Apple Bee (Woodchuck Clone)

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syd138- use whatever one you want. It is really all about creating something. Try the original version to get an idea, then change it from there. I like to do a mini mash now, which is a little different than the original, but it is all good. :)
 
Would this work for a partial mash?

3 Gal Batch

8oz Caramel 80
4oz Honey Malt
4oz Flaked Wheat (Increase Head Retention)
4oz Flaked Rice (Lighten up the body from any unfermented sugars?)
Lalvin 71B-1122 wine yeast
1lb of Light Brown Sugar
2.5 gal of President's Choice Apple Juice, Past./No Preservatives/ 1.050 SG

-Possibly an additional can or two of Apple Juice concentrate to up the fermentables and keep more apple flavor.
-Possibly some acid blend, depending on how the yeast works out.
 
Should this be racked to a secondary? i have some going now, it's been about a week and wondering if it should be reacked or just give it another couple weeks in the primary..
 
Hophead- looks like a good recipe to me! Brew and take good notes.

Bull- I never racked to secondary, but I don't on any of my beers. If you are someone that prefers that, then go ahead. I tend to let it ride a while so the trub gets compress, but when I use a Hefeweisen yeast, it don't floculate much anyway. (plus, I generally have all my carboys full of something :)
 
It's been 17 days since I brewed this (2.5 gallons in a 5 gallon primary).. It still stinks... I am guessing this is the rhino-fart smell, but damn, how long does it last? I want to taste test some but if it tastes antyhing like it smells, I am afraid I'll puke.. so when does the smell go away?? On the same day I brewed this, I brewed 2.5 g of apfelwein and it has long since quit smelling bad....
 
Jay, I just brewed up a double batch (5 gallons) today of your exact recipe. Including the Torrified wheat and German Pilsner. First, I had to taste it after I mixed it all together..what a great, smooth taste. Nice...I took my O.G. reading and got a reading of 1.050 at 77F. I then pitched my vial of WL300....and now just watching for fermentation activity to start. Does that OG sound right to you? How light does this must clear? Right now she's really dark with that much chocolate malt in it. WOW!! :)

Dan
 
Yep- OG is in the range and this is not a real "light" colored beer. The chocolate malt really influences the color. It reminds me a a nice porter when poured. I will post a pic of the next one I pour. BTW- I really like the taste of this before I pitch the yeast too.
 
LOL...yeah after I did the steep and sparge and added it to the A.J...I could have drank it all without fermenting it. What a nice, smooth taste. And not overly sweet. :) can't wait for the finished product.

Dan
 
Another question.
I didn't see it listed, but what are you guys using for priming if your bottling?
Dextrose?
How much?
 
I don't..once it's "finished" I rack it into a corny keg and force carb. Simple.
 
OH No! I did not get that pic and I drank the last one! Ok, I am going to have to try again. :) Sorry about that.
 
Two questions:
1) How are you getting 2.5 gal from 2 gal of juice/cider + 1 qt of wort?
2) This will be my first cider, is a wheat yeast the best choice or are there other good alternatives out there?
 
I fill up to the 2.5 gal mark with water if I just steep grains (crystal 10L and chocolate malt), but I also have mashed grains (pilsner, torrified wheat, crystal, and chocolate) and that took me over the the top with the strike water and sparge). All that to say, fill up with water or apple juice if you don't get the 2.5.

You could use any yeast I suppose- I have used wheat yeast and plain ol muntons. Both worked well.
 
I really liked the mash version, but steeped grain version is good. I thought that the mashed grains developed a bit more head and held it longer. So I personally would do a batch just based on how much time I have to brew. Mashing taking a bit longer to do.
 
Sticking with the original recipe Jay, how much Apple flavor survived? And how close to woodchuck do you say it gets? I was kind of wondering if tossing in some concentrate would help boost its apple flavor profile?

Thanks
 
I think it has a lot of apple flavor. I have never tried a flavor concentrate, so I am not sure about that. When you bottle, do a few with concentrate to see what the difference is and then you can compare the two.
 
I use the pasteurized... I just make sure it is "not from concentrate" and only has apple juice and ascorbic acid as the ingredients.
 
I just cooked this up yesterday and it tastes really, really good. I pitched Wyeast 4766 Cider yeast about 14 hours ago and haven't seen any activity yet. Not worried, just wondering how long, and what type of activity I should expect from a cider.
 
It takes awhile, mine took a full 24 hours. Also with ciders the krausen seems to be super laid back.
 
Oh crap, did anyone remember to "boil" the wort after the sparging? I completely forgot to bring the temp up after doing so and now paranoid as crap my batch is going to turn south any day now!

Will 165'F water kill off anything or is it not hot enough? :(
 
I don't know how "safe" it is, but I did bring it up to a short 10 min boil myself. It's finally starting to show the slightest signs of fermentation (40 hrs after pitch).
 
Read this thread a dozen times and my mouth waters ... so I took the plunge.
Here's my modified version that went into my primary about 2 hours ago.

