whoa, apfelwein is tart!

Just bottled my first batch of apfelwein and took a glass to try at bottling. It's really tart, not too tart but a bit puckering. Reminds me of a white wine or something. It's not bad though. Took a sample before i primed with 3/4 cup dextrose. I could use it to be a tad bit sweeter. Although, I keep sipping on it.

You will have to back sweeten if you want to get rid of some of the tartness. You could used Lactose in your bottling bucket on your next batch or another non-fermentable sugar.

Also I did drink it warm. I'm sure It's much less tart cold

Use Cotes de blanc for the yeast next time. It will leave your FG around .008
giving you a little more sweetness.

When I first started drinking it I mixed 2 parts a-wine with 1 part tonic water for sweetness. I tried splenda and didn't like it. These days I like it straight but once in a while I still mix with tonic water.

+1 on the lactose.

Splenda works well too, just don't use more than 1/2 cup per 5 gals...

I noticed a lot of the initial tartness fades as it ages. Even 4 weeks in the bottle made a difference.

lol... what did you expect .998 to be? Koolaid?

sirsloop said:

lol... what did you expect .998 to be? Koolaid?

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I's gives a truck!!!

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~~~~~~~~~_/ [][]| | /```\/```\/```\/```\/```\ |~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~_/_______| |??? Who Gives A Truck ???? |~~~~~~~~~~
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HAHAH... love it!

Mine is about 6 weeks into bottling and is definitely getting smoother. Not, sweeter, but better tasting. I would like to make a slightly sweeter and spicier version one of these days, at the risk of meddling with perfection.

A lot of the bite when it's young is from the suspended yeast. Wine yeast does not taste good.

The batch I have going now (9 days in) I'm going to add bentonite, rack, stabilize, possibly re-fine, and filter. It'll be an experiment to see how it holds up side by side to the batch that is nearly six months old.

As others have said it's a lot tarter warm and young.

I've had mixed reviews when I serve it relatively young (4-6 weeks) but 8 weeks and longer everyone loves it. It really benefits from aging, gets silky smooth. 3 months is the oldest I've got and it goes down like water, it's almost too drinkable...

SWMBO and I had our first apfelwein drinking experience last night. I think it's a bit tart, but it's good and goes down easier with each glass. My wife loved it and it is a clothing solvent. But be careful. It packs a serious punch, I was wasted and my wife passed out on the bathroom floor at 3 a.m. I'm gonna keep this on tap at all times, but I now know my limits with this stuff.

ifishsum said:

I noticed a lot of the initial tartness fades as it ages. Even 4 weeks in the bottle made a difference.

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+1 to this, after 4 weeks in the bottle mine was much less tart, significantly decrease white wine taste (simply put). And to think we drank about half of it between 2 - 4 weeks, and it was just getting good. Mine has been bottled 5 weeks now, and I have less than 10 left out of 52. Even young, people seemd to like it. Time to start another batch.

Thanks to Edwort!

mr_bell said:

+1 to this, after 4 weeks in the bottle mine was much less tart, significantly decrease white wine taste (simply put). And to think we drank about half of it between 2 - 4 weeks, and it was just getting good. Mine has been bottled 5 weeks now, and I have less than 10 left out of 52. Even young, people seemd to like it. Time to start another batch.

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Dude, you're late starting another batch.. I have a dedicated carboy for the stuff, and it takes me 4-5 months to kick a keg of it.

I just made another batch. I'm gonna keep some in the works from now on so that I can let it age properly and still have it on hand for drinking.

Mine has been in the carboy 3 1/2 weeks. I just tested the gravity (1.002) and tasted it. Very tart. Very, very, puckering tart.

I guess I have to be patient.

I have no experience in this as I am fermenting my first Apfelwein currently, but I heard that Germans will add 7UP or Sprite to it to help sweeten up.

mw20 said:

SWMBO and I had our first apfelwein drinking experience last night. I think it's a bit tart, but it's good and goes down easier with each glass. My wife loved it and it is a clothing solvent. But be careful. It packs a serious punch, I was wasted and my wife passed out on the bathroom floor at 3 a.m. I'm gonna keep this on tap at all times, but I now know my limits with this stuff.

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totally a clothing solvent... My wife loves it and it works wonders...

a neighbor (when I was in FL) drank about 4 mugs of mine over the span of ~ 1.5 hrs. She has her own pet-sitting business and had to go make her rounds. Her 15yo daughter had to drive her. They got to the first house, the neighbor went in, the daughter got impatient after waiting 20 minutes and went in after her mom. She found her mom passed out on the homeowner's couch!