Man, I love Apfelwein

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Neomich said: My current batch was at 1.010 this past weekend. It is very clear and very tasty. I'm considering bottling it this coming weekend if it gets all the way down to the target FG. However, I don't plan on intentionally carbing it. Since there is a small amount of sugars and small amount of yeast, would this provide sufficient carbonation if I don't let it get down to 1.000? Or I guess my real concern is whether or not it would create bottle bombs? I realize there's always a chance but I wanted to see if anyone has tried this themselves or knows the answers.


My Cider Book says if you bottle 1.010 it will carb on its own. No bottle bombs. If you do this be sure to comp for temp.

If you wait until 1.000 add 5oz by wt or 3/4 cup of corn sugar
 
I really didn't want this as carbonated as a batch of beer, just a little bit for texture. Sounds like I can bottle it up and if I get carbonation, great. If not, it's just as tasty. Win-win situation for me.

Thanks!
 
I have been making a 5 gal batch of Edwort's Apfelwein. I have notice that the Gallon bottles that the Mott's Apple Juice came in has the recycle Rating of 1 (PETE). So when it is finished I am planning to put back into the original bottles to store and age. Not planning to Carb.

Has anyone done this before and will this be ok?
 
dave36640 said:
I have been making a 5 gal batch of Edwort's Apfelwein. I have notice that the Gallon bottles that the Mott's Apple Juice came in has the recycle Rating of 1 (PETE). So when it is finished I am planning to put back into the original bottles to store and age. Not planning to Carb.

Has anyone done this before and will this be ok?

I was thinking the same, or to Carlo Rossi wine jugs..
 
dave36640 said:
I have been making a 5 gal batch of Edwort's Apfelwein. I have notice that the Gallon bottles that the Mott's Apple Juice came in has the recycle Rating of 1 (PETE). So when it is finished I am planning to put back into the original bottles to store and age. Not planning to Carb.

Has anyone done this before and will this be ok?

I haven't done it but my experience tells me you should top them off as high as possible to reduce oxydation. If need be, add some fresh pastuerized apple juice if you used sorbate or camden.
 
dave36640 said:
I have been making a 5 gal batch of Edwort's Apfelwein. I have notice that the Gallon bottles that the Mott's Apple Juice came in has the recycle Rating of 1 (PETE). So when it is finished I am planning to put back into the original bottles to store and age. Not planning to Carb.

Has anyone done this before and will this be ok?

If you're going to do that, then you need to either stop fermentation, or age it past the point of fermentation, I don't think the original bottles are designed for any pressure...
 
Thanks everyone for the input. :mug:

I guess I should pick up some swing top bottles and do it right. Maybe I will do 1 orginal Juice bottle and see what happens. :D
 
mischief said:
Does it matter if it is dextrose or sucrose?

Are you talking carbonation or ABV? If its carbonation yes. 2/3 Sucrose~3/4 dextrose: AKA Cornsugar

Don't know the ABV diff between the two.

My guess its similar;

Dextrose (Cornsugar): 66/75 = 88% of sucrose
Sucrose (Table sugar): 75/66 = 113% of dextrose

1lb corn sugar = .88lbs table sugar
1lb table sugar = 1.13lbs corn sugar
 
Wow,

I made it to the end of the longest thread I've ever seen.

My first post here, and I have 5 gals of "other" hard cider in a bubbling carboy behind me, and I bought the stuff to get a batch of Ed's going today (including the better bottle)!

All Hail Ed
 
I made my apelwein with lavin EC-1118 because my LHBS was out of Montrachet. After almost two months of fermenting, it's in my kegerator now, but it's lacking the apple flavor. Is that what people mean when they say a "dry" taste? Last night I filled my glass about 3/4 full of apfelwein and then topped it off with fresh apple juice. When I did this, it tasted great. Now I'd like to add the fresh apple juice to the keg.

