Man, I love Apfelwein

Brewer's Friend 728
Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum

Help Support Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
thippe said:
people that have used Notingham and Montracet, which do you prefer? i assume the notingham makes it a little sweeter?
Click to expand...

I've experimented with Montrachet, S-05, Narbonne, D47, K1-V1116, RC-212, MA33, and SN9. I like the D47 and Vintner's Harvest SN9. Both of these have a non-stinky fermentation and they finish fast and clear, with very little yeasty flavor.
 
I think generally 1 oz per gallon is how I've bottled beer before. So give or take if you want more carb or less
 
Made some today with 2lb sugar, 20L juice, and nottingham yeast

Can I re-use the yeast cake after I rack the cider into a keg? Or will it give the cider a different taste?

Thanks!
 
You should be just fine racking off the primary any time after FG is hit (3-5 weeks), even a month later, and filling it with more juice with a little nutrient and oxygen. I've done it several times.
But dry yeast is cheep, so it's not a huge savings really.
 
How's that look?

20170226_175009.jpg
 
andrewmaixner said:
You should be just fine racking off the primary any time after FG is hit (3-5 weeks), even a month later, and filling it with more juice with a little nutrient and oxygen. I've done it several times.
But dry yeast is cheep, so it's not a huge savings really.
Click to expand...

If I can save $5, then I will definitely consider doing it :mug:
 
I have some now that is similar recipe (used cider rather than Apple Juice). It was in Primary from Dec2015-Aprilish2016. I moved it to Secondary last year. I just tried it and it's doing ok. There are some very very faint oxidation notes. My secondary even has some trub in it.

Why do I leave it in the fermenters so long? Cause I'm lazy back off!
 
brewit75 said:
The post above is the original pic from April of 2016. Here's a pic of it today. Lots of trub on the bottom. Started it and left it sitting for almost a full year untouched. Anybody have experience with this much time in the original carboy?
Click to expand...

The only way to know is to give it a good smell.

If it is autolyzed, you could also try racking it off, adding a little sugar, and some Brett C., then see what happens in a month. It is supposed to be able to metabolize the chemical results of autolysis.
 
Bottled up my first batch of this last week in a bunch of old swingtop bottles I came across at a garage sale. The taste is still a little like a mixture of chardonnay and champagne with a little tartness from the apple juice. I put 6 bottles in the fridge and the remaining 34 bottles in a cooler in the spare room. I'll probably let them age until July when it gets face-melting hot down here in TX. I'm excited to do a side by side to compare.
 
andrewmaixner said:
The only way to know is to give it a good smell.

If it is autolyzed, you could also try racking it off, adding a little sugar, and some Brett C., then see what happens in a month. It is supposed to be able to metabolize the chemical results of autolysis.
Click to expand...

Just pulled the airlock and gave it a good big smell. Nothing unusual at all. Smells like white wine with a hint of apple.

This amazes me since it's been untouched since assembly for almost a year. Hopefully it'll pass the taste test. Assuming I ever get to bottling this stuff.
 
Today I learned how much is too much in terms of carboy capacity. I came home to a vigorous fermentation after a nearly 4 day lag pitching onto a yeast cake. I had to thief some out, and obviously took it to the face!
It tastes amazing! Fully carbonated and still sweet it was almost like a hard soda.

Has anyone else tasted a sample during the peak of fermentation?

View attachment 1490235726547.jpg
 
EdWort said:
There’s no need to worry about filling up a carboy so full when you use Montrachet wine yeast. There is no Kreuzen, just a thin layer of bubbles
Click to expand...

I made this a couple of years ago, and it went well, tasted great and everyone loved it!

BUT.....

SWMBO just made another 5 gal, EXACTLY according to the same original recipe, and it's been Krausening for two days ..... I finally had to install a blow-off tube (the bottle of water is now a light brown with krausen!)

Just an FYI that you might want to have a blow-off setup handy for the first few days ...... just in case ;>)!
 
Weird, while I've recently had blow off issues with mangrove Jack's cider and Nottingham yeast, the champagne yeast has always been very calm for me.
 
CU_tony said:
Weird, while I've recently had blow off issues with mangrove Jack's cider and Nottingham yeast, the champagne yeast has always been very calm for me.
Click to expand...
She used Montrachet, as specified in the recipe .... do you think that Champagne yeast would have been a better choice? Maybe next time she'll use that!
 
