Man, I love Apfelwein

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I am thinking of giving this recipe a spin, just 2 questions:

1-can I do the primary in my bucket instead of a carboy?

2- how is this different than other apple wines?

1 - Buckets are cool.

2 - what other apple wines? I didn't know there was anything else besides Apfelwein, it's pretty much the bomb.com
 
I've made 15 gallons of this delicious treat. Fermented at or around 72-74 each time like the first post says to.

EdWort I have temp control to whatever I need, should I be fermenting less than 70?

This stuff truly does age beautifully. current kegged batch was batch aged three months. I have another batch in primary, hoping to.go for at least 6. Should I be racking to a secondary fermentor?

Lastly, I like the idea of adding apple concentrate like mentioned above. If I added this as I racked to keg, would it act as priming sugar and carb for me? Or would that be possible
 
I've made 15 gallons of this delicious treat. Fermented at or around 72-74 each time like the first post says to.

EdWort I have temp control to whatever I need, should I be fermenting less than 70?

This stuff truly does age beautifully. current kegged batch was batch aged three months. I have another batch in primary, hoping to.go for at least 6. Should I be racking to a secondary fermentor?

Lastly, I like the idea of adding apple concentrate like mentioned above. If I added this as I racked to keg, would it act as priming sugar and carb for me? Or would that be possible

The idea of concentrate is to backsweeten it. You'd want to keep the keg cold so that it wouldn't ferment any more. The carbonation comes from your co2 tank. I think the wine yeast likes the mid 70s
 
eed, should I be fermenting less than 70?

This stuff truly does age beautifully. current kegged batch was batch aged three months. I have another batch in primary, hoping to.go for at least 6. Should I be racking to a secondary fermentor?

I've never been able to keep it around that long, someday I hope to allow it to age a bit....:mug:
 
1 - Buckets are cool.

2 - what other apple wines? I didn't know there was anything else besides Apfelwein, it's pretty much the bomb.com


APPLE JUICE WINE
from good ole jack keller.

1 gal fresh or bottled apple juice
SG to 1.090
1 tsp acid blend
1-2/3 tsp pectic enzyme
1/4 to 1/2 tsp tannin
1-1/2 tsp yeast nutrient
Lalvin 1118

After the wine cleared and degassed I bottled and stored on shelf for a year before drinking.
 
Had a few bottles of this aging for a year and a half, pulled one out the other day and I will say A-FREAKIN-MAZING! This mellows out soooo nice after aging, no sharp taste and super smooth. Its worth triple batching to have some aging.
 
Had a few bottles of this aging for a year and a half, pulled one out the other day and I will say A-FREAKIN-MAZING! This mellows out soooo nice after aging, no sharp taste and super smooth. Its worth triple batching to have some aging.

Was this still or carbed? I have noticed that aging doesn't do much for the Apfelwein I bottle prime (in fact I sometimes get off flavors), but the stuff I bottled STILL improves just as you have said. I prefer it carbonated, and it goes pretty fast, but I am going to start putting away a bottle or two from each batch directly into wine bottles before priming.
 
well, 3 years ago I made plum wine for the first time because my plum tree had a bumper crop. I had never done it before, but my grandfather used to always make wine and he has given me all of his old stuff since he is 92 and not making wine anymore.

I basically just asked a brew shop, besides the hardware, what do I need?

Believe it or not, it turned out really nice. Oddly, the consistency was a bit strange, but the flavor and strength were great. I never used my hydrometer because frankly, I don't know how.

I am not a complete idiot, I have 4 college degrees and I'm bilingual, but sometimes I get too excited to do my homework and I jump right into things like a 5 year old.

ANYway, my aunt and uncle had a decent amount of apples left on their trees when I paid them a visit in early October so I picked a bushel of apples, juiced them, DID NOT pasteurize the juice, which gave me about 2 gallons of juice, then added a gallon of apple cider from the farmer's market (not exactly market, I live in farm country so basically farmer bob's apple cider - which is pasteurized).

