Man, I love Apfelwein

[somecallmetex]

...Well, I wasn't as lucky. I took a sample, it's clearly not salvageable. Oh well, live and learn.

 

[BLM]

I bottled my first batch only in the carboy for five weeks but i needed the carboy will have to say the best simple thing i have made thanks for the recipe will be makeing more asap

 

[iijakii]

I tried my first bottle of this. I think I made it 5 months ago. I feel like all I can really taste is the yeast profile. I might try making this again and use something besides montrachet.

 

[somecallmetex]

How long was it aging in the primary and how long was it aged in the bottles?

 

[HalAshton]

Did my third brew just become Apfelwein?

I started Father's day when my wife bought a Mr. Beer. I wasn't a big fan of the WCPA but I knew a lot more about how to attempt this hobby.

I opened my first bottle brewed from an Ale Pail about 10 days ago and was VERY impressed.

I was planning to brew a batch with fam for the holidays but that Mr Beer kit was gathering dust and I had some sanitizer, and SWMBO does not like beer, and there was this recipe, and I was looking for something to do. Did I mention I had the old Mr Beer kit doing nothing?

So I started a 2.5 gallon batch of Apfelwein tonight.

 

[bc5000]

I made a 3 gal batch exactly like the recipe in the OP.

8 weeks later and there are still hundreds of tiny bubbles constantly rising.

 

[ibbones]

I just bottled two batches that I started of February 03,2010 and man are they good. One of them I put a can of frozen Strawberry Daiquiri mix in to give it a little different flavor. I cannot tell the difference between the two.
Starting two more batches today.

 

[krisabsinthe]

Im working up to the my third week of fermenting a 5 gallon batch of the Apfelwein so I started thinking about bottling. My question is can the flip top beer tops A) stand up to the test of time B) Will the rubber be a problem with flavor and will the ABV dry it out? Thanks for enlightening a noob

 

[Huff360]

Just finished putting my first 5g in the carboy. Hopefully I'll have liquid panty remover in about 3 months! Hooray!

 

[A-1]

My son will be turning 21 in March, and was very interested in attempting to brew mead. I thought it would be fun to make some for his first (legal) drink. I started some mead, some beer, and then I found this thread. I've never brewed anything but tea prior to this month. I started my first batch of apfelwein (3 gallons) on 12/5, using Wally's store brand apple juice and EC-1118. I added about 1 1/2 lbs of corn sugar. As of last night, it is crystal clear! I was forced to try it, of course .

It's.....ok. Not sweet AT ALL, which was very unexpected. Almost beer-like; not wine-ish. Not unpleasant. I know it's nowhere near ready to drink, but I'm very surprised. I think you all may be on to something.

I will do as EdWort suggests and reserve judgement until the third glass, but if it only gets better, then it should be great!

Oh, I'll be starting two more carboys immediately after the holiday. I guess I'm hooked.

 

[nsw8148]

My son will be turning 21 in March, and was very interested in attempting to brew mead. I thought it would be fun to make some for his first (legal) drink. I started some mead, some beer, and then I found this thread. I've never brewed anything but tea prior to this month. I started my first batch of apfelwein (3 gallons) on 12/5, using Wally's store brand apple juice and EC-1118. I added about 1 1/2 lbs of corn sugar. As of last night, it is crystal clear! I was forced to try it, of course .

It's.....ok. Not sweet AT ALL, which was very unexpected. Almost beer-like; not wine-ish. Not unpleasant. I know it's nowhere near ready to drink, but I'm very surprised. I think you all may be on to something.

I will do as EdWort suggests and reserve judgement until the third glass, but if it only gets better, then it should be great!

Oh, I'll be starting two more carboys immediately after the holiday. I guess I'm hooked.

After making this stuff for about 4 months, and buying 4 more carboys, I bought a couple buckets to start making beer. Nothing fancy, just some extract kits, but Apfelwein was a great segway with its simplicity

 

[ksbrain]

I made one a month or so ago, with 5 pounds of table sugar instead of the 2 pounds of corn sugar. The FG is 1.010, and it's really sweet seeming, especially after getting used to ten gallons of 0.998. I would have thought that after a month, all the fermenting would be done... either the table sugar is less fermentable, or my basement is way too cold and/or the temperature is too unstable. Either way the last batch is empty, so the tap is getting filled with this 1.010 batch.

I'm going to do this next one in the fermenting fridge at a stable 66F, and see if it matters.

 

[ksbrain]

I made one a month or so ago, with 5 pounds of table sugar instead of the 2 pounds of corn sugar. The FG is 1.010, and it's really sweet seeming, especially after getting used to ten gallons of 0.998. I would have thought that after a month, all the fermenting would be done... either the table sugar is less fermentable, or my basement is way too cold and/or the temperature is too unstable. Either way the last batch is empty, so the tap is getting filled with this 1.010 batch.

I'm going to do this next one in the fermenting fridge at a stable 66F, and see if it matters.

 

[somecallmetex]

Was about to make another batch tonight, but I remembered last minute that somebody suggested using Lalvin EC-1118 Champagne yeast a while back. Has anybody else tried this yeast since then?

 

[nsw8148]

Was about to make another batch tonight, but I remembered last minute that somebody suggested using Lalvin EC-1118 Champagne yeast a while back. Has anybody else tried this yeast since then?

I havent used that, but I've used 2 others. They just taste funny to me.


