Man, I love Apfelwein

Yakima 728
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treacheroustexan said:
I just made a batch of this, but I messed up. I was only going to do 4 gallons, so I went and bought my apple juice. I meant to buy 4 gallons but I bought 4 half gallons, and I had a lot going on today so I just started pouring without realizing. So I used 2 gallons of apple juice, wine yeast and 1 lb of brown sugar but I have it all in a 5 gallon bucket. Will I have any issues leaving just 2 gallons sit in a 5 gallon bucket for that long?
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Yeah the only problem is you only have 2 gallons to drink! This stuff is super forgiving. Hell my bottling procedure is hold a flip top under the bottling bucket spigot (I ferment in bottling buckets) and just open the spigot then flip the lid closed on the bottle when full, let it sit in a cabinet for 3 or 4 days, then into the fridge, carbonated apple-y goodness. Heck I don't even sanitize the bottles, just wash and rinse them.
 
Made 5 gallons in February, and last week bottled it. Carbed half and left the other half uncarbed. This stuff is excellent! Based on the comments, I was concerned that it may be a bit too dry, but I think it's perfect. Everyone who has tried it has liked it a lot. I've only had one per sitting so far, so I haven't even gotten a chance to curse edwort. If this stuff gets significantly better at 6 months, I'll be impressed since it's so good now. Picking up more Sam's club cheapo Apple juice this weekend to start batch number two.
 
Here's a pic! ImageUploadedByHome Brew1398474531.566582.jpggood stuff!
 
Kegged and carbed my first batch with a little splenda for the gf. She likes the commercial apple ciders so I gave it a go. It is delicious! I had two pints last night and uhh yes....the stuff is strong, be careful. I have another batch ready to keg, but this time I won't sweeten. I'll serve with a simple syrup option for those who so choose. Great recipe, thank you very much.
 
Yesterday I drank a three year old Apfelwein. Still very tastey. I only have a six pack left, I need to make more. Maybe fee HB day.
 
Made up a new batch of this ~4 (i think) months ago using fresh pressed cider from a local orchard (Solebury Orchards, New Hope, PA)... just opened a bottle last night... wow! If you guys live near an orchard... the difference is night and day! I dont know if it's the quality of apples... the blend of the apples... or the freshness of the cider... but it's really a whole different ballgame! Still damn dangerous though lol
 
go_mustangs said:
Kegged and carbed my first batch with a little splenda for the gf. She likes the commercial apple ciders so I gave it a go. It is delicious! I had two pints last night and uhh yes....the stuff is strong, be careful. I have another batch ready to keg, but this time I won't sweeten. I'll serve with a simple syrup option for those who so choose. Great recipe, thank you very much.
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This stuff really shines sweetened and carbed up. The old lady loves the stuff straight from the fermenter even. I gotta quit fermenting in bottling buckets, she's found the spigot and often my 6 gallon batch will barely half fill a 5 gallon keg when I keg it. I make 6 or even 6.5 gallon batches that fill the bucket, figuring the devil will get his (her) cut, but damn, devil is thirsty.
 
kegged the batch i made back in oct/nov. FG was 1.020 on my calibrated refractometer. followed original recipe. wonder what went wrong
 
iluvmysh said:
kegged the batch i made back in oct/nov. FG was 1.020 on my calibrated refractometer. followed original recipe. wonder what went wrong
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I guess you don't have a hydrometer to make sure. I don't have any room to talk, I didn't check sg or fg and mines seems to be really good.
 
benco said:
I guess you don't have a hydrometer to make sure. I don't have any room to talk, I didn't check sg or fg and mines seems to be really good.
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I gave my hydrometer away recently, the refractometer was the best $22 I ever spent.
 
TheCanisDirus said:
Made up a new batch of this ~4 (i think) months ago using fresh pressed cider from a local orchard (Solebury Orchards, New Hope, PA)... just opened a bottle last night... wow! If you guys live near an orchard... the difference is night and day! I dont know if it's the quality of apples... the blend of the apples... or the freshness of the cider... but it's really a whole different ballgame! Still damn dangerous though lol
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Hi There! I am making a batch of Apfelwien also from Solebury Orchards in New Hope, PA. Did you get it at Keystone Home Brew? We must be neighbors.
 
donttread said:
Hi There! I am making a batch of Apfelwien also from Solebury Orchards in New Hope, PA. Did you get it at Keystone Home Brew? We must be neighbors.
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Sure did! If you follow Ed's recipe you'll get one amazing cider/apple wine! I carbed this one but will be splitting the next batch 50/50 carb/still. Id recommend doing that if you like wine... it really does have a great, dry white wine flavor and aroma.

Which blend are you using? I can't remember the one i bought but it was from the one big delivery the got... the one with a ton of different apples. It turned out almost clear!

Also, let this age a few months. It gets much better with age. I've been opening one the end of each month and it's interesting how much it improves.

Not related - It's nice having KeystoneHB in our backyard isn't it!? Those guys are great people and they have just about everything you could want... and if they dont they order it right away!
 
TheCanisDirus said:
Sure did! If you follow Ed's recipe you'll get one amazing cider/apple wine! I carbed this one but will be splitting the next batch 50/50 carb/still. Id recommend doing that if you like wine... it really does have a great, dry white wine flavor and aroma.

Which blend are you using? I can't remember the one i bought but it was from the one big delivery the got... the one with a ton of different apples. It turned out almost clear!

Also, let this age a few months. It gets much better with age. I've been opening one the end of each month and it's interesting how much it improves.

Not related - It's nice having KeystoneHB in our backyard isn't it!? Those guys are great people and they have just about everything you could want... and if they dont they order it right away!
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I made a thread about the Solebury Orchard cider when I started the fermentation cycle. Here is my thread - https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f32/new-apple-cider-starting-460133/.

