Man, I love Apfelwein

[Kayos]

Ok I think I got everything figured out but one thing, I am thinking of putting it in a secondary and let it sit a little while longer. Another few weeks...When I do carb them do you think I will need to add more yeast to help in the carbination because it has been sitting so long, or do you think I should just skip the secondary and go right to the bottles?

Should be plenty of yeast in there to carb with 3/4 cup corn sugar from what others have said. Also the secondary is to clear things up and get the product off the sediment. I have found there to not be much sedument to this recipe. If you want to secondary, it will not hurt for sure, but other than that, just wait it out.

 

[EdWort]

needless to say after 3 glass's i was done i tried to finish watching the hockey game but my wife said i had passed out around 930 lol i woke up around 4am with a splitting head ache and cotton mouth like crazy! i still have a headache im waiting for the coffee and bc powder to kick in lol

RALMAO! The 3 glass rule is for 12 oz. glasses, not jumbo Slurpee cups.

Apfelwein can sneak up and bite you on the a$$ like that, so be careful. I recommend moderation and drink some water before passing out. :cross:

 

[FatMonsters]

Did everyone else's apfelwein clear up? Mine is coming up on four weeks and its still cloudy. It looks better than it did at week one, but still cloudy. I would like it less cloudy, I guess I'll wait a little longer.

However, airlock activity had come to a near halt, maybe I should bottle?? I guess if I bottle it, maybe that will help it clear...

 

[EdWort]

Did everyone else's apfelwein clear up? Mine is coming up on four weeks and its still cloudy. It looks better than it did at week one, but still cloudy. I would like it less cloudy, I guess I'll wait a little longer.

However, airlock activity had come to a near halt, maybe I should bottle?? I guess if I bottle it, maybe that will help it clear...

Did you have clear juice when you started? If so, wait a couple more weeks. I've gone up to 3 months before kegging.

 

[jdoiv]

I just kegged mine and made a second batch on top of the yeasties in the bottom of the fermenter. First taste was from the hydrometer jar. It was still warm and a little fizzy and I thought, OMFG it's a Green Apple Jolly Rancher! Very tasty. Finished the clean up and poured the hydro jar into a glass with a couple of ice cubes. Taste is completely different when it's cold. Not quite as smack in your face with the apples. Very refreshing. Can't wait to get space in the kegerator for it. I think my wife is going to like this a lot.

 

[waskelton4]

Well,
Add me to the cult.. uh.. i mean club... sorta..

I set out to make a toned down version but kinda messed up because what I thought were 1 gal bottles ended up being 3qt bottles.. i was shooting for 4 gallons but ended up with 3.

My final mix was 12.5oz of corn sugar in 3Gal of apple juice.

using rehydrated Nottingham yeast.

My juice was 100% from concentrate with ascorbic acid added..

It was fermenting this morning..

this was WAY easier than beer.. hehe..
ws

 

[skou]

So, this guy walks into my LHBS, and asks for a pound of dextrose, and a package of Montrachet yeast. I ask if he's making a batch of wine? Yep. Apple wine? Yep. EdWort's apfelwine? Yep! (He's doing a 2.5 gallon batch.)

It seems, this recipe is out of control! Congrats, Ed!

steve

Happened again!

Guy walked into the store, and got 2 pounds of dextrose, so I asked.

"Wine?" "Yep."

"Apfelwine?" "Yep."

"EdWort's Apfelwine?" "Yep."

(He already had the yeast.)

It seems that this recipe is causing a large underground success, here!

steve

 

[EdWort]

Happened again!

Guy walked into the store, and got 2 pounds of dextrose, so I asked.

"Wine?" "Yep."

"Apfelwine?" "Yep."

"EdWort's Apfelwine?" "Yep."

(He already had the yeast.)

It seems that this recipe is causing a large underground success, here!

steve

What a hoot! Are you stocked up on dextrose & Montrachet yeast?

It's amazing that there are no price breaks between 1 and 5 pounds of dextrose, so I alway buy 1 lb. bags. That way it's already pre-measured for me for each bottle.

 

[Reidman]

Well, after being in bottles for a while this stuff is awesome.

I can watch TV through it it's so clear.

Not sure what I like better, carbed and sweetened with lactose or plain but either way this is probably the smoothest wine I've ever had...Thanks again for the recipe Ed!

