Man, I love Apfelwein

The bottling question wasn't really all that dumb; carbonating in wine bottles could be an awful idea, as they typically aren't designed to handle the pressure (hence why champagne comes in champagne bottles--and with champagne corks, at that).

You'd be much better served bottling in regular beer bottles (either 12 or 22oz) with a standard beer cap. I'm not sure whether wine bottles would kerplode or not, but I do know I wouldn't want to take the chance.

 

At the least, I think the corks would blow from the pressure if you use wine bottles.

Strange things are afoot in my fermenter. When I bottled my cranpfel, something happened with my siphon. Maybe there's was an air leak or it was getting clogged with trub or something. Either way, I stirred up some yeast when I was trying to restart the syphon (to no avail). Since it was late, I threw it on the porch in the cold and figured I'd bottle later after the yeast dropped. They didn't. I finally stuck it in a normal fridge at a house I'm sitting for this week, thinking constant temps that low would surely clear it. It's been in there a few day, and only the top 1"-2" is clear, then a clear line dividing the cloudiness below. I walk in this morning to find--the airlock bubbling fast! It had been sitting for 2+ months, and weighed in at 1.008ish. I see no other reason for offgassing, etc. since it's at a stable temp and has been sitting there for a few days. I guess yeast do what yeast want to do.

 

Swing top bottles are also good for carbonation.....

 

Hmmmm....I'd take a careful smell (and perhaps a taste). A "stable" fermentation that restarts itself "spontaneously" is usually a sign of a wild yeast or bacterial infection of some kind. Keep an eye for any pellicle or deposit forming on your carboy near the liquid line - things that look unusual usually are. An infection doesn't mean that your batch is ruined, though....you may need a longer fermentation cycle, might want to consider transferring to a secondary fermenter, and will likely have some unexpected aromas and flavors. After all, beer brewers regularly infect our beers with such things on purpose!

 

Huh? What? How about any number of vendors via the internet like oh I don't know, kegconnection.com or http://kegcowboy.com/ or http://www.monsterbrew.com or...well you get the idea.

 

Maybe I was being a bit hasty this morning. I think it might have been the temperature fluctuation in the fridge as it cycled on and off, because i looked later and it wasn't bubbling until I stood there with the door open for a minute. The next time I looked, the airlock pressure was reversed. I am still such a n00b.

 

I'd bet the bubbling was more from some degassing from the movement. Even if you manage to infect a batch of this, what sugar is the wild yeast going to eat? Sure, there's a little present, but the risk is rather slim, in my book.

You might try some gelatin to clarify, if you really want to clean it up.

 

Well this **** will get you going. Do not take a beer drinkers approach.

 

Bottled with 3/4 cup brown sugar.

Didn't have enough left for the last bottle, so I'm drinking that as we speak! Loving this stuff.

 

I have all ingredients ready to go except I only have Lalvin D47 and Lalvin 71B 1122 wine yeast available. I have lots of ale yeast too. I'm leaning toward the 71B-1122 because it tolerates temps up to 86F and this batch will be sitting in my extra room closet all summer. I doubt it will get over 78F, but the D47 high temp range is listed at 68F. Any advice from the yeast/apfelwein experts?

 

I used windsor yeast to ferment my first batch last October. Went pretty well with the apple flavor just now coming to the forefront.

You could really use whatever yeast you want if you start it now. You could always rack to another carboy in 4-5 weeks if you're worried about it getting too hot later this summer.

 

Hey all
Does anyone know if ED used a yeast nutrient in his cider?

thanks

 

I've been using the Lalvin 71B-1122 for mine and it is quite delicious directly from the semi-cleared carboy at 5 weeks....at 7 weeks, it was clear and even better. Not sure how much of this batch will actually make it to even being bottled!

 

No he doesn't, if you do you will not get the sulfur smell that people describe.

 

And by sulfur smell he means WHAT THE ****ING HELL IS THAT ROTTEN EGG SMELL smell. It is truly awful. My first batch you could smell outside.

 

Noone ever said that reproducing yeast smell good!

 

Currently making a 1 gallon batch.

I'm pumped :rockin:

 

Whats up Darkbrood, I see you're in my neck of the woods....

Done a lil brewin have ya?

 

Made it today! 5 gal, followed recipe exactly...see you in a few months!

 

Oh, Nice! I used the 71b-1122 and pitched it last night...what is your FG with this yeast - does it come out sweet at all?

 

So, I bought some yeast nutrient, should I add 1 tsp per gallon or .5 for this recipe?

Thanks

 

any one try this with "simply apple" ?

can the juice be from concentrate as long as it doesnt have preservitives ?

 

could use a lil help with this folks...

 

Do what the bottle says to add per gallon.

EDIT

If it's already started fermenting (might already be too late to add but..) dissolve the the nutrient in water before adding it. Otherwise it's going to create a lot of nucleation points and the CO2 will cause the apfelwein to give you a money shot right to the face and it may hit the ceiling if it's in a narrow necked carboy.

 

Should be 1 tsp per gallon

 

Without any backsweetening or aging, it'll happily go below 1.000....YMMV, but I find it both slightly tart and sweetish, with a distinct hint of apple...ans SWMBO agrees. Backsweetenng with an unfermentable, such as lactose or splenda, can ensure a sweeter finish with more body.

 

What does aging have to do with the FG? Does it un-ferment?

