Aplfelwine Variations?

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Sea

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I love Ed's Apfelwine. I have about a 7-8 gal backlog right now. However, I want to experiment with some variations on the theme. I have heard of using some cranberry, or other fruit juice at a small ratio, using cinamon sticks and cloves, I think someone even said they were going to ferment it with some Green Tea.

What other flavors/spices have you experimented with, and did you like it?


Sorry if some of this is in the Apfelwine thread, i just don't have time to read through that whole thing!
 
I have started making mine with cinnamon sticks and cloves, and use brown sugar instead of dextrose..... SWMBO puts it down mighty quickly....:D
 
Ive done serveral now, all based on ideas ive picked out of the other threads:

10g Standard Aplfelwine (as per the original recipe)
5g at 1g Apple, 2g Blueberry, 2g Pomegranate, WINE YEAST
5g at 1g Apple, 2g Blueberry, 2g Pomegranate, CHAMPAIGN yeast
5g at 2.5g Apple, 2.5g Pomegranate, CIDER YEAST
5g Original but using liquid Champaign Yeast

Now im working on a new one:
1g Apple, 3g Blueberry, 1g Strawberry, again on Champaign Yeast.



Personally, all the yeast ive used except for the Red Star wine yeast has been White Labs Liquid yeasts. Ive also found that the Champaign yeast ferments insanely cleanly. I mean the stuff pops out completely clear in record time and has a very clean, slightly dry, but damn TASTY flavor! It seems to preserve the flavors better, HOWEVER that may just be because im also using more flavorful combinations that tend to stick out more.

The one brewed with White Labs cider yeast came out rather on the sweet end, not bad but im more into the clean dry flavor.

I must say, the Blueberry + Pomegranate combo was absolutely amazing. From the time i bottled it, it was completely gone in 3 weeks. People just couldn't get enough of it. It went down easy and smooth and oddly enough left less of a hangover aspect than the standard brew does. Possibly from the cleaner fermentation of the Champaign yeast.



Ideas? Comments? I havent tried spices JUST yet, but im gearing up to soon. As of today i have 3 free carboys so im looking to do 3 more variations this weekend!
 
Last one I bottled.

4g AJ
1g Cranberry-Raspberry
2lbs CS
EC-118 yeast
Yeast Nutrient

It was really good going into the bottles so... I repeated this last weekend except this time adding 4 cinnamon sticks.

Next time going to vary by using the one g Cranberry-Raspberry sweetened with Splenda and increase the CS somewhat (because of the Splenda.)
 
Melana said:
Ok - where do you find the Blueberry juice?

We have a local store actually that carries 100% organic, nothing at all added, Blueberry Juice. Its in smaller bottles though, like 1/2 a gallon at a time, and im not joking when i say its easily 2x the price of apples.
 
I've got a 3 gallon batch going with ginger.
I peeled and chopped about 3 inches of fresh ginger then steeped it in around two cups of the cider before I poured it into the carboy.

I get a definite ginger smell from the airlock. I hope the flavor sticks around. I've heard that many flavors go away if added during primary ferment.

We use 100% ginger juice at my work. If the flavor is gone from the ferment I'll just add some of that before bottling. I suppose I could have just done that from the beginning.... I just wanted to see what happened.
 
Sea said:
+1 on the pomegranite juice!

So, what does a batch of 1G Apple, 2G Blue, and 2G Pomy cost anyways?

I found 2-bottles packaged of apple juice, 1g each, for like $9.00
Pomegranate was like $5 per 1/2 gallon
Blueberry was close to $11-12 PER 1/2 GALLON!

So yea, its DAMN tasty but not exactly cost effective.
 
Mmm that blueberry + pom combo sounds real good. I have a carboy dying to be filled with that. Could you give me a little more info on it?
1) Did you add any dextrose?
2) What yeast, specifically, did you use?
3) How long before it was drinkable?
4) How long to ferment out?
5) What temp did it ferment at?
6) Secondary?
7) Any brand names to recommend on the juice? Tree Top Apple? Pom Pomegranate? etc

Sorry, it's just that if I'm spending $50 on a batch I want to make sure it's exactly right.
 