 

[Schlenkerla]

Well, after being in bottles for a while this stuff is awesome.

I can watch TV through it it's so clear.

Not sure what I like better, carbed and sweetened with lactose or plain but either way this is probably the smoothest wine I've ever had...Thanks again for the recipe Ed!

Reidman - Can you tell the difference from lactose sweetened and plain? I really can't tell the difference, however I didn't do a side by side. I tasted the two a week apart and didn't see much difference. If anything it may have more mouth feel and suds on top w/ lactose.

What do you think?

 

[dylan8678]

I just went and picked up the final ingrediants for Apfelwein at lunch. I'm going to be making my first 5 gal batch tonight!!

 

[Schlenkerla]

I just went and picked up the final ingrediants for Apfelwein at lunch. I'm going to be making my first 5 gal batch tonight!!

Tonight, your obsession begins...

Right now I'm sucking down a Raspberry-Apfelwein - w/pulp!! Kind of like a raspberry alcoholic slushy. This was the last bottle from bottling bucket so its got a good bit of pulp. I added fruit to the 2ndary, the only dreggs are the settled out fruit. Which isn't too bad.

 

[EdWort]

Right now I'm sucking down a Raspberry-Apfelwein - w/pulp!! Kind of like a raspberry alcoholic slushy.

Rough life at 2:19 PM on a Friday. I have a few more hours to go.

Here's to Friday, the day before Brewday!

 

[Schlenkerla]

Rough life at 2:19 PM on a Friday. I have a few more hours to go.

Here's to Friday, the day before Brewday!

Oh yah - I worked 15 days in a row w/o a day off - In China.

During that time: No mowing grass, no plantin' the garden, no water proofing the deck, no putting out spring flowers for SWMBO. And nor fixing whatever is broke.

So I took 5 w/o vacation. - Comp time!! - I'm squeezing in a few drinks while the SWMBO is at work and tryin' to knock stuff out before I go back Tuesday. Work was so nice to separate the trips by a whole 6 days. I'll be back there for another 14 days.

They were only gonna give 2 off until I bitched!!!! Hell the jet lag is almost 2 days. My return flight; Des Moines, Minneapolis, Portland, Tokyo, Beijing. 28hrs total. Thankfully its Biz-Class.

I've got to get my Honey Kolsch in a bottle this weekend too. Hopefully I'll get to it...

 

[EdWort]

Oh yah - I worked 15 days in a row w/o a day off - In China.

Been there, done that. I like weekends in Munich!

 

[NYeric]

QUESTION PLEASE:

I am 5 weeks in and it is not clear...I want to bottle and plan to do so right now. I also plan on 3/4 cup corn sugar to carb....should I be good to go?

 

[Schlenkerla]

Wait until is clear. It should measure FG 1.000 or less. Sometimes it takes awhile. Mine was 12 weeks. Jan-March

If is 1.000 or less go ahead and bottle.

~3/4 cup is right. 5 oz by wt is more right!!!

 

[NYeric]

I am below 1.000 according to my hydrometer at about 67* The sample I drew seems slightly carbed though. Should it be 100% flat?

 

[Schlenkerla]

Not not necessarily, mine was a little bubbly at bottling, it was kind of annoying with the syphon hose. You could bottle now or wait. You are as much as .001 high but I think that would not make much of a difference.

If you shine a light through the carboy is it relatively clear or cloudy? Bottle or wait? It depends how much sediment you want in the bottle. The sediment packs pretty good. Its really now a matter of preferrence.

 

[NYeric]

Ok COOL.....bottled it shall be

 

[Reidman]

Reidman - Can you tell the difference from lactose sweetened and plain? I really can't tell the difference, however I didn't do a side by side. I tasted the two a week apart and didn't see much difference. If anything it may have more mouth feel and suds on top w/ lactose.

What do you think?

The lactose adds an almost cidery aftertaste and makes it a little tart IMO but still tastey. I also haven't noticed any more suds than in the unsweetened half but the lactose seems to have thickened it up slightly which I guess is to be expected.

It's hard to tell since it's only bottle conditioned about a week now. I used 1 lb of lactose for 2.5 gallons so it may be sweeter than if I had done the whole batch.

The effect is subtle but I can taste a difference. It's good either way though..:cross:

 

[Ize]

FINALLY got around to bottling mine.

