Man, I love Apfelwein

What is the maximum amount of time that Apfelwein can sit in my primary? Its just hit the 4 week mark, but I dont have time or enough bottles to bottle it. Can it stay around 6 weeks with out it getting funky???

BoxerDog said:

What is the maximum amount of time that Apfelwein can sit in my primary? Its just hit the 4 week mark, but I dont have time or enough bottles to bottle it. Can it stay around 6 weeks with out it getting funky???

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I've left mine over 12 weeks without any funkiness.

DSIDAAOT
(Don't Sweat It, Drink An Apfelwein Or Three)

The first batch I did the exact recipe. It was good but not exactly what SWMBO would say is her fav. Second time out I dropped 1# of the dextrose and used a Wyeast Cider Smacker. I bottled it and after 2 weeks it carbed up pretty nice. She likes it now. I can taste the difference between the 2 batches. I like both though.

Maybe next time I might mix it up with another juice or back sweeten/keg.

Still killer thanks Edwort.

BTW, I read all of the pages.

Mike

For those who have the Son of Fermentation Chiller, the Tree Top Apple Juice Jugs make ice blocks when filled with water and frozen. The heavy duty plastic jug can take the repeat freezing and thawing much better than milk cartons or plastic milk jugs. They work great in my Fermentation Chamber.

Ed - When should expect to see the Cliff Notes version of this thread?

Its getting to be like Tolstoy's War & Peace.

Smilies and the number of apfelweins

0-1

1-2

2-3

3-4

Smilies and the number of apfelweins

3-4

5-6 :rockin:

7-8

9... :cross:

In my first batch that I bottled ( and was consumed fast), I noticed that after I had to move my mr.beer keg and some trub got mixed up with the apfelwein, it was on the sour side.


The first few bottles were great, but the last few that mixed up with trub seemed to be sour. Has anyone else had any experiance with this?

BoxerDog said:

In my first batch that I bottled ( and was consumed fast), I noticed that after I had to move my mr.beer keg and some trub got mixed up with the apfelwein, it was on the sour side.

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I've never had this experience. There's no trub in Apfelwein, just a very compact lees and those stay settled throughout the racking procedure. I'm able to pick up a Better Bottle and transport it to the counter without disturbing the sediment.

Apfelwein should be moved off the the sediment before bottling or kegging.

geez, I made it to about page 15 before I skipped to the end! I think I might need to try out this recipe and see how people like it.

It sounds tasty to me!

jdcoffman said:

geez, I made it to about page 15 before I skipped to the end! I think I might need to try out this recipe and see how people like it.

It sounds tasty to me!

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It is tasty! We up to almost 500 gallons fermenting here in the forum. Good stuff. Follow the directions to the letter in first post before deviating.

Remember the 3 glass rule before judging it.

I think i'm going to need to pickup a new fermenter for it... plastic or glass only for these? I'm thinking glass or betterbottle because of the timeframe?

better bottles rule

XELA said:

better bottles rule

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F'ing Ay! :rockin:

funny, are they easier to clean since the tops are wider than a traditional carboy?

i dnt know, iv only just bought one to make applewine so i havnt cleaned yet

frickin hell that looks amazin.. mine looks like sludgy crap

lol i'm hoping for some deliciousness soon, although I did have to place an order for desxtrose as I haven't found a place locally that carries it. I'll be starting my first 5 gallon batch this week with any luck!

oh and can you tell I just keep refreshing my page obsessively?

I work for a local TV station and we only have 2 newscasts on Saturday so it gets pretty darn quiet.

jdcoffman said:

oh and can you tell I just keep refreshing my page obsessively?

I work for a local TV station and we only have 2 newscasts on Saturday so it gets pretty darn quiet.

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LOL keep waiting man, later tonight I'm actually bottling mine...

boredom sucks

2 pints of larger an a paket of crisps is on so im no longer bored

wth is a packet of crisps? ha! crazy English folk...

lol, tiz a comedy thingy.. its funny!

jdcoffman said:

funny, are they easier to clean since the tops are wider than a traditional carboy?

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They are easier to clean because they are very light and do not break. They use a #10 stopper, but I use carboy caps as they don't pop off when wet.

Here's how I drain mine.

Ed Wort you are on the verge of 100 Pages...

DeadYetiBrew said:

Ed Wort you are on the verge of 100 Pages...

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And the verge of 1,000 posts and 500 gallons. Whoo Hoo!

Who's drinking any tonight?

EdWort said:

And the verge of 1,000 posts and 500 gallons. Whoo Hoo!

Who's drinking any tonight?

