Man, I love Apfelwein

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andrewmaixner said:
Interesting. My apfelwein with sucrose, store juice, nutrient, and nottingham/s-04 at 65-68F has never made more than a pretense at krausen. usually I can fill it up to the neck and have under 1cm of 'stuff' there while it ferments.
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SHAIV said:
Yeah I've read at least 30 pages of this thread and most people say they don't get any foam. But has anyone had experience with concentrate? Jw how much to use
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well, IDK 100% about all apfelwein, as I only made it three times...but I think all had about 1/2-1 inch of krausen...however "wine" as a whole...most definitely can get a very aggressive krausen...but again...as usual, YMMV...so...that was mine...with merlot, malbec, cab sav....cab franc...shiraz...hmmm...and a few others I'm sure I am forgetting...everyone else's may be different. just my $0.02.
 
not much experience with concentrate, I've added 1 can per 2 gallons to my last batch. still percolating, we'll see how it goes

and speaking of percolating... I get some krausen on mine.

here's the latest batch, and the batch before (cider, not apfelwein). definitely NOT saccharomyces, I'll have to ask my yeast guy again, because it's not any of the normal bugs

20160920_210623[1].jpg

received_10209138942454404[1].jpg
 
SHAIV said:
Yeah I've read at least 30 pages of this thread and most people say they don't get any foam. But has anyone had experience with concentrate? Jw how much to use
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I got about an inch of foam at the peak on last batch - used 2# fructose, 5 tsp Fermaid, and 2 packs of Red Star Montrachet. Started to drop clear just about 2 weeks, kegging at 4 weeks.

Edit: I might back sweeten with concentrate.
 
Made some today with sun rype "pure" apple juice
Used 19L and added 2 lbs of dextrose and Nottingham yeast instead of wine yeast... I wanted it a bit sweeter and had some extra laying around

OG is 1.060

First batch I made it sat 3 months in the carboy. This time I might try it after 1 month because I cant wait!!
 
Man are you right about the foam! I made a batch of strawberry apple wine. It was low gravity! I used some walmart apple juice 5 oz of corn sugar, one can of walmart concentrate and some frozen strawberries I had cut them up and squished them up added pectic enzyme and campden for 24 hours then pitched half a pack of d47 (the other half went into a cyser that had a gravity of 1.150! What!) Anyway it's been 24 hours since I pitched and the strawberry apfelwien exploded! Hit the ceiling and went everywhere in my closet!
 
I will be kegging my first batch of this today. If I decide to back sweeten it after tasting it do I need to heat the concentrate to kill anything or just dump it in?
 
It was only 1.070 though and had more headspace than that mead in the back
 
I'm not sure about the concentrate. I would imagine it would be bug free, I might would set the unopened can in some sanitizer
 
Most likely any concentrate will be bug free. The juice going into it was most likely pasteurized, and the sugar/acid level in the concentrate is probably too high for any bacteria/spores to survive.


Our local orchard just had its first pressings! I'll be throwing 6 gallons of cider into my big carboy with some p-meta tomorrow, then kicking off a brew on monday.

Question for all of you - how much malic acid have you used in the past? I'll probably add some malic acid, some tannin powder, and some pectic enzyme.
 
Just started a batch of the original recipe. The kitchen scale was out of batteries so wifey went out to get some, but I was too impatient and measured by eye 2lbs of corn sugar out of a 4lb bag and put everything in the carboy. I apparently have a terrible eye as I weighed what was left when wifey came back, to realize I put about 2.85lbs in instead. Starting gravity only read 1.055, though.

Recipe turned out great when I last tried it a few years, am excited to see what happens this time.
 
Funny that this thread is still going 10 years later. Made a batch around late April of this year (so about 5 months ago), and recently bottled. I had put the juice and sugar in one of those 6 gal Ale Pail plastic buckets originally, and had left it in there for probably about 4 months.

The product I have now is very much so closer to a white wine than anything "apple-y", with pretty high acidity, sort of like a low quality pinot grigio. I realize there was headspace in my fermentor due to the extra space, but I sort of doubt there was any oxidation because I had only opened up the lid once to smell it, and it was rather close to my bottling date.

For now, I have about 2 cases of the stuff in wine bottles in my basement that I'll let sit for at least another month, but has anyone else experienced that sort of high acidity wine taste rather than apple? Side note, in one of my cases of bottles I popped 2 of those carbonation sugar tablets in per bottle in an attempt to make a case sparkling, and after 2 and 3 weeks experienced either very very minimal carbonation or none at all. I'm not overly worried since its still very drinkable when chilled but figured I'd check in.
 
