Man, I love Apfelwein

[andrewmaixner]

Anyone have any experience in bottling this, and preservation? Should I add in some sulfites or campden tablets for it to keep a year in the bottle?

Still or sparkling? Sweet or dry? Do you have a keg setup, or straight to bottles?
This thread would be good to read through: https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=508303

 

[gitmo234]

Still or sparkling? Sweet or dry? Do you have a keg setup, or straight to bottles?
This thread would be good to read through: https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=508303

I think I've gone with mostly bags (in a box), some growlers, then a few bottles.

Still and straight to bottling/bagging

 

[Milemarker]

I had 5 gallons fermenting for 2 1/2 months @ 68 degrees and then just put the carboy in the fridge for another 3 1/2 months. This stuff is potent and tastes very close to a Chardonnay. I just transferred to growlers. 1 gallon of it I added a small bottle (50 ml I think) of peach schnapps. Perfect flavor! Thanks to all those whom commented prior to me. Toast!

 

[andrewmaixner]

I think I've gone with mostly bags (in a box), some growlers, then a few bottles.
Still and straight to bottling/bagging

As I don't have any direct experience, I'd say that if you can't find any good information, you should hit part of it with kmeta and see how it compares to the un-sulfited stuff 6 months down the road, and then post about it. do a portion of each in each of the container types.

 

[TRueff]

Got it going!

Tweaked it with 4 lbs dextrose (because I wasn't satisfied with hydrometer readings @ 2 lbs), and Pasteur Champagne yeast (had a good experience with this in another cider project). Also added some yeast nutrient, and bought a bag of oak chips.

I'm sure folks have used oak before, but rather than reading through the 430 pages of comments on this thread, I'll just ask, any opinions about adding oak to this? Also, when should they be added and how long should they remain in the cider?

Really wanting to go for a dry, bubbly, almost appley, champagne-y product here. More on the wine spectrum than cider spectrum. Anyone else have any pointers on achieving this type of product? With 5 gal of juice and 4 lb dextrose, SG 1.074, so I'm thinking it will ferment out to around 10%, I was concerned about pushing too much more dextrose because the stated yeast alc tolerance was 12-15, and I didn't want to kill all my yeast off before using them to carbonate with bottle priming. Cheers!

Any pointers or opinions help!

Thanks!

View attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1446782225.541065.jpg

 

[Tahdi]

So, is 3 months the best amount to wait? Total time? Thanks

 

[go_mustangs]

I've made this recipe several times...it's amazing. Thanks for sharing. I was running short on carboys so I moved 5 gallons into 1 gallon apple juice bottles . Now two of the bottles have something white forming on the surface of the liquid. How should I proceed? it's ready to be kegged and carbed.

1. remove the sediment?
2. should I heat it?

What do you suggest? I don't want it to go to waste.

Thanks

 

[EtchyLives]

I couldn't wait until January. I started this the last week in September and drained the carboy this weekend. It was nice and dry but I thought that it might be good chilled and carbonated so I bottled it up and threw 4oz of dissolved corn sugar into it. We'll see how it is on Thanksgiving and then I'll contemplate giving it away as Christmas gifts.

 

[stuliveshere]

OK seriously, 1291 pages? I spent a whole night reading (which is to say, not 1291 pages), then 6 months brewing...

so, tips for hot weather Aussies...

Aldi's apple juice ($1 per litre). The cheap clear stuff, I checked the preservatives and it contains ascorbic acid and citric acid. The yeast, it dont care....

Aldi's brown suger... it's about $2 a kg. I use 2kg of suger for 30L of juice... for family (around 9%). 3kg of suger for 30L of juice for me, because I dont like my liver (+14%). The yeast, it dont care...

I've tried dextrose a few times. You get a cleaner result, but i prefer the brown sugar taste, and I cold crash, so it comes out pretty clean anyway. Also, you can buy the brown sugar with the apple juice.

Yeast. I'm using brewer's choice CL23. From the website, "Vintners Harvest Wine Yeast CL23 (Saccharomyces Bayanus) – A wine yeast ideal for crisp, fresh dry white/blush and all sparkling wines. Also the best strain for high alcohol tolerance." Pretty much says it all...

