???
 
The closest brewing store is over 2 hours away. I've got all the ingredients to brew a batch of Apfelwein, except for the Montrachet wine yeast. Is there a suitable replacement that I may be able to find locally???

Try Red Star brand Cote Des Blancs, or Wyeast brand 3242 Chablis, or White Labs brand WLP775 English Cider, or maybe Lalvin brand 71B-1122 Narbonne. Hope this info helps. Regards, GF.
 
we all agree that pretty much ANY wine or beer yeast will give acceptable results, but the problem is that HE HAS NO LHBS!
SOOO. If you have anything on hand, use it. If not...DO NOT try bread yeast.


After doing some research and calling several businesses, I found a little store called Spices Unlimited that is a little over an hour away. It doesn't carry much in the line of brewing, but they did have some Cote de Blanc.

Pitched it Saturday night and the airlock is going off at least 20 times per minute!

Now if my Ale that's sitting next to it would just follow suit.:D:D

Thanks for all the advice, guys and gals!
 
The only thing you need to know about Apfelwein yeast is: Red Star Premier Cuvee.

Let's count the ways. Starts fasters, clears fasters, no farting. less aging-to-drinkability, but most importantly tastes better

I am going to take over the world with Cuvee, one homebrewer at a time. Get that terrible Montrachet out of your time.
 
The only thing you need to know about Apfelwein yeast is: Red Star Premier Cuvee.

Let's count the ways. Starts fasters, clears fasters, no farting. less aging-to-drinkability, but most importantly tastes better.

Have you made any Apfelwein using Montrachet?
 
I dont know. I just tasted my first batch of apfelwien the other day. Its about 2.5 months old now and wonderful. I cant see another yeast helping this the way that Montrachet did. The yeast contributes just the right amount to it.
 
Yeah Ed, 6 gallons (two, 3 gallon batches). It's good, and I made it twice to give it another chance. But, Cuvee smokes it in every regard, so I go with it now. Would I use Montrachet if that's all that was available? Definitely. Lots of respect here for the original recipe and you for bringing it to us.
 
Yeah Ed, 6 gallons (two, 3 gallon batches). It's good, and I made it twice to give it another chance. But, Cuvee smokes it in every regard, so I go with it now. Would I use Montrachet if that's all that was available? Definitely. Lots of respect here for the original recipe and you for bringing it to us.

My question would be the taste with Cuvee, if it actually tastes like German Apfelwein as does the result from Montrachet.

You mention it tastes better, but how?
 
Don't even think about bread yeast.
I know you are.
Stop it.
I did this with a gallon batch as an experiment. I had an extra gallon of Motts apple juice sitting around and an empty gallon fermenter but no brewers yeast. I figured why not, if it was terrible I would only be out like three bucks. So I mixed it up with bakers yeast and an unmeasured amount of corn sugar. It fermented out within a week and tasted pretty sharp and tangy. I bottled and carbed 4 750ml bottles and forgot about them for about 3 months.

Just this past weekend I found them in the closet and figured what the hell. I chilled them and took them over to my buddies bonfire. They were fantastic. I am not just saying that considering they were made with bakers yeast, they were actually excellent cider and everyone there thought so.

Now that I have made enemies out of all of you I might as well suggest it as an interesting experiment. I don't know that I would risk 5 gallons to it, but in a one gallon batch it was fun.
 
You mention it tastes better, but how?

Good question, that I don't know how to answer 100%. It tastes better at the 6 week mark by a long shot, more fruity and far less green wine burn. It is also aging quicker alongside Montrachet. I know 6 weeks is a joke for you and others that have a real pipeline going, but I am judging them solely at this point in time. Comparison to real Apfelwein? I have none. The Cuvee taste is completely different than Montrachet. If it veers from true Apfelwein style for the sake of tasting awesome, I can live with that.

I am saving some to try in 3-4 months side-by-side again, and am 100% open to the possibility of Motrachet passing Cuvee by. I doubt it will, but will continue to keep some monty batches going just to observe it.
 
The Cuvee taste is completely different than Montrachet. If it veers from true Apfelwein style for the sake of tasting awesome, I can live with that.

There ya go. I know it sounds like semantics, but I call it Apfelwein because as the recipe goes, it creates a hard cider that tastes just like German Apfelwein. It's a unique taste from Germany that English and American hard ciders do not duplicate.

