Man, I love Apfelwein

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If I plan to keep this bottled for awhile, should I add anything to stabilize? I doubt it will last very long in my house though....just in case :)
 
Ok with out reading all the 8000+ post can you use frozen apple juice concentrate instead of juice.

Sure, I often add some concentrate instead of dextrose to my juice and use 1 can to bottle carb. Just make sure it is preservative free.
 
If I plan to keep this bottled for awhile, should I add anything to stabilize? I doubt it will last very long in my house though....just in case :)
 
Enjoying this stuff more and more. Just drinking it flat w/o any mixer. I should make another batch to be ready by the spring/summer and I would like to carb up 2 cases or so. I know I will be kicking myself if I dont do it.
 
Dissolve 5 oz. of corn sugar in warm water and rack the apfelwein on top of it in your bottling bucket. Bottle as normal and bottle condition for 3 weeks @ 70 degrees.

Or keg it and force carb it.

Cheers!!
 
Ok thanks! So I won't be making it carbonated. But does it need stabilized before bottling like other wines?
 
Help.

I brewed this on Sat. night. As far as I can tell I followed the Originally posted recipe to a T. However the fermentation is out of control. The next morning the airlock was going, by Sunday afternoon it was going mad and there was what I assume is krausen, dried bubbling up the sides of the carboy. Then this afternoon the airlock was spilling over with apple juice/wort/apfelwein (whatever it's called at this stage). Not knowing what else to do I grabbed my racking tubing replaced the airlock with that and stuck the end in a bucket of water. I've heard of such a setup, so I just did it.

Any idea what's going on? According to the original post it's not supposed to do this. Only two things i can think of: 1) I used unfiltered apple juice (it's all they had) and 2) I'm at altitude (not clear how that could matter, but there it is). And what should I do?

Also in my haste I stupidly forgot to sanitize the racking tubing. It had just been drying from soaking in PBW and a then being rinsed. So, maybe I'll get lucky and be ok. Should I pull the tubing out, sanitize it and replace it? Or is the damage done and I should just leave it and hope for the best?
 
Leave the tube no point messing with it. Its fermentation man it happens. Replace that water with vodka or put star san in it
 
Ok. I put it in about a gallon of water, so I don't think I'm going to go buy enough vodka to replace it. I assume the point of having something sanitary in the bucket is for potential suckback? If that's the case is starsan sucked back into the apfelwein going to ruin/make it unsafe to drink? Sorry, I'm still really new to all of this. I've heard of a blowout tube, and I get the concept, but have no real idea of how to set it up properly.
 
No need to replace the water. Just add some star san to it shoot for 1/8 to 1/4oz or so of starsan if it's less than a gallon of water and make sure it gets mixed in.

Should suckback happen, the volume of star san being pulled into the apfelwein shouldn't effect it at all.
 
Mixed my first batch on Saturday using the original recipe with Montrachet yeast and active fermentation, thousands of little bubbles, is in full force today. Seems I topped off my 5 gallon carboy a bit too much as it was starting to bubble into my airlock this evening. Good thing I checked or I would have had a mess on my hands! Looking forward to aging this a while and I plan to carbonate. My mother is gluten sensitive so I'm excited for my first "brew" that she can drink. Thanks for the recipe, Ed!
 
Ok. I'll add some star san. Thanks.

Any idea why fermentation is so active? I seem from the last poster that it's not just me. his sounds just like mine. But the original post says that you don't need headspace as it won't make krausen.

Also, once the fermentation calms down a bit I assume I should pull the blowout tube and put the airlock back on?
 
Mixed my first batch on Saturday using the original recipe with Montrachet yeast and active fermentation, thousands of little bubbles, is in full force today. Seems I topped off my 5 gallon carboy a bit too much as it was starting to bubble into my airlock this evening. Good thing I checked or I would have had a mess on my hands! Looking forward to aging this a while and I plan to carbonate. My mother is gluten sensitive so I'm excited for my first "brew" that she can drink. Thanks for the recipe, Ed!

My experience thus far is that it bubbles up and sometimes into the airlock after maybe 36 - 48 hours. It only does this for a few hours then stops very suddenly and doesn't bubble up like that again during fermentation. Hopefully, it stops like that for you, too.
 
Ok. I'll add some star san. Thanks.

Any idea why fermentation is so active? I seem from the last poster that it's not just me. his sounds just like mine. But the original post says that you don't need headspace as it won't make krausen.

Also, once the fermentation calms down a bit I assume I should pull the blowout tube and put the airlock back on?

what yeast did you use? What sugar?

The original recipe is based off corn sugar (Dexatrose) and Montrachet yeast. Changing the yeast or sugar will affect how active it is. For example I have two batches using nottingham and brown sugar, and they require a blow off tube. Ed's original never does.
 
What would brown sugar do to the taste? I started a batch with dextrose on Sunday and I can't wait!!! This wine making is addicting :)
 
what yeast did you use? What sugar?

The original recipe is based off corn sugar (Dexatrose) and Montrachet yeast. Changing the yeast or sugar will affect how active it is. For example I have two batches using nottingham and brown sugar, and they require a blow off tube. Ed's original never does.

This isn't entirely accurate; I've done several "EdWort Classic" versions as well as modified ones, and I've had Montrachet require a blowoff once or twice. Not really often, but periodically it just decides to ferment differently for me.

Standard Ale yeasts are more likely to require blowoff tubes, but the champagne ones can on rare occasions as well. Meanwhile, my current batch didn't require one at all (although the bubbler did *start* to fill) and it was on S-33.
 
So I was thinking about whipping up s triple batch of this. 15g in a 20g fermenter. Think 3 packs of mon will do the job? It will be in the basement at about 65......
 
what yeast did you use? What sugar?

