Man, I love Apfelwein

[detlion1643]

So it's now been about two months. About three weeks ago, I noticed this batch sat at 1.03 for a while (about a week). So I pitched a little bit of nutrient and energizer and another packet of montrachet. Today it sits at 1.000. It's taken so long to get here I don't know what caused all my issues. Anyways, I'm planning to let it sit for another week or two, then I am going to stabalize and backsweeten. I'm hoping it doesn't take long to clear after that as it smells better than it tastes (can't taste the apple pie flavoring at all). Plus I want the headaches of this batch to be over lol...

 

[Gonefishing]

A few weeks ago I asked if anyone knew if Apfelwein that has been kegged for two years and experienced temperature swings from summer temps to below freezing would still be good. I'm here to answer my own question as I offered it to the guy who normally drinks it when I have it and he reported that it tastes good, and then several people tried it and all liked it. It was still at ambient temp, so they all put ice in it to cool it down and it still was quite popular.

 

[TinOK]

I might have just started the world's smallest batch of Apfelwein.

I wanted to try some Martinelli brand juice before I buy enough of it for a larger batch as the largest bottles I've found of this brand are 24 oz for $2.48 each, so a 3 gallon batch would end up costing quite a bit. Well, tonight I found a 4-pack of 10 oz bottles and wouldn't you know it, I tripped and spilled some yeast and sugar in one of the bottles!

And here it is, folks

 

[gregsatt]

Nice, how much yeast and sugar did you use for a 10 oz bottle?

Thanks,
Greg

I might have just started the world's smallest batch of Apfelwein.

I wanted to try some Martinelli brand juice before I buy enough of it for a larger batch as the largest bottles I've found of this brand are 24 oz for $2.48 each, so a 3 gallon batch would end up costing quite a bit. Well, tonight I found a 4-pack of 10 oz bottles and wouldn't you know it, I tripped and spilled some yeast and sugar in one of the bottles!

And here it is, folks

 

[TinOK]

I used a little under 2 tsp of raw sugar and about 1/2 tsp of Montrachet. I also added about 10 granules of HomeBrewOhio "Yeast Nutrient."

 

[MarkKF]

That juice is incredibly expensive. I would like to know what apples are in it for that price!

 

[detlion1643]

Finally had some time to check on my batch this morning. Finally under 1.000... Not sure how long it's been "finished" before, but it sure took its sweet ol' time.

Dropped in 4 campden tabs and 2 1/2 tsps of sorbate. Going to drop in about 5 or so cups of sugar tomorrow and another 5 tsps of apple pie spice and then it's time to wait again! Doesn't taste very apple piey (?), just like dry apple. I don't think the apple pie spice was useful during fermentation...

 

[detlion1643]

This morning I ended up racking onto 5 cups of sugar and 2 1/2 tsps of apple pie spice. I stirred/degassed for a few minutes, but there is still a thick layer of sugar laying at the bottom (it didn't all dissolve or get mixed in). Also, my hydrometer broke (I dropped it on accident) while doing a reading, so I'm not sure where my FG is. Great . I think this is the last time I will backsweeten with raw sugar, it always seems to cause problems. From now on I will backsweeten only from concentrates.

 

[Miraculix]

Bookmarked this great thread! Äbblwoi ftw!

 

[rideincircles]

Just remember that Apfelwein benefits from age. I set aside my keg of cherry apfelwein for a while and it is now 4 years old still tastes amazing. I may brew another batch again to get some more to start aging.

It takes 6 months to be ready in my opinion.

 

[Maylar]

3 million views and still going strong. Ed should be proud.

 

[shadow160]

Does anyone know how long this will last in a keg?

Long story short I brewed more different things then I could drink and I have about 3/4 of a keg of this that I kegged a year ago and I don't know if it is still safe to drink.

 

[friskytriscuit]

So, I started a batch of this back in May. OG was 1.067, which I think is about right, from the other postsI have read in this thread.

Today I pulled it out of the closet to throw some ginger in (I decided to make it a spicy cider) and took a gravity reading. It settled over a month ago (been in there two months now) and my reading was 1.023 - which I think puts it around 5.5%. Could that be right?

I used table sugar instead of dextrose - could that have affected the final gravity?

 

[schematix]

Does anyone know how long this will last in a keg?

Long story short I brewed more different things then I could drink and I have about 3/4 of a keg of this that I kegged a year ago and I don't know if it is still safe to drink.

If it has been sealed and kept at a reasonable temperature it should be fine.

I've had it last more than a year. It was extremely hard work to finish it the last half keg.

 

[shadow160]

Thanks
It has been sitting at 34 degrees sealed in a keg connected to C02.

 

[Gonefishing]

Does anyone know how long this will last in a keg?

Long story short I brewed more different things then I could drink and I have about 3/4 of a keg of this that I kegged a year ago and I don't know if it is still safe to drink.

I just found a keg of this that I brewed two years ago. It has gone through some wild temperature swings from below freezing to summer temps. Several people had a glass of it at a party here two weeks ago and no one got sick or complained of bad flavors, so I'd say it's still good even after all that time and neglect.

 

[shemp]

It's indestructible!

 

[AZCoolerBrewer]

I just put down 2 gallons if Treetop simple hard cider. This is my first ever hard cider and likely just a fun adventure before I go back to brewing beer. I pitched Nottingham and that's all. I will bottle condition it. I am not sure if I want to put a trace amount of Stevia or just let it condition as is. I hardly ever eat sugar and the commercial ciders are sooooo sweet. I got an Angry Orchard that advertised itself as less sweet. OMG that stuff tasted like pure sugar. Had a really hard time choking down just a six pack.