MT2sum said:
She used Montrachet, as specified in the recipe .... do you think that Champagne yeast would have been a better choice? Maybe next time she'll use that!
Click to expand...

I misspoke, when I said champagne yeast I meant the montrachet yeast as recommended, it always treats me right.
Currently all three batches I've done with montrachet were better IMO than my first batch with mangrove Jack's.
 
Just drew my first sample to check the gravity and (more importantly) try a taste.

OG: 1.065
Current gravity: 1.003
8.1% ABV, 95% Attenuation

The taste is delicious. Smells strongly of apple. The taste has no apple flavor, and I would describe it more as a sweeter white wine, definitely has a bit of a dryness to it though. I have decided to not carb this up much, if at all.

I'm committed to aging it for a few months, but I would happily drink this now.
 
CU_tony said:
I misspoke, when I said champagne yeast I meant the montrachet yeast as recommended, it always treats me right.
Currently all three batches I've done with montrachet were better IMO than my first batch with mangrove Jack's.
Click to expand...

Ahhh, gotcha! Yeah, I never had a problem with the one I made before - maybe this apple juice had some unlabeled sugar in it (?)! Hers is still bubbling away, and spitting out more krausen .... I've gotta watch it and maybe switch out the blow-off hose for a new one, the one that's on there now is getting full of dark stuff ;>). The water in the blow-off bottle is now about as dark as one of my porters or stouts!

I'd like to thief some outta there and give it a taste like you did, but she'd be upset at me if I started drinking her brew, so I better keep my lunch-hooks off!

This is her first wine-making project in several years - she liked the Apfelwein that I made a couple of years back so she thought she's try it out. She's the one who got me into home-brewing, she started out many years ago, making wines with a friend of hers, when we were first married.
 
morbster said:
I'm committed to aging it for a few months, but I would happily drink this now.
Click to expand...
I understand the feeling - we bottled in gallon jugs ..... I wasn't too patient with mine - fortunately, she hid a gallon from me and we got into it about a year later - great stuff, if you've got the patience! :ban::tank:
 
So I made a batch for a friend's wedding and all the homebrew for the occasion is getting a pun-y name. Im going to muse on this tonight, but does anyone have a groan worthy Apfelwein name?
 
All this talking about SWMBO's Apfelwein ..... I asked her today to let me see one of the bottles, because I was wondering if it had been 'sugar-fortified' or something, causing all the blow-off. Boy, was I surprised!!

She calmly told me that it wasn't Apple juice that she used - since she is a huge fan of Cranberry juice, she used Cran-Apple juice! So now I don't know what to expect! I finally changed out the blow-off tube, and today I put it back onto a regular airlock w/vodka ...... it seems to be going well, no blow-off for the past 10 hours, so maybe it's settled down enuff. It's still happily bubbling away ..... I'm not much of a wine drinker, and really not a fan of Cranberries (unless it's that sweet jell that you put on turkey and dressing - I love that stuff!), so it looks like she'll have to drink most of that 5 gal batch by herself!
 
I started with too much sugar. Before you chastise me for not following the recipe, I started a 6 gallon batch using a recipe I found elsewhere (calling for 5 lbs of sugar) a month ago before I started reading this thread and the wisdom of EdWort.
I have a second batch that I started last weekend with the proper proportions, but what's the best course of action for the first batch, which is destined to be jet fuel? Just let it finish and condition for a long time? Can I mix that batch 1:1 with apple juice to cut the sugar/ alcohol down, or will it have produced strange flavors that can't be taken back?
 
Just let it ride, you could draw some off and refill with AJ but that will restart fermentation
 
i just sampled a cran-apfelwein i did last night (1 gallon cranberry, 5 gallons AJ) My wife said she preferred the regular apfelwein better.
I thought it was pretty good. I have never tried Cran-Apple but i'd like to know how that goes for you!

MT2sum said:
All this talking about SWMBO's Apfelwein ..... I asked her today to let me see one of the bottles, because I was wondering if it had been 'sugar-fortified' or something, causing all the blow-off. Boy, was I surprised!!

She calmly told me that it wasn't Apple juice that she used - since she is a huge fan of Cranberry juice, she used Cran-Apple juice! So now I don't know what to expect! I finally changed out the blow-off tube, and today I put it back onto a regular airlock w/vodka ...... it seems to be going well, no blow-off for the past 10 hours, so maybe it's settled down enuff. It's still happily bubbling away ..... I'm not much of a wine drinker, and really not a fan of Cranberries (unless it's that sweet jell that you put on turkey and dressing - I love that stuff!), so it looks like she'll have to drink most of that 5 gal batch by herself!
Click to expand...
 
