Man, I love Apfelwein

Yakima 728
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OK have a party this weekend and have a batch of Apfelwein (original recipe) that has been going for 41 days now. I would like to debut the Apfelwein. I will be kegging it and I took a gravity reading 2 days ago (1.004) and tonight (1.004 maybe creeping toward 1.003 but hard to tell). Now if it is still fermenting will it hurt to put it in the keg and cool it down and start carbing it. I pretty sure 42 deg is cold enough to stop any activity the yeast might have. I still see some bubbles coming up, but I don't think that or airlock activity necessarily means it is fermenting. My OG was 1.062. I have another batch going that is about 2 weeks behind that probably wont get kegged for a while so I'm not to worried about doing this one too early and I have tasted the samples and it is for sure not sweet or anything at 1004.

After all that, Is a Apfelwein kegged (maybe) early at 1.004 going to be noticeably worse than if left it for another few weeks. Assuming they are both the same overall age?
 
how long should i let it "condition" in the bottle?

it's been sitting in a carboy for about 1.5 months now, and I want to bottle.

Can I start drinking right away, assuming I don't carbonate? I was only thinking of carbonating half of the batch.
 
I bottled mine at 1.006 (used a beer yeast), and it's a bit sweet and sparkling, and very popular. I doubt it'd hurt to keg yours, and with the >1 gravity, it may be more popular than the drier version that most people make. Really depends on your tastes, though.
 
My apfelwein was good right after bottling, but I made mine with 1lb of sugar instead of two so it was a lighter, milder beverage. It was a big hit with everyone I shared it with.

If someone wants something tasty with a little less alcohol (and less chance of cursing Ed Wort the next morning) then I highly recommend it.
 
My most recent batch that used brown sugar, honey and ale yeast instead of dextrose and wine yeast was also *very* enjoyable at bottling. I was blown away, especially since my first experiment with Apfelwein, which stuck closer to the original recipe, turned out to be a bit underwhelming to my palate. I am trying to drink it slowly (I only have eight 12-oz bottles that I left still and eleven that are carbing), so that I get the chance to experience how the flavors change with aging. Thankfully, the next 2.5-gallon batch is already underway.

By the way, the kraeusen on this new batch, which I pitched straight onto the yeast cake from my first one, was pretty amazing! My first batch only had moderate kraeusen between about day 4 and 8, but this one built up tremendously on day 2.
 
ArcaneXor said:
My most recent batch that used brown sugar, honey and ale yeast instead of dextrose and wine yeast was also *very* enjoyable at bottling. I was blown away, especially since my first experiment with Apfelwein, which stuck closer to the original recipe, turned out to be a bit underwhelming to my palate. I am trying to drink it slowly (I only have eight 12-oz bottles that I left still and eleven that are carbing), so that I get the chance to experience how the flavors change with aging. Thankfully, the next 2.5-gallon batch is already underway.

By the way, the kraeusen on this new batch, which I pitched straight onto the yeast cake from my first one, was pretty amazing! My first batch only had moderate kraeusen between about day 4 and 8, but this one built up tremendously on day 2.
Click to expand...

Without having to go thru this monster what was your recipe?
Whats the chance that someone starts a sticky on the different ways (recipes) that this can be made?

I've got a couple bottles of applekorn downstairs. Has anyone put a bottle into the secondary to see what happens?
 
gartj said:
Without having to go thru this monster what was your recipe?
Whats the chance that someone starts a sticky on the different ways (recipes) that this can be made?

I've got a couple bottles of applekorn downstairs. Has anyone put a bottle into the secondary to see what happens?
Click to expand...

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f25/man-i-love-apfelwein-14860/index218.html#post1048470 <--- recipe is in this post, towards the bottom.

I have never had Apfelkorn, so I don't know what it tastes like or how it would interact with the wine. I would try blending it in the glass first before pouring a whole bottle into the fermenter.
 
Can't find it there.
Applekorn, ask for it at your liquor store put it in your freezer, drink when chilled, I always keep a bottle i the freezer. It's great for shots and like taking a bite from a liquor soaked green apple.
 
gartj said:
Can't find it there.
Applekorn, ask for it at your liquor store put it in your freezer, drink when chilled, I always keep a bottle i the freezer. It's great for shots and like taking a bite from a liquor soaked green apple.
Click to expand...

Hm... if the link doesn't work, it's in post 4343.
 
