Man, I love Apfelwein

Yakima 728
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I know I'm gonna start a lynchin' party here but did anyone not like Apfelwein?

I sure didn't. I let it ferment for 4 months and was so excited. But I was let down, I didn't like it at all.

IMO it was way too fruity (duh it is all apple juice, right?)

I couldn't suck it down, it was a very rare moment for me... I dumped 24 bottles
 
You should have mixed it with mine that turned into vinager, they may have cancled each other out.
 
dallasdb said:
I know I'm gonna start a lynchin' party here but did anyone not like Apfelwein?

I sure didn't. I let it ferment for 4 months and was so excited. But I was let down, I didn't like it at all.

IMO it was way too fruity (duh it is all apple juice, right?)

I couldn't suck it down, it was a very rare moment for me... I dumped 24 bottles
Click to expand...

I have made 2 batches, following Ed's original recipe and I like the 2nd better than the first because I left it in the fermenter longer... but I have to say that it is not my cup of tea either. I made it thinking my wife would really like it and she won't even drink it. I don't know about you but both of my batches were carbed.

I think it's partly because of all of the positive feedback that I got excited to think this would be a regular brew and it just didn't turn out that way for me. It did go over okay one Christmas as a grog, but that's about the best feedback I have received. I think that if I try it again in the future I would use a variation of Ed's original. In any case, I wouldn't say it was bad enough to dump.
 
DakotaRules said:
You could have given them away, :(
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Oops I forgot to mention I tossed them because I had them all in the fridge for months then after no one was drinking them I took them to the basement and they turned into bottles bombs!

After the second one exploded I tossed the rest. I think the yeast may have come back for some more sugar after warming to room temp.
 
dallasdb said:
I know I'm gonna start a lynchin' party here but did anyone not like Apfelwein?

I sure didn't. I let it ferment for 4 months and was so excited. But I was let down, I didn't like it at all.

IMO it was way too fruity (duh it is all apple juice, right?)

I couldn't suck it down, it was a very rare moment for me... I dumped 24 bottles
Click to expand...

i tried it for the second time some time ago, after i learned what i was doing with it. gave 3 out of 5 gallons to my brother, who loves apple cider
 
Brew Runner said:
Sounds like something wasn't right with that batch regardless of the cause.
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concensus is air leak, i'm not sure, I'll try it tomorrow one last time then it gets dumped and another batch gets started, we were hoping to make this as a sample batch so we could make the next out of apples from my neighbor's family apple orchard, so I have to know if we will drink it ASAP.
 
Fuggles39 said:
I did the exact same thing except that I only used one pound of brown sugar. Pissed at myself. Could I add another pound one day into fermentation? What type of ABV can I expect if I just leave it with the one pound of brown sugar. I used the same yeast.
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It's not a problem to add sugar after fermentation has started, just reset your 4 week timer to the last date you added sugar. Be aware that adding sugar can sometimes foam up a little depending on CO2 content in suspension and probably yeast strain. So add slowly :)
 
Bottled my first batch two weeks ago and WOW, it is really good. Too good and I hope I can keep my hands off it to allow some to age. Feels like a champagne buzz with the corresponding champagne hangover. Really dangerous stuff and I could see it being the ultimate liquid panty remover. I have another batch fermenting and no boubt will be calling Ed Wort a motherf*%^er for years to come.
 
just picked up 4 lbs of it for 6 bucks at my LHBS, and the juice at BJs for 12 bucks.. looking forward to getting it started tonight, nice you really don't have to do much.. just wait at least 3 months it sounds like
 
I threw a batch of this together last night. 200+ pages does not go well with a productive work day, so I'll ask these questions straight-up:

1) How long does the wine yeast usually take to start fermenting? Is it a violent fermentation (will I see stuff going on inside the carboy)?

2) I bought a Better Bottle for this one, and when I went to put the airlock in I realized that I don't have the appropriate sized stopper for the larger hole. I sanitized some foil and wrapped that around the top. LHBS isn't open until next Wednesday - will this be okay until then? Can I just leave it like that forever?

3) What are the odds that this will be good to drink by October 15? Total would be 6 weeks+2 days from when I made it. I want to surprise our Oktoberfest bus with a special treat for the drive down to the festivities!
 
paulster2626 said:
I threw a batch of this together last night. 200+ pages does not go well with a productive work day, so I'll ask these questions straight-up:

1) How long does the wine yeast usually take to start fermenting? Is it a violent fermentation (will I see stuff going on inside the carboy)?

