First batch of Apfelwein(-ish?)

[Symbiote]

1 glass 6-gallon carboy and 1 6-gallon Better Bottle, for just under 12 gallons.

Each contains 9 quarts of apple juice and 14 quarts of simple syrup.

The simple syrup was made by boiling 3.5 gallons of water and adding 14 pounds of sugar, then cooling and auto-siphoning to top off the fermenters. 6 gallons per carboy is a lot of thermal mass, I let it sit overnight to cool and then pitched the yeast about 10 minutes ago. The yeast is Red Star Pasteur Champagne. As of this morning there was no bubbling in the bubblers, so there are no baddies in the mix.

SWMBO doesn't like dry wines, hopefully the yeast will die off before all the sugar is consumed. If it is still dry at bottling time, we plan to mix in some stevia so as to avoid starting up the yeasties again.

Didn't take the OG And there is no way the corks are coming out now that they are in and sanitary.

Total materials cost: $13 for 6 3-qt bottles of apple juice, and $7 for the sugar.

Hope it isn't nasty

 

[Germelli1]

Holy $hit that is a lot of sugars! I was paranoid when I added an extra half pound, but the yeast fermented it out to under 1.000.

You will have very alcoholic wine, and I think the main problem will be the fact that there is so much more sugar syrup compared to apple juice that there wont be too much flavor.

Either way I am interested in how it turns out!

 

[Symbiote]

It has been fermenting in the garage, running around 90'F or slightly above.

Just sampled the stuff last night, and it is goooood.

Tasted like a slightly overripe apple with the alcohol content more like a mixed drink.

After 2 measured cups of drink, you can feel it.

 

[Symbiote]

Wow.

Drew off a gallon last night into a pitcher and got stinkin drunk.

I mean, tore up from the floor up.

Need to get some sort of dispensing apparatus. Bottling is a real PITA and since wine isn't carbonated there is no real need for it.

Been toying with the idea of cutting costs by making sugar wine and then adding citric acid based drink mix to it.

 

[batonrougegu]

I've used distillers yeast and gotten 22-27% plenty of times but used 10 pounds of fruit per gallon,and 3-4 pounds of sugar per gallon,my dry blackberry wine was semi-dry at 19-20%

 

[Symbiote]

The fruit might help for nutrients, eh?

This batch seems sweet. That makes me think that the yeast stalled out early.

May have been lack of nutrient.

 

[Symbiote]

I've used distillers yeast and gotten 22-27% plenty of times but used 10 pounds of fruit per gallon,and 3-4 pounds of sugar per gallon,my dry blackberry wine was semi-dry at 19-20%

Holy cow, Batman!

27 percent?

Sounds like maybe time for a batch of pear wine.

Need more fermenters. Wish I knew a Culligan man. $50 for a bottle seems high, there has to be a more economical solution.

 

[batonrougegu]

I only like glass buts thats me,I will use plastic on cheap batches but that's it.
What part of Alley Bammer you from?
that's 27 percent out of 3 years of experimenting.

 

[Symbiote]

Calhoun County, about an hour East of Birmingham.

From what I have heard, the plastic bottles are only good for ferments of a month or two, not anything long-term.

 

[HexKrak]

PET bottles (e.g. "better bottles") should work as well or better than glass (better in that they're lighter and more less likely to shatter). I don't know what the bottles I get from my local "water and ice" are made out of, but until I figure it out I wouldn't trust them for more than transporting my water. Still the better bottles are not much cheaper than glass, so I'll probably get one or two for comparison.

 

[Symbiote]

I have a 6 gallon Better Bottle and a 6 gallon glass bottle, and the only difference I have noticed is that the Better Bottle has a tendency to flex when being moved.

When you lift the bottle, the pressure blows air out, and then when you set it down the air sucks back in and sucks water back through the bubbler.

Now I use a milk crate to put the bottle in, really makes it tons easier.