I've got my first gallon of this on tap currently and It's a great light bubbly drink. I brewed this batch around May or June of 2016. My wife enjoys the apfelwein but she wishes it was slightly more flavorful, not necessarily sweeter though. What would everyone suggest to change to get this with a more "robust" flavor instead of being so light?
 
I have used unsweetened Lorannoil (homemade candy flavor concentrate) before to brighten up the taste a little, it worked out pretty good.
 
Rush said:
I've got my first gallon of this on tap currently and It's a great light bubbly drink. I brewed this batch around May or June of 2016. My wife enjoys the apfelwein but she wishes it was slightly more flavorful, not necessarily sweeter though. What would everyone suggest to change to get this with a more "robust" flavor instead of being so light?
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Use orchard cider instead of store bought juice, use FAJC to boost SG instead of sugar, and ferment at 60°F.
 
The answer is probably somewhere within the 1300 pages of this thread; however....

I started a new, 1-gallon batch of this on Sunday, using 1/2 pound of sugar (a little more than the recipe calls for, but not much) and a gallon of DiNardo's natural cider (no additives, pasteurized) from their orchard in Cañon City, Colorado. The only yeast I had on hand at the moment was Nottingham, so I used it. Other than that, it was pretty much the original recipe.

So far, it is fermenting very well, with a constant stream of bubbles rising to the top and no krausen to speak of.

Can anyone with experience using this yeast for apfelwein tell me what I can expect as far as the rest of the fermentation timeline, ABV, taste etc.?

Thanks in advance -

Ron
 
TasunkaWitko said:
The answer is probably somewhere within the 1300 pages of this thread; however....

I started a new, 1-gallon batch of this on Sunday, using 1/2 pound of sugar (a little more than the recipe calls for, but not much) and a gallon of DiNardo's natural cider (no additives, pasteurized) from their orchard in Cañon City, Colorado. The only yeast I had on hand at the moment was Nottingham, so I used it. Other than that, it was pretty much the original recipe.

So far, it is fermenting very well, with a constant stream of bubbles rising to the top and no krausen to speak of.

Can anyone with experience using this yeast for apfelwein tell me what I can expect as far as the rest of the fermentation timeline, ABV, taste etc.?

Thanks in advance -

Ron
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I don't think the brand of yeast makes a difference in taste, it might have a lower or higher alcohol tolerance and therefore be a sweeter or dryer brew, but that would be about it. No expert here though.
 
TasunkaWitko said:
The answer is probably somewhere within the 1300 pages of this thread; however....

I started a new, 1-gallon batch of this on Sunday, using 1/2 pound of sugar (a little more than the recipe calls for, but not much) and a gallon of DiNardo's natural cider (no additives, pasteurized) from their orchard in Cañon City, Colorado. The only yeast I had on hand at the moment was Nottingham, so I used it. Other than that, it was pretty much the original recipe.

So far, it is fermenting very well, with a constant stream of bubbles rising to the top and no krausen to speak of.

Can anyone with experience using this yeast for apfelwein tell me what I can expect as far as the rest of the fermentation timeline, ABV, taste etc.?

Thanks in advance -

Ron
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when I used nottingham and/or S-o4, they took about 3-4 weeks to ferment out, at about 65F
 
I've heard that adding white sugar is the equivalent of adding water, as far as flavor goes. Yes you get more alcohol but there's less flavor. I'd suggest either using apple juice concentrate or some other type of flavoring or not adding sugar at all
 
NickersonC said:
Funny that this thread is still going 10 years later. Made a batch around late April of this year (so about 5 months ago), and recently bottled. I had put the juice and sugar in one of those 6 gal Ale Pail plastic buckets originally, and had left it in there for probably about 4 months.

The product I have now is very much so closer to a white wine than anything "apple-y", with pretty high acidity, sort of like a low quality pinot grigio. I realize there was headspace in my fermentor due to the extra space, but I sort of doubt there was any oxidation because I had only opened up the lid once to smell it, and it was rather close to my bottling date.

For now, I have about 2 cases of the stuff in wine bottles in my basement that I'll let sit for at least another month, but has anyone else experienced that sort of high acidity wine taste rather than apple? Side note, in one of my cases of bottles I popped 2 of those carbonation sugar tablets in per bottle in an attempt to make a case sparkling, and after 2 and 3 weeks experienced either very very minimal carbonation or none at all. I'm not overly worried since its still very drinkable when chilled but figured I'd check in.
Click to expand...


Mine always tasted like white wine too.
 
I'm wondering how an oaked version of this would taste? I.e. 3 months on 1 oz of American oak cubes. Just kegged a batch of cider with English ale that got down to 0.991. Thinking about doing this real soon and bottling it for long term aging. Thanks for the helpful detailed recipe!
 
Moved mine into the garage in my ferment chamber. That stuff makes a smell! Is that due to the lack of nutrient? Is that also why this yeast was used for it since it works well without nutrients?
 
