My Apfelwein tastes bad

[mcr23]

So I made some apple wine and it looks like it is done fermenting. (It's been 2 months)

I know it needs to age for many months but I wanted to try it when I was racking it into the secondary carboy. It smells deliscious but tastes like crap.

Used fresh pressed apple juice from the orchard (no preservatives or anyhting) and champgne yeast.

Added 3 pounds of corn sugar.

Floated 2 cin sticks for a few weeks after the bubbling was done..


does it just need more time or is this a gonner?

 

[WillPall]

Well, what kind of crap does it taste like? Dry wine apple crap? In that case send it to me for proper disposal.

Does it have a bitter, tart, extremely sour (read vinegar) taste? Throw it away very carefully. I had a test batch in a gallon jug with a balloon as an airlock (don't ask) that turned out that way.

Taste green? Let it age.

 

[Coastarine]

I had a batch about a year ago that looked and smelled fine but tasted like vurp. I bottled one longneck and tossed the rest. I might try that one bottle soon to see if it turned out any good.

 

[mcr23]

Well, what kind of crap does it taste like? Dry wine apple crap? In that case send it to me for proper disposal.

Does it have a bitter, tart, extremely sour (read vinegar) taste? Throw it away very carefully. I had a test batch in a gallon jug with a balloon as an airlock (don't ask) that turned out that way.

Taste green? Let it age.

Well it has a proper 1-way valve on it but I guess I've never had it before so I don't know if it turned to vin or if it's just green

 

[david_42]

Your wine is probably very dry. Put 1/2 tsp of sugar in an eight oz glass and see if that takes care of the problem. I back-sweetened a 2 gallon batch with 12 oz of apple juice concentrate, much better.

 

[WillPall]

I'm sure you're airlock is fine, I was just saying that maybe it somehow got infected by a vinegar-creating bacteria. It happens to the best of us. If it had turned to vinegar, you would know it. No mistaking that flavor/smell.

Let it sit for another month or two, if it's still not good, let it sit for another month or two. Only then would I toss it.

Edit:
I second what david_42 said. Plus I didn't notice you put 3 pounds. I don't know how sweet fresh-pressed juice is, but I usually only put in 2 pounds.

 

[mcr23]

Your wine is probably very dry. Put 1/2 tsp of sugar in an eight oz glass and see if that takes care of the problem. I back-sweetened a 2 gallon batch with 12 oz of apple juice concentrate, much better.

I'm going to get some potassium sorbate and campden then wait a few days to backsweeten

 

[malkore]

I'm going to get some potassium sorbate and campden then wait a few days to backsweeten

so you tried David's suggestion and it tastes better? or you're gonna risk making 5 gallons of sweetened apple crap?

the extra pound of sugar probably made it way dry and it'll just take longer to age and mellow.

I only used 1 lb of sugar when I made it, and I didn't like it until it was bottled 6 months. Now I like it a lot.

 

[mcr23]

OK so I went astray somehwere.

I added campden and wine conditoner (w p. sorbate) and took another gravity reading. It's now reading a FG of 1.011. My notes have the the OG was 1.052 (5.34%/vol) but that can't be right.

I used Champagne yeast and loaded it up with sugar so I'm thinking my OG reading has to be inaccurate.

At this point I'm not sure I can possibly find out what the content is.

**If I decided to try pitching the champagne yeast one more time and add sugar would it be better to add the corn sugar in power form or boil it in some water and add it?

Thanks,
Mike

 

[Yooper]

If you've already added the wine conditioner, it won't ferment even if you add more yeast. There is sorbate in the wine conditioner, which allows you to sweeten it without causing more fermentation.

 

[mcr23]

There's probably no way to determine what the ABV % is now either

 

[alcibiades]

the reason it tastes like crap is because people on HBT over glorify apfelwein for some reason. Its really not very good. It tastes like hooch. (there i said it!) If i wanted a cheap white wine I'd pay three bucks for it at the local grocery store, because that's what it tastes like.

 

[mcr23]

 

[marzsit]

it will taste like crap if it isn't aged. it will also taste like crap if you play with the original recipe too much.....

fresh pressed apple juice is very iffy, since it can contain wild yeast. better if you boil it and let it cool before pitching the yeast.... that's why edwort specifies pasteurized apple juice in the original recipe.

adding too much sugar is also guaranteed to make it taste like crap.

and, using a non-wine yeast can also make it taste like crap.


my brother made me a batch last year and stuck to the recipe, fermented it in primary for 5 months, then kegged it and let it age for another 5 months. it does not taste like crap at all, it is quite tart but has a very rich apple flavor and an almost champagne-like carbonation, very fine bubbles.

 

[mcr23]

Nice. It might just need time. I haven't tasted it since the first FG reading, which was off the chrats.

Talk to the local home brew guy and he suggested adding another bottle of pasturized juice with no preserv other than citric acid and adding the wine conditioner.

I'm just shocked that when I took a reading 2 weeks after adding the juice and conditioner that it would then read 5% since I used champagne yeast and not ale yeast. The last reading was 21%.

Like I said, I'm almost positive that the OG reading was incorrect and I'll just have to live with not knowing what it really is.

 

[WIP]

You added Chemicals that throw off the FG, you have no way to accurately read the abv.

Also, adding extra sugar (3 lbs instead of 2) will bring up the ABV but make the wine LESS sweet. You may have just dried it out too much.