Man, I love Apfelwein

[jamesbsmith]

When making it, you could use 3/4s Apple Juice and 1/4 water and 140g per litre for 11% Apfelwein but giving an acidity approx 0.65%.

 

[strider581]

I was wondering if anyone has tried this with unfiltered apple juice? I have 5 gallons at the house and was thinking about making a batch. Any comments would be helpful thanks.

 

[jamesbsmith]

Yes I have. Make sure you add pectic enzyme. It will require about 4 teaspoons per US Gallon! Once it has fermented all the "bits" will fall out. Any left you will get with finings.

 

[AkBrew907]

Brewed my first batch tonight. Now to wait

 

[finsfan]

Brewed my first batch tonight. Now to wait

you can top off very close to the top to get more out of it and reduce headspace. It wont krausen up like a beer will if you used montrachet. Cant speak from experience on other yeasts, beer or wine, but I cant imagine they would cause much krasuen either.

 

[bembel]

Yes I have. Make sure you add pectic enzyme. It will require about 4 teaspoons per US Gallon! Once it has fermented all the "bits" will fall out. Any left you will get with finings.

Recommended dose of Pectic Enzyme is .5 t ( half a teaspoon ) per gallon. I find this amount works just fine

 

[AkBrew907]

you can top off very close to the top to get more out of it and reduce headspace. It wont krausen up like a beer will if you used montrachet. Cant speak from experience on other yeasts, beer or wine, but I cant imagine they would cause much krasuen either.

Was going to ask. I used the Montrachet yeast. I Just happen to have another gallon of apple juice left so will top her off.

:cheers:

 

[jamesbsmith]

Recommended dose of Pectic Enzyme is .5 t ( half a teaspoon ) per gallon. I find this amount works just fine

I would use 1 tsp per UK gallon when making from cartons or bottles of supermarket juice, but he was making with real apples which may have 4 times as much pectin in as the filtered juice. I would therefore use approx 4 times as much as usual, otherwise he may find it struggles to clear!

 

[photobru]

About to try this with 2 jugs of unfiltered apple juice I picked up from Whole Foods primarily for 1 gal carboys and now I'm getting pretty excited about the Apfelwein!

I plan on boiling 1/2 lb table sugar in some of the juice for each plus adding pectic enzyme and then splitting a pack of Montrachet wine yeast into them. Don't want to waste any on hydrometer readings since it's so little, just going to let it ferment in the low 60's for at least a month. Been doing a bunch of reading on the forum, but I've barely put a dent in this thread so I wanted to ask if I'm missing anything?

 

[jamesbsmith]

Dont put your pectic enzyme in the boiling solution as it will break it down. Put it in with your yeast and nutrient once it has cooled!

 

[photobru]

Oh yeah, wasn't planning on that! Although wasn't entirely sure when to add it so thanks. And you recommend also adding yeast nutrient then?

 

[jamesbsmith]

Yes, I always do, I think this is usual practice. I THINK it is to encourage the chosen yeast to dominate and multiply, rather than less favourable living organisms which may be in the mix!

I did a quick search, and theres more onthe subject here:

http://www.grapestompers.com/articles/yeast_nutrients.htm

 

[photobru]

Good enough for me! I've been using nutrient in my beers ever since I started saving my yeast, so I can't see any reason not to here either. Just hadn't seen it mentioned so thanks for the heads up!

 

[DerrangedPOJO]

Been pondering on doing this for 2 years now. I finally made a 5 gallon batch i used 1 lb corn sugar and 1lb table sugar. Is this going to be a problem?

 

[AkBrew907]

Started bubbling away within 24 hours.

https://instagram.com/p/zYQ71cR9KK/?modal=true

 

[bwdilli]

Did the last batch by the book. I started a new batch on 2/20. Only change I made was to use Premier Cuvee instead of the Montrachet yeast. Guess I'll know in a couple of months if it made a difference.

The Montrachet got a little smelly about the 4th day. Be interesting to see if the Premier Cuvee has the same issue. Didn't seem to affect the batch at all, never got to the rhino fart point. Was just a little smelly. Wife wasn't buying it when I blamed it on the dog.

 

[GenIke]

Been pondering on doing this for 2 years now. I finally made a 5 gallon batch i used 1 lb corn sugar and 1lb table sugar. Is this going to be a problem?

Nopers.

 

[Viper2k3sr]

Did the last batch by the book. I started a new batch on 2/20. Only change I made was to use Premier Cuvee instead of the Montrachet yeast. Guess I'll know in a couple of months if it made a difference.

The Montrachet got a little smelly about the 4th day. Be interesting to see if the Premier Cuvee has the same issue. Didn't seem to affect the batch at all, never got to the rhino fart point. Was just a little smelly. Wife wasn't buying it when I blamed it on the dog.