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I'm drinking if we ever bottle tonight... Unfortunately we don't have quite enough bottles... Might have to resort to using the apple juice containers. After all the amount that will be in the apple juice container will be drank by people who don't care all that much as long as it has alcohol. lol...

DeadYetiBrew said:

I'm drinking if we ever bottle tonight... Unfortunately we don't have quite enough bottles... Might have to resort to using the apple juice containers. After all the amount that will be in the apple juice container will be drank by people who don't care all that much as long as it has alcohol. lol...

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Apple juice jugs work fine. Just sanitize them and drink that stuff first. Done it myself in the earlier days and when I use my 6 gallon Better Bottle. 5 in the keg and 1 in a jug.

EdWort said:

Apple juice jugs work fine. Just sanitize them and drink that stuff first. Done it myself in the earlier days and when I use my 6 gallon Better Bottle. 5 in the keg and 1 in a jug.

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That was exactly the idea...

Damn - I feel like I'm being left behind here. Mine is still bubbling at 8 weeks. Its really slow now, about 8 per minute. At least the cider is pretty clear.

After 48 hours my first batch is bubbling and burping like crazy! Its actually pretty cool to watch. I was a little worried because when I pitched the yeast I didnt realize till after the fact that my juice temp was probably about 50 deg F when I made the batch. A little on the cold side. But after it warmed up to room temp and I spun the carboy to suspend the yeast she is off and running.

Note to self: next time make sure juice is at room temp before pitching yeast...DUH!

Going to have to wait to bottle till tomorrow... I have some pop offs, a couple twist offs that MAY work and about 18 Coca Cola pop top bottles (the little 8 oz ones). I forgot i had the coca cola bottles and just stumbled onto them... they would essentially be the perfect serving size...


EDIT: damnit I took the first page 100 post... Yay it made 100 but i wanted ed wort himself to make the post... sorry ED, and Congrats...

DeadYetiBrew said:

EDIT: damnit I took the first page 100 post... Yay it made 100 but i wanted ed wort himself to make the post... sorry ED, and Congrats...

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No prob. My interface is set to 40 messages per page, so my system shows we are on page 25. We have a ways to go to hit 100. :cross:

I don't suppose anyone would be willing to do a little sampling for me would you? I'm going to start an Apfelwein and I'd like to get a taste of a good one...

I looked around for this using the search and wanted to double check .....anyways I want to bottle carb. my apfelwein, just use the standard 3/4 a cup of corn sugar??

BoxerDog said:

I looked around for this using the search and wanted to double check .....anyways I want to bottle carb. my apfelwein, just use the standard 3/4 a cup of corn sugar??

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Yes - 3/4 cup is correct. I contacted Lesaffre Yeast, maker of Red Star Montrachet. This was their recommendation. Be generous time-wise for letting it carb. A couple people have said the carb was poor at this rate but shortly later said it improved. It carbs slower than beer.

Well, I'm ready to jump on the apfelwien bandwagon. Today I bought 5 gallons of Wegman's brand apple juice - ingredients are apple juice, apple juice concentrate, and ascorbic acid (vitamin C). Thursday, on my day off, a trip to my LHBS will net me the dextrose and Montrachet yeast that I need, and we'll be off to the races!

I plan on bottle conditioning mine, so I'll let everyone know how it's going.

What do you all typically bottle the deliciousness in? I was thinking about picking up a few big growlers, I am going to try my throwing my first batch together this week (hopefully), I thought I might throw a couple sixers and make them fizzy, but other than that I figured I'd leave the rest dry.

I bottled mine last week and I just used a bunch of bottles I had lying around - Heineken, New Belgium, a couple microbrews, etc. I'm not really presenting to anyone though - if my friends want some, they get reused bottles.

jdcoffman said:

What do you all typically bottle the deliciousness in? I was thinking about picking up a few big growlers, I am going to try my throwing my first batch together this week (hopefully), I thought I might throw a couple sixers and make them fizzy, but other than that I figured I'd leave the rest dry.

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Its funny you ask this. I was researching the same thing.

I found this....

http://www.treehugger.com/files/2006/08/wolf_blass_wine_1.php

I'd like to find sombody who sells these.

I will most likely bottle in PET quarts or pints. Last resort - 12oz glass bottles.

If this gets to being a regular thing I'm gonna go with champagne bottles.

16 oz swing tops would be ok too.

I'd like to mark this occasion by saying that I'm now making the 1,000th post on this thread! that's really awesome!

Congrats EdWort for all the hard work and time put into this thread... I'd say there are other homebrew forums out there who wish they had this pmany posts total!