Man, I love Apfelwein

[america]

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.

Thats not even close to as good as it gets unless you meant it aged for over a year.

 

[baseballstar4]

I've got a batch of this ready to bottle and I'm debating on using swing tops. I'm going to bottle it still and am wondering how well the swing tops will keep a seal for aging. The plan is to bottle age another 6 months. Any help is much appreciated!

 

[thejudge]

I've got a batch of this ready to bottle and I'm debating on using swing tops. I'm going to bottle it still and am wondering how well the swing tops will keep a seal for aging. The plan is to bottle age another 6 months. Any help is much appreciated!

As long as the seals are good you should be ok.

 

[Evochild]

I wish I had found this thread before starting my Cider. That said the recipe I used is almost identical. Looking forward to tasting!

 

[mike_in_ak]

Make another! It takes no time and you'll want it anyway.

 

[Evochild]

I need to find space. My wife has been very supportive of my brewing efforts so I dont want that to change. She has lost a bit of space in our laundry area to my primaries.

Happy wife happy life. Ill do it once my Lager is done brewing in a few days.

 

[tully72]

I have a 5 gal batch that I started on 4/20/13. Im wanting to bottle it in grolsch bottles while adding sugar to carb it. How long should it stay in the primary before bottling?

 

[thejudge]

I have a 5 gal batch that I started on 4/20/13. Im wanting to bottle it in grolsch bottles while adding sugar to carb it. How long should it stay in the primary before bottling?

4-5 weeks, but the longer it sits the more lees it will drop and less likely will carb.

 

[Raenon]

4-5 weeks, but the longer it sits the more lees it will drop and less likely will carb.

There have been plenty of people who leave the apfelwein for months and can still naturally carb it- it just takes a little longer.

 

[thejudge]

There have been plenty of people who leave the apfelwein for months and can still naturally carb it- it just takes a little longer.

Yeah it defiantly does, I carb up a batch that I let sit for 4 months and it took over a month to carb up enough to be worth it.

 

[Raenon]

Yeah it defiantly does, I carb up a batch that I let sit for 4 months and it took over a month to carb up enough to be worth it.

So it wasnt any less likely to carb, just took longer. Its near foolproof.

 

[thejudge]

So it wasnt any less likely to carb, just took longer. Its near foolproof.

It did carb and did take forever lol, but the carbonation was very light. So the longer you wait the less carbonation you'll get.

 

[Leadgolem]

Until you have 3 stable gravity readings taken a day or more apart. IE: Until you hit FG. You can leave it in primary longer, but you need to wait until fermentation is complete at least.

Opinions on any more time then that vary widely.

 

[high5apparatus]

I put the bourbon soaked oak chips into the Apfelwein fermenter yesterday, then realized I can't just call it Apfelwein this time and use the bottlemark caps I already have. Some names that have been thrown about: Drunken Cider, Whiskey Dick Hard Apple Cider, and Dry County Hard Cider.

Any other ideas?

 

[CreamyGoodness]

Hard Dickens Cider

Zoom!

 

[Txbigfoot]

OK, first batch done and almost gone. Good thing I made anoher behind it.. Thanks Ed!

 

[Raenon]

It did carb and did take forever lol, but the carbonation was very light. So the longer you wait the less carbonation you'll get.

Then it still wasn't finished carbing when you opened it- no matter how long that was. It might have taken months longer, but it would still eventually carb, as long as you had any yeast at all.

Remember, the yeast don't dictate how much CO2 is produced- only how quickly they eat the sugar. The amount of sugar you put in for priming, as long as you're fermenting dry, will always produce a predictable amount of CO2 volume.
If you want, you can always mix up a little fresh yeast with your priming sugar for your bottling bucket. It'll of course give you back some yeast haze for a while, but you'll get the benefits of aging AND fast carbonation at the cost of a small amount of shortlived haze.

The other option is to forget naturally carbing and force-carb in a keg before bottling... that's what I'm planning for my wedding favor batch.

 

[thejudge]

Then it still wasn't finished carbing when you opened it- no matter how long that was. It might have taken months longer, but it would still eventually carb, as long as you had any yeast at all.

Remember, the yeast don't dictate how much CO2 is produced- only how quickly they eat the sugar. The amount of sugar you put in for priming, as long as you're fermenting dry, will always produce a predictable amount of CO2 volume.
If you want, you can always mix up a little fresh yeast with your priming sugar for your bottling bucket. It'll of course give you back some yeast haze for a while, but you'll get the benefits of aging AND fast carbonation at the cost of a small amount of shortlived haze.

