Man, I love Apfelwein

BigKahuna said:

OH IT"S HERE! Over and Over. 30 Pages isnt' even 10% Silly!

On the top Right side in the tan bar there is a "Search This Thread" function. it will help you search out Brown Sugar.

FWIW I didn't like it when I tried it.

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to clarify my question - dextrose is corn sugar, white sugar is cane sugar, brown sugar is cane sugar with molasses. My question is: why use corn sugar over cane sugar (white or brown)?

bkvail said:

to clarify my question - dextrose is corn sugar, white sugar is cane sugar, brown sugar is cane sugar with molasses. My question is: why use corn sugar over cane sugar (white or brown)?

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Cane sugar / table sugar is sucrose. Brown sugar is cane sugar plus molasses. Corn sugar is dextrose. Dextrose is a simpler compound than sucrose (half as many carbons as sucrose per molecule).

Using corn sugar is said to give a different flavor, I couldn't say why, or even if it is true. Maybe it is easier for the yeast to eat dextrose since it less complex than sucrose to start with. As in, the yeast do not need to make and use extra enzymes to break down the sucrose into dextrose, fructose, etc.

Maybe make two batches, one with cane sugar, one with corn sugar. See which one is better!

Just bottled mine up. I started out with 6 gallons and ended up with 40 12oz bottles. I think I may have over-sampled just a little.

ok, i know its a little premature, since i only got through about 10 pages of this before i got a question, but has anyone tried orange juice?

I haven't but that's no reason why you couldn't do a mini-batch to try it out. Just look for juice or concentrate without preservatives and give it a go.

Mine has been fermenting for over 4 weeks now and there are still small bubbles visible coming up the side of the carboy. Has anyones taken this long to ferment out completely? I was going to give it til friday and then check the gravity to see where its at.

jonp9576 said:

ok, i know its a little premature, since i only got through about 10 pages of this before i got a question, but has anyone tried orange juice?

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You might do a search for orange juice on the entire site. There's been some stories about people have bad experiences fermenting orange juice. I think the phrase "smell reminded me exactly of vomit" appears more than once.

oh that doesnt surprise me about the smell. thanks for the heads up. i'll search now for it. it might be good for a laugh

my bubbler is still stuck. so i took a gravity reading and i'm at 1.01, in only 5 days! the sample tastes wonderful. funny how sometimes you just need to shut up and remind yourself of papazian's adage.

First, standard disclaimer: sorry if these questions have been answered but there are too many replies in this thread and even searching within the thread is basically impossible.

My first batch of EdWort's as been in the primary for 4-5 weeks and is ready for bottling. Reading from the beginning of the post I am planning on bottling without any priming sugar. Any comments for or against?'
I plan on bottling in normal beer bottles.
I'm wondering if I should rack to my bottling bucket to reduce sediment or just bottle straight from the carboy since I won't be doing any priming.

Thanks for any input!

Hello all!
Newbie to the forums and to the art.....

After much reading I went to my LHBS and bought:
2x 6.5 gal plastic fermenter (i figured why not have some room in case later i want to do larger batches)
"Lalvin 71B-1122" yeast, some IO sanitizer, and an airlock and rubber stopper (to keep any dust out of 2nd bucket when it wasn't being used.

I Sanitized buckets (inside), lids (both sides, airlock and stopper.
Added 2 gallons tree top apple juice from costco, warmed up a saucepan of juice and mixed in ~3lbs of cane sugar (the HBS lady said there really wouldn't be much difference for what i was doing between cane and corn). I let the yeast sit in a few ounces of warm tap water for ~15 min then stirred it into the room temperature (~68F) juice in the fermenter.
I stirred in the saucepan of juice + sugar and topped off with the other bottles.
I filled the airlock with everclear (should kill anything?) to about 80% full, sealed the bucket and am waiting for some action. From posts here it would seem it could take 1-3 days before I notice bubbles.
I then used the left over bottles and rinsed and filled with 3/4 gallon of sanitizer each. why? well I am wondering if ....

