Apfelwein - forgot to take OG

[NZGirl]

I put on a brew of Apfelwein (thanks Edwort) about 13 hours ago but I forgot to take an OG...

Should I take one now? Or not bother?

Also I had to use plain old "General Purpose Wine Yeast" as I couldn't get the one in Edwort's recipe.

Edit: Oh, and it's a half size (2.5 gallon) brew...

 

[hcarter]

I wouldn't sweat it, although it is good to have a process. If you read the apfelwein thread, Ed tells you about how long fermentation takes. At X number of days i'd start taking a reading. When it is stable several days in a row, you can rack or follow your next step.

 

[NZGirl]

Thanks... I just wish I'd taken one so I could check I got the measurements right... I couldn't quite fit the entire 2.5 gallons of apple juice in, plus we have everything in litres and kgs not gallons and pounds so I had to use 450 grams of dextrose and it's very hard to get those measurements right when you don't have a scale... plus my yeast packet was a five gram and I had to use half and I kind of used a spoon to halve it out...

I think the measurements should be ok... the airlock is bubbling albeit slowly... just wish I'd taken that OG for a bit more confidence.

 

[Eves]

I stopped taking gravity readings of my apfelwein. I just ferment it for 4+ weeks and then bottle. Its the same recipe time after time and it has always worked out the same....delicious.

 

[Saccharomyces]

I have never taken a gravity reading for Apfelwein.

A terminal gravity reading should be around 1.000 or less, before attempting to bottle, but the OG doesn't really matter unless you really want to know how much ethanol is in your apfelwein. It's more fun not knowing

 

[TampaTim]

I have just stopped laughing long enough to get some air in my lungs. I did my first batch of Apfelwein yesterday.

I just got a call a little while ago. My wife returned from Christmas shopping to a house that smelled "like someone took a giant sh!t somewhere". I'm guessing, that would be the "Rhino Farts" stage of the fermentation? LOL She's at least being a sport about it.

They thought one of the dogs or the cat might've had an accident, but it's highly unlikely. But they (her and my boys) went on a turd hunt to make sure one of the animals didn't gift us early. I'd left the fermenting Apfelwein on top of my wine fridge, and apparently my eldest was leaning over it, and had his face near the airlock in an attempt to look behind the wine fridge and the kegerator, and the airlock let loose a bubble of Rhino Fart right in his face! It didn't go over too well I'm told.

 

[Saccharomyces]

heheh.

Rhino Farts aren't unique to Apfelwein. The last wine kit I did was much worse smelling than Apfelwein, it was HORRIBLE! :cross:

 

[Eves]

Its funny but I've barely noticed the rhino farts from my apfelwein. Yes, if I'm up close to the fermentor it isn't pleasant. But even the little room the fermentor is in never smells.

 

[humann_brewing]

I took a gravity of 1.062 when I dropped the yeast in on my batch, waited 4 weeks and it was 1.005. I bottled it at that point because I wanted to take some up for Christmas and couldn't wait any longer.

I am wondering if the gravity will drop any more while they carbonate in the bottle? It tasted great, even at room temperature and non carbonated. I drank the amount that I couldn't get down the spigot of my bottling bucket and was quite potent.

 

[HoppyDaze]

I'm in the same boat; I didn't take the OG on my Apfelwein (EdWort's: fist pump) But considering it took me ten minutes and everything went smooth its probably not a big deal. I'm confident that everything will be fine.
On a side note: I really like that I can give this as a gift to friends (better bottle, stopper,airlock, yeast, corn sugar..etc, all under $50) and they can start with a successful brew to get them into brewing. (and not get them too confused) I believe the world will be a better place once we recruit five home brewers each. This is a great way to get people into brewing!

I WANT YOU TO BREW!

 

[mw20]

I didn't take og readings on mine either. Just left it in the carboy for a little over four weeks. The final gravity was a little under 1.0. Im actually a little drunk on it now and had to hit backspace about thirty times to get my spelling right in this post.

 

[NZGirl]

lol - well I'm glad you're enjoying your brew, mw20...

on the subject of rhino f*rts... I can't smell anything untoward coming from my apfelwein... now you're gonna have me worrying about that!

 

[NZGirl]

Just took a smell of a few puffs coming from the airlock and it doesn't smell bad at all... eek.

 

[Saccharomyces]

Depends on how much sulfur is in your apple juice. Even using the same brand of juice, I have noticed different sulfur levels depending on how much they used to stabilize the juice when it was produced.