Folks PM me all the time and ask me about different yeasts and my answer is the same. I only use Montrachet as the results are the closest to my objective (German Apfelwein).

All the other yeasts tried can and will make very tasty hard ciders, but they won't be Apfelwein unless they taste like one.

Have you compared your cider to any commercial examples?
 
I did this with a gallon batch as an experiment. I had an extra gallon of Motts apple juice sitting around and an empty gallon fermenter but no brewers yeast. I figured why not, if it was terrible I would only be out like three bucks. So I mixed it up with bakers yeast and an unmeasured amount of corn sugar. It fermented out within a week and tasted pretty sharp and tangy. I bottled and carbed 4 750ml bottles and forgot about them for about 3 months.

Just this past weekend I found them in the closet and figured what the hell. I chilled them and took them over to my buddies bonfire. They were fantastic. I am not just saying that considering they were made with bakers yeast, they were actually excellent cider and everyone there thought so.

Now that I have made enemies out of all of you I might as well suggest it as an interesting experiment. I don't know that I would risk 5 gallons to it, but in a one gallon batch it was fun.

I'm actually planning on trying a batch with bread yeast soon (call me a hypocrite) just for sh!ts and giggles. I think the reason it is generally frowned upon is because after aging, the complexity of flavors is no where near as good as other brewer's/vinter's yeasts.
 
I'm actually planning on trying a batch with bread yeast soon (call me a hypocrite) just for sh!ts and giggles. I think the reason it is generally frowned upon is because after aging, the complexity of flavors is no where near as good as other brewer's/vinter's yeasts.
I can see not wanting to use it if you are making something you are planning to celler. But if you are just wanting something to drink it works suprisingly well. Like I said, mine sat for about 3 months and I would say they were probably peaking about then. I liked it quite a bit more than with montrachet.
 
Okay so I just had a 1 year old EdWort's Apfelwein over at olllllo's house.

It's wonderful, I thought my apfelwine out of the carboy at 1 month was drinkable to me, just had a cheap white wine taste to it.

But man, after 1 year it tastes like a high class refined drink.

Biggest thing about it...not too sweet, ya know like a hornsby's apple cider or something. Tastes like a real apple in stead of a jolly rancher apple.

I have some 3068 in 5 gallons of applejuice, i'll be interested to see if it is as drinkable and has a natural apple flavor. Jolly rancher apple hornsby's is good for SWMBO but I need something I can consume mass amounts of over the course of an entire saturday.
 
Update: I purchased some Cote de Blanc from a spice store about an hour away. Pitched it Saturday night and by Sunday night, I had a steady stream of air bubbles percolating. You can literally see it bubbling through the top of the carboy.
 
Toppers - I hope the Premier Cuvee is as good as you say.. I too have chosen to "experiment" a bit. After using Montrachet on the first 2 batches I used EC-1118, Premier Cuvee and Cote des Blancs on the next 3. I just hope these don't turn out to be duds!
While the Montrachet truly produces an excellent result, this is one of the beauties of homebrewing -- the freedom to do something different. The Premier Cuvee batch has now been bottled for just over 1 1/2 months. -- still haven't sampled any of these last 3 batchs, even though I made 3 or 4 12 oz "sampler" bottles of each batch. Speaking of which, I haven't had any Apfelwein at all in a while -- a plentiful pipeline of beer makes it a lot less painful to wait while this stuff ages a bit. Other than the 6 1-liter bottles of my very first batch which was set aside to age, I only have a few 1/2 liter bottles left. These are getting close to 4 months old now so I should give one a try. Batch #2 (also Montrachet) is around 3 1/2 months old and other than a couple samplers which I tried a month or 2 back, is still all there. This was good stuff -- even at 1-2 months old -- should be even better now. I just hope I manage to keep a few around to get to be 1 year old.
Thanks Ed -- for the great yet simple recipe!
 
tom777 said:
Toppers - I hope the Premier Cuvee is as good as you say..

The Premier Cuvee batch has now been bottled for just over 1 1/2 months.