The original recipe is based off corn sugar (Dexatrose) and Montrachet yeast. Changing the yeast or sugar will affect how active it is. For example I have two batches using nottingham and brown sugar, and they require a blow off tube. Ed's original never does.

I used 2lbs corn sugar and Red Star Montrachet wine yeast. Tried to follow the original recipe exactly. The two things I mentioned are the only differences I can think of. It's at 64-66 degrees according to the Fermometer, if that matters.

I guess it is what it is, but the bubbles are still coming out of the blowoff tube. It may have slowed down a bit, but not much.
 
On an different note, is a slight sulfur/rotten egg smell normal in the early stages of fermentation?

Yep, it is. It can be avoided by adding yeast nutrient. It should start to dissipate before to long. Looking back at my notes, I had Rhino Farts a couple of days in and they were gone after like 7 days. It wasn't that bad. I'd imagine if you aerate really well and get the yeast going, it isn't that bad. If I had never sniffed the airlock I wouldn't have noticed.
 
Dissolve 5 oz. of corn sugar in warm water and rack the apfelwein on top of it in your bottling bucket. Bottle as normal and bottle condition for 3 weeks @ 70 degrees.

Or keg it and force carb it.

Cheers!!

Hmm, I'd boil then cool that corn sugar to get rid of the baddies regardless of the alcohol content to kill them off. Can't hurt anyways
 
Yep, it is. It can be avoided by adding yeast nutrient. It should start to dissipate before to long. Looking back at my notes, I had Rhino Farts a couple of days in and they were gone after like 7 days. It wasn't that bad. I'd imagine if you aerate really well and get the yeast going, it isn't that bad. If I had never sniffed the airlock I wouldn't have noticed.

Thanks. It definitely isn't bad. I can smell it a bit away from the carboy, but it's perfectly tolerable. Just wanted to make sure it's normal since the only other thing I've brewed is beer. And that had a nice, hoppy smell from the airlock.
 
I don't think anyone has answered this yet.... Does Apfelwein need to be stabilized like with wine kits?
 
Started some a few days ago. I got a gallon of 100% preservative free, not from concentrate apple juice. I poured ~3/4 of it into my 1g glass jug. I then added 2 cans of 100% frozen apple juice concentrate. My OG was around the 1.09 range. I used the regular Red Star montrachet yeast and a tsp of DAP. Its happily bubbling away. Can't Wait it should be done by the time my first son is born! :tank:
 
SteveHoward said:
My experience thus far is that it bubbles up and sometimes into the airlock after maybe 36 - 48 hours. It only does this for a few hours then stops very suddenly and doesn't bubble up like that again during fermentation. Hopefully, it stops like that for you, too.

Thanks for the info. I tried to let it go, but it kept bubbling up so I used a sanitized wine thief to pull a little volume to give it some head space and it's fine now. On another note, my wife is a bit disappointed that I didn't warn her about the odor and it is upon us!
 
Athos56 said:
Started some a few days ago. I got a gallon of 100% preservative free, not from concentrate apple juice. I poured ~3/4 of it into my 1g glass jug. I then added 2 cans of 100% frozen apple juice concentrate. My OG was around the 1.09 range. I used the regular Red Star montrachet yeast and a tsp of DAP. Its happily bubbling away. Can't Wait it should be done by the time my first son is born! :tank:

I used to add just DAP but per suggestion here I've been adding a varied nutrient (yeast hulls, biotin, etc) as well lately and the last two results have been much cleaner. I think they said it can strain the treat as the have the ammonium but not the other nutrients for best cell health so it stunts them. If I've got that wrong I apologize as I'm going from memory. The dap does do pretty good about reducing rhino farts tho.
 
Does this give anyone else headaches? On the weekend I was drinking some homebrew (not a lot really, just a 6-er), and I followed it up with a glass of apfelwein. Did the usual chug some water before bed, but I still woke up with a rockin' headache.

That's the third time this has happened to me.
 
Thanks for the info. I tried to let it go, but it kept bubbling up so I used a sanitized wine thief to pull a little volume to give it some head space and it's fine now. On another note, my wife is a bit disappointed that I didn't warn her about the odor and it is upon us!
My wife blamed me my first batch. :D
Haven't had a case of the rhino farts using yeast nutrient, though. I won't be forgetting that again. (First batch, it was pretty bad for a few days.)
 
smagee said:
This isn't entirely accurate; I've done several "EdWort Classic" versions as well as modified ones, and I've had Montrachet require a blowoff once or twice. Not really often, but periodically it just decides to ferment differently for me.

Standard Ale yeasts are more likely to require blowoff tubes, but the champagne ones can on rare occasions as well. Meanwhile, my current batch didn't require one at all (although the bubbler did *start* to fill) and it was on S-33.

Must have been some good packets or something. In around 60 gallons i havent needed a BOT yet for Montrachet
 
Thought the dog poo'd in her crate last night. (First batch of Apfelwein)

I guess that means the yeast is working. SWMBO is going to hate me today. She stays home with the kids. :) She'll be happy when it's done though.
 
nukinfuts29 said:
Must have been some good packets or something. In around 60 gallons i havent needed a BOT yet for Montrachet

I admit, my experience seems to be in the minority. Just wanted to point out that it doesn't necessarily mean that anything is wrong :mug:.

I also have never experienced the notorious rhino farts issue, for what it's worth.
 
Does this give anyone else headaches? On the weekend I was drinking some homebrew (not a lot really, just a 6-er), and I followed it up with a glass of apfelwein. Did the usual chug some water before bed, but I still woke up with a rockin' headache.

That's the third time this has happened to me.

Some yes, some no. I have found that if I drink more than say, three dixie cups I get headaches. But others do not, and it doesnt happen to me every time.
 
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