Man, I love Apfelwein

[Lodovico]

Has anyone here experimented with this recipe and also added a strain of Brett?

I've made this recipe and it's great. I also think if done correctly, Brettanomyces could be an awesome addition.

Anyone here experiment with this?

 

[Grasslands]

Okay, so I'm waiting on my all-organic batch w/brown sugar to finish at least its four-week fermentation period (I'm on the final fourth week - started Jan. 9th) and I've noticed that while it is still producing activity (about 1 bubble per minute) in the airlock, it's stopped producing the thin layer of bubbles inside the fermenter.

I'm getting set tonight to take a gravity sample to see if I'm close to 1.000, but I was wondering if I needed to take further action. Thoughts? I'm so anxious to try this sucker.

 

[Grasslands]

**Update**

SG tonight was right at 1.000. Still bubbling in the airlock at 1x/minute or so. What do you guys think? Should there be bubbling activity in the fermenter during the entire four weeks?

 

[mikeysab]

Just drew a pint straight from primary with some ice.....is that bad?

 

[tacocat]

So, n00b question.

What if one follows the recipe, but forgoes the dextrose? Will it be similarly dry with a lower ABV?

 

[somecallmetex]

So, n00b question.

What if one follows the recipe, but forgoes the dextrose? Will it be similarly dry with a lower ABV?

This is what it says on the first post

Ciders and Apfelwein are about 6% abv, but I like the little boost I give it with 2 pounds of Dextrose. It adds no body or flavor and still tastes like Possmann's Apfelwein, only it will kick your butt much quicker.

 

[tacocat]

I caught that. So it wouldn't affect taste at all if I decide to use just apple juice

I don't really need the extra 'kick your butt much faster' factor.

 

[mikeysab]

I'd go for the "kick your butt much faster" factor. I use brown sugar instead of dextrose though. I like higher alcohol brews though, because my wife always asks me "Can't you just have 3 or 4 beers, instead of 12". so I'd rather have 4 eight percenters than 4 four percenters. but that's just me.

 

[Recluse]

Just drew a pint straight from primary with some ice.....is that bad?

If it is GOOD, then it isn't bad

 

[Randar]

Has nobody tried oaking this thing?

 

[Hegh]

Has nobody tried oaking this thing?

Yes. Still waiting for it to taste good (bottled in April). I tried one bottle at 6 months, and I'll try another at a year, but I don't expect it to taste good until at least 1.5 years from bottling.

I also used potassium sorbate and potassium metabisulfite (campden tablets) to kill off the yeast before bottling, so as a result it may require some extra time to age.

 

[Randar]

Yes. Still waiting for it to taste good (bottled in April). I tried one bottle at 6 months, and I'll try another at a year, but I don't expect it to taste good until at least 1.5 years from bottling.

I also used potassium sorbate and potassium metabisulfite (campden tablets) to kill off the yeast before bottling, so as a result it may require some extra time to age.

Interesting. Seems yours has taken a lot longer to "ripen" than the straightforward version. I guess the english ciders are cask aged or conditioned, but nothing in the historical stuff I've seen online indicates apfelwein to be oaked.

I just picked up 10g of Indian Summer and plan to toss it in the conical tonight. $38.50 for juice, had a leftover KV-1116 packet ($1.50 or so), and a bunch of leftover priming sugar. Nice. $4 per gallon of butt-kicking apfelwein.

 

[Morbeer]

I'm going to try to make Apfelwein but I'm limited in supplies, the local brew shop is a two hour ferry ride and then an hour drive.
My questions are: Can I use a 6.5gal bucket instead of a carboy, and can I use brown sugar instead of corn sugar? Also my yeast is EC-1118, just a packet I had left over from wine making? Will these work or should I just wait?

 

[Recluse]

I am not an Apfelwein expert, but I would say the answers to all of the above are YES.

