Man, I love Apfelwein

[bleme]

Well, I used Notti, which I've found many others have used. Another change was I used table sugar, not corn sugar. Watcha think?

Nottingham is notorious for blow off's, no matter what sugar it is eating.

 

[rpcvsam]

Actually when I did mine with table sugar the fermentation was pretty intense. Corn sugar seems to be a little more mellow perhaps?

 

[robertfraser]

Ok, newbie mistake, that I need your help with:

My SECOND batch of E/A was a five gallon batch. My THIRD batch is a six gallon batch.

DumDum here just added enough sugar to carb a six gallon batch into my five gallon batch, and bottled it.

Are there any serious risks of the add'l 1.2 floz of sugar putting me into bottle bomb territory?

Also, I used table sugar, rather than corn sugar.

 

[STEVESKI]

Hey guys, quick question. I'm coming up on a month after starting my first batch. I made a 6 gallon batch and what I'd like to do is pull off a gallon to bottle to consume now. Has anybody racked the 6 gallons back into the individual 1 gallon apple juice containers for further aging? I'd prefer to do this so I can try a gallon per month to see how it ages. Obviously I would not carb it in the juice containers, I'd just use them for bulk aging after fermentation is complete. This would also help free up one of my fermenters.

 

[integra93ls]

I have a similar question as above but instead of the juice bottles I want to use 1 gal glass wine bottles and reuse the caps and carbonate in the bottle. Will it work

 

[wooda2008]

Hey guys, quick question. I'm coming up on a month after starting my first batch. I made a 6 gallon batch and what I'd like to do is pull off a gallon to bottle to consume now. Has anybody racked the 6 gallons back into the individual 1 gallon apple juice containers for further aging? I'd prefer to do this so I can try a gallon per month to see how it ages. Obviously I would not carb it in the juice containers, I'd just use them for bulk aging after fermentation is complete. This would also help free up one of my fermenters.

No reason you couldn't, if they're glass. You might want to dose it with Kmeta to help guard against oxidation. Plastic may not work as well. Do a search on it to find out why some people get militant about it.

I have a similar question as above but instead of the juice bottles I want to use 1 gal glass wine bottles and reuse the caps and carbonate in the bottle. Will it work

No it will not. The wine bottles won't hold the pressure of carbonation, and will go boom...spectacularly

 

[america]

OK I got my first batch going tonight. I only had 1.875 lbs of dextrose, but I am fermenting in a 6 gallon and got all 5 total gallons of juice in. I am out of Montrachet but the lhbs had White Labs Sweat Mead WLP720 so in it went right at 70 F. Currently it is sitting next to my orange wine which is progressing quite nicely. I added 1 tsp of DAP just because I always stress about getting the fermentation going. Starting SPG was 1.060 which seems right on track given the slightly lower starting amount of dextrose. REALLY looking forward to sitting down with the Mrs and trying this when it is ready!

That's a nice bathtub to use as carboy storage.

 

[STEVESKI]

No reason you couldn't, if they're glass. You might want to dose it with Kmeta to help guard against oxidation. Plastic may not work as well. Do a search on it to find out why some people get militant about it.

Thanks for the response. The big gripe on plastic is oxidation, correct? I have it sitting in a plastic fermenter right now anyways. I don't own any glass carboys. I guess the fermenter is probably thicker plastic than the apple juice jugs, but would it really make much of a difference? I'm not talking about aging years here, probably 4-6 months max.

 

[Txbigfoot]

Help
I brewed the pg 1 recipe- cant find my original og
today is the 30th day. I racked it, tested it and it says 1.000 - water
interesting taste but the Brix reading is 6
wth is going on?
whats the cure, if any?
This was my first single mix.
Thank

 

[Leadgolem]

Help
I brewed the pg 1 recipe- cant find my original og
today is the 30th day. I racked it, tested it and it says 1.000 - water
interesting taste but the Brix reading is 6
wth is going on?
whats the cure, if any?
This was my first single mix.
Thank

Refractometers need to have corrections made to the readings to account for the presence of the alcohol with it's different refraction rate. If you don't know your OG, then this is probably impossible. I would just accept the gravity reading from the hydrometer and be happy, it's all done fermenting.

 

[BamaProud]

Anyone ever compared Apfelwein made with the traditional Montrachet yeast to Lavin D47? I was thinking about trying it and thought I would ASK before ACTION. What kind of differences should I expect?

 

[chipsmcghee]

Anyone ever compared Apfelwein made with the traditional Montrachet yeast to Lavin D47? I was thinking about trying it and thought I would ASK before ACTION. What kind of differences should I expect?

In my opinion the D47 was fruitier but that is just my opinion. I add applejuice concentrate to all my apfelwein but I still think the different yeasts leave more apple flavor.

 

[mike_in_ak]

"Brewed" a little over six months ago. Didn't leave the primary carboy until tonight. Brewed as conjured by Edwort, plus a tad of nutrient and a dash of whathaveyou.

Holy fock. This schit is beyond reproach.

Genius. Absolutely genius.

 

[mike_in_ak]

Someone should track down Edwort.

 

[idrinkstuffnthings]

First ever batch. 6 weeks primary. Pulled a sample. A big sample. 2nd glass and starting to think mmmmmm. Give this a month or two in the keg, and I think I've found a regular for the kegerator. Thx edwort!