If I added the apple juice to the keg, would it begin to ferment again even if it's in the cold kegerator?
 
drunkatuw said:
I made my apelwein with lavin EC-1118 because my LHBS was out of Montrachet. After almost two months of fermenting, it's in my kegerator now, but it's lacking the apple flavor. Is that what people mean when they say a "dry" taste? Last night I filled my glass about 3/4 full of apfelwein and then topped it off with fresh apple juice. When I did this, it tasted great. Now I'd like to add the fresh apple juice to the keg.

If I added the apple juice to the keg, would it begin to ferment again even if it's in the cold kegerator?

Dry means not sweet, it doesn't have to do with residual apple flavor.

You could add apple juice to the keg, but it may start to ferment (I'm not sure about the lavin EC-1118) even at cold temps (someone jump in here if I am mistaken). Adding campden tabs should kill off the yeast and would ensure no secondary fermentation.
 
I'd like to "backsweeten" my next batch of Apfelwein as well... What is the best method to do this? Campden tablets and sugar? Splenda? More AJ concentrate? Both?

I'll be honest, I'm not sure I feel like reading pages 60 (last time I read this I read 1-60ish) - 230 to find my answer. Nor do I recall where it was discussed in Pages 1-60. Ha-ha.

Any help?

EDIT: I would be kegging and forcecarbing the batch, so I don't need viable yeast after the ferment...
 
SilkkyBrew said:
I'd like to "backsweeten" my next batch of Apfelwein as well... What is the best method to do this? Campden tablets and sugar? Splenda? More AJ concentrate? Both?

I'll be honest, I'm not sure I feel like reading pages 60 (last time I read this I read 1-60ish) - 230 to find my answer. Nor do I recall where it was discussed in Pages 1-60. Ha-ha.

Any help?

EDIT: I would be kegging and forcecarbing the batch, so I don't need viable yeast after the ferment...


:D if you edit your options you could view 40posts per page..this means 58 pages instead of 61 :D
 
SilkkyBrew said:
I'll be honest, I'm not sure I feel like reading pages 60 (last time I read this I read 1-60ish) - 230 to find my answer. Nor do I recall where it was discussed in Pages 1-60. Ha-ha..

I know you have your answers, but the forum has the ability to do a search in just this thread. It works pretty well.
 
SilkkyBrew said:
I'd like to "backsweeten" my next batch of Apfelwein as well... What is the best method to do this? Campden tablets and sugar? Splenda? More AJ concentrate? Both?

I'll be honest, I'm not sure I feel like reading pages 60 (last time I read this I read 1-60ish) - 230 to find my answer. Nor do I recall where it was discussed in Pages 1-60. Ha-ha.

Any help?

EDIT: I would be kegging and forcecarbing the batch, so I don't need viable yeast after the ferment...
Let me share a little Google hint here as well. If you use "site:homebrewtalk.com" after your search terms in Google you'll only get returns from this site.[ame="http://www.google.com/search?q=backsweeten+apfelwein+site%3Ahomebrewtalk.com&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:eek:fficial&client=firefox-a"]This would be what you might use for this instance.[/ame] It gives you many more options for searching a site, and really lightens the workload of the local server.
 
EdWort said:
I know you have your answers, but the forum has the ability to do a search in just this thread. It works pretty well.

I wasn't aware of this search option within a thread... I'll have to give it a shot! EDIT: Ah-hah! I just always use the search at the very top of the page... Never even noticed the one within the threads. Hahaha.

I also wasn't aware of how to search google for stuff within a specific site...

Man, you learn something everyday - thanks for help fellas. :mug:

EDIT: Search within thread works wonders... Page 182 I found multiple ways to backsweeten, w00t!
 