Keep it under 20c. In winter, throw it in the garage with a towel around it. In summer you need a temperature controlled fridge, else it smells like ****. Specifically high in sulphur byproducts.

It needs a week to ferment - brew it until its flat. You can drink it straight away, but it improves with age.

I do 30L batches... and we drink it as fast as I brew it (extended family etc). When a batch is finished I decant into a secondary and throw fresh juice and suger onto the sediment. Every couple of batches you need to dump half the sediment. But I have only sterilised the bucket twice in 6 months. CL23 is aggressive, and the apv is pretty high, so not much can compete.

Only major gotcha is the temp. It needs to be under 20c. I got one of those temperature regulators from ebay china for $20 which keeps the beer fridge at 15c.

 

[indolent]

Anyone have any experience in bottling this, and preservation? Should I add in some sulfites or campden tablets for it to keep a year in the bottle?

I bottle carbed my first batch. Didn't add anything extra as far as preservatives go. Found a couple of the bottles 3 or 4 years later and they tasted excellent.

Everything after that has been kegged, so I can't say for sure if it will be good every time or not.

 

[stuliveshere]

Got it going!

Really wanting to go for a dry, bubbly, almost appley, champagne-y product here. More on the wine spectrum than cider spectrum. Anyone else have any pointers on achieving this type of product?

View attachment 314170

I use Saccharomyces Bayanus. It's a wine yeast which will handle up to 18% apv. If you use a clear apple juice and dextrose you get a product which is very clear, and tastes like a light champagne with an a faint after taste of apple. The missus and the mother in law love it. They use soda water for bubbles.

 

[Stigmond13]

To wine/cider makers in the uk, what store bought apple juice is best to use. I have used princes apple juice several times but would be keen to hear if there is better on the market for fermenting?

 

[thaefathan]

Does anyone know what happens if you pitched Wyeast Roselare in the beginning? I don't know if the juice has the precursors to make the finished product more sour.
Any info is appreciated.... Thanks

 

[podz]

I love Apfelwein, too. Just started a batch last night!

 

[BrewCityBaller]

Does anyone know what happens if you pitched Wyeast Roselare in the beginning? I don't know if the juice has the precursors to make the finished product more sour.
Any info is appreciated.... Thanks

Were you planning on letting this sit for a year? Roselare works best when it is given a year+ to work. If you are planning on aging it then I'm sure there's more than enough sugar there to make an interesting sour. If you were hoping to drink this in a month then it's gonna be funky and weird as hell...

 

[casualbrewer]

Really love the sparkling apfelwein I made as well. Just used store bought juice with no added sugar. Fermented with Notty at room temp. Bottle carbed at 3 volumes and it comes out like apple champagne. Very bubbly and plenty of apple notes and some residual sweetness. Easiest thing I have made yet.

 

[nine16ths]

we bottled our 1st 5-gal batch yesterday. Since my last post, we have started 3 additional 6-gallon batches.

Notes:

1. the 1st 5-gallon batch (pitched without nutrient) did smell slightly sulfur-y for the 1st week, while the next 3 batches (pitched with nutrient) never had that smell.

2. 1st batch seemed to 'stall' at 1.000 but we went out of town & left it for a week and found it clear and with a final SG of .998 on returning. lesson learned!

3. the 2nd batch (pitched 4 days later w/nutrient) started with higher SG and overtook the 1st batch (had lower SG on sampling day).

4. with an average temp (i'd guess) around 72*F, the 1st three batches all finished fermenting (final SG .998 or lower) within 3 weeks. batches 2 - 4 are in different stages of the yeast falling out / clarifying; batch #4 is only 15 days old but measures .996

bottling the 1st batch, we filled one 5L wine-in-a-bag bag and filled 1 doz. flip-top 1L bottles. half of the bottles we added carb tabs to; all are in the basement to age. i have kegs on order for the next batches which we will hopefully fill & age.

the 1st batch was pitched 10/23, and i am thrilled to have it bottled on my Thanksgiving table! it tastes very similar to the apfelwein i had last year in my trip to frankfurt.

my wife had a cookie swap party last night and about 20 party goers each had at least one 8 oz. serving and all thought it was good. this morning we have ~1/2 of our 5L bag remaining in the fridge. i'd say it's a hit. can't wait to try some of the stuff we'll be aging!

thanks again to Ed Wort and everyone who's shared their experience in the thread. Happy Thanksgiving!