I made my apfelwein on 2 Jan. I can still see little bubbles at the top and the airlock bubbles every 2 to 3 min. I have not taken a gravity reading but believe it would be very close to its FG. Should i wait to keg it? Should i cold crash it to settle out the yeast? Should I wait until I can see through the carboy? I don't mind waiting, I just want it to be good. My fermentation temp is between 64 and 66 deg witch is lower than Eds. I know that lower temps will take more time. How long will it take. I will take a pic if it will help,
 
bplaughlin said:
I made my apfelwein on 2 Jan. I can still see little bubbles at the top and the airlock bubbles every 2 to 3 min. I have not taken a gravity reading but believe it would be very close to its FG. Should i wait to keg it? Should i cold crash it to settle out the yeast? Should I wait until I can see through the carboy? I don't mind waiting, I just want it to be good. My fermentation temp is between 64 and 66 deg witch is lower than Eds. I know that lower temps will take more time. How long will it take. I will take a pic if it will help,
Click to expand...

Depends on what you want. The only batch I made so far was about where yours is now when I decided to cold crash for a week and bottle. It's a pleasantly sweet (FG of about 1.006) and slightly sparkling (not enough to blow corks out of bottles). Very much like a Riesling.

I would guess that if you left it in a moderately warm spot (mine was at about 60* the whole time, I'd guess 70* would finish faster) for another couple weeks, the yeast would finish dryer and clear on their own, but I defer to anyone with more than one batch under his belt for this.
 
That's it!... I can't take any more of this Apfelwein talk and not know what it's like. I have never tried anything like this before..... But looks like I wont be able to say that for long. Going to throw this one together next weekend.....:ban:
 
I've made this a couple times before using the original recipe, and I liked it just fine. My wife, on the other hand, likes things sweet and fruity. I'd like to try to make something that she'd like.

Obviously I know that I can backsweeten it with Splenda when it's finished, but I was wondering if anyone has boosted the OG with frozen apple juice concentrate in place of the corn sugar.

I tried searching, but couldn't really find anything.

So if you've used it, did you find the result more "appley"? How much concentrate did you use?
 
lustreking said:
I've made this a couple times before using the original recipe, and I liked it just fine. My wife, on the other hand, likes things sweet and fruity. I'd like to try to make something that she'd like.
...
Click to expand...

Instead of adding more sugar (which will likely increase the alcohol content without significantly sweetening), you could use a different yeast. Beer yeasts have a tendency to leave more sugar behind. I had some very nice results with a Koelsch yeast, which also left the wine slightly sparkling.
 
I just bottled some of my first apfelwein batch into a glass wine jug I have. I took a little sample. Really tart and strong but no signs of vinegar-ish flavor so I'm confident this will mature to a nice flavor.
 
So... pretty... *sniffle*

3272891445_83becc6349.jpg


Waiting for it to bottle condition is going to take forever...
 
lustreking said:
I've made this a couple times before using the original recipe, and I liked it just fine. My wife, on the other hand, likes things sweet and fruity. I'd like to try to make something that she'd like.

Obviously I know that I can backsweeten it with Splenda when it's finished, but I was wondering if anyone has boosted the OG with frozen apple juice concentrate in place of the corn sugar.

I tried searching, but couldn't really find anything.

So if you've used it, did you find the result more "appley"? How much concentrate did you use?
Click to expand...



I have done this - don't ask what my gravity readings were, as i don't use a hydrometer. however, yes it works very well -the end result is dry and crisp - like the original formula - however the apple flavor and nose is very present (even when brand new out of the carboy -unlike the original formula which loses the apple until it ages some -then it comes back. )
I used 4 16 ounce cans of frozen concentrate, and 4.5 gallons of treetop applejuice. plus 2 tsp yeast nutrient to avoid rhino fartz (SWMBO says I can brew all I want... but it better not get shtinky in the main house) pitched Montrachet. Bottled after 2 months - ABV was respectable but very drinkable young. bottle carbed the batch with 1 12 ounce can of concentrate in the bottling bucket - got light carbonation within a week. also boosted apple flavor slightly. batch was bottled two/three? weeks ago - so I can't talk about how it ages. Young, it's a damned fine drink - so aged I expect it to become stellar. hope this helps
 
Yambor44 said:
Man thats pretty clear! How old is that one?
Click to expand...
Three weeks. :D Begun January 18th, and she's already residing in bottles. The one glass left over (and the wineskin I shared with some friends on a camping trip last weekend) tells me that she's already deliiiiiicious, though.

I used yeast energizer and nutrient, and the carboy temperature was in the mid to high 60s for the whole three weeks.
 
LastKnight said:
Three weeks. :D Begun January 18th, and she's already residing in bottles. The one glass left over (and the wineskin I shared with some friends on a camping trip last weekend) tells me that she's already deliiiiiicious, though.

I used yeast energizer and nutrient, and the carboy temperature was in the mid to high 60s for the whole three weeks.
Click to expand...

Thanks. Made mine per OP recipe with Motts as we don't have Tree Top in this area on 2-5-09 so its only been a week and she perking a once about every 5 seconds or so still.
 
I just threw together something like apfelwein with 3 gallons of apple juice, 2 gallons of blueberry-pomegranite juice, 2# light brown sugar and montrachet yeast.