Is it normal?
So I started a batch of Ed's apfelwein using all the normal ingredients (5gal 100% juice., 2lbs dextrose, and montrachet).
The fermenter is not at my house so I have not actually seen it, but according to my parents(where the fermenter is) it has stopped bubbling and there is foam or something on top. If my parents are correct, then it stopped bubbling after 9 days, a little short of what I am expecting.
I am assuming there is no noticeable action because the fermenter is 6 gal. and there's only 5 gallons of juice. I had my mom take a big whiff of it over the phone and it burned her nose ;) haha so apparently something is going on in there. My guess is it's fine but I can't actually check it for myself so I'm asking what you guys think.
 
ma2brew said:
On another note, I've been intrigued by the action of the foam in the carboy. It probably means nothing, but the ring of bubbles around the top of the cider is "ebbing and waning" in a regular fashion about every 10 minutes. It's actually pretty trippy to watch. The foam builds up to at least 2 inches from the edge towards the center, and after like 5 minutes it retreats all the way back to the edge, then starts building up again. I'm sure this means nothing, but it's fun to watch. (First home fermentation, I'm easily entertained at this point)

I've noticed this in my batch too. A week after pitching the yeast, I still get an ebb and flow of foam from 1/2 inch deep to nothing in 10 minute intervals. Does anyone know why this would happen?
 
dave47 said:
Is it normal?
So I started a batch of Ed's apfelwein using all the normal ingredients (5gal 100% juice., 2lbs dextrose, and montrachet).
The fermenter is not at my house so I have not actually seen it, but according to my parents(where the fermenter is) it has stopped bubbling and there is foam or something on top. If my parents are correct, then it stopped bubbling after 9 days, a little short of what I am expecting.
I am assuming there is no noticeable action because the fermenter is 6 gal. and there's only 5 gallons of juice. I had my mom take a big whiff of it over the phone and it burned her nose ;) haha so apparently something is going on in there. My guess is it's fine but I can't actually check it for myself so I'm asking what you guys think.
I'm no expert, by any means, but from my experience with my first batch of this it has pretty small champagne type bubbles, and if your mom didn't know what to look for she might have not looked closely.

It sounds fine to me.
 
A note on those bubbles, I believed there was indeed no action in my carboy as well until I stuck a flash light behind my carboy and popped that sucker on. Wow. Was actually kind of pretty.

On another note.... The case of 22oz's (half normal apfelwein, half made with weizen yeast) that I tried to carb that I thought did not work did indeed carbonate. I opened one up and...... OUT GUSHED THE APFELWEIN. I'm sure I would find something if I searched but anyone have a trick they do to reduce the "gushing" when they open a potentially poorly/overly carbonated bottle?
 
Not many people have mentioned degassing (4 in the search I did).

I am currently degassing 6 gallons aof a blueberry pinot noir and might as well knock out the apfelwein if I have everything out.

Has degassing proven noticeable or worthwhile? I am going to carb and bottle in champagne and beer bottles. How have you enjoyed yours? With or w/o CO2?
 
The "original" German apfelwein is not carbonated, I was wondering how long it should keep if I do not add the priming sugar at bottling time, will it have an issue with oxidation due to the small amount of head space? I do not plan on carbonating because my wife (who will be the primary AW drinker) will probably add Sprite or Carbonated water anyways, that and my father in-law would throw a fit. You should hear the verbal abuse I get when I tell him that I do not brew according to the Reinheitsgebot, pretty funny.
 
Whiskey® said:
The "original" German apfelwein is not carbonated, I was wondering how long it should keep if I do not add the priming sugar at bottling time, will it have an issue with oxidation due to the small amount of head space? I do not plan on carbonating because my wife (who will be the primary AW drinker) will probably add Sprite or Carbonated water anyways, that and my father in-law would throw a fit. You should hear the verbal abuse I get when I tell him that I do not brew according to the Reinheitsgebot, pretty funny.

I don't carb mine either. I think it tastes great as it is... very much like a white wine, but still has plenty of apple flavor left. I just leave it in primary for a month, rack for a second month, then bottle. I haven't had any problems with oxidation yet, although I haven't been able to keep any around long enough to age any.
 
man these apfelweins are good. Myself and swmbo like them. swmbo didn't like the taste so much out of the fermenter, but now that its carbed and in bottles she loves them. I guess I gotta make more now. Apfelwein is awesome. I assume these are good year round as the one who brought apfelwein upon us is from Texas. Thank you Edwort. your the man. :mug:
 
We opened the first bottle of the first batch on Sunday, when we had a house guest. Really, it hadn't quite finished carbonating and clearing, but we just had the one night, so we didn't give a flip.