Drier than I thought it would be but really good.

The REALLY good news is, SWMBO likes it A LOT. She helped me bottle the whole batch. (I was amazed)

Didn't carb it or anything, just running with it. I did press to her how easier life would be with kegging and she didn't object....

To me that gives me the go-ahead....

Thanks in advance Ed....

Ize

 

[EdWort]

Yeah, I'd take that as permission from SWMBO.

Congrats on the success!

 

[Bosh]

OK, decided to follow EdWort's recipe and went to Costco to get some apple juice. Unfortunately, this being Korea, the only apple juice they had (no concentrate) was $8.50 a gallon so I got some cheapo apple juice/peach/passion fruit ****. Tastes nasty, kind of like apple juice with a shot of canned peach syrup in it. I wonder how it'll be when the cloying sweetness ferments out

Oh one question: I haven't been able to find corn sugar in the stores around here, would corn syrup be OK or does that have preservatives in it? My Korean isn't the best... Maybe I should use brown sugar instead?

 

[Jaybird]

OK Whats the recipe? Without searching the entire thred..ah maybe the recipe collection I will try there IF by chance its not there......you know
JJ

 

[skou]

Bosh, the nasty flavours will probably fermemt out. (You could have used concentrates, without much problems, though.)

Since you can't find corn sugar,I'd recommend plain (sucrose) cane or beet sugar, over corn syrup. Brown sugar may work too, if you don't mind the molasses flavour.

Jaybird, check the first few posts. The info you seek, is there.

steve

 

[Bosh]

Bosh, the nasty flavours will probably fermemt out. (You could have used concentrates, without much problems, though.)

Since you can't find corn sugar,I'd recommend plain (sucrose) cane or beet sugar, over corn syrup. Brown sugar may work too, if you don't mind the molasses flavour.

Jaybird, check the first few posts. The info you seek, is there.

steve

I would've used concentrate if any concentrate except for orange existed in this country. OK, one nice 1 kg bag of cane sugar it is...

Maybe 100g of maple syrup I have lying around as well...

 

[Schlenkerla]

I would've used concentrate if any concentrate except for orange existed in this country. OK, one nice 1 kg bag of cane sugar it is...

Maybe 100g of maple syrup I have lying around as well...

Bosh,

I'd leave out the maple. If you can't get corn sugar (dextrose) use the cane sugar (sucrose). Its gonna be different with the peach and passion fruit.

I think the maple would make it weird.

This reminds of when I was in the service we used to have garbage parties. We took a few bottles of clear liquor, usually Everclear, and fruit juices and a bag of ice and dumped it all in a cooler with a spigot. As people started showing up more stuff got dumped into the cooler. We also called it swamp juice. Getting there early was key as you knew what the hell you were drinking. Later in the night it got really nasty but you were too goofed up to notice or care what you were drinking.

You might be pleasantly suprised on how good it will be if you keep the flavors simple. I thought of doing something similar, Welches has a Peach & White Grape Juice. The funny thing cider happens to be the first ingredient.

 

[waskelton4]

Question..

I've heard folks claim to have their batches bubbling for over 4 weeks.

i made a batch last week (wed)... today is monday..

it stopped bubbling over the weekend.


nottingham ale yeast..
3 gal of juice from concentrate.. with ascorbic acid added..
no perservatives...

12.5 ounces of corn sugar.

is this normal?
do i just let it clear now and either bottle or keg?

do i need to re-pitch my spare dry yeast package. (it's munton's ale yeast.. all i have)

ws

 

[olllllo]

Question..

I've heard folks claim to have their batches bubbling for over 4 weeks.

i made a batch last week (wed)... today is monday..

it stopped bubbling over the weekend.


nottingham ale yeast..
3 gal of juice from concentrate.. with ascorbic acid added..
no perservatives...

12.5 ounces of corn sugar.

is this normal?
do i just let it clear now and either bottle or keg?

do i need to re-pitch my spare dry yeast package. (it's munton's ale yeast.. all i have)

ws

Most people used wine yeast. (Cote or Montrachet) and not nottingham so YMMV. To really know if your ferment is stuck, take a gravity reading.

It may be desireable if it stopped prematurely if you prefer a less dry (sweeter) drink and are kegging.

Again, the only way to know is take a reading and a taste.