Well, what are you waiting for? More drinking, less typing.:D Let's find out if Cuvee is truly any good.
 
sounds like a plan -- I'll throw one of my sample bottles from each of those last 3 batches in the fridge tonight and maybe try 'em out this weekend. I really have no idea what to expect. Perhaps the EC-1118 will be most similar to Montrachet of the 3?
 
No idea what EC-1118 even is. I think you will be surprised though. Just had a bottle of 6 week Cuvee, and it is exploding with flavor. It doesn't have the crisp bite that montrachet does though (which I like). I also enjoy the Montrachet now that it's coming into age a little more.

Hell I don't know anymore, so I will just split my batches from now on and see what people like. This recipe and apple juice in general is so forgiving, that's part of the fun.

Next up is 3068, thats supposed to be good.
 
Hell I don't know anymore, so I will just split my batches from now on and see what people like. This recipe and apple juice in general is so forgiving, that's part of the fun.

Next up is 3068, thats supposed to be good.

I'm in the same boat here -- about ready to get another batch started as I think in another month or so I'll have enough EZ-cap bottles freed up. SWMBO and I will try out the sample bottles this weekend to see if any of those 3 are worth repeating. Like you, I'll probably end up splitting batches or alternating yeasts -- Montrachet/something else. Is it bad to use a 6-Gallon Better Bottle on a 1/2 batch or should I look into the 3-Gallon BB's?
 
I've got one going on Yeast 3333. I'll let you guys know how it turns out. But currently it is still in the fermenter after about 3 weeks. So it will be a while.
 
Damn I just had a bottle of cuvee that has been bottle conditioning for 3 weeks. A+ flavor and smoothness, it's hard to believe this will age out much better...but I know it will. Superb. I really urge you guys to try different yeasts, but Cuvee specifically is a sure winner.
 
ok, I did manage to try the 3 sample bottles this weekend. It was certainly interesting to try the 3 variations of this recipe. As I still have 2 or 3 more 12oz sample bottles of each batch, I'll give these a little more time and try another round every month or so before cracking open the 1-liter bottles.
For what it's worth, here's my simple first impression of each

Lalvin EC-1118: not actually too different from Montrachet. Not better IMO, but not bad either. Not different enough though to warrant doing this one again any time soon.

Premier Cuvee: a noticeable difference from Montrachet. Kind of hard to put a finger on it, but still very good. Maybe not quite as "wine tasting"... Need to try another one.

Cote des Blancs: the first thing I noticed about this was the lack of any smell... Very smooth though and quite different from the others I think. Quite drinkable.

I know these are kind of lame descriptions, but this kind of stuff is hard to describe for me. Anyway, I'll give these a little more time and report back.
 
Cote des Blancs: the first thing I noticed about this was the lack of any smell... Very smooth though and quite different from the others I think. Quite drinkable.

Good. I had read in another thread the the Cote De Blanc left a strong buttery taste in a members batch.

Since this is my first Apfelwien batch, I was praying that it would turn out drinkable.:D
 
Good. I had read in another thread the the Cote De Blanc left a strong buttery taste in a members batch.

Since this is my first Apfelwien batch, I was praying that it would turn out drinkable.:D

I kind of remember reading that too. Made me worry a bit as well, but it turned out fine it seems. Good luck with your first batch! It should turn out just fine.
 
So any other thoughts on Cuvee? Anyone else try it? I have pretty much stopped using Montrachet, only because Cuvee is a friendlier yeast all around (faster, less odor, larger temp range, etc.) and the taste is so good, I can't justify not using it.

In other words I see no gain in using Montrachet over Cuvee.
 
Hmm, about 2 seconds after that post I cracked a bottle of Montrachet and it is really good. It is almost aging better than the Cuvee if that's possible.

Ahhh freak it all, no choice but to have 10 gallons of both going at all times just to be sure :drunk:
 
No worries Ed! The Montrachet version is hard to beat and I just made another batch with it myself. Saw I had a few empty EZ-Cap bottles laying around and figured in a month or so I'd have enough. Still, the variants seem pretty good as well -- just different.
 
They were out of the Montrechet at the store and the llavin one that is about the same. But they had Cuvee so that's what I got sounds like I made a lucky choice. I would prefer a sweeter cider as opposed to a dry wine taste.
 
What is 3068 that has been mentioned a few times earlier in this thread?...and by earlier i do me an few years...haha
 

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