My first batch was made with 50/50 Dextrose and Brown Sugar and turned out great. My second batch (in the carboy for 8 weeks and almost ready for bottling) was done with about 60/40 Brown Sugar/Dextrose.

I saw a Cider yeast comparison here:

http://www.brewery.org/brewery/library/CidYeast091595.html

and EC-1118 got a pretty high rating for taste. I assume what they call Lalvin #1118 is indeed EC-1118. I have used it for Meads, and it will take you to DRYNESS and BEYOND for much higher OG than you will find with Apfelwein!

Interestingly,, the Ed Wort preferred Red Star Montrachet got pretty poor results in this experiment.. As usual, mileage may vary.

Only downside I can see to a bucket is not being able to observe the clearing process.

..BTW, my Local Brewshops are not all that local, and I order almost all of my supplies online.

 

[Grasslands]

I am not an Apfelwein expert, but I would say the answers to all of the above are YES.

My first batch was made with 50/50 Dextrose and Brown Sugar and turned out great. My second batch (in the carboy for 8 weeks and almost ready for bottling) was done with about 60/40 Brown Sugar/Dextrose.

I saw a Cider yeast comparison here:

http://www.brewery.org/brewery/library/CidYeast091595.html

and EC-1118 got a pretty high rating for taste. I assume what they call Lalvin #1118 is indeed EC-1118. I have used it for Meads, and it will take you to DRYNESS and BEYOND for much higher OG than you will find with Apfelwein!

Interestingly,, the Ed Wort preferred Red Star Montrachet got pretty poor results in this experiment.. As usual, mileage may vary.

Only downside I can see to a bucket is not being able to observe the clearing process.

..BTW, my Local Brewshops are not all that local, and I order almost all of my supplies online.

I agree...however, in the case that one might use unfiltered apple juice or cider, it may not clear anyways. That's certainly true in my situation.

 

[Hegh]

I'm going to try to make Apfelwein but I'm limited in supplies, the local brew shop is a two hour ferry ride and then an hour drive.
My questions are: Can I use a 6.5gal bucket instead of a carboy, and can I use brown sugar instead of corn sugar? Also my yeast is EC-1118, just a packet I had left over from wine making? Will these work or should I just wait?

That's all fine. If you prefer, you can use table sugar, or a mix of table sugar and brown sugar if you think the molasses flavor will be to strong.

 

[rexbanner]

I have noticed people adding cinnamon sticks and such. I am very new at this, and all the hype surrounding sanitizing and such.....

How do you get cinnamon sticks into your mix and know you didn't introduce a bad bacteria to cause off tastes and such.

I am not trying to be a smarta$$ and I am seriously questioning this. I have 5 gallons of apfelwein, beer and 2 gallons of apple juice fermenting and have only been at this a few weeks. So, forgive me if this is the dumbest of questions..

When in doubt, dip in vodka

 

[Recluse]

I agree...however, in the case that one might use unfiltered apple juice or cider, it may not clear anyways. That's certainly true in my situation.

If you throw in some Pectic Enzyme you might be able to avoid cloudiness. I made a Cyser (apple mead) with Knudsens Organic Unfiltered Apple Juice and threw in as much of the chunkies as I could to help the Yeast out. I also used the required amount of pectic enzyme (1/2 tsp/gal if I recall correctly) and it turned out crystal clear.

 

[jim_reaper1066]

apfelwein noob here. put on a batch of this using 5 gal of un-pasturized cider from the local market, 500g dextrose and 500g honey and pitched EC-1118. Didn't let the cider sit on campden or anything in hopes the EC-1118 would take over. Anyone have any experience using cider? Its been vigorously bubbling away for 3 1/5 weeks now with tonnes of yeast sediment, and no signs of clearing. will cider even clear?

 

[somecallmetex]

Sediment? I thought Apfelwein didn't really produce sediment. I wonder if it's your yeast or my bad memory. Either way, I'm not going back 600 pages to figure it out

Mine stopped it's constant bubbling after about three weeks, but with your yeast, sugar, and temp differences I am not surprised yours is still bubbling.

