Man, I love Apfelwein

[bembel]

The Trader Joe's blueberry, apple, pear juice experiment was a failure, smelled great, tastes like plastic, uggggh, I had such high hopes

Bottled 5 gallons today that have been in the carboy since July 30th, taking them to a lobster bake, eager for feedback!

 

[Recluse]

The generic store brand apple juice I used with EC-1118 came out pretty good. More residual sweetness than the same juice fermented with Montrachet. I wasn't expecting this. FG was the same in both cases, but EC-1118 seemed to leave more apple flavor as well as sweetness.

As to the plastic-y taste you got, I have had the same thing happen with Meads.

According to Dick Dunn http://www.solorb.com/mead/rcdyeast.html

EC-1118 has a tendency to produce this phenolic plastic-y taste by itself, (in Meads) but can often be 'aged out' Interestingly he ascribes even worse 'listerine-like' flavor to Montrachet yeast.

Overproduction of phenolic content is often ascribed to infection or a high proportion of phenols or chlorophenols in the water used. The latter is not an issue in this were all the liquid is apple juice.

The chlorophenols can be tasted in extremely low amounts. Did you sanitize with bleach by any chance? Small amounts of residual chlorinated species may have combined with small amounts of naturally produced phenols to give the off flavor.

Addition of yeast nutrient may help but my first batch without Yeast Nutrient (FERMAX) came out just fine except for the classic Rhino Farts during fermentation.

 

[bembel]

Recluse,

thanks for the feedback! I only use the something something star foaming sterilizer, im wondering is just the odd combo of juices ( apple, pear, white grape, blueberry) just sort of canceled each other out when fermented? Fresh, they taste JUST like blueberry, but fermented, YUK! I guess its like mixing too many colors together, you end up with BROWN!

In any case, the really puzzling test result was the organic unfiltered, no flavor AT ALL, great cider aroma, but it tastes like water? I wonder if all of the flavor got precipitated out and ended up in the lees?

Going to pitch 5 gallons using Montrachet for the first time tomorrow, and let it sit till Christmas time and do a one gallon batch as well to taste sooner!

Cheers!

Bembel

 

[Symbiote]

The smell goes away pretty quickly, in my (limited) experience. It was really only one or two days at the most. Tell your wife that she's smelled rank for a lot longer than that, and you're still married to her. On second thought, don't.

Oh wow.

You would SOOOO be cruisin' for a bruisin' with that one.

 

[akthor]

From what I have read on here it's 3 months MINIMUM before this stuff is drinkable and 6 months is better and a year is amazing so probably if you had just left it alone in the fermenter for 3 months it would have been fine. The weird flavors you are experiencing is probably from you only waiting a month and a half. I guess with this stuff patience is key thats why I am trying to make at least one batch every month so I can build some stock up in the pipeline since this stuff takes longer than beer.

The Trader Joe's blueberry, apple, pear juice experiment was a failure, smelled great, tastes like plastic, uggggh, I had such high hopes

Bottled 5 gallons today that have been in the carboy since July 30th, taking them to a lobster bake, eager for feedback!

 

[brpruett]

when using a refractometer you need to understand that the reading is not of sugar. It is total dissolved solids. It is better to measure the SG to determine the sugar content.

Bembel:
The advice to let your Mott's sit for a while is good. It may take some time to redevelop the apple character. A plastic taste, sometimes called a 'band-aid' taste can come from a TCA infection, but I doubt that is waht you have.

 

[MetallHed]

time to bottle... i need the carboy for more important things. lol

I made it up 6-30-10 so it's been almost three months (wow time flies). Can I just bottle it in beer bottles (cleaned of course)? I was planning on using the 34 oz. IKEA flip-top bottles (I have three already), but don't want to make the trip to get them and spend the $50 bucks for them. I was going to just use the three for parties and the rest in brown beer bottles to be put away 'til whenever.

Should I carb or not? I wasn't planning on it.. is it better carbed?

I'm not a wine guy, so I didn't really like the samples I've tasted. GF likes 'em as well as her friend, but I'll stick with beer.

 

[Recluse]

It is a matter of taste. I like wine, but I much prefer the Apfelwein carbonated. Maybe because I always enjoyed the commercial carbed ciders (Woodpecker, Woodchuck etc..) and my carbed Apfewein is better than either of them!!!

 

[akthor]

I'm not really, perhaps a boones farm type

That's why I used the Premier Cuvee yeast and I am going to carb hoping I get more of a hard cider than a wine.

I'm not a wine guy, so I didn't really like the samples I've tasted. GF likes 'em as well as her friend, but I'll stick with beer.

 

[Nerdie]

Just bottle half (2.5g) without priming sugar into wine bottles and prime the other half (2.5g) with 1/3 cups of priming sugar (dextrose) into beer bottles. Use champagne bottles if u want to be classy and age it some more. You can try and have both ready in the future.

 

[Fj3fury]

I just cooked up a batch with a couple variations. If you folks don't mind i want to go over them to make sure I didn't smeg up.