Somehow the planets aligned correctly, and I was able to pick up some nice juice to begin yet another batch of this. I started it on 2 October 2016.

The juice that I used was Tree Top's "Fresh-Pressed" 3-apple blend:

64f4e848-4ab1-4098-9be5-b90fb5c560e8_1.39c7a88b0958cdaca74d205a11b2435e.jpeg

This seemed to me to be a good juice to use, as a blend of sweet and tart apples is often mentioned as the best to use when making apple wine or cider.

I added half a pound of sugar to this batch of apfelwein, and used Montrachet yeast, which is the yeast originally mentioned in EdWort's recipe. It's fermenting along very well now, and I'm sure that we'll have some nice stuff in a few months, if I can keep my son out of it!
 
TasunkaWitko said:
Can anyone with experience using this yeast for apfelwein tell me what I can expect as far as the rest of the fermentation timeline, ABV, taste etc.?

Thanks in advance -

Ron
Click to expand...

We've made hard cider, using ale yeast, a number of times. A couple of times we used Belgian Ardennes yeast for specific yeast and ester notes mixed with the local orchard apple cider. We've also used more typical ale yeasts, like 1056...for a more clean, unaltered taste. We usually don't add any additional sugars. Yeast can certainly tailor flavors and aromas in the cider, just as it can in ales.

The Belgian Ardennes really gives a nice flavor profile, if you enjoy this yeast in ales... I say play around with them in ciders too.


On the subject of putting some oak taste in there sounds really good. It could really make for a nice complex drink. When charring wood, for flavoring beverages, I've come to prefer this method, by KingBrianI. When your roasting the wood in the oven, wrapped in foil...it really fills the room with the wood based aroma of a nice whiskey. I've never gotten these notes by any other charring method...not to this degree anyways. Then throw a char on the roasted wood.

Once I get the new brew system done I'll put on the list a cider with some charred wood aging...might even do a blend of local woods.
 
SHAIV said:
Moved mine into the garage in my ferment chamber. That stuff makes a smell! Is that due to the lack of nutrient? Is that also why this yeast was used for it since it works well without nutrients?
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Yup, the sulpher smell is largely due to nutrient deficiency. If you brew it again, either grab fermaid O, or fermaid k + DAP and dose as directed. Either one should work.

I did this and outside of a yeasty cidery smell, I don't really get "rhino farts" anymore.
 
msarro said:
Yup, the sulpher smell is largely due to nutrient deficiency. If you brew it again, either grab fermaid O, or fermaid k + DAP and dose as directed. Either one should work.

I did this and outside of a yeasty cidery smell, I don't really get "rhino farts" anymore.
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Yeah. I have some nutrient and energizer. But I think I read somewhere that the montrachet yeast performs well in nutrient deficient environments so I thought I'd give it a try just like the original recipe
 
I made another batch per the instructions. This time I used unfiltered juice and put in nutrient, energizer and pectic enzyme. I had a little krausen in the first 24 hours but it's gone now
 
stever1000 said:
Made some today with sun rype "pure" apple juice
Used 19L and added 2 lbs of dextrose and Nottingham yeast instead of wine yeast... I wanted it a bit sweeter and had some extra laying around

OG is 1.060

First batch I made it sat 3 months in the carboy. This time I might try it after 1 month because I cant wait!!
Click to expand...

One month later and the nottingham is still bubbly on the surface of the juice and the blowoff still has the odd bubble
 
Bought 6 gallons of good local cider, hit it with pectic enzyme, and about 14 hours later pitched the Montrachet. 3 lbs corn sugar added to this one, and samples are tasting amazing. 1.071 down to 0.996 in a week and it's still bubbling away. Gonna rack this one to an extended secondary on 1 oz Hungarian oak cubes for 2 months, then bottle and stash for some serious aging. Really pumped for this one - it'll make for a great year-round beverage
 
Just bottled first batch. Used to original recipe with kroger brand juice, with the addition of some DAP at the start, some S-meta and isinglass or chitosan after the first racking. Tastes more like a chardonnay than a cider, think when I make another one I'll have to oak it.
 
stever1000 said:
Made some today with sun rype "pure" apple juice
Used 19L and added 2 lbs of dextrose and Nottingham yeast instead of wine yeast... I wanted it a bit sweeter and had some extra laying around

OG is 1.060

First batch I made it sat 3 months in the carboy. This time I might try it after 1 month because I cant wait!!
Click to expand...

Measured the SG today and it's at 1.007 so approx 7% :mug:
Going to keg it this week
 
I started brewing some apfelwein a month ago. There is no activity in the airlock anymore, but the gravity is at 1.012. How can I restart fermentation? I don't want to add DME.
 

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