2) I bought a Better Bottle for this one, and when I went to put the airlock in I realized that I don't have the appropriate sized stopper for the larger hole. I sanitized some foil and wrapped that around the top. LHBS isn't open until next Wednesday - will this be okay until then? Can I just leave it like that forever?

3) What are the odds that this will be good to drink by October 15? Total would be 6 weeks+2 days from when I made it. I want to surprise our Oktoberfest bus with a special treat for the drive down to the festivities!
Click to expand...

How active the fermentation is will depend on the strain of yeast you're using. As for the stopper, you will want to get one in there, the foil just doesn't provide an an adequate air seal. You're probably safe for a bit as the action in the carboy will work to push all the air out of the bottle but the sooner you get a stopper in there the better.
 
Paulster

1) My fermentation took off within 24 hrs. No krausen but lots of CO2 bubbles at the surface, looked like someone poured apple coloured club soda into a carboy.

2) Up to you. These cheap orange carboy caps fit better bottles perfect and I think they are to stoppers as batman is to robin, awesome. The long finger I use for blow off tubes. The tube going straight up I use for air locks. Can be bought here: https://ozarkmountainsbrewingsupplies.com/product_info.php?cPath=22&products_id=39

3) I'd say not good. Mine is around 6 weeks now and I wouldn't want to serve to anyone yet till it mellows more.
 
I have a question of my own now, I was wondering if it is safe to run Apfelwin through chromed generic faucets? I think I read somewhere that acidic wines are supposedly not safe for faucets unless you have those fancy SS Perlick faucets. What do you guys think?
 
HopheadNJ said:
I've got a batch of apfelwein thats been in primary since 10-18-10....Just recently cleared - I've been trying to find the time to bottle this! Does anyone see any issues with this long of a primary?
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So at just about 11 months in the primary :drunk:, I finally got around to bottling up this apfelwein!!

I ended up kegging 3 gallons (force carbonating) and bottling up some 22oz bombers that are naturally conditioning in my basement as we speak.

Of course, I had to have a sample (also to make sure I wasn't about to get apple cider vinegar!) - Delicious as usual, looking forward to pulling some bottles of this out this Fall/Winter! :mug:
 
DeNomad said:
Paulster

1) My fermentation took off within 24 hrs. No krausen but lots of CO2 bubbles at the surface, looked like someone poured apple coloured club soda into a carboy.

2) Up to you. These cheap orange carboy caps fit better bottles perfect and I think they are to stoppers as batman is to robin, awesome. The long finger I use for blow off tubes. The tube going straight up I use for air locks. Can be bought here: https://ozarkmountainsbrewingsupplies.com/product_info.php?cPath=22&products_id=39

3) I'd say not good. Mine is around 6 weeks now and I wouldn't want to serve to anyone yet till it mellows more.
Click to expand...

Thanks man - I'll get one of those caps ASAP. For now I'll just pretend the stuff doesn't exist and will stop looking at it.

I guess I'll just bring a little bit with me to Oktoberfest, and give people a tiny bit as a sample, just to get things going. Things in small amounts are always delicious. Hopefully I'll have a decent beer to give out as well!
 
Maybe I did something wrong, but Im not really impressed with the taste. Everyone seem to rave about this, so maybe mine didnt turn out right. Mine cleared really well and fermented fine. The montrachet yeast really stunk whe it was fermenting, but to me it taste like a really cheap really dry white wine. Its ok, but I will grab a beer almost 100% of the time over this. Maybe I just dont like it, but is that what it is suppose to taste like.
 
mlyday said:
Maybe I did something wrong, but Im not really impressed with the taste. Everyone seem to rave about this, so maybe mine didnt turn out right. Mine cleared really well and fermented fine. The montrachet yeast really stunk whe it was fermenting, but to me it taste like a really cheap really dry white wine. Its ok, but I will grab a beer almost 100% of the time over this. Maybe I just dont like it, but is that what it is suppose to taste like.
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I've got the same thing. Had it in primary for 2 months. Bottled it and after a month, meh. I'm not a wine guy, but am really hoping it gets better in the bottle. Have yet to see the panties drop!
 
bluemoose said:
I've got the same thing. Had it in primary for 2 months. Bottled it and after a month, meh. I'm not a wine guy, but am really hoping it gets better in the bottle. Have yet to see the panties drop!
Click to expand...