I used champagne yeast, added a pinch of ground ginger for spice along with a cinnamon stick. I hope I didn't screw it up.

 

[steinsato]

I just cooked up a batch with a couple variations. If you folks don't mind i want to go over them to make sure I didn't smeg up.

I used champagne yeast, added a pinch of ground ginger for spice along with a cinnamon stick. I hope I didn't screw it up.

Sounds good to me. I'm sure you'll be fine. I actually just used a champagne yeast on my most recent batch as well.

 

[MirImage]

I've had a little bit of carbonation problems with my last batch. I made it using the recipe as directed (except for I used Wal-mart brand Apple Juice...100% fruit juice with added vitamin C). I also added brown sugar before fermenting. I had it in the primary from Mid April til Mid August when I bottled it. The FG was ~.096. When bottling I added 3/4C priming sugar and more monochete yeast at bottling.

Bottles have been priming between 60-70 degrees for about 3 weeks. When tasting the Apfelwein is still very dry, but there is very little carbonation. It still tastes very good, but is pretty flat. Any thoughts? My guess is that 3/4C wasn't enough to carbonate the 53 bottles? Like I said it is very dry so I am sure the priming sugar was used up by the new yeast but maybe I should have added more?

 

[AluminumGerbil]

It's def enough. That's exactly how much I used for 54 bottles. It took much longer than beer to carbonate. Just be patient and as they say Relax, Don't Worry, Have a Homebrew.

 

[IPAAAA]

Just made 5 gallons of this. Hopefully I can try some around Christmas time.

 

[MirImage]

It's def enough. That's exactly how much I used for 54 bottles. It took much longer than beer to carbonate. Just be patient and as they say Relax, Don't Worry, Have a Homebrew.

Just seems like my last batch took less time to carb. Ill have to put them in the fridge in a week regardless if they are ready because I am heading out of town and I cannot keep changing their conditioning frozen bottles.

 

[Hegh]

Just seems like my last batch took less time to carb. Ill have to put them in the fridge in a week regardless if they are ready because I am heading out of town and I cannot keep changing their conditioning frozen bottles.

I know mine took 2-3 months to finish carbonating.

How warm would it be if you left them out?

You can always take them back out of the fridge when you get back from wherever you're going, swirl them up a little, and they'll continue to carbonate once they warm back up.

 

[MirImage]

I know mine took 2-3 months to finish carbonating.

How warm would it be if you left them out?

You can always take them back out of the fridge when you get back from wherever you're going, swirl them up a little, and they'll continue to carbonate once they warm back up.

Live in TX so my apt will be about 80 or so. I'll be gone about a week.

 

[steinsato]

I keep increasing the amount of priming sugar I use to carbonate my apfelwein. First batch was .33 cup, 2nd was half a cup, and this latest one was .75 cup.

 

[Recluse]

I prime with 1-1.2 oz by weight of priming sugar per gallon. I pretty much do the same for beer. More reliable than volume measurements IMHO. A kitchen scale is well worth the investment.

Here is a good priming calculator:

http://www.tastybrew.com/calculators/priming.html

 

[MirImage]

I prime with 1-1.2 oz by weight of priming sugar per gallon. I pretty much do the same for beer. More reliable than volume measurements IMHO. A kitchen scale is well worth the investment.

Here is a good priming calculator:

http://www.tastybrew.com/calculators/priming.html

We registered for one

 

[Ampsonic]

Alright. My Apfelwein has been in my Mr. Beer for 4 weeks. I know this stuff improves with age, but my Mr. Beer is all I got, and I'm ready to get some more stuff going. My plan is to put 1.5 gallons in a coors light home draft I saved, and the rest in bottles. Will I see big gains if I let it sit longer? Or can I safely move along to the next batch?

 

[IPAAAA]

This is really stinking up my garage haha.

Bubbling so much it is gunking up my airlock...gotta clean it out soon.

 

[akthor]

I made 4.5 gallons in a 5 gallon bucket and had to take the airlock out and use a blow off tube.

This is really stinking up my garage haha.

Bubbling so much it is gunking up my airlock...gotta clean it out soon.

 

[IPAAAA]

Mine has slowed a little bit so I will be ok it seems like. Definitely was goin strong there for a little bit.

 

[mstef]

First attempt at wine marking with this recipe. Seems like it's going to be great.

Getting a little worried now.. It's officially day 13 and the bubbles out of the airlock went from about 1 every 3-4 seconds to 1 every ~1 minute. The wine hasn't changed color since and there is nothing in there that looks odd. I'm just not sure if that's okay.

I also never got a negative smell from it. I'm using Montrachet yeast with yeast nutrient and Potassium Metabisulfite. Also using cane sugar instead of corn sugar. I upped the amount to ~3lbs in hopes of a higher ABV.

Should I be worried?

