Kitty litter brewing company apfelwine thread

[claphamsa]

Im on a number of message boards and you see some odd things, one of them is a college football sim site, and everyone picked one team, and they are all siming the season as the same team to compare how everyone is doing.

I think this is a good idea, since the apfelwine thread has 20000000000 posts, its hard to keep track of what individual brewers are doing. so im starting my own thread.


I am going to bottle my first batch of apfelwine today. its good!! but it is very very dry.

So I wanna make it more sweet. I will be posting my thoughts later today, if anyone has any ideas in the mean time im willing to listen

 

[Jesse17]

You could back sweeten with an unfermentable sugar, such as lactose, or splenda.

And, then get ready for the "Darn you, for starting another Apfelwine thread!" post that are sure to follow.

Good luck!

 

[claphamsa]

You could back sweeten with an unfermentable sugar, such as lactose, or splenda.

And, then get ready for the "Darn you, for starting another Apfelwine thread!" post that are sure to follow.

Good luck!

im gonna back sweeter with lactose, any ways to foresweeten? (is foresweeten a word?)

 

[Nurmey]

You can "foresweeten" with lactose too. It's doesn't ferment out so it's kind of an add anytime you want ingredient.

 

[claphamsa]

You can "foresweeten" with lactose too. It's doesn't ferment out so it's kind of an add anytime you want ingredient.

grrr, why didnt you tell me this 12 hours ago?

[X]-mock anger, i got an extra pound of lacots


{xx}-thansk!

 

[SuperiorBrew]

You can even add some splenda to the glass when you are drinking it if need be.

 

[BuffaloSabresBrewer]

Can add any kind of sugar in the glass. Its not like its going to be fermented there.

 

[claphamsa]

Ok, brewed!

I used 5 gallons of apple juice.... 2 pounds of light brown sugar.... and white labs heffewizen yeast.

Ill give an update later!

 

[beala]

That hefe yeast will make for some tasty apfelwein/cider, but be aware that it's going to take 4+ weeks to even finish fermenting! My wyeast 3068 apfelwein still has a healthy layer of krausen on top and i'm in week 5.

 

[claphamsa]

That hefe yeast will make for some tasty apfelwein/cider, but be aware that it's going to take 4+ weeks to even finish fermenting! My wyeast 3068 apfelwein still has a healthy layer of krausen on top and i'm in week 5.

Thats fine I just bottled batch one last night (and drank some too)

 

[claphamsa]

the worst part about brewing is the first 24-48 hours....

did I do something wrong, why are there no bubbles?

then one day blip blip blip, sweet fermentation!

 

[dpt222]

My wyeast 3068 apfelwein still has a healthy layer of krausen on top and i'm in week 5.

You have a visible krausen forming? Got a pic? I only has a thin layer of bubbles on my first 1.25 gallon batch.

 

[claphamsa]

You have a visible krausen forming? Got a pic? I only has a thin layer of bubbles on my first 1.25 gallon batch.

ive got a solid inch... if you want i can try and click it tomorrow!

 

[beala]

You have a visible krausen forming? Got a pic? I only has a thin layer of bubbles on my first 1.25 gallon batch.

I'd guess that it might have something to do with the small batch size. The batch I was talking about is 5 gallons. As far as taking a picture, the fermenter is actually in a different location that I won't have access to until the weekend, but I am planning on opening up the bucket and taking a gravity reading, so if I do, I'll definitely get a pic for you. Last I checked, the fermentation is finally slowing down quickly, though, so the krausen might not be as much as before.

 

[DeathBrewer]

i would say it has something to do with the fact that a beer yeast (weizen yeast, actually) is being used instead of a wine yeast

wheat yeasts always have big krausens

just made my first batch of apfelwein tonight...i'm just gonna leave it in the back of the closet and forget about it for a while i got plenty of beer going anyway....

 

[dpt222]

i would say it has something to do with the fact that a beer yeast (weizen yeast, actually) is being used instead of a wine yeast

You know, that crossed my mind but I wasn't sure. So you may get a similar result if you use beer yeast instead of wine yeast for traditional grape wine then? I wonder if beer yeast could ferment out all the sugars.

 

[beala]

i would say it has something to do with the fact that a beer yeast (weizen yeast, actually) is being used instead of a wine yeast

oh haha right. My mistake. I misunderstood and thought he used the hefe yeast, too.

 

[ScubaSteve]

I ust did a batch with Montrachet, but I added a pound of honey in addition to the 2 lbs dextrose. That sucka is bubblin'!