Just fair warning, Premier Cuvee in my experience is a more aggressive yeast in the way of sugar consumption, depending on how dry you want the wine that might not matter though

Also the bad smell could be sulphur dioxide (not harmful) being released as a byproduct of maliolactic fermentation (mlf) which can sometimes occur with wines.

 

[rockydog101]

Hi all,

I'm trying to figure out the best way to bottle this stuff. I intend to give a fair bit of it away. I have dozens of 12 oz beer bottles I've been saving. Was also thinking of ordering some 22 oz bottles. Also considered some 1/4 gallon growlers because it looks cool and has a screw cap because I plan on bottling still, not carbed. Any thoughts?

 

[photobru]

If you're bottling still then all of those should be fine. Just make sure fermentation is complete before you go and bottle.

 

[mfgann]

Bottled my first batch (by the original recipe) on Wednesday, and man is this good. Now I wish I'd bought another 5g carboy to kick off another batch.

As for bottling, I did not carbonate it, so I just filled 10 Grolsch style bottles (all I had), filled a 32oz. Growler, then bottled and capped the rest. The Grolsch style bottles seem appropriate somehow, but I think they all work.

 

[mgr_stl]

After originally thinking I was a "still" guy after my first batch, I've for sure decided that I'm digging the carbed stuff more these days without a doubt. Really good and so easy to make.

 

[Mismost]

Made my first batch by the book yesterday. Man this stuff just takes off! Carboy is pretty full and it looks like the plasm drive on the Star Ship Enterprise. Frankly I was not expecting that kind of action from a .59 cent package of yeast. I love the bubbles!

 

[snacks]

I made Ed Wort's recipe almost by the book (I used brown sugar instead of dextrose). Mixed it all up on Feb 21st and my OG was 1.065, I was farting around on my day off moving my pale ale to the fridge and pulled a sample of the Apfelwein to see where it was at. It showed 1.010....so 7.2%. I tasted it and it wasn't sweet, almost like a watered down apple juice but BOY did it have a kick. I see now why Ed said it sneaks up on you.

My question is, will it sweeten up at all? When I let it finish in the next few weeks should I add some reg juice and bottle?

 

[Subdivisions]

I was farting around on my day off moving my pale ale to the fridge and pulled a sample of the Apfelwein to see where it was at.

Are you sure it wasn't the Apfelwein rhino farts????

My question is, will it sweeten up at all? When I let it finish in the next few weeks should I add some reg juice and bottle?

No, it will be as dry as the Sahara. Wait til it gets to 1.000 or less. If you add regular juice and bottle then the yeast will eat the sugar and leave you with a dry champagne like drink. Let that sit for 6 months and the apple flavor will come back but still won't be sweet. If you want a sweetened bottled beverage then you need to kill off the yeast. You won't be able to carbonate it after doing this. Look through this thread for the correct way since I don't really know. The only way to have it backsweetened and carbonated is to keg it. If you want sweet and spritzy from the bottle then do it Edwort's way and add some sprite or 7-up after you pour it. That helps to cut it and keep you from getting hammered too quickly also.

 

[-Fusion]

Has anyone used Nottingham ale yeast?

I want a slightly sweet cider for the wife. And I have Kirkland cider I was going to use,

 

[chucke]

Has anyone used Nottingham ale yeast?

I want a slightly sweet cider for the wife. And I have Kirkland cider I was going to use,

To make it sweeter, use LESS sugar and Cote des Blancs wine yeast.

 

[-Fusion]

To make it sweeter, use LESS sugar and Cote des Blancs wine yeast.

I have some Mangrove Jack cider yeast and 6gal Kirkland juice. I would like around 5-6% cider for the wife with a semi sweet taste. I wasn't sure if the best way would be 6gal juice + 1lb brow sugar or 5gal juice and back sweeten with 1gal juice before bottling/kegging

 

[Dominic1920]

Has anyone used Nottingham ale yeast?

I want a slightly sweet cider for the wife. And I have Kirkland cider I was going to use,

Nottingham is a good choice for hard ciders, I dont see why it wouldnt work for applewine. The nice thing about this recipe is that its so versatile. I've made many batches of this with whatever ingredients and leftover yeasts I have on hand and they all turn out fine and very drinkable.

 

[Andyoesq]

Anyone had success using a Mr. Beer fermentor with this?
I have been fascinated reading through this thread, but have only gotten through a couple of hundred pages so far. I did a search of this thread, and while it was mentioned occasionally, as a plan people were planning on trying one, not much reporting if it went ok. Can anyone comment on how it turned out in a 2 gallon Mr. Beer?