Thanks

 

[Recluse]

Probably nothing to worry about. The really active fermentation is over pretty quickly. Not much color change until it begins to clear around 4 weeks. I wonder, what the K-Meta was for????? If you added it at the same time as the yeast was pitched, you might well have killed a lot of them. Shouldn't be any need for K-Meta unless using unpasteurized juice in which case you should add it and wait about 24 h so any bacteria or wild yeast are gone and the residual sulfite breaks down and volatilizes away. Take a hydrometer reading to see how far along the fermentation has gone if you are really worried.

 

[Hegh]

We registered for one

Congratulations! Have a good honeymoon

 

[The_Kelly]

Soooo Can i leave it in primary for the entire time that I age it, or should I rack it off to a secondary after 4 weeks and let it age in there?

Also, I only have 3 gallon Carboys. I was figuring about 1.25 pounds of Dextrose for 3 gallons? Anyone think that's about right?

 

[Number68]

i just wanna throw my $.02 in about this stuff. it's AWESOME. I made it with brown sugar, let sit in primary for roughly 6weeks, then in the bottle for about a month (in all honesty, I kinda forgot I had it sitting in my closet) but threw a couple in the fridge and the first one I had i thought was a bit dry for my taste.

But I kept going back for another one, the whole batch didn't last very long needless to say. even my friends loved it after a few glasses.

It's def going into my recipe book

 

[Mayday99]

Alright, I'm in. I have a 5 gallon glass carboy I am not using.

Picked up 5 gallons of organic Apple Juice at BJs for about $19 (yeah, I figured I would spend the extra 3-4 bucks and go organic) I have dextrose lying around from bottling days and what not that won't get used otherwise.

Question, I have a packet of WB-06 Dry Wheat Yeast. How do you think this will work??

I am thinking of using WB-06 for 2 reasons
1) I am lazy and don't want to drive out to LHBS
2) The phenols/esters might add some interesting flavors that complement the dryness of the finished product

I assume this yeast can handle around 8-9 abv?? Since this is pure fructose/glucose, I wouldn't guess there would be much impact on attenuation vs wine yeast (someone please correct me, I have little knowledge of wine yeasts)

 

[somecallmetex]

Bottling my first batch this weekend, this one has been in the carboy since January, so it should be pretty tasty. Here's hoping it lives up to my expectations.

Question, I have a packet of XXX Yeast. How do you think this will work??

Without looking up your specific yeast, I can tell you simply that people keep trying different yeasts and go back to the one originally listed. It sounds like they pretty much all turn out fine, it's just that EdWort nailed down the perfect strain to use. The only exception is that EC-1118 supposedly tastes just like Ebblewoi. I have no personal experience with that of course, but I am going to give that one a try in the future.

 

[somecallmetex]

One quick question before I bottle tonight. Being my first time I want to make some that are uncarbonated and some that are carbonated. My first thought was to fill half the bottles, then add priming sugare (half the normal amount) for the second half. Then I remembered I still have munttons carbonation tabs from my Mr. Beer kit (I was advised against using table sugar as per their instructions). Would this be a better option if I only want to carbonate half (and in this case if I want to try some with higher carbonation and some with lower carbonation), or should I stick with sugar.

 

[akthor]

They were out of Montrechet when I went to the LHBS. I grabbed Premier Cuvee. After I got back on here I looked around and it appears the Cuvee yeast makes a less dry, sweeter Apfelwein. I would prefer that so I have made all my batches with it. Still a couple months away from getting to try any tho

Without looking up your specific yeast, I can tell you simply that people keep trying different yeasts and go back to the one originally listed. It sounds like they pretty much all turn out fine, it's just that EdWort nailed down the perfect strain to use. The only exception is that EC-1118 supposedly tastes just like Ebblewoi. I have no personal experience with that of course, but I am going to give that one a try in the future.

 

[somecallmetex]

Okay, I bottled half uncarbonated and bottled half with 4 Muntons tabs in each. After 8 months in the primary this stuff is already amazing! I definitely see why people have several batches going at once, though I may need to buy a few more carboys if I want to let all future batches age this long.

 

[david_the_greek]

This stuff is GREAT. No matter what I make, I always throw a batch of this together and it is always one of the most popular. My roommate discovered it finally and is now about four 20 oz glasses in.... I warned him. I warned him about the 9% and about taking some aspirin and water... he he he. My block had an unexpected block party (to me at least!) and I brought some of this and a hefe out, everyone loved it! I've got one batch from July conditioning, time to get another going!

 

[david_the_greek]

jokes on me.... I came down this morning to puke all over the place :-(

 

[akthor]

lol

jokes on me.... I came down this morning to puke all over the place :-(

 

[Valcarde]

My apfelwein's been carbing for about a week and a half.. at least, the half I bottled for carbing. Sent a bottle of it still up to SWMBO's grandmother's birthday party with her when she went up to visit, and it was an instant hit; with some of the family, upon finding out I have carbonated versions in reserve at home, resolving to visit.


Dammit! There should be a warning about this being an in-law magnetic field!

 

[Ampsonic]

Alright, I've had mine in primary for about 5 weeks. Pulled a small sample and it's still cloudy. It needs to sit longer, yes?

EDIT:
It's in a Mr. Beer, hence me not being able to see it.