My blend was:
I just purchased 5 gallons of the following blend:

25% Granny Smith
15% Empire
15% Sun Crisp
15% Fuji
15% Braeburn
15% Others: Keepsake, Pink Lady, Gold Rush, Enterprise

Here is my recipe:

5 Gallons of Apple CIder
2 lbs. of Detrose
1 Packet of Red Star Montrachet Yeast

My starting readings were as follows:

Plain Apple Cider:
Pot. Alcohol = 8%
1.052

After 2 lbs. of dextrose:
Pot. Alcohol = 9.5%
1.064
 
Racked my first batch today. Clearing nicely at 5 weeks. I plan to let it sit another 6-8 before I bottle. Stuff was pretty hot tasting, I hope it mellows like everyone says. Wife had a hilarious bitter beer face while recommending another test batch. I'll give it a little time.
 
sportpak said:
Racked my first batch today. Clearing nicely at 5 weeks. I plan to let it sit another 6-8 before I bottle. Stuff was pretty hot tasting, I hope it mellows like everyone says. Wife had a hilarious bitter beer face while recommending another test batch. I'll give it a little time.
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It comes out pretty tart according to my pallet. Mellows considerably by the 2 month (from pitch) mark, but even at 2 or 3 months (I'm not able to keep any around longer than that) I've been back sweetening mine with fresh apple juice, just a little bit being added goes a LONG way to taking the sourness out.
 
It really does mellow out considerably. I bottled some for my friend's fiance's birthday and when I taste tested some it definitely had a dry, "winey" taste. Just popped one open the other day and I get a bigger apple taste with very little alcohol
 
Served a couple bottles of my first apfelwein the other day at my daughter's first bday party. Just about a year old. Everyone loved this stuff. It was great just a few months after bottling it. But a year later? Fantastic. Refreshing on a hot summer day served cold.

Apfelwein inspired me to try a few different apple wine brews since I tasted my first bottle of it, months ago. I also have my first hard cider in the works. Great stuff!
 
Anyone ever tried one that was aged for an extended amount of time? Like 5-10 years? I realize how difficult it would be to save for that long, but wondering what the shelf life of this is.
 
finsfan said:
Anyone ever tried one that was aged for an extended amount of time? Like 5-10 years? I realize how difficult it would be to save for that long, but wondering what the shelf life of this is.
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I've got a few bombers and a few more bottles from a batch that's approaching 18 months. Still improving.
 
I have a noob question to ask. I have a 5 month old batch of apfelwein. I'd like to keg that batch with my brand new kegerator setup. I don't need to add priming sugar before hitting it with the co2 right? Also, what psi do you use to carb it and how long do you let it carb before lowering to serving pressure?
 
You don't need to add priming sugar unless you want to naturally carb it in the keg, if you do this you would let it sit out at room temp like you are doing bottles. Keep in mind the measured priming sugar will be different than bottling.

If you are just going to keg you have two options, Force carbing or the "set and forget" method. If you can wait I would hook it up at like 12 psi and don't look at it for like three weeks.

If you force carb you want to chill it over night then hook it up to like 20-30psi and roll it on the floor while its hooked up (be careful of the co2 take falling over). Do this for a good 10 mins or so. I will then let it sit under 20 psi for 24-48 hrs. When you are ready to give it a look unhook it bleed some of the gas so it doesn't fire out your tap and check the carb level. The hook it up at 12 psi. I will usually let it it another day so it can settle out if there is any residual yeast.

Please check out the kegging bottling thread for more info, I am NOT an expert.
 
thadeus_d3 said:
I have a noob question to ask. I have a 5 month old batch of apfelwein. I'd like to keg that batch with my brand new kegerator setup. I don't need to add priming sugar before hitting it with the co2 right? Also, what psi do you use to carb it and how long do you let it carb before lowering to serving pressure?
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I started mine right before Christmas and put it in the corner of the living room so all the company could see it bubbling away. I'm bottling mine this weekend too!
 
bleme said:
I started mine right before Christmas and put it in the corner of the living room so all the company could see it bubbling away. I'm bottling mine this weekend too!
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Carb at least half, I have a batch that's ~8 months in the bottle and it's like a nice champagne, it's amazing :D
 
I've got a few bottles left of year old + tri-apfelwine (used treetop three apple blend) and its excellent. plus part keg of regular that's 9 mo old or so. beauty part is i have taking it off tap, back on, back off, etc, and it holds up well. another great thing is that if you ever get some cider that's just ok, or low abv, or both, this cider blends well.
 
I have made 4 batches of apfelwein so far and my most recent added 96 oz of Tart Cherry Juice and I let it sit in the carboy for 7 months and kegged it. So far it is my favorite. I added cinnamon to most of my earlier batches which turns out good, but I like the simplicity of my most recent batch better. I have some of my cherry cinnamon batch bottles that are almost 2 years old now. I need to compare the 2.
 
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atimmerman88 said:
Dam...

Here seems like the going rate is $5 a gallon....still gotta check SAMs club


Sent from my iPhone using Home Brew
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Thats what i pay for motts. But $18 for 4 gallons is about the same, except you get it from amazon. I would rather physically pick it up and know its safe from damage/fresh.
 
finsfan said:
Thats what i pay for motts. But $18 for 4 gallons is about the same, except you get it from amazon. I would rather physically pick it up and know its safe from damage/fresh.
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Hey Fin's

Target had a sale....$4 a gallon so not terrible I suppose.

Easy 'brew' day comin up
 
Lucky for me my wife is a deal shopper. She found half gallon Kroger brand AJ for $1. She bought all 18 of them! Gotta keep some for the kids though.
 

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