Later I can transfer (rack) at about 2-3 weeks (to the 2nd bucket), and at about 4-6 weeks I can then transfer to the original bottles and refrigerate trying to stop fermentation. or do I have to refrigerate or will the fermentation stop on its own after the second transfer once the sugars run out for the yeast to eat?
I cannot spend too much more on this, I am on a tight budget, but would like to start getting my feet wet. So I don't think using some sort of keg system would be even remotely available to me.

Sorry about the long post, If any of this is answered in a newbie FAQ or on a website, I have yet to read it. Much of what I have read is filled with a lot of talk where the poster expects everyone to already be up to speed.

Thank you for listening

Heres my batch after 1 week

FSBrewer said:

First, standard disclaimer: sorry if these questions have been answered but there are too many replies in this thread and even searching within the thread is basically impossible.

My first batch of EdWort's as been in the primary for 4-5 weeks and is ready for bottling. Reading from the beginning of the post I am planning on bottling without any priming sugar. Any comments for or against?'
I plan on bottling in normal beer bottles.
I'm wondering if I should rack to my bottling bucket to reduce sediment or just bottle straight from the carboy since I won't be doing any priming.

Thanks for any input!

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I would go straight to the bottles. As long as your racking cane isn't sitting in sediment*, going straight to the bottles will be the same as racking to a bucket. If you're concerned about stirring up the sediment, I would let your fermentor sit for awhile after moving it from the floor to table/counter.

* - I don't know if lees or trub is the correct term here...

kevin9167 said:

I would go straight to the bottles. As long as your racking cane isn't sitting in sediment*, going straight to the bottles will be the same as racking to a bucket. If you're concerned about stirring up the sediment, I would let your fermentor sit for awhile after moving it from the floor to table/counter.

* - I don't know if lees or trub is the correct term here...

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I believe lees, because it is technically a wine. but what do you say for cider?

kevin9167 said:

I would go straight to the bottles.

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I would not.
I would never try and bottle directly from the fermenter. You will almost certainly roust the sediment, and it's really unhandy to keep restarting the siphon with a bottling wand on your hose. You can, but I wouldn't.

The bottling bucket is standard equipment for a reason, and it's easy enough to sanitize and use.
I would recommend that you bottle at least some to carbonate, as that is how I've decided I like it best. I wasn't sure at first...but since I started kegging, I have no questions...I like it carbonated!

After reading about 50 of these pages last night I bought some Montacharet yeast tonight and will get the jiuce in the next day or two.Going to make a 3 gallon batch using Edwort's original recipe.

I copied this recipe but used cranberry juice and regular domino sugar. This was mixed up on Sept 22 (5 gal better bottle) and more than a month later and my airlock is still bubbling every 40 seconds or so.
Anyone have something ferment this long?

My apfelwein didn't bubble this long.. I should have left it in longer than five weeks too by the way. It has cleared up in the bottles though.

We'll see how this CRAN turns out.

bgburdman9 said:

Mine has been fermenting for over 4 weeks now and there are still small bubbles visible coming up the side of the carboy. Has anyones taken this long to ferment out completely? I was going to give it til friday and then check the gravity to see where its at.

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I started my Apfelwein on Oct 19 and mine is still bubbling from time to time. Got a visual on the bubbles running up the carboy as well. It probably depends on temperature somewhat. My house is cold (live at 8,000 ft in the mountains) so I figure that's why mine is taking a while. Thinking of checking the gravity tomorrow (mainly just because I want to taste it!)


Cran and orange? Sounds good. Maybe the Orange juice will turn out tasting like mimosas!

Started my first batch of Apfelwein today. I have brewed 4 Vinter's reserve kits, 1 pineapple/banana wine and 1 batch of beer so far. For less than $20 and 414 posts, I had to try this!!! I am just curious as to why for the pineapple wine (similar recipe made from juice) I have to wait a year before consuming? I am guessing it is because the recipe called for about 12 pounds of sugar.

I followed the directions in the first post and will update everyone in about 4 weeks.

ok, so i'm a little confused, no boil here at all. i am scared. just make sure everything is sanitized and dump it all in?(pretty much at least?)

jonp9576 said:

ok, so i'm a little confused, no boil here at all. i am scared. just make sure everything is sanitized and dump it all in?(pretty much at least?)

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The juice is pasteurized and thus already sanitized.