No activity yet but its cold in the basement so I expect at least 24 hours before I see any bubbles. It smelled great all put together, I hope it fares well as wine.

I'm leaving this one in primary until I get back from vacation in march so it should have a good long time to sit and clear.

Has anyone else done something similar? Results/opinions would be cool.
 
lustreking said:
I've made this a couple times before using the original recipe, and I liked it just fine. My wife, on the other hand, likes things sweet and fruity. I'd like to try to make something that she'd like.

Obviously I know that I can backsweeten it with Splenda when it's finished, but I was wondering if anyone has boosted the OG with frozen apple juice concentrate in place of the corn sugar.

I tried searching, but couldn't really find anything.

So if you've used it, did you find the result more "appley"? How much concentrate did you use?
Click to expand...

Ok, so I'm going to try this tonight.

The original recipe calls for 2 lbs of sugar, which is ~907 grams

The frozen concentrate that I have makes six servings with 29 grams of sugars. So that's 174 grams of sugar per container of concentrate.

That means that I'd need ~5.2 cans of concentrate to match the sugar contribution of 2 lbs of corn sugar.

Does that make sense, or is there some difference between fructose and dextrose that this simple math doesn't take into consideration?
 
Someone help me out. I can't find the answer for the life of me. What is the OG of Ed's original recipe. I didn't take a gravity reading before fermentation, but I'd like to know my ABV. Thanks
 
Yambor44 said:
Thanks. Made mine per OP recipe with Motts as we don't have Tree Top in this area on 2-5-09 so its only been a week and she perking a once about every 5 seconds or so still.
Click to expand...
Yeah, my latest was started on Wednesday and I'm already getting some good waterlock activity and a scattering of champagne bubbles on the surface. :) It's so beautiful.
 
LastKnight said:
Yeah, my latest was started on Wednesday and I'm already getting some good waterlock activity and a scattering of champagne bubbles on the surface. :) It's so beautiful.
Click to expand...

Mine ran pretty good the first few days or so then slowed up. It started getting warm here so I had to put it in the fermentation freezer to keep it at 65-65 ambient and now its slowing down.... but still going!
 
lustreking said:
Ok, so I'm going to try this tonight.

The original recipe calls for 2 lbs of sugar, which is ~907 grams

The frozen concentrate that I have makes six servings with 29 grams of sugars. So that's 174 grams of sugar per container of concentrate.

That means that I'd need ~5.2 cans of concentrate to match the sugar contribution of 2 lbs of corn sugar.

Does that make sense, or is there some difference between fructose and dextrose that this simple math doesn't take into consideration?
Click to expand...

So are you wanting to add the concentrate in place of JUST the sugar? So you are going to use 5 other gallons of Tree Top or Motts Apple Juice right? The numbers make sense to me.
 
I made a batch back on the infamous day of the A.W. wrist snapping... Still going after 3 months... Still a little airlock activity, but the gravity reading is 1.002.... Almost there...

:D
 
Mine cleared very nicely from about a week of cold crashing around 35*.

Does fermentation temperature have much effect on this? Do wine yeasts produce diacetyl at warmer temps?
 
Just handled the first pint of my first batch that I put together in Sept 08. Goood stuff! I'm going to have another pint and head out to some bars.:drunk:
 
Anybody just keep dumping new apple juice onto the yeast from the former batches? I did this time on a lark, and it is happily bubbling away. How will this practice work out in the long run?

Thanks,

Jennifer
 
Hey so I want to try making this stuff, but do you guys have any tips on where to get real apple juice? Anything in the store will most likely be from concentrate / have preservatives in it.. Where does everyone get theirs (oh I'm in NY/NJ area if that matters)..

Thanks!

Edit: I found some! Stop and shop carries a store brand apple juice that is labeled in big letters "not from concentrate" and only contains ascorbic acid as a preservative
 
lustreking said:
Ok, so I'm going to try this tonight.

The original recipe calls for 2 lbs of sugar, which is ~907 grams

The frozen concentrate that I have makes six servings with 29 grams of sugars. So that's 174 grams of sugar per container of concentrate.

That means that I'd need ~5.2 cans of concentrate to match the sugar contribution of 2 lbs of corn sugar.

Does that make sense, or is there some difference between fructose and dextrose that this simple math doesn't take into consideration?
Click to expand...


One other thing as mentioned above, does the concentrate have preservatives in it? If so would say don't add it.
 
Petunia said:
Anybody just keep dumping new apple juice onto the yeast from the former batches? I did this time on a lark, and it is happily bubbling away. How will this practice work out in the long run?

Thanks,

Jennifer
Click to expand...

I would think that it is no different than the practice of repitching yeast in brewing beer. Typically it is recommended to only repitch yeast 5 or 6 times as any more can lead to undesired results. Also it is recommended not to repitch yeast from high gravity brews.
 

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