 

[Trash_can_man]

So I'm sure this has been asked but I'm not reading the 700+ pages of this thread. I plan on bottling and carbing my batch and giving some away as Christmas presents. Would it be better to just leave the whole batch I the carboy for 5-6 months for aging or prime and bottle and let it age in in the bottles? Will the bottles loose carbonation if they sit for that long?

 

[mike_in_ak]

It's in the OP! Honestly, it's worth reading the whole thread, it's like apfelwein history.

There are benefits to bulk aging. Edwort says leave in carboy for three months, the keg or bottle.

Lots of posts in this thread say leave in carboy up to 6 months or so.

I think the gist is that you'll get most of the benefits of bulk aging after a few months and then it just needs to age however.

I just pulled mine out of the carboy after 6 months and it's wonderful.

 

[Ceron]

I've made a few batches of apfelwein and they have come out pretty tasty. Prior to the last batch, I haven't tried to carbonate them. This batch, I set aside a few bottles to see if I like it carbonated. It spent about five weeks in the fermenter and the gravity reading I took before bottling was normal. I added about 1 teaspoon white sugar per 12 ounces (what I usually use for carbonating beer) and waited about ten days before refrigerating. I just opened the first bottle, and it was completely flat. I bottle in PET bottles, so I can feel the firmness as my brews begin to carbonate. None of the other bottles I added sugar to feel firm. The screw caps are fairly new, so I don't think it's an issue with them not sealing properly. Any ideas?

 

[mike_in_ak]

Didn't wait long enough before fridge probably. It's high alco, it's old and the yeast have really dropped out and gone dormant, and the yeast cake gets so compact, most of the yeast probably stayed on the bottom of your carboy.

Pull them out of fridge, lightly rouse, let sit at 70 degrees for a month or more.

 

[Ceron]

That was the only bottle I put in the fridge. I only have a few in the fridge at a time and store the rest at room temperature until it's time to replace the fridge ones. This has been working for me so far, as I have a couple passable brews if I get impatient while most of them further condition. The remaining bottles with carbonating sugar have been at room temperature for an additional week (and still are) and feel about as firm as the ones with no added sugar. Is that normal for no discernible carbonation after two and a half weeks? It's been very obvious to me for beers as they're carbonating.

 

[bleme]

I have seen it take 4 months to carbonate a quad, and these are higher alcohol than that so I wouldn't expect any significant carbonation for a while.

 

[thejudge]

Took me almost 4 weeks to carb my last batch of Carmel cider. The higher the abv and the longer it sits in the primary it's gonna take longer if at all. Next time don't ferment it dry and then bottle and prime, it'll take about 3-4 days that way so be sure to keep a eye on it so you don't over carb.

 

[Roughster]

That's a nice bathtub to use as carboy storage.

It has behaved quite nicely. Strong line of small bubbles with no issues even remotely putting it close to top of headspace levels. It actually started looking like it is trying to clarify. I just plan on leaving it alone for a good amount of time. It is fermented dry 0.990 and last tasting could just get a hint of apple.

It sucks waiting!

 

[chipsmcghee]

Normal apfelwein is about 8%. Yours will be about 10%. Give it some extra time to age, but I doubt that it will be intolerable.

Well my old apfelwein was great with 4 lbs of sugar. So good in fact that I just started a bacth a week ago with 9 lbs!!! No joke!!

I used 9 lbs cane sugar, 5.5 gallons apple juice and 3 tablespoons yeast nutrient and the fermentation sounds like an aquarium pump (i added the yeast nutrient and cane sugar in increments over the first 7 days, not all at once)

5 weeks to go before I give this a try. ec1118 is indeed a beast!

 

[mike_in_ak]

Holy **** your body's going to hate you.

Except your brain and taste buds, those will love you.

For a while.

 

[Pinetop]

Made my first batch of this Feb 6th and was in the primary until April 16. Kegged at 10 psi and drinking my first glass tonight...incredible recipe! Very smooth with light apple tast and aroma.

 

[realtree2]

I just made a 1 gallon batch on sunday and my airlock has pretty much stopped bubbling. Is that normal?

 

[thejudge]

I just made a 1 gallon batch on sunday and my airlock has pretty much stopped bubbling. Is that normal?

Probably just slowed down, how much yeast did you pitch? I usually pitch about 2.5-3g myself and get up to 8-10days activity. If you believe it's done(which it probably isn't) take hydro readings 2-3 days in a row and if the readings are all the same it's done. Now if fg isn't reached you can repitch more yeast to restart ferm. I've had to do all this before because of not adding enough yeast or creating a starter, so hope this helps.

 

[realtree2]

Probably just slowed down, how much yeast did you pitch? I usually pitch about 2.5-3g myself and get up to 8-10days activity. If you believe it's done(which it probably isn't) take hydro readings 2-3 days in a row and if the readings are all the same it's done. Now if fg isn't reached you can repitch more yeast to restart ferm. I've had to do all this before because of not adding enough yeast or creating a starter, so hope this helps.

Thanks for the reply! I pitched a whole 5g pack of montrachet (didn't have any other use for it). I plan on letting it go the full 6 weeks anyway, i was just curious though.

 

[thejudge]

Thanks for the reply! I pitched a whole 5g pack of montrachet (didn't have any other use for it). I plan on letting it go the full 6 weeks anyway, i was just curious though.

If you pitched the whole thing it's prob done, just take readings starting tomorrow for a couple of days. If its where you want it then rack it to a secondary to clarify. Good luck,