Now, idiot me thinking my carboy was 5 gallons (in actuality it is 3 gallons) proceeded to use EdWort's recipe.. for 5 gallons. My dextrose had not arrived so i scrounged the house for sugar. I used maybe a cup of corn syrup, honey, some molasses, brown sugar, and regular white sugar. I was not trying to be creative and take risks, I just wanted what I felt would be about 2 lbs. of sweetner for my 3 gallons (which I somehow still was thinking could be 5 gallons), and I used the montrachet yeast - and followed the recipe and instructions as laid out.

I had an additional 3 gallons of bought apple cider that is in another carboy.

I did watch some instructional videos on youtube, and I did sanitize as per directed - so there is that... at least...

So, I put in the bungs, the airlocks with the vodka, and put them in the same place in the basement where I did the plum wine.

24 hours later....

The carboy that is 2/3 freshly juiced apples and 1/3 farmer/store bought apple cider ERUPTED overnight. Not a considerable amount but it was like a foam that had somewhat hardened into clay-like apple smelling brown goo.

I cleaned up the mess, re-sanitized the bung and airlock, popped it back in, and left it. Meanwhile, the carboy with 3 gallons of farmer/store bought apple cider was fine.

Juicy-Phresh was "breathing" as I could witness with the airlock, while Phat-Farm was, for lack of a better term, effervescent, but not "breathing" as noticeably at least.

5 weeks later... (aka Present Day)

Juicy-Phresh and Phat-Farm are drastically different colors, yellow and brown respectively, both with about the same amount of sediment at the bottom. Juicy-Phresh is cloudier than Phat-Farm as well. (The names are just to be more fun than saying carboy A & B and I have no intention to call it that when drinking.. well, I mean, depends on how much I drink I guess...)

I still see some little bubbles in Phat-Farm, there is a bit of foam on Juicy-Phresh but no mold or foul odor. They both smell, basically, like apple cider. No vinegar smell, no off smell. I've included some pictures...

https://www.dropbox.com/s/qb40hxn9iqt8450/apfelwein.jpg?dl=0

Comments? Advice? What Say You?
 
Started a batch of Apple (not sure if I call it wine or Apfelwein)

The Cider is made up of Macs,(75%) Ellis Bitter (17%) Northern Spy (8%). The pH is 3.4 and the gravity is 1.060.

3 gallons, fresh apple cider
1 teaspoon, acid blend
1 teaspoon, yeast nutrient
1 1/4 teaspoon, pectic enzyme

(rough estimate, since my notes are at home)
it is currently bubbling away. I am considering throwing an apple or 2 in there to add some body, before it finishes fermenting.
 
I am about to make my first batch. Not going thru and searching 100's of posts, what is the difference between Apple juice and cider? Has anyone used cider?

Duk
 
Thx. Any better using cider or does it all clear out anyway??


Sent from my iPhone using Home Brew
 
have my 3 gallons brewing in my primary bucket. SG is currently 1.020.
Thinking of racking out of the bucket at 1.010, just too much air space in a 7 gallon bucket for a 3 gallon batch.

I did not intend to carbonate, but was still going to bottle in beer bottles.
is there any benefit over carbonation vs still?
 
It's totally preference. Some prefer still others prefer carbed. Try it both ways and see what you like.

have my 3 gallons brewing in my primary bucket. SG is currently 1.020.
Thinking of racking out of the bucket at 1.010, just too much air space in a 7 gallon bucket for a 3 gallon batch.

I did not intend to carbonate, but was still going to bottle in beer bottles.
is there any benefit over carbonation vs still?
 
I made mine about 3 or 4 months ago, and it's hit it's stride. Man it's good now, it's good still, but even better carbonated, very dry, but very good, the apple flavor is shining through now.
 
OK so I have not been on this forum in years.....How many years? probably around 4. Very sad i know, but dental school really killed my brewing life. But I recently found a batch of apfelwein that i made about 5 years ago which was hidden away. And guess what...it is freaking amazing. So much apple flavor and nose. WAY more than when i leave it for a few months...

Not sure if anyone cares....but I just had to give a shout-out.