Boiling will do some nasty things to your juice, just trust the recipe.

ok, i'm just nervous. i'll put it together this afternoon

Hi,

I didn't read the Asorbic ok part... So i picked up some cider juice. We will be mixing a batch this week-end!

Thank you ahead of time for the tasty winter treats!

This is after 22 hours. Short vid too, the still cam doesn't capture the chaos that is really going on side.



[youtube]D7pS5_m1SGA[/youtube]

universe said:

This is after 22 hours. Short vid too, the still cam doesn't capture the chaos that is really going on side.

[youtube]D7pS5_m1SGA[/youtube]

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Did you use Montrachet? Mine has only a small ring of bubbles around the outside, and it's been going for almost a week.

I used EC-1118.

universe said:

I used EC-1118.

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That would explain why mine doesn't have as much foam. I guess that yeast just makes more?

dbr said:

That would explain why mine doesn't have as much foam. I guess that yeast just makes more?

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EC-1118 is known as a low foamer, but it's a vigorous yeast, the fastest wine yeast in my experience, hence your impression. However, as far as speed goes, nothing beats baker yeast, especially with molasses, it's just crazy.

bguia said:

EC-1118 is known as a low foamer, but it's a vigorous yeast, the fastest wine yeast in my experience, hence your impression. However, as far as speed goes, nothing beats baker yeast, especially with molasses, it's just crazy.

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have you made wine with baker's yeast before? I thought I read somewhere that it wouldn't work?

bkvail said:

have you made wine with baker's yeast before? I thought I read somewhere that it wouldn't work?

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Bake with Baking yeast, Brew with brewing yeast. Keep them mutually exclusive!

bkvail said:

have you made wine with baker's yeast before? I thought I read somewhere that it wouldn't work?

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I did it a long time ago and the results were not pleasant. It tasted horrible. Wine yeast is made for a reason.... and it isn't any more expensive than baker's yeast. Trust me on this one, use wine yeast!

bkvail said:

have you made wine with baker's yeast before? I thought I read somewhere that it wouldn't work?

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Apple wine bouquet is subtle, baker yeast would mask most of it unless you bulk age, a long time. I only use baker yeast in sugar washes, but I know people that still use it in grape wines. Not too long ago that was the only yeast available. The strains available today are better adapted, unless you have a specific task for it, steer clear of baker yeast.

dbr said:

I did it a long time ago and the results were not pleasant. It tasted horrible!

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That's all I needed to know!

I don't think i let my batch finish, I drank it too soon and made me sick, I've learned my lesson

The foam is gone and it now looks like Ed's does with the Montrachet. Bubbling away like mad in my crawlspace.

I put together my first gallon this afternoon - 1 gallon juice, 1 cup sugar, premier cuvee yeast - it's already bubbling away just after a couple hours!

Tomorrow will be 3 weeks in the bottle for my apfelwein. After work, I'm going to crack open a bottle of the carbed stuff.

I have an apfelwein problem. I made up a batch yesterday. Went to the local wallyworld and bought 4 gal of Treetop apple juice. I had a gallon of apple cider in the fridge, and used it in the batch also. I made sure that all of the juice/cider I put in was without preservatives. I followed the directions and added the yeast.

Now, here comes the problem. We had a cold front blow through here on friday night. It was cool in the house on saturday, but not that cold. I didn't fire up the furnace until saturday. It goes T U. The temp in the house this morning, was 50. I have no signs of fermentation. What should I do? I have the batch in a better bottle, still in the cardboard box it came in. I left it in the box, but put the whole thing in the sun to warm it up. Still no action in the fermentation lock. Any ideas????

The good news is that the cold isn't going to kill it. It'll just make our yeast sleepy and they'll wake up when they warm up.

You could put your BB in a tub and add some warm water to it. Or put it in a small room with a space heater. Or an electric blanket or heating pad.

Or you could just let it hang out while your furnace gets fixed.

I get mine going in the upstairs...70 + most of the time, then once bubbling I take it down stairs...currently 50. It takes a long time to ferment out....but it's OK...I've got PLENTY.

I'd just put it somewhere warm for a few hours...it'll take off....Some time in the next 3 days.