Variations of Apfelwein

Batch #1
4 gallons 100% Mac juice
1 gallon 100% cranberry juice
4 lbs dextrose
Red Star Champagne yeast

Started this 6 weeks ago. Did not take an OG. Gravity yesterday was 1.02. Nice rose color. Clean taste (not tart) but my guess is this will change when the rest of the sugar is gone. I liked this alot.


Batch #2
4 gallons blended apple juice
1 gallon 100% pomegranate juice
Red Star Montrachet yeast
OG=1.05

Started this last Sunday. Fermentation was pretty vigorous for the first 5 days but now is slow.

What I find interesting is how different yeasts work. Champagne yeast is like the marathon runner. It starts slow but keeps going. Montrachet is like the sprinter. Starts fast and then dies down drastically.

So any results on these variations?
I tasted a Cran Apfelwein that I thought was quite good. The cranberry flavor was very subtle but it influenced my cran-cyser.

Craig

I plan on doing a variation sometime soon using blackberries. Basically, I F-ing love blackberries. Unfortunately, they can be expensive, and blackberry juice isn't exactly easy to come along.

My brother and his girlfriend are big pomegranate fans, and they are moving together in a month or two, so I might also try a variation with pomegranate to give some to them as a gift (and lets face it, to experiment for myself).

Unfortunately though, I have nothing to report now (and I wont for a month+)

I used Wyeast 3068 in mine when I started it in March. After three months, I killed the yeast. A month later, it was clear and tasted great. It is a little tart, and I am contemplating sweetening it a little. No real complaints with this variation.