 

[Miraculix]

I just put down 2 gallons if Treetop simple hard cider. This is my first ever hard cider and likely just a fun adventure before I go back to brewing beer. I pitched Nottingham and that's all. I will bottle condition it. I am not sure if I want to put a trace amount of Stevia or just let it condition as is. I hardly ever eat sugar and the commercial ciders are sooooo sweet. I got an Angry Orchard that advertised itself as less sweet. OMG that stuff tasted like pure sugar. Had a really hard time choking down just a six pack.

I feel you.

Hennys dry Cider will be your friend!

 

[thippe]

Just remember that Apfelwein benefits from age. I set aside my keg of cherry apfelwein for a while and it is now 4 years old still tastes amazing. I may brew another batch again to get some more to start aging.

It takes 6 months to be ready in my opinion.

did you use real cherries or cherry flavoring? i have 1/2 a bottle of flavoring kicking around from a wheat beer, i may have to try it.

 

[BamaProud]

I just put together another batch of this tonight. I can't take an initial gravity reading as it's already put together in the carboy and I have nothing that can pull a small portion out. I opted to take a venture down the apple pie direction as I really like an apple pie moonshine that is made locally (I just want it less strong/abv).

So, here is what I pitched tonight:
- 1 packet montrachet
- 2 lbs white sugar
- 5 tsp's apple pie spice
- enough apple juice to fill to the neck of carboy (it had 1.05 gravity)

The plan is to let it ferment until done (under 1.000) and then use sorbate and finally backsweeten. I'll probably just start simple and backsweeten with sugar alone on this batch. I'll test backsweetening with concentrate next batch. The initial smell though is very nice!

Edit: Be very careful when using the apple pie spice. I've never seen montrachet act like this before. Everything you see inside and outside of the airlock becomes a long sticky string like substance. Cleaned it up, pushed down the cap and mixed it up, and reattached the airlock. This happened before 24 hours.

Edit again: I have now cleaned the airlock 7 times within 12 hours and it finally appears to have slowed down (the overflow part at least).

A blowoff tube can make things a lot less frustrating/messy in those situations.
Something like this(borrowed from another site):

 

[Baabaad00]

Have ~6gallons of this sitting at about 2 months. Tasted it finally yesterday. It's sour a bit. Does that age out? Because I don't like that and I strongly doubt anyone else that is around to drink it will. How long is this okay to let sit? Is it okay let it sit on the lees for like 6+months or should I bottle + let em age that way? I plan to use apple concentrate as my priming sugar source to add a bit of apple. Have people done that with success?

I followed the recipe exactly. Does the 6 months + aging time smoothen out as in no sour taste? If not, I doubt I'd make it again. First time making it.

 

[paindragon1]

Have ~6gallons of this sitting at about 2 months. Tasted it finally yesterday. It's sour a bit. Does that age out? Because I don't like that and I strongly doubt anyone else that is around to drink it will. How long is this okay to let sit? Is it okay let it sit on the lees for like 6+months or should I bottle + let em age that way? I plan to use apple concentrate as my priming sugar source to add a bit of apple. Have people done that with success?

I followed the recipe exactly. Does the 6 months + aging time smoothen out as in no sour taste? If not, I doubt I'd make it again. First time making it.

Did you make it right?

My first time I added 4 cin sticks in it for a week and then let it sit for 8 months after that.... It was, and has always been, my top performer in sales / bribes / offerings of things to get hands on when it comes to my friends and family.

At 2 months it has to still be pretty damn hot. What's the ABV?

 

[Baabaad00]

I made it correctly. I need to check the specific gravity though. Haven't done that yet. I just let it go. Mine is not hot. I can definitely taste the alcohol though. It reminds me of a sightly sour strongbow/stella ish cider. What applejuice do you use? I used Mott's.

 

[Maylar]

Have ~6gallons of this sitting at about 2 months. Tasted it finally yesterday. It's sour a bit. Does that age out? Because I don't like that and I strongly doubt anyone else that is around to drink it will. How long is this okay to let sit? Is it okay let it sit on the lees for like 6+months or should I bottle + let em age that way? I plan to use apple concentrate as my priming sugar source to add a bit of apple. Have people done that with success?

I followed the recipe exactly. Does the 6 months + aging time smoothen out as in no sour taste? If not, I doubt I'd make it again. First time making it.

Hotness from alcohol will mellow with age, but the tartness from malic acid and lack of sugar is part of the flavor profile. I'd bet that if you added some sugar - even a small amount - to a glass you'd find something more to your liking. If that works, there are ways to modify the batch to suit.

 

[Baabaad00]

So that sour taste is there to stay? I suspected that was the malic acid and wasn't going to leave. Is there a way to add sweetness and to carbonate in bottles without having to heat pasteurize or cold crash?

I suppose I could always eliminate the carbonation and stabilize/backsweeten, but I'd prefer not to.

 

[TasunkaWitko]

As the opening post says, you can serve it with some Sprite- or 7-Up-type pop, which is what the Germans do.....

 

[RPh_Guy]

Someone here suggested to freeze-distill some Apple juice, and serve on top of a few drops of that.

I like dry cider, and actually usually add malic acid to adjust pH down to around 3.8.

 

[Maylar]

Xylitol is another option.

 

[Miraculix]

As the opening post says, you can serve it with some Sprite- or 7-Up-type pop, which is what the Germans do.....

Either that, or just with sparkling water.

"Aufgespritzt ". I prefer the water version.