You can get blueberry juice at most grocery stores. Just becareful on what you are getting. Most of them are mixes with either apple juice or pom juice. I haven't seen 100% blueberry. Make sure to check the label for preservatives, sorbates, etc etc. You want juice that has just been pasteurized. Its not all that expensive... but you are probably better off going with frozen berries in apple juice.

I did just make a blueberry mead where I used honey, saaz, blueberries, and topped the gallon off with blueberry/apple juice.
 
You can buy 3lb cans of fruit purees from alot of LHBS's, I just tried my first one with 3lbs Blackberry puree, 2lbs dextrose topped up to 5gal with 100% apple juice.....made it about a month ago, Ill taste a sample tonight and report back.
 
I know that you can buy 100% blueberry juice at the H.E.B. stores around Texas. That doesn't do the rest of y'all much good, but it is out there (and, yes, it runs around $12 for a half gallon). Like Stimey said, though, watch out for blends.

I have a batch where I substituted one gallon of apple juice for a half gallon of blueberry juice and a half gallon of pomegranate. It looks like it's about to wrap up fermenting, so I'm getting a bit excited.


TL
 
heylookasensei said:
bells here in kalamazoo has that on tap now and again, and it tastes pretty much exactly like apfelwein!

how do you know of it?!

Not sure what you are referring to, but I think he is just referring to his own batch of cyser. As in a mead melomel using apple juice.
 
Tusch said:
Not sure what you are referring to, but I think he is just referring to his own batch of cyser. As in a mead melomel using apple juice.

ahh after doing some research i found that cyser is not just a bells invention. i figured it was due to the name - it sounds more like a label than a type of apple booze
 
I just put together (literally) a batch of Apfelwine with:
2 gal Apple Juice
1/2 Gal Black Currant Juice
48 ox of POM
19 oz Dextrose
Montrachet yeast...

And boy is it BLACK!
 
In mine i used

Treetop Apple Juice (check carefully, make sure nothing is added)
Langers Pomegranate juice
Some kinda random organic blueberry juice, just double check the labels and make sure its pure. Its hard to find but it can be had...for a price.

In this batch i used White Labs Liquid Champaign yeast.
I used the exact same amount of corn sugar recommended by Ed Wort for the 5g batch of Aplfelwine.
I let it ferment out about 30 days.
Bottled and drank it (i prefer it flat personally) a week later. I does get better as it ages though, defiantly smoother. As for carbing it id imagine you just carb it the same as Aplfelwine.

It ferments (on account of the yeast) VERY clear and clean. Also its easy to rack off because (assuming your ingredients are good) it leaves almost nothing at the bottom of the carboy and even less on the bottom of the bottles after conditioning. That makes it very pleasant to bottle in clear bottles as i did a few of them and hand out as gifts. The color and clarity will startle alot of people into thinking its just a standard wine which it most definatly is not. Similar...but definatly not, with a nice glassy red color.


My next batch of it however will be 1g Apple to 4g Blueberry only, because im finding i have a taste for the blueberry, and i want to see just how BLUE i can get the final product also! I want it blue like a damn slurpee!
 
Hey shadow, in my experience blueberry juice is usually a deep purple, are you really going for a blue wine in color?
 
Tusch said:
Hey shadow, in my experience blueberry juice is usually a deep purple, are you really going for a blue wine in color?


Yep, though im still pondering just how to accomplish that as naturally as possible. Any suggestions?
 
Try this one on for size

5 Gal Langers 100% Pure Apple Juice
1 lb Pure Minnesota Clover Honey
1/2 oz Star Anise
1/2 oz Licorice Root
2 packets Champagne Yeast (for higher abv)

Ferment two weeks, rack to secondary (to remove anise and licorice root)
continue in secondary for three months

Keg @ 21.5 PSI for 4 days... and there you go.

Tart to start, with a mouthy warm licorice finish... not overwhelming, but bold.

two or more in a sitting...call a cab!
 
I just tasted some Apfelwine I made on Teach a Friend to Homebrew Day.

Instead of champagne yeast I used WLP300 Hefeweizen.
Instead of table sugar I used jaggery (made from palm sugar, in this case).

The first taste was a bit bitter/sharp, but I attribute that to the temperature (~32F). In fact it was so cold, it left slush trails on the inside of the glass when I was tasting it. As it warmed up, the bitterness faded and left just the barest hint of sweetness. Very soft and full on the tongue.
 
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