 

[claphamsa]

Ok, sop its been 3 weeks, and were doing fine..... My plan is to rack it into the secondary today, and add a gallon more of apple juice. I figure one of 2 things will happen. either it will continue on and make more alcohol from the apple juice, or it will not eat the new juice and my apfelwine will be sweeter and applier. either way I win

 

[beala]

First, it will almost certainly restart fermentation, which is something you probably don't want to do in secondary. It'll just stir up the yeast, make it cloudy again, and produced more sediment. As far as alcohol, it will increase the total amount of alcohol in your batch, but sorta paradoxically it'll also end up reducing the ABV. A way to think about this would be: Adding anouther gallon would be just like adding an extra gallon at the beginning of fermentation. That is, instead of two pounds of sugar for 5 gallons, it'll be 2 pounds for 6 gallons, thus a lower ABV.

Because of all this, I would recommend against racking, and against adding more juice. My TreeTop + hefe came out clear after about 5-6 weeks in primary, without any secondary. So unless you're using some really cloudy fresh cider, it should clear on its own.

 

[claphamsa]

good to know!~ thanks

 

[beala]

Yeah no prob! Hopefully your hefe alpfelwein will turn out better than mine. I think the table sugar I used gave it some harsh flavors. I'm gonna give it about a month in the bottles to mellow, i think. Not bad, but I didn't get that 'jolly rancher' flavor that someone else described. My fg was .998 so definitely no sweetness to it!

One last thing I should add is that if it doesn't clear in 5-6 weeks i would probably go ahead with the secondary to prevent autolysis, but I still wouldn't add more juice because that would just restart the clearing process. If you're worried about headspace maybe break it down into 1gal carboys or used sanitized marbles.

Good luck!

 

[jiffybrew]

i would say it has something to do with the fact that a beer yeast (weizen yeast, actually) is being used instead of a wine yeast

wheat yeasts always have big krausens

just made my first batch of apfelwein tonight...i'm just gonna leave it in the back of the closet and forget about it for a while i got plenty of beer going anyway....

What kind of difference do you notice when you use ale yeast instead of the wine yeast when making apfelwein? Does it still have a low FG?

 

[Crazytwoknobs]

I did it with 3068 too, waited a long time for fermentation to stop and after bottling it started up again. It's in wine bottles and it's carbonating.... Hopefully they don't explode, I couldn't take a hydrometer reading that day, so I won't know how much was left to go till it's too late.

 

[claphamsa]

ok update!

racked into a 5 gallon bottle, with some cranberrys, lets seee how it goes!

Also tossed another 4 gallons on the yeast cake. woooo

 

[claphamsa]

very very bitter, almost like a gooz.......

 

[rod]

cranberries will sour it up - i made an apple cider(pre the appfelwein thread) and thought the cranberries would be a good addition.
wrong - just mega sour rocket fuel(i kept adding apple cider until the yeast quit)

 

[claphamsa]

i dunno, I checked the one that is still in the primary (I tossed it onto the yeast of the second batch) and its sour as well. I like it but WOW.

 

[431brew]

My wyeast 3068 apfelwein still has a healthy layer of krausen on top and i'm in week 5.

I did it with 3068 too, waited a long time for fermentation to stop and after bottling it started up again.

I used 3068, too, but did not get this kind of fermentation. I am in the third week, but only getting a few bubbles. The krausen on top is down to just a few bubbles. I think I may have screwed up with the yeast. My first time with liquid yeast and, after bursting the nutrient pack and mixing it with the yeast, I poured it into the carboy. I think that I was supposed to let it work for awhile before adding it to the carboy?

Nice thread here...curious how the cranberries turn out. I almost added them to mine.

 

[claphamsa]

the whole thing was a aloss, I got some wild yeast, and lost both batches

I got some great vinegar if anyone wants some!!!!

 

[BigKahuna]

Did you really make vinnegar? If so I would sure be interested in it.

I have one on a 3o68 cake. It's super sour. I left all of trub hoping to pick up a little hop flavor there should have been the carcass from 2 oz of Fuggle. It has been there for 15 days now, and it isn't very good. It smells awesome but is not very tasty. I am hoping it will improve. I may have to bottle this one in bud light bottles and stash for a year.

P.M. Me if you really have good Vinegar.

 

[Melana]

I would be interested in the idea of vinegar also!

 

[claphamsa]

I d have VERY good vinegar, however it is not something I think I can recreate


It was an error :'(