 

[TripleHopped]

apfelwein noob here. put on a batch of this using 5 gal of un-pasturized cider from the local market, 500g dextrose and 500g honey and pitched EC-1118. Didn't let the cider sit on campden or anything in hopes the EC-1118 would take over. Anyone have any experience using cider? Its been vigorously bubbling away for 3 1/5 weeks now with tonnes of yeast sediment, and no signs of clearing. will cider even clear?

I used some local organic apple cider on a batch that was started around the middle of November and the top 1/4 of the carboy is finally starting to clear. The yeast settled down quite some time ago. Just waiting for the rest of it to clear.

 

[Semo]

I only had a bucket available when I started mine (Ed's original recipe). Its been 4 weeks and I transferred it to a carboy. Not sure if I needed to but some uncertainties with the buckets long term aging with buckets from what I read.

I must say, I didn't taste it but has a strong smell. I smelled the bucket when I removed the lid and was overwhelmed at the potency. Is this normal..can't say what it smelled like, but was almost painful with such a deep inhale as I took.

Was fairly clear too, but can't say how cloudy it got since its been in the bucket from beginning.

 

[somecallmetex]

I am guessing it's fine. Think of it like this, the gas that was bubbling up the last 4 weeks is what was in the air at the top of the bucket (and that's a lot more room than the empty space in the carboy). Normally you would have far less gas in a carboy, but I doubt it will harm anything.

 

[Semo]

I am guessing it's fine. Think of it like this, the gas that was bubbling up the last 4 weeks is what was in the air at the top of the bucket (and that's a lot more room than the empty space in the carboy). Normally you would have far less gas in a carboy, but I doubt it will harm anything.

Makes me feel better. I am quite new at this and I can tell ya..I took a deep sniff of that stuff and my body stopped it cold...pretty rough. I don't think it smells spoiled or anything..just strong..

I have read that people like to leave it on the "cake" for aging. I hope it still goes well now that I have pretty much put it in secondary...

This site is amazing!!

 

[Tweedle]

I used some local organic apple cider on a batch that was started around the middle of November and the top 1/4 of the carboy is finally starting to clear. The yeast settled down quite some time ago. Just waiting for the rest of it to clear.

+1 on the cider clearing.... eventually. Took a batch I did nearly 5 months for everything to drop out, but when it did it was crystal clear.

 

[Hegh]

I must say, I didn't taste it but has a strong smell. I smelled the bucket when I removed the lid and was overwhelmed at the potency. Is this normal..can't say what it smelled like, but was almost painful with such a deep inhale as I took.

That's just CO2, perfectly normal. Ever burp through your nose after drinking soda? That burning feeling? Same thing. CO2 bonds with H2O to produce carbonic acid, which burns in the nose. At least, I think that's the correct chemistry...

 

[jamesjensen1068]

Getting ready to make my first batch of Apfelwein. Just a question about apple juice...can I use 100% juice from CONCENTRATE? I picked up some from Sam's Club today and just wonder what the difference would be from making this either from "juice not from concentrate" and juice "from concentrate"? Thanks in advance...I did try doing a search on it and ended up more confused?

 

[somecallmetex]

I think I read earlier that from concentrate turns out fine. I assume starting with a tastier juice gives you a tastier apfelwein, but that after the fermentation process the difference will be much smaller than with the original juice..

 

[jim_reaper1066]

+1 on the cider clearing.... eventually. Took a batch I did nearly 5 months for everything to drop out, but when it did it was crystal clear.

good to hear. I put on 2 batches at the same time, one with apple juice and the other with cider. The apple juice batch is starting to clear up around the 4 week mark now, but that apple cider is as turbid as ever. did you rack to a secondary at all or leave it in the primary for the full 5 months?

