Bottling an Apfelwein

Hello All,

I recently started a 5 gallon batch of Apfelwein using EdWort's recipe found here:

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f25/man-i-love-apfelwein-14860/

I tried poking through the thread to find a consistent answer on how to bottle this, as I don't have kegs, but I wasn't able to find anything.

My main concern is that since the Apple Juice has so much sugar in it, adding a primer before bottling could result in some explosions. I really do want to carbonate the Apfelwein though, and kegs are not an option for me right now.

Will it be ok to add the standard 5oz of priming sugar for the 5gal of Apfelwein, or should I cut back?

Thanks

If you followed the recipe to the T, it fermented out dry, so you don't have worry about any residual sugars left from the apple juice. Check out this priming sugar calculator to help get the carbonation you want:

http://www.tastybrew.com/calculators/priming.html

Thanks a ton for the link!

I did follow the recipe to the T, except for the yeast. I used Lalvin EC-1118 (5g) wine yeast, as that is what my LHBS had.

I didn't see an Apfelwein on the calculator, so I used the standard cider and perry option. It's giving me a recommendation of 3.8oz, so I'll probably just use 4oz and call it good.

I've made 3 batches so far. Carbed each to 3.0 volumes and bottled. No problems, and it turned out fantastic. If the Apfelwein is fully attenuated, the FG should be a bit below 1.000. Mine attenuated to 0.998 each time. I'm assuming you used Montrachet, per the original recipe?

Don't be in a hurry to bottle. The longer you let it sit in primary, the more apple flavor you will get. Two months minimum, 3 is better. Bottle and age another month or so.

I've bottle primed that same recipe in the past. Like kdog said, it will ferment out pretty dry. I did have some variation in bottle pressure between different 5 gallon batches though due to all of the variables involved. Most bottles opened with a nice tame pop...a few opened like a bottle of Champagne! Never had one actually grenade on me though. Store them in a safe place until you gain more experience bottle priming them, just to be safe. Investing in kegging equipment will really make priming your batches easier and way more consistent. That Apfelwein is some good stuff!!

MaxStout said:

I'm assuming you used Montrachet, per the original recipe?

Click to expand...

No, I used 5g of Lalvin EC-1118 wine yeast, as it is what my LHBS had.

MaxStout said:

Don't be in a hurry to bottle. The longer you let it sit in primary, the more apple flavor you will get. Two months minimum, 3 is better. Bottle and age another month or so.

Click to expand...

I plan on letting it sit for 3 months in my BB. I will make sure to tuck some away after bottling so it can sit for awhile, but my SO loves apfelwein, so I'm sure it wont last that long!