3 gallons apple juice
1 can concentrate A.J.
8 oz crystal 77L
1# exrta lite DME
1 cup light brown sugar (no scale)
used Ale yeast because I had it in hand.
O.G. 1.062

let the waiting begin.
 
I also tossed in a can of concentrate to not only raise the OG a tad but also hopefully help pull the apple flavor through better. I did notice my batch is VERY dark, too dark at this point. However I tasted the wort before I tossed her in the basement and the roasted / toasty malt faintly came through and gave it some nice complexity.

So far its going great down there, Krausen is about 3 inches thick and bubbling along. I am still crossing my fingers that I wont have an infection from the non-boiling.
 
Jay...just an update. Itll be week 4 for my 5 gallon batch of this on March 15..it is turning out beautifully. Airlock activity subsided a couple weeks ago. Can't wait to taste it again. I think at 4 weeks, I am going to rack it off any lee's and let it bulk age a few more weeks then keg and force carb.

flylock...why did you use Crystal 77? Just curious..that's going to be very dark and caramely. The Crystal 10L is where you get alot of your sugars from. However, I do believe they both have the same potential gravity of 1.033 - 1.035 if I remember correctly.

Aleforge..with the chocolate malt it WILL remain very dark...it won't be a light amber type of cider at all. I will take photos of mine when I rack to secondary for some bulk aging.

Dan
 
flylock...why did you use Crystal 77? Just curious..that's going to be very dark and caramely. The Crystal 10L is where you get alot of your sugars from. However, I do believe they both have the same potential gravity of 1.033 - 1.035 if I remember correctly.



Dan

I went with the crystal 77 and 1 cup brown sugar hoping for a caramel taste along with the apple.
Was hoping it would taste like an old fashion caramel apple. I have apple concentrate and apple extract that I can use to balance it if needed.
 
A few things I would like to bring up, first off I sparged the grains in 1qt a water as suggested. I didn't give much thought to how much water it was until I measured it out.

http://img7.imageshack.us/my.php?image=cidersteep.jpg
my.php



As you can see it barely comes up the bag. :confused:

And lastly I was talking about color, not that it really matters to me, but I thought maybe my batch was a little too dark so I wanted to compare.

http://img7.imageshack.us/my.php?image=cidercarboy.jpg
my.php



Anyways its still fermenting like mad and is looking great! :)

NOTE: The images are not showing up for me, although when I "Edit" the message they do, can anyone else see them? (adding direct links for now)
 
Hm, mine is a very dirt-like brown. Pretty light in color. But as far as fermentation is going, I have no krausen to speak of. I had noticeable airlock activity for one full day, but I can still see it working. Just watching it I can see everything inside still swirling around. That might be due to my using a cider yeast as opposed to wheat yeast.
 
A few comments.... I didn't boil after sparging- even when I mashed and everything turns out great. The chocolate malt turns this a brown to dark brown color for sure- nothing light colored about this brew.

flyweed... I am looking forward to your comments. I am brewing up another batch of this stuff this weekend! This is somewhat like cider in that the longer you wait, the greater the reward. I just like it so much it doesn't get much time to age once bottled. That is why I think for me, bulk aging is best :)
 
LOL.....yeah, I can't wait to rack it..just so I can taste it again.

Also, I did not bring my water to a boil either..for the steep or sparge process. I had very very limited kreusen as well.

Mine is very dark...almost coffee dark.

Dan
 
update:

I racked mine into a seconday carboy last night. Gravity reading at 70F was 1.010

Taste: some alcohol burn, very sour apple taste...with a dark chocolate overtone. not much for residual sweetness. It's funny my apfelwein recipe which I backsweetened to 1.013 tastes really sweet, and this one is sitting just under that at 1.010 and really doesn't taste sweet at all.

I am going to age for a month..then keg and carbonate and see where we are at now.

Dan
 
No worries flyweed... a bit more conditioning and the alcohol burn will fade and the other flavors will blend and mellow. One note, this isn't a very sweet brew- it has that Granny Smith apple sour, but with the malt it is a nice complex drink.

I didn't get a chance to brew this past weekend, so hopefully I'll get a batch going this week. :)
 
Mines looking great right now, very eager to try it out. If you want Jay feel free to ship me some samples, I will PM you my address. :mug:
 
Mine is hazy and apple flesh colored. Had to use Simply Apple brand juice when I went to secondary because the store was out of Tree Top.

No harsh alcohol taste at 12+% abv.

It tastes like a thick light amber beer with apples, if you can imagine. Several people have drank it. They all love it.
 
I wonder why yours came out so different then Jays? Maybe the juice?

Do you mean me? Mine isn't so different. his FG was 1.006 and mine was 1.010 only a couple points difference....my gravity was taken at 70F...so if he was cooler or warmer, it would give a different reading as well. I think mine still has just a bit to go...I'll take another gravity reading in a couple weeks and see where we are at.

Otherwise mine sounds exactly like Jay's.

Dan
 
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