Apfelwein Questions

[Hegh]

I'm planning on putting together a batch of EdWort's Apfelwein sometime in the near future, and I had a couple questions:

1. The local grocery store sells apple juice containing calcium gluconate and calcium lactate; will that affect the fermentation/taste? I've explored a bit, but all I can find is that calcium lactate might impart a sour flavor, but it might go away with time...
2. I've heard that apfelwein has a tendency toward rhino farts; would a yeast nutrient help out? This (linked from here) mentions how not adding yeast nutrients to a mead recipe can result in the same rotten egg smells. Would it hurt to add it to the apfelwein recipe?
3. If I use an ale yeast (not sure whether I'll be able to get Montrachet from the LHBS), is there likely to be significant krausen? I've got a 6g carboy, will that contain it?

 

[Donasay]

All of these questions and more have been answered in the apfelwine thread, there have actually been experiments with regards to the different types of yeast you can use and information on the yeast nutrient amounts. There is also a lot of information on the types of preservatives that you can make apfelwine with. The post is exceptionally long at this point 1000+ posts, but if you read the whole thing all of the questions you could ever want ansered about apfelwine will be answered.

 

[Hegh]

Actually, it's got well over 4000 posts. And it does not answer the calcium gluconate question at all, and only one post deals with calcium lactate with no long-term results. The poster only mentions that his first batch was super sour but is improving with time. No mention of how much time, though.

As for yeasts, you're correct, they are mentioned in some detail, I simply hadn't searched very thoroughly. It appears that any wine yeast will produce virtually no krausen, and ale yeasts for the most part will be moderate. Wyeast #3068, on the other hand, appears to want to explode out of the fermenter. And champagne yeast turns out very dry.

And I guess people have tried adding yeast nutrients with moderate results. The smell is lessened, but that's about it. It seems to depend more on the type of juice used.

So I still don't know about the calcium compounds in the juice, I'll post a question to the enormous apfelwein thread to see if anyone else has tried. They aren't preservatives, they are for boosting the calcium in the juice.

 

[Hegh]

Then again, this guy says that Wyeast 3068 is the best he's had by far...

 

[undallas]

why try a small batch (1 gallon) and test it out with various setup...