 

[Klaatu]

Ok folks I may have screwed up. I bottled 1 gallon into 4 one liter bottles. The thing is that the last bottle now has some dark stuff at the bottom. It was the last of the 4. I may have sucked up some stuff off the bottom of the primary. So , what is it and is it bad? The other 3 look OK. What do you think?

 

[Hegh]

Ok folks I may have screwed up. I bottled 1 gallon into 4 one liter bottles. The thing is that the last bottle now has some dark stuff at the bottom. It was the last of the 4. I may have sucked up some stuff off the bottom of the primary. So , what is it and is it bad? The other 3 look OK. What do you think?

Just yeast. Drink that one first, and don't shake it, but it won't hurt you. Might taste a little funny if you get much into solution, but if you refrigerate for at least 2 days before pouring, it should all just stick to the bottom.

 

[Tweedle]

good to hear. I put on 2 batches at the same time, one with apple juice and the other with cider. The apple juice batch is starting to clear up around the 4 week mark now, but that apple cider is as turbid as ever. did you rack to a secondary at all or leave it in the primary for the full 5 months?

I just left it in primary I believe, nothing in my brew notes about a secondary. Who knows what could happen though, different brands of cider could have different results. Either way, it may not look as sharp in a glass but I'm sure it will still taste damn good .

 

[RDWHAHB]

I've now got 17 gallons of the stuff at various stages (0-4months) and I haven't even tried apfelwein before. SWMBO thinks I'm crazy. She might be right. I sure hope this works out.

 

[vitae_drinker]

I've now got 17 gallons of the stuff at various stages (0-4months) and I haven't even tried apfelwein before. SWMBO thinks I'm crazy. She might be right. I sure hope this works out.

Man, when you go all in... you go ALL IN!

 

[RDWHAHB]

I re-read that and it didn't sound right. I recounted and it's 22 gal. Edwort might have caused my future divorce. Hopefully not.

 

[Randar]

I re-read that and it didn't sound right. I recounted and it's 22 gal. Edwort might have caused my future divorce. Hopefully not.

I thought I was crazy throwing a 10g batch in to break in my conical, but dude, you made me look conservative!

 

[Grasslands]

I've got my second batch going right now...exactly as EdWort instructed. My first one has yet to clear up, and I'm guessing that's because I had a combo of brown sugar, unfiltered organic apple juice, and cote des blanc yeast.

I figured the unfiltered juice would take longer to clear up - anyone brewed a batch with unfiltered juice? How long did it take to get clear - if it did at all? I'm over the 4 week mark of my first batch and while I still get a bubble every now & then in the airlock, there's no bubbling in the fermenter and my gravity is lingering around 1.0.

 

[Morbeer]

All right, so I mixed up a batch of Apfelwein, and set it aside to ferment, BUT I think it was too cold for the yeast. After I parked it in the bathroom (68 o) I looked at the temp strip on the side and it was reading 55, which is the temp of the kitchen at time of mixing. The temp has slowly risen but I see no signs of bubbles anywhere. I also had the yeast stored in the fridge. Maybe I should have warmed things up a bit first?? Or maybe I should just relax and wait?

 

[vitae_drinker]

All right, so I mixed up a batch of Apfelwein, and set it aside to ferment, BUT I think it was too cold for the yeast. After I parked it in the bathroom (68 o) I looked at the temp strip on the side and it was reading 55, which is the temp of the kitchen at time of mixing. The temp has slowly risen but I see no signs of bubbles anywhere. I also had the yeast stored in the fridge. Maybe I should have warmed things up a bit first?? Or maybe I should just relax and wait?

I would say wait. If nothing else, maybe lift it off the floor (say up on a milk crate or something), especially if you have tile or linoleum floors. Water takes a quite a while to get up to ambient temperature.

RDWHAHB!

 

[BrewNinja1]

Im fermenting mine at 60-62* and its definately much slower than what most people see. For me, thats my only option, so Im not going to sweat it....it just might take longer. It took nearly 2 days before I saw bubbles in the air lock. And now after 4 days, its still a pretty slow fermentation.