The other option is to forget naturally carbing and force-carb in a keg before bottling... that's what I'm planning for my wedding favor batch.

Gotcha, thanks. My thinking on it was the kill off of the yeast due to the higher alcohol content. If you have reached the max abv for that strain then you'll have fewer live yeast to carb with.

 

[Acyr90]

Popped open a bottle of 4 week old apfelwein (4 weeks in bottles, 6 fermenting) and it taste very sour/tart. I tried adding a tsp of sugar to it & it foamed up immediately and made it taste worse.

This was my first batch & I'm curious if anyone has some insight of what went wrong or if time will heal it.

 

[Goofynewfie]

bottled to soon, wasmt done fermenting or it needed to be degassed before you bottled.

Wen you say 4weeks bottled 6 weeks fermenting do you mean 6 weeks fermenting then bottled or 6 weeks total ( 2 in carboy 4 in bottle)

 

[bleme]

Anything granulated will make anything carbonated foam. If you would like it a little sweeter, add some apple juice to every glass.

 

[Acyr90]

Ahh okay so the foaming is normal, what about the sourness? It's not a vinegar taste but more like dry, sour apples.

 

[CreamyGoodness]

Adding 7-up to the glass at table is another good little trick for getting a sweeter, sparkling apfelwein.

 

[bleme]

Ahh okay so the foaming is normal, what about the sourness? It's not a vinegar taste but more like dry, sour apples.

The tartness will vary, depending on what kind of juice you use.

It will also change with age. Six months seems to be the standard.

 

[zachary80]

Ahh okay so the foaming is normal, what about the sourness? It's not a vinegar taste but more like dry, sour apples.

That is pretty much what you should expect depending on what juice you used. By making apfelwein you have pretty much taken all the sugar out of the juice and turned it into alcohol. Some juice will be higher in malic acid which is what makes apples sour, and is added to make many candies taste sour.

Personally I have always wanted my apfelwein a little bit more sour and am wondering how much acid I could reasonably add to it. Obviously it would vary based on the juice and preference, but I'm not even sure of the magnitude - 100mg, 1g, 10g for 5 gallons?

 

[Acyr90]

Cool, thanks. Sounds like it turned out 'normal,' but it just wasn't what I was expecting 'normal' to taste like based off of the recipe description. I'll try mixing it with apple juice & 7-up to see if I like that better & then let the rest sit.

Also, does it age better warm or cold? I don't have much fridge room, but its starting to hit the 100s out here in California. Room temp will run around 80 degrees, is this too warm for aging?

 

[bleme]

Optimal would be cellering temps: 55F-65F

But it isn't terribly picky. If you keep it in the fridge it will age at a snail's pace though.

 

[Acyr90]

Hopefully it's not terribly picky because I don't have the fridge space to store it so it looks like 80 degree closet it is!

 

[Leadgolem]

That is pretty much what you should expect depending on what juice you used. By making apfelwein you have pretty much taken all the sugar out of the juice and turned it into alcohol. Some juice will be higher in malic acid which is what makes apples sour, and is added to make many candies taste sour.

Personally I have always wanted my apfelwein a little bit more sour and am wondering how much acid I could reasonably add to it. Obviously it would vary based on the juice and preference, but I'm not even sure of the magnitude - 100mg, 1g, 10g for 5 gallons?

It would also vary depending on the acid you used. 1/8 tsp of citric acid in 1 cup of water produces a mildly tangy liquid. Since you are starting with a liquid with acid in it already, I would suggest starting with 1/4 tsp in 1 quart and move up in 1/4 tsp increments to establish your desired acid addition. That is, if you decide to use citric acid.

Anything granulated will make anything carbonated foam. If you would like it a little sweeter, add some apple juice to every glass.

If you aren't worried about carbonation you can also use some simple syrup. I keep that around for mix drinks.

 

[mearhartford]

Just made my first batch tonight, after forgetting the yeast at the LHBS (i was excited), and a costco trip its all fermenting now.

I deviated a bit by using 4 gallons of costco apple juice and then a mason jar full of fresh cider concentrate. (i froze a whole gallon and freeze distilled it off and added it to it) originally wanted it to back sweeten some cider but it ended up being sweet enough.