It was still a bit yeasty, with just a slight carbonation, but it was awfully good! All three of us killed that liter without pause or concern. The apple nose and flavor already had come out a bit more than at bottling, but it also seemed a little more watery than at bottling. From the posts I've already seen, I expected that, so I am not concerned. I'm pretty happy about the progress! With the cost of labor and materials, you can't beat it.

We'll probably let the bottles condition at room temperature until after Thanksgiving. That will be about four weeks. Then, we'll pop a couple in the fridge for a couple days and give it another try. If we really feel bold, we might cart a bottle or to up to Kansas City for Thanksgiving.


TL
 
Tomorrow will be one week after pitching. A few days ago, I started getting that strong sulphur smell. It's still got lots and lots of little champagne looking bubbles coming up to the top.
 
nOOb here. I did my first 5 gallons one week ago yesterday. I followed the recipe except for the yeast I used was Lalvin 1116. It is a Montrachet yeast according to the mfg. It turned cloudy about 2 hours after pitching, has been fizzing along nicely ever since. Did not get any sulfur smell, but did notice just a whiff of that shi**y diaper pail smell I get when using WLP400 yeast for Wit beers. It was only obvious if I stuck my nose up to the airlock and was gone after a day. The OL did not even notice and she has an olfactory like a bloodhound. Now it is starting to smell sorta like wine with apples.
BTW, I was stationed in Germany in the 70's and we had the Heylands brewery and an Applekorn distillery right down the street from my barracks. You knew when they were doing the Applekorn because of the godawful raunchy smell that drifted thru the town.
AP
 
BierMuncher said:
Get it to a gravity reading you want and kill the yeast.

You'll have to settle for the non-carb'd version and it will likely be sweeter than dry but that may be okay.

He could also sweeten with non-fermentable sugars like lactose. That's what I did with my Colassal Wassail and it turned out semi-sweet and carbed... just a thought, you don't have to sacrifice carbonation for sweetness.
 
WOW!

Just tapped my first keg of Apfelwein last night, and I've gotta say, it's just absolutely fantastic. About a month and a half in the carboy, then gelatin and crash cool for a couple of days before kegging. I was too anxious to try it, so I did the ol' shake carb and pulled a glass almost right aweay. I'm amazed, and so was SWMBO. Nice work, Ed! Off to buy more juice for another batch (I know, I know, I should have started it two weeks after my first, but...)
 
I just got my second batch put together yesterday. We've gone through about 1/2 the first batch and it is delicious and getting better. We're saving the rest (all in 22-64 oz bottles) for holiday gatherings.

I remember the first one taking off just overnight with a packet of dry red star montrache. This ones at 24 hours and there is absolutely nothing.

What seems to be the normal time?
 
I just got my second batch put together yesterday. We've gone through about 1/2 the first batch and it is delicious and getting better. We're saving the rest (all in 22-64 oz bottles) for holiday gatherings.

Now, let me do this math. You have twenty-two 64oz bottles left. That's 11 gallons. And that's half your batch. Holy Apfelwien! You made a 22 gallon batch?
 
MTpilot said:
I remember the first one taking off just overnight with a packet of dry red star montrache. This ones at 24 hours and there is absolutely nothing.

What seems to be the normal time?

I started to see activity after 36 hours and it was going strong at 48. Cooler fermenting room temps will also slow it a bit.
 
I'm beginning to get the idea that the first batch of this isn't going to last long. If a person was to plan on reusing the yeast cake, is it as simple as racking off the current batch, and then pouring a new batch right into the freshly emptied carboy, no sanitization (aside from the funnel) needed?
 
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