Apfelwein - the gateway brew

[bssackma]

I am completely new to brewing but am intrigued by the prospect of making county wines...so I poked around on the forum for a bit and I came across EdWort's Apfelwein recipe; it looked like a good place to start.

My initial idea was to do two 1g batches and vary the sugar (dextrose vs. light brown). My local homebrew shop pointed me towards Lalvin EC-1118 for the yeast, so that is what I used. Everything came together just fine in the 1g carboys/jugs, but it appeared that the fermentation was going to be a bit too 'vigorous'...the foam started to come out the airlock.

1) In EdWort's original recipe it recommends fermenting everything in a 5g glass carboy. Any thoughts as to why the 1g jugs seemed too small? I ended up filling the jugs to just above where the neck taper starts...so I am guessing there just was not enough headspace for this particular yeast???

Since I didn't want to waste any of my Apfelwein I dumped both 1g jugs into a 5g bucket (sterilized first), popped the lid on, sealed it up with an airlock and it seems to be bubbling away just fine.

1) Should the lid be on tight, with an airlock...or just set on top. I have run across discussions that go both ways?

2) Do I stir the must daily...or do I leave it alone and let it cook; if so, for how long?

3) At what point do I think about moving from my bucket back into my glass carboys? Should I do a true 'racking' where I try to leave behind what has already settled out...or if I am stirring daily do I just fill the carboys with whatever is in the bucket?

Definitely one of those things that seemed simple at the outset...but I find that I still have questions as I move forward. Thanks for any insight, it is very much appreciated.

 

[BrewerBear]

I would just leave it for about a month then you can take a gravity reading. it should be ready to
bottle.

 

[bssackma]

Thanks for the tip. I managed to get the Apfelwine racked back into my 1 gal glass carboys and things seem to be perking along nicely. However it's been about 10 days now and there is between 1-2 inches of sediment on the bottom. In my 1 gal jugs this looks like a lot... Should I be thinking about racking again sometime soon...or just let it go? If the airlock activity is any indicator then things are starting to settle down... Thanks again for the help.

 

[DisturbdChemist]

I'll leave it until it clears up. I made 5 gals of this and left it in the fermenter for a month. In the 4th week it should clean up but mine could be different because i use different yeast (wine yeast) which is very calm and does not leave a huge yeast cake. so Just leave it be till it clears then bottle

 

[E-Mursed]

I've brewed it with the Champagne yeast.

Takes 4-5 weeks, smells like a giant fart for 2 of those weeks, liquid clears up nicely in the last 1-2 weeks. Don't worry too much about the sediment level. Just let the yeasts do their job.

 

[pyth]

EC 1118 is a fairly bad yeast for apfelwine I've been told. Has a bit of a tendency to strip most of the apple flavor out of the brew. Coincidently, it's also what my LHBS tried to tell me to use on my first apfelwien batch. I have a feeling you say 'apfelwien' and anyone who doesn't know what it is hears 'apple wine' and they throw champagne yeast at you.

Not saying it will be bad Apfelwien btw, might turn out really awesome. Just passing on something I heard when I asked the same question

 

[bssackma]

Thanks for all the insight. I will let it go and see how things play out. I especially appreciate the comment about EC 1118...now I have a legitimate reason to start another batch...as if I really needed a reason; other than it's enjoyable and tastes good (hopefully)...

 

[Sacreddog717]

I did my first batch with EC1118 and it came out good. It did come out more like a dry white wine, so I can see saying that it did strip out the apple flavor. Was still enjoyable though.