Beer/apple wine, good or bad idea?

[photobru]

So I've got a bunch of Montrachet wine yeast and some amber malt extract lying around, add that to a 1 gallon jug of apple juice and I'm thinking of trying something potentially crazy.

Haven't dialed in the amounts yet, but the basic idea would be to do a concentrated boil with the malt extract, no bittering hops, then doing 15 min and flameout additions of something fruity like Galaxy, Nelson, or Citra, and topping off with apple juice in the fermenter and pitching the wine yeast.

Then later racking to a secondary and aging at least a month and dry hopping just before bottling.

Is this an idea worth pursuing or is this going to be terrible?

 

[FloppyKnockers]

I say do it. One of my favorite drinks that a local bartender turned me on to is 50/50 Widmer Hef and Angry Orchard. I've mixed similar things together at home; Belgian dubbel and apple wine, pale ale and apple wine, IPA and apple wine, you get the gist. Although I've never fermented the two at the same time in the same bucket, I can't imagine it would be a bad idea. What are you going to call it?

 

[firerat]

Ever heard of graff?

Check this out:

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f81/graff-malty-slightly-hopped-cider-117117/

 

[photobru]

Huh, interesting. I guess it'll just be a higher gravity and probably drier variant of graff then. And hoppier, but like they he says in the graff thread, not too bitter, that's why I'm just going for late additions.

I feel like it's the kind of thing I won't know what to name until I taste it, but I'll post updates as I go.

 

[firerat]

Please do.

I'm curious how this turns out.

 

[FloppyKnockers]

Here. I even made you a label.



Man, I love that labelizer. Thanks, Andy!

 

[photobru]

Haha, oh man, I guess that is one danger of the combination. Luckily I only drink cider in small doses. Maybe I should go with light carbonation to lessen the detrimental gastrointestinal effects...

 

[SnakeRidge]

Haha, oh man, I guess that is one danger of the combination. Luckily I only drink cider in small doses. Maybe I should go with light carbonation to lessen the detrimental gastrointestinal effects...

Come on man! life is for livin!

 

[syd138]

A couple weeks ago I made a 1 gallon batch of Apple Ale.

I did about 2/3 of the gallon a basic Amber Ale and the other 1/3 I just put in apple juice. I used S-05.

Haven't tried it yet, but it smells good.

 

[photobru]

A couple weeks ago I made a 1 gallon batch of Apple Ale.

How long do you plan to ferment/age it?

 

[photobru]

A couple weeks ago I made a 1 gallon batch of Apple Ale.

How long do you plan on leaving it in the fermenter?

 

[photobru]

A couple weeks ago I made a 1 gallon batch of Apple Ale.

How long do you plan to leave it in the fermenter?

 

[photobru]

Sorry my HBT app is glitching. For some reason my posts weren't showing up in the app and now it doesn't look like I can delete them.

 

[syd138]

How long do you plan to leave it in the fermenter?

As a general rule of thumb, I leave all my beers in the primary for at least a month.. some times 2 months.

 

[bernardsmith]

I guess my question is whether wine yeast can effectively ferment the sugars in beer the way that lager or ale yeasts do. I have made apple ale but used SO-5 too. I have not yet tried using wine yeasts to ferment malt.

 

[syd138]

I guess my question is whether wine yeast can effectively ferment the sugars in beer the way that lager or ale yeasts do. I have made apple ale but used SO-5 too. I have not yet tried using wine yeasts to ferment malt.

Definitely. Wine yeast would attenuate the same with malt sugar as it would with sugar from grapes. There is actually an article in BYO this month talking about using wine yeast for beer.

I just took a sample of my beer.. and if I had to describe the flavor, I'd have to say that it tastes like MGD. Maybe the attenuation is too high because of the apple juice and makes it taste kind of dry.. you can kind of taste the apple.. but still the best way to describe it is that it is like MGD.

 

[photobru]

Hmm, hopefully I don't get MGD. It'll be hopped though so that should help the flavor along.

So here's my recipe for 2 gallons, I'll be brewing it once I've freed up another jug (this will be split between two 1 gallon jugs):

2 lbs Amber LME
1 gallon apple juice
1 lb cane sugar
2 oz Rakau or Calypso hops (if I can get them)
1 packet Montrachet wine yeast

2 gallon pre boil volume, 30 min boil since no early additions
1/2 oz hops @ 15 min, plus yeast nutrient & Irish moss
1/2 oz hops @ flameout
Siphon 1 gallon cooled wort into jugs with apple juice and pectic enzyme
Aerate and pitch rehydrated yeast
After primary fermentation slows, add 1 lb dissolved cane sugar to fermenters
Ferment 1 month
Dry hop with 1 oz for 3 days then bottle with priming sugar

Estimated OG 1.06 (including sugar), not sure how much attenuation to expect, guesstimating 85% w/ wine yeast, juice, and sugar, so maybe 6.8% ABV?

Any pointers would be appreciated. I'm not sure 1 month will be long enough to smooth it out...