 

aging it allows some of the unwanted flavors to fade so the apple flavor can be noticed

 

Does the unwanted flavor fading affect the gravity?

 

No it shouldn't, unless you didn't let it dry out all the way.

 

Ignore him, he's just trolling.

 

would you happen to know how much to add per gallon?

thanks

 

maybe a tsp per 12 oz serving?

 

I used splenda in a few bottles, and if you use too much, it's easily noticed (some people don't notice it so much, perhaps because they're used to it). It did add a nice sweetness and body, but an undesirable finish. I ended up using the packets, and tried to get about 1/4 packet into each 12 oz bottle or half a packet into a wine bottle. YMMV.

 

Is Montrachet a slow starter? It's been 24 hrs and no bubbles yet, it has pushed the airlock up, but no bubbles yet, should I repitch?

 

Yes, it's a slow starter, wait at least 48 hours. I'd be willing to bet that when you wake up tomorrow morning your yeasties will be bubbling right along.

 

That's why this place rocks! Thanks kc9eci ! !

 

My apple wine has been bubbling away for 5 weeks now but has almost come to a stop and only bubbles once every minute or so but it is still very very cloudy and the raisins are still floating on the top.
I used 1 KG of brewing suger and a gallon of fresh pure apple juice with a white wine yeast
Any advise please ? Am i doing anything wrong please ? What sould i do next please ?

 

Hey all. I haven't posted for awhile, or brewed for that matter, but I launched another couple of batches of xxxxxWEIN today and I think it's about time to dig out the gear again.

Anyway, I wanted to share a couple of things I've been doing with the Apfelwein.....

I've made probably 200 gallons of Apfelwein since my first batch of Edwort's recipe. I stuck to the outline and didn't really experiment much at first, but after my wife and most of my friends had the wrath of Apfelwein upon them over multiple occasions and began to avoid me and my 22 oz. bottles of the elixir I thought I'd try to change it up.

I started carbonating my Apfelwein after probably 5 or 6 batches and have not gone back since. The bubbles are nice, although I think it makes it even a little more drinkable and therefore a little more dangerous. I feel like the sparkling version lets some more of the flavors out and makes them slightly more lasting, so I've stuck with it.

I don't know about everyone else, but after a dozen sessions or so I found myself still looking for a little more flavor, maybe a little residual sugars from the apple juice or something. Don't get me wrong the stuff was good and very easy drinking, but the taste was a little shallow for me and I was still looking for more a lasting flavor to keep me from taking another sip quite so quickly. I'm the type that drinks what's in his hand, and rapidly, so the lesser the alcohol the better or my night comes to end quickly....my wife's the same way, but probably 100 lbs lighter than I am making her ability to cope with the situation a little rough - - - alright I'll just say it, she's a pain in the neck Apfelwein drunk!! .....so the story continues....

So over time I pretty much annihilated everyone that I turned on to my wicked little beverage and even after an experience or two with it people just couldn't help but slam the stuff down, but after a little experimentation with yeast, initial dextrose levels, and even some pre-bottling dilution I've managed to make something that people can tolerate at least a little bit more. I've also found a couple of variations that I'd certainly recommend to anyone.

I started with champagne yeasts, obviously dry finishes with the ability to resist alcohol up beyond 16% resulted in some of the higher alcohol levels and more tasteless renditions. Since then I've tried a few different white wine and red wine yeasts and so far I found that I like Red Star's Pasteur Red yeast and I start with 3 cups of corn sugar. The batch I started today I pitched Red Star's Côte des blancs wine yeast and went back to 4 cups of corn sugar to 5 gallons of Tree Top apple juice. I thought I had used teh Côte des blancs before, but after reviewing my journal apparently I hadn't, so we'll see what happens.

Some other things I played with.... Cran-Ranspawein and also a Cran-Raspa-Apfelwein - yes I'll admit that the wife and I concocted those names AFTER a couple of bottles, but they stuck so we use them.

Cran-Raspa-Apfelwein started as a blend, I made two separate 5 gallon batches one using apple juice and one using cran-raspberry juice. I started with 3 cups of corn sugar in each one and I pitched Pasteur Red. I let both go in the primary for 4 months, racked to a secondary for 2 weeks, then bottle half of the two with a 50/50 blend and a wee bit of corn sugar to sparkle it up. The early aged bottles we opened (1-2 months) were a little funky, good but pretty tart and a little tough on the cheeks and pallet, but later......wooohoooo...... very yummmy especially served very cold. Since then I've mixed the juices in the primary and I've gotten the same results, no need to blend post-fermentation I guess.

The stand-alone Cran-raspawein is also very nice, but inherently tart. I'm still playing with this one a little bit and in my current 5 gallon batch I substituted 1 gallon of cran-grape and added 2 cups of corn sugar before pitching Pasteur Red. The mix was very good going in to the primary and had an OG of 1.050. Once fermentation has stopped we'll see where we end up.

Moving forward I'm going to play with the sugar levels a little more and try another yeast strain or two for grins and then I'm going to go in to blend mode. I'd like to try some other juices such as blackberry juice and blueberry juice and then blend them in multiple varieties with each other along with the the apple and cran-raspberry versions. - - fun stuff...time to get back in to the beer brewing now too....

Cheers.

 

What are some other brands of juice used? Tree top is not available by me