Started out to make a hard cider. I loved the cider you could get at the little family farms in Austria. How does apfelwein compare to a hard cider? Is it similar tasting? I won't know myself for a long time. Your thoughts appreciated.
Tom
Tom
Ed Wort's Apfelwein
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Vox
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tschmitt said:
From my limited experience since I'm only on my second batch, I would say it is very different if you don't intend to backsweeten. It's essentially an apple wine since it uses wine yeast. Super dry and strong. Some like it that way. Made my second batch with Nottingham ale yeast and going to backsweeten. Just my thoughts.
Thanks Vox. I saw the Ed Worts thread when I searched for hard cider and did not realize I might not be fishing in the right pond until I was making it. Even so, it sound great and look forward to drinking it. Looks like you can put a splash of seven up in it to sweeten if need be. Either way it is fermenting now. I am new to this as well. Amazing how long you have to wait to enjoy your work.
Vox
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tschmitt said:
Yes. I liked it best with a bit of sprite. Yeah. Cider certainly seems to be a waiting man's game that takes patience. I should've let my first batch sit longer before bottling, but it was my first batch outside of Mr. Beer. My buddy makes beer and he makes a batch and drinks it a few weeks later. Definitely requires more patience. I just finished racking my blackberry cider to the secondary and it was delicious.
My first two batches (mr beer fermenter) have had a beery aftertaste (used discarded Muntons Ale yeast from a couple of kits I bought online). I did notice that the longer you age, the more apple flavor you get. I did pick up a packet of Redstar Montrachet to make my next batch. My thinking was the ale yeast wouldn't dry out as much, leaving some sweetness behind. That explains the beery taste, I am still aging some to see if it improves. The base recipe has won awards, that's what I am trying next (should have started there, I know).
Kashue
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I was also surprised how beery my first batch has been. It's in bottling now, and after its second rack (from secondary to bottles) it finally tastes how I expect a dry cider to. Total time thus far has been almost 2 months, and I'm given to understand that's still pretty fast for dry cider. It also improves a bit when chilled.
I have been doing some reading and thinking on the batch. Dry/sweet and carbed/still seem to be the major variables. Perhaps I will split my batch into dry/still (classic), dry/carbed, sweet/still, and sweet carbed. That way I can experience all at once in one batch. Any cons to this?
