Man, I love Apfelwein

Well, in this case, bottling it seemed to degas it enough. I opened one last night and there was hardly a hiss and zero carbonation. Had it been in primary for a shorter time, though, I'm not so sure.


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Yeah you're right. It just needs degassed. I'm going to rack it into my bottling bucket and stir til it stops bubbling and bottle. Sounds like you degassed it in the bottling process too. Cheers!!

 

By stirring it after sitting in the primary/secondary where it's been fermenting, aren't you going to allow too much oxygen into the beer (Oxydization?)? That seems counter-intuitive to me. I'd prime it and bottle .... if you think it's overprimed after a taste test 3 or 4 days later, I'd just pop the tops (without shaking them up), and then re-cap them all .... 50 or 100 caps are much less expensive than having to throw out the whole batch if it goes bad .......

 

This isn't beer we are making...it's wine (technically cider). Degassing wine by stirring and splashing is quite common. On my next batch...and there will be a next batch...I'm going to use my Foodsaver to degas it. However, neither stirring nor splashing should be an issue.


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Giggity K1V-116 doing its thing. Blow off for a cider?

[ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hcs1bRO9n0s[/ame]

 

Yeah this. I've never made any wine but my brother has been making it for a few years and he says degassing is a normal step in winemaking. They actually sell a tool called a degasser.

For my purposes I'm just going to rack off the yeast into my bottling bucket, give it a gentle but thorough stir to get the gas out and bottle it still.

Now to look up why wine needs degassed and beer doesnt...

 

Beer doesn't because it's carbonated and it would defeat the purpose. Wine isn't carbonated, unless you're going for a sparkling wine or champagne. Beer is more prone to oxidation, although wine can certainly oxidize as well. There is still CO2 in solution with beer after primary, but it's desirable for the end product anyway, and there isn't as much due to a more vigorous fermentation. Wine doesn't have nearly as vigorous of a fermentation, and as a result, there's usually a lot more CO2 that remains after primary fermentation.

In all the win I've made, except for one mead, after a long primary the CO2 wasn't noticeable. It was different in the case of this apfelwein.


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Many of us use the mobile app, which severely limits search functions.

 

Bottled mine today. 42 bottles. The other 30 in the pic is a BDS. Started with 4.5 gallons of juice and 2.75 pounds of sugar for a 1.092 OG. FG was .997 for around 13% ABV. Tastes good (to me) as it is to be honest but I'm used to drinking high ABV stuff. Not really hot at all. More tart and vinegary than hot like a dry white wine. I will probably backsweeten by the glass. Gonna try to wait til Christmas to try it.

 

Add another batch to the list. Well , a half batch anyway. Used Ed's original recipe. Thinking about bottling around Christmas, half still and the other half with some priming sugar.

 

I have my first batch of Edworts that I started a few weeks ago. Fermentation is complete at FG 0.098. Clearing has begun but still a bit hazy. Do I need to add Kmeta at this point? And if so, do I stir up all the sediment again while doing it?

 

quick question-my 6 gallon batch has been on primary for a little over 3 weeks and will be there another month at least. when i bottle i'd like to back-sweeten, i planned on added 1 or 2 frozen apple juice concentrates. is that a solid plan or should i just go with lactose? i'm hoping for some carbonation so i'm hoping that the frozen apple juice sugars will do the trick in place of priming sugar.

Am i on track or screwed up like a soup sandwich?

 

I'm going to be making this as soon as my yeast gets here. I'm only doing a one gallon test batch and I won't be using extra sugar (mainly because it will be a PITA scaling and measuring). I don't have a bottling bucket so will it be OK bottling right from the fermenter? The only downside I can think of is having extra yeast sediment. Will a half pack of yeast be too much for just one gallon? Also, I've read concerns over making bottle bombs, will using priming drops supply enough or too much sugar with the extra yeast floating around?

 

If you add more juice you're just going to end up with more alcohol. You need an unfermentable sugar if you want a sweet drink. Or you can sweeten in the glass, like Ed suggests in the original post.

 

I should have been more clear, what i mean is that i'll backsweeten with the concentrate then let it carb up till it gets where i want it then pasteurize on the stove to kill the yeast.

 

When do I add kmeta to my batch of Edworts?

 

Maybe use a plastic bottle to test for carbonation and then pasturize the glsss?

Never used it in any of my batches.

 

Just so I'm clear - it's okay to sit aging in bottles for say up to 2 years without Kmeta? I'm confused because in a thread about Mead, people say it's so important. But then then in a thread about cider it's not used. Just trying to learn!

 

Sorry - Double post

 

EdWorts Grapfelwein is it, then. So Dominic1920 created a new word and a name for my "whatever-it-was-that-I-brewed."

Oh By The Way, it was nasty coming out of the fermenter. I bottled it and then forgot about it for almost 3 years. What a difference that made!!!

Thank you!

 

Just bottled 10 gallons of this fine spirit. i use 3 gallons apple, 2 gallons grape.
and montrachet yeast per 5 gallons. comes out great ...

 

As most have also noticed, Apfelwein tastes better after a good aging period. Does anyone know the chemistry/process that facilitates this?

 

I belive it's called ageification

 

I'm not sure that's actually a word.

 

It is now. I just made it. Actually I Google it and there wasn't any actual proof that the word exists.

 

There is tons of stuff on Google about general science of wine aging but I've searched a lot and can't find anything specific to apple wine/cider. With regular wine there are lots of processes at play but apple wine just doesn't seem as complex as grape wine. *shrugs

 

Yeah, I was seeing the same thing. The only thing that sounds fitting is a maybe a malolactic component...reducing the really potent malic acid to a "softer" lactic acid. If indeed that's the case, maybe we should be selecting a fermentation profile (and yeast) that facilitates that process.

 

My pressed apple juice i bought is cloudy from carton. Will this clear or should i add some pectolase when finished fermenting?

 

Just kegged this after a 4 week run in the primary. It tastes great now, I can't imagine how well it will improve with some aging.

 

I've not been a fan of the apfelwein batches I've made until I've modified them. One got an addition of ginger that greatly improved it. I also just bottled a five month old batch that wasn't all that great until I dry hopped it, half an once of my home grown whole leave Yakima Goldings for a week in a three gallon batch has been awesome.

 

I hope I like it as much as everyone else, since I now have 17 gallons going.

 

Wow that's some balls right there. I hope you do too.

 

So, would you ferment and store this at @ 70 deg. F. for the six to nine months? Or would you do the primary ferm. for the first mo. at 70 deg. and then age at say 55 deg.? That is my basement temp almost year round, and where I age wine.

 

If mine is not sweet enough I just add about 5 cans of apple juice concentrate to a keg and it brings it right around to amazing

 

Your good to age it at cellar temps. I would try temp keep primary under 70 if you can though.

 

Thanks for the advice. I am actually at 68.3 deg.

 

The weather has finally cooled off in Texas, so time to whip up a 10 gallon batch.

It's been a long while.

 

Haven't seen you on here in quite awhile,glad to see you're still around.

 

Dunno if this applies in the USA, but up here in Canadaland, Safeway has their own proprietary brand of pure apple juice. When it goes on sale, its for fifty cents a litre ($2 a gallon). My poor, poor liver....

 

I am thinking of giving this recipe a spin, just 2 questions:

1-can I do the primary in my bucket instead of a carboy?

2- how is this different than other apple wines?