I'm going to stick to the original Montrachet from now on

 

[GTG]

Was about to make another batch tonight, but I remembered last minute that somebody suggested using Lalvin EC-1118 Champagne yeast a while back. Has anybody else tried this yeast since then?

I've used nothing but EC 1118 for all of my batches and have been happy with them. The EC 1118 will make it very dry, there will be no sweetness left. I have used honey in place of the corn sugar and found that it rounds off some the sharpness of the dry left by the corn sugar. I'm happy with it.

GTG

 

[RobWalker]

I've cut mine at around 1005 by k-sorbate and cold crashing, it's pretty much clear now, what should I do to get rid of the leftovers at the bottom? I've syphoned before but I'm pretty awful at it and tend to lose a lot. Should I try manually filtering first and letting it settle out again?

 

[bendavanza]

Was about to make another batch tonight, but I remembered last minute that somebody suggested using Lalvin EC-1118 Champagne yeast a while back. Has anybody else tried this yeast since then?

I just kegged a batch that I fermented with that yeast, because the cake I pitched onto must have given up, and it was all I had handy. When I rinsed out the carboy, the yeast smelled great, which is unusual. I have not had a taste yet.

 

[bendavanza]

I've cut mine at around 1005 by k-sorbate and cold crashing, it's pretty much clear now, what should I do to get rid of the leftovers at the bottom? I've syphoned before but I'm pretty awful at it and tend to lose a lot. Should I try manually filtering first and letting it settle out again?

Sometimes I'll prop up the carboy so it's on a tilt. Let it sit like that for a day to clear and it will be easier to get the last bits out. What are you siphoning with? A good autosiphon works wonders.

 

[akthor]

I made one with 10 pounds of sugar and it was still bubbling like mad after 30 days.

Wish I could have seen how it would have turned out. But my son dumped it accidentally.

I made one a month or so ago, with 5 pounds of table sugar instead of the 2 pounds of corn sugar. The FG is 1.010, and it's really sweet seeming, especially after getting used to ten gallons of 0.998. I would have thought that after a month, all the fermenting would be done... either the table sugar is less fermentable, or my basement is way too cold and/or the temperature is too unstable. Either way the last batch is empty, so the tap is getting filled with this 1.010 batch.

I'm going to do this next one in the fermenting fridge at a stable 66F, and see if it matters.

 

[Chap]

First 5 gallon batch is 3 weeks in the fermenter (Ed's recipe).

Tonight I mixed up a batch using 2lbs of light brown sugar instead of dextrose. Actually I mixed it up with 2 cups of brown sugar and had to go back and add almost 3 cups more of brown sugar about an hour later when I realized my mistake. Hopefully this won't cause too big of an issue.

 

[sudsmcgee]

I made my first 5 gallon batch of Ed's two days ago, and 12 hours later there were signs of fermentation. 24 hours later and this thing is going crazy at 73 degrees or so. So far it still smells good, but I'm expecting the sulfur smell soon.

 

[ksbrain]

I made one with 10 pounds of sugar and it was still bubbling like mad after 30 days.

Wish I could have seen how it would have turned out. But my son dumped it accidentally.

Death to the son! J/K

Actually I was adding juice at serving time to the last gallon of my last dry batch, so I'm happy with the sweet batch so far.

 

[MirImage]

For christmas I made a Spiced wine with my last bomber. It contained Apfelwein, Burgandy, Brown Suger, Cinnamon sticks, Cranberry Juice and Allspice. It went very fast!

 

[Beau815]

Made this a while back, it was pretty good, very white wine-like with a distinctive yeast taste. It was so easy to make that i think ill throw together another 5 gallon carboy and experiment with some oaking... maybe french cubes soaked in rum.

 

[iijakii]

with a distinctive yeast taste.

Glad I'm not the only one getting that. I mean, I guess that's intended/aimed for but I just don't like it at all.

 

[user 39730]

I love Apfelwein. We started two 5 gallon batches early last July (2009). It was a big hit last new year's eve kegged at right around the 6 month mark. It is SUPERBLY DELICIOUS at this point (1.5 years)...the first keg is finally now gone tonight (it was a bit neglected, or rather, aged . The second will be highly consumed tomorrow night! Hopefully there is some left to last us while we start some more batches...

The nickname we gave it last year is "danger juice", not sure if that's already been mentioned in the forums or not.

 

[akthor]

I don't get any yeast taste? How long did u allow it to ferment?

 

[nsw8148]

I made one with 10 pounds of sugar and it was still bubbling like mad after 30 days.

Wish I could have seen how it would have turned out. But my son dumped it accidentally.

I have one with 10lbs of cane sugar that I started 3 weeks ago, I also stuck a chopped up vanilla bean and a handful of raisins. Its still going strong.

I read somewhere that raisins contain nutrients that help the yeasties stay active longer, and if thats BS, I like raisins anyway

 

[mrF1xIT]

This is kinda crazy, I just had a glass of Bollinger: Special Cuvee (Non-Vintage Champagne) and it tasted almost exactly like the batch of EdWort's Apfelwein I had bottle carbed a couple years ago.

If I remember correctly, I had carbed each bottle with 3 tsp of priming sugar and 5 grains of dried champagne yeast, bottled at 2 months from start of fermentation, and cracked it open at 9 months.

Anyways its pretty awesome that this recipe here compares to a $50 bottle of Champagne in bouquet and flavor profile.