I did mine over a year ago now. I try one every couple of months, but havent tried any lately. I have like 35-40 of these left, Im tempted to dump them.
 
Bought all the ingredients to do 2 batches this weekend. Following the original recipe for one batch, and doing a couple changes to the 2nd one. Going to stay with 2 pounds of dextrose, and adding a pound of table sugar and a pound and a half of brown sugar. Was discussing with the owner of my LHBS and he recommended doing that to get it a little sweeter and to raise the alcohol.

Going to use potassium sorbate at the 6 week mark to kill the yeast, and bottle flat. MAY make one of the batches sparkling.

Does the additional sugar sound agreeable to you guys? The LHBS owner has done it both ways and enjoys them both.
 
I'm not sure adding more simple sugars is really a great way to get it sweeter; if you want it less dry, I'd try a different yeast (try it with nottingham, for example). Although I guess if you're planning on killing off the yeast early (why?), it might finish sweeter than if they were left time to finish up.
 
motleybrews said:
Bought all the ingredients to do 2 batches this weekend. Following the original recipe for one batch, and doing a couple changes to the 2nd one. Going to stay with 2 pounds of dextrose, and adding a pound of table sugar and a pound and a half of brown sugar. Was discussing with the owner of my LHBS and he recommended doing that to get it a little sweeter and to raise the alcohol.

Going to use potassium sorbate at the 6 week mark to kill the yeast, and bottle flat. MAY make one of the batches sparkling.

Does the additional sugar sound agreeable to you guys? The LHBS owner has done it both ways and enjoys them both.
Click to expand...

Are you trying to make jet fuel with 2 lbs of dextrose, 1lb table sugar and 1.5lbs of brown sugar I am not sure if that would be drinkable. Just using dextrose and champagne yeast it is strong stuff. I am about to do my second batch and only using 2 lbs of brown sugar for 5 gallons and using safale 05 yeast or nottinghams not sure yet.
 
smagee said:
I'm not sure adding more simple sugars is really a great way to get it sweeter; if you want it less dry, I'd try a different yeast (try it with nottingham, for example). Although I guess if you're planning on killing off the yeast early (why?), it might finish sweeter than if they were left time to finish up.
Click to expand...

Was going to kill the yeast so it doesn't turn to vinegar in the bottles. I read thru about 55 pages, and didn't see anything anti killing yeast
 
No, I didn't mean to come across as criticizing the method, just curious why you were doing it. I'd second the recommendation to just swapping corn sugar for brown sugar though; makes for a different wine, and won't have the jet fuel issue of ~5lbs of simple sugars added.
 
just got a quick question: if i get fresh cider from say, my local orchard and its NOT pasteurized,, would i have to boil it out to ensure no bugs or should i just dump it as usual and let the little germs get to work?
 
First fermentation for this n00b is a batch of this stuff, but with about 4 cups table sugar instead of corn sugar. Hopefully I'll be brewing some beer with a friend in another few weeks, in which case this will get 4 weeks in the fermenter before we rack a pale ale into the better bottle. Maybe we should just leave that in the primary for a bit longer and let the apfelwein go for some more time.
 
tennesseean_87 said:
First fermentation for this n00b is a batch of this stuff, but with about 4 cups table sugar instead of corn sugar. Hopefully I'll be brewing some beer with a friend in another few weeks, in which case this will get 4 weeks in the fermenter before we rack a pale ale into the better bottle. Maybe we should just leave that in the primary for a bit longer and let the apfelwein go for some more time.
Click to expand...

There's really no point in racking a pale ale to secondary anyways. Just leave it in the primary the whole time.
 
BrewinBigD said:
just got a quick question: if i get fresh cider from say, my local orchard and its NOT pasteurized,, would i have to boil it out to ensure no bugs or should i just dump it as usual and let the little germs get to work?
Click to expand...

You could crush some campden tablets into it, let it sit for 24 hours and then pitch the yeast. They will take care of any little bugs in there. About ten should be right.
 
emjay said:
There's really no point in racking a pale ale to secondary anyways. Just leave it in the primary the whole time.
Click to expand...

Well, we bought an extra 2 oz. of hops to play with--not sure we'll use them all on this batch, but I was thinking of dry hopping with some. Wouldn't that take place in the secondary, or is that doable in primary?

Sorry for :off:

9 hours in and I can't stop watching this stuff ferment!
 

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