Hi Everyone,

I've just racked my cider to a second carboy to try and get it to clarify a bit as it is very cloudy. It no longer bubbles as it has been a few weeks...

I took a reading, but honestly don't really know how to interpret it. This is a very amature question ,but would someone tell me roughly what alcohol content you think my cider is based on this image? I didn't take an initial reading, but added about a pound of sugar to the apple juice before adding the yeast and letting it ferment.

pbMXsqhzso_mHJLqM5nhv9FMmmPa9PQYrfHO9qainUAEyc_epdkp2L18Q3qOEWB0d4w_3587mtniD9nGCZ9-o_l9i5eP6jp99sOkFdZgV6n8zL-jAcuaSaycIrU4VnWFFd36QrsquGhyOdd-fJxOl-tlxMYRwHuAQpon50-ZMV7sceIfpLU9dVOdCy4aENFlKRKqHqCLO4YmcCoOsXljf3V6QrSCSbE9oU8DoB1SiLgzJxelXgA_ZLHrlkVF_Z3G4gToXkqLR2vbZHaFQjtmdj7xzjHhPXRasol9pq-u-t_-Ex_LEsgGpJY5YKXfXFKt7SLnJxoIQEpidy3imdPr82dGI5_xMngUqqwwr57sRL2qDklW2ek_uhFX4hUJIrF9TI5DH5-cf8XFc3RjV9Z0zX2gX5MIZ5kJXUiVBCnr7Iac-LjcOcqxXwhx-MdQ6UwCzv8DgCf7jbtGl9ofCCWf82jUvH7EaIEK8mKXp7SDN7aEiYQxSV_k9z65G6C2xvT5C-zSqBOtL05trZH6lphPTYhfht9wTi5BhjNN65pOVrZ9Py_Qc2i9XH93X6kjZwiKF_2K7uzEYHSZOGzx9YjGoGJ_bHjmH7oe9GI8acZFdo4DnGCc4u3yfw=w1164-h1552-no
 
gregsatt said:
Hi Everyone,

I've just racked my cider to a second carboy to try and get it to clarify a bit as it is very cloudy. It no longer bubbles as it has been a few weeks...

I took a reading, but honestly don't really know how to interpret it. This is a very amature question ,but would someone tell me roughly what alcohol content you think my cider is based on this image? I didn't take an initial reading, but added about a pound of sugar to the apple juice before adding the yeast and letting it ferment.
Click to expand...

from craftbeeracademy.com :) Click here!
Calculating the ABV

Let’s look at an example. If you were brewing an IPA that had an OG of 1.070 and a final gravity of 1.018, you would subtract the FG from the OG and then multiply the answer by 131.

1.070 – 1.018 = 0.052
0.052 x 131 = 6.812

This means the beer is at 6.812% ABV, or as it is commonly listed, 6.8%

As you can see, it really isn’t that complicated to determine the ABV of a beer. When you brew, it is common to take this measurement a few times, so you know when to pull your beer out of the fermentor and bottle it. The longer it stays in the fermentor (with active yeast), the lower the FG will get, and the higher the ABV will get.
Click to expand...

Since you didn't do the OG, you might try putting the recipe into BeerSmith (OR [I think] BrewToad online if you don't have BeerSmith) which will give you their estimation of your ABV. There are a lot of online recipe calculators from what I've heard.

I'm a computer illiterate AND math-challenged, and not into all these fancy formulas, etc., so I would recommend BeerSmith for anyone - even computer illiterates like me - if your intent is to keep track of your brews and the recipes you may want to try out in the future!
 

Similar threads

nxc3441
apple pie cider under 10 bucks a gallon
Replies
2
Views
944
nxc3441
nxc3441
C
what canna do with it?
Replies
5
Views
449
fluketamer
F
H
Apple cider stupid questions
Replies
3
Views
804
Graham H
G
A
New Fermenter
Replies
16
Views
771
Austin Willoughby
A
Chalkyt
Using Fuji juice to make sweet carbonated Cider
Replies
1
Views
468
Chalkyt
Chalkyt
CornyKegs 300

Latest posts

Back
Top