I've been thinking about getting back into it now that I am married and have some dough to set-up a kegging system.

That is all....

Best,
ACo
 
Apfelwein on tap is always awesome.
5 year old apfelwein sounds delicious! I'll have to make a ton of it if I ever want it to be more than a year old.
 
I prefer to go all natural also..wifenstien is sulfite sensitive. .so I tend to pasturize or just add priming sugar and bottle condition like beer..
 
I have a batch of Ed's Apfelwein ready to keg. I want to leave it as still and uncarbonated as I can.
Does anyone know the minimum psi I can set and leave my keg at without risking losing the seal on the lid?
 
I have a batch of Ed's Apfelwein ready to keg. I want to leave it as still and uncarbonated as I can.
Does anyone know the minimum psi I can set and leave my keg at without risking losing the seal on the lid?

It depends on how well your keg seals. I have 0 pressure on my wines, and just use a tad (like 2 psi) to push it out. If your keg doesn't seal without pressure, then you'd have to maintain pressure I suppose.
 
I'm a fairly new brewer and made my first batch of this November 1st (5 1/2 weeks ago). I understand that it improves with age, but is there a limit for how long it can remain in the primary fermenter sitting on the trub before spoiling or developing off flavors? It's fully fermented now, but will it continue to improve/age if I rack it to a secondary or keg? I plan on serving this batch toward the end of the month, so I would prefer to move it to a keg now as long as it will continue to age. For future batches, I would rather it age in a fermenter (primary or secondary) instead of tying up one of my limited kegs. All of my fermenters are glass carboys.
 
That's what I was thinking from what I read, but it settled after a couple of days. I used one 5 gram package oz Montrachet wine yeast
 
I'm a fairly new brewer and made my first batch of this November 1st (5 1/2 weeks ago). I understand that it improves with age, but is there a limit for how long it can remain in the primary fermenter sitting on the trub before spoiling or developing off flavors? It's fully fermented now, but will it continue to improve/age if I rack it to a secondary or keg? I plan on serving this batch toward the end of the month, so I would prefer to move it to a keg now as long as it will continue to age. For future batches, I would rather it age in a fermenter (primary or secondary) instead of tying up one of my limited kegs. All of my fermenters are glass carboys.

I started a batch 9/20,(my first) that I just transferred to a keg 12/2.
Mine tasted amazing at racking! I'm eyeing that sucker in the corner everyday, thinking just one, just one!
If you want to age it(which many people recommend), rack it to a keg within 1-3 months I guess.
 
did anyone ever run this through a pot still?
i have 20L which i could spare for this, is it worth?
 
did anyone ever run this through a pot still?
i have 20L which i could spare for this, is it worth?

Isn't home distilling illegal in the United States? I live in Mexico so thats not enforced here, but you should check your laws first.
 
Forget about distilling. Try freeze concentrating. Much easier and I've been very happy with the results.
 
my friends and family go through this stuff so quickly whenever I have it. I'm getting married in September and have been asked to have plenty of it available so I just started up a 30g batch that will age until early September. Then half will go into kegs for the reception and days leading up to it. The other half will go into bottles as a parting gift for those who want it.
 
That's what I was thinking from what I read, but it settled after a couple of days. I used one 5 gram package oz Montrachet wine yeast

Thats what mine looked like when I used montrachet, but when I used pastuer champagne yeast it did'nt produce any krausen. Plus I think it was better when I used champagne yeast, and it makes for a higher percent abv than montrachet.
 
Thats what mine looked like when I used montrachet, but when I used pastuer champagne yeast it did'nt produce any krausen. Plus I think it was better when I used champagne yeast, and it makes for a higher percent abv than montrachet.


Thanks Dominic 1920, I was starting to worry, since I read I shouldn't expect any krausen.
 
I wonder why there is so much variation here. It really foams up for some people. Any body here tried it with cote de blancs yeast?

The answer is yeast..some are top fermenters some are bottom..also pitch rates.and oxygenation levels of your starter..or if you use a starter or not..lots of variables.
 
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