 

[gwhite94621]

I'm bottling my first batch and thought I'd provide what feedback I can. I brewed 3x1 gallon batches all slightly different so I could get an idea of what the yeasts and sugars would do.

They all fermented the same amount of time, 2.75months, and used the same base a local apple cider to Northern California (Gowan's).
Here is how they differed:
First batch is 6.4oz dextrose & Scott Labs D254 yeast
Second batch 6.4oz dextrose & EC-1118 yeast
Third batch 5.12oz dextrose 1.28oz brown sugar & EC-1118 yeast

First is very dry, too much for me but my wife liked it
Second is a slightly better version of the first (in my opinion) the EC-1118 yeast definitely creates a sweeter cider, all things being equal. It is also a little fruitier.
Third is the best in my opinion. It is the sweetest & fruitiest, but still a long way from even a Crispin cider from a sweetness standpoint.

Here's a Google doc with all the details of my batches: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/19hkOlrY1hhRPWWApBP0Zn9Kfjb44ubC0IhYKdGnBjtQ/edit?usp=sharing

I will update again when I taste the carbonated cider

 

[brewhead05]

How much sugar and what kind of sugar do I add when bottling for sparkling apfelwein.

Thanks for the help,

 

[andrewmaixner]

Any kind, no different from beer -- dextrose, sucrose, maltose, fructose, etc...
Just calculate the desired carb level and add the right amount of fermentable sugar.

http://www.northernbrewer.com/priming-sugar-calculator/

 

[slym2none]

If you have a large syringe around, you can use FAJC. 6mL for 12 ounces seems to give a good 2.5-2.7 vols. of CO²

 

[Tactical-Brewer]

My girlfriend has a gallon of this going now! I can't wait to try it now!

 

[Tsuyako]

So mine has been sitting for 2'ish months in the carboy and hasn't cleared; of course re-reading this I realized I used cider not juice. Is there anyway to get the wine to clear or should I just bottle and deal with it?
Thanks,

 

[MarkKF]

Wait and chill. If there's s lot of slop on the top or bottom rack it then wait some more.

 

[andrewmaixner]

So mine has been sitting for 2'ish months in the carboy and hasn't cleared; of course re-reading this I realized I used cider not juice. Is there anyway to get the wine to clear or should I just bottle and deal with it?
Thanks,

Lots of ways, including:
super-kleer ($3, easy)
cold+gelatin ($0.05 + a way to get it cold)
mechanical filter (not cheep)

 

[brew703]

1293 frickin' pages. Well, guess I will have to give this a try, but 1 or two gallons to start.

 

[Mismost]

This was one the first wines I tried to make and it came out really tart, and mouth puckering dry...did not care for it at bottling and wife just hated it.

Bottled back in March. Had neighbors over last night and they walked in kinda buzzed! We drank a bottle of their some kinda white wine. I thought it kinda nasty, so I would out nasty them with a bottle of my Apfelwein and pulled the cork on a bottle.

MAN! IT HAD CHANGED! Not nasty, still dry, but so much smoother...a very pleasant surprise and a nice white wine...noticeably better than their store bought stuff. Sitting 8 months made a huge difference...my wife loved it too! Let some sit if you can.

 

[bembel]

If you want apple champagne, don't use even close to that much sugar. You will get rocket fuel with no flavor. Don't use champagne yeast. Use a cider yeast or a white wine yeast. If you must add sugar, simmer the oak in a sugar solution which you can add to the primary. Don't keep the chips. And whatever you do, don't ferment above 60f

 

[monkeyman1000]

I am trying to figure out what to do with the 2 1 gallon batches I made of this about 5 weeks ago. I racked the first gallon (ended up with about 3/4 gallon) to a clean 1 gallon container (one gallon glass jug). Before I do the same with the second gallon I want to know if this is a good idea. There is a good bit of headspace and I know with beer that isn't a good idea. I am not carbonating the apelwein. Thanks for the help

 

[stella_tigre]

Rack part of the second gallon to top off the first one. Rack the rest of the second one into a smaller jug - plastic juice bottle, for instance, and pop an airlock on that one too. Plastic won't hurt for a few more weeks, until it clears and you can bottle. Head space is bad here too.