Man, I love Apfelwein

[WVUMOFO]

That's how to do it! 15 more gallons!


If it ain't broke.....

Thanks for getting me started in this...... The wife loved coming down to the basement to see 3 kegs getting filled and seeing the carboys empty, knowing there is a trip to Costco coming... Once she is done nursing the little one I am sure more trips will be coming forthwith...

Quick question for you... Since this is my first batch, I was thinking of putting some the Apfelwein into 2-3 growlers to take with me to a 4th of July party... How long would it be good in the growlers for?

 

[jay415]

Ed, I was looking back and can't search psi (too short) I know I saw it but you keep Apfelwein kegged @ 10 psi correct? Thanks

Why do my posts always get bypassed?

 

[BigKahuna]

Cause you have only tried 25 times

Kidding Kidding....

I am not 100% sure, but I think I've seen 10 - 12 psi.

I am hoping so, cause I only have one regulator....and want to balance everything to the same psi.

 

[EdWort]

12 psi as I only have one regulator. Some folks will crank it to 20 to get a champagne effect.

 

[jay415]

Thanks guys I don't feel left out anymore. I have 5 gallons (original recipe) that is 6 weeks old yesterday and I just picked up everything for another 10 gallons. I am going to do 5 original recipe and the other 5 I am going to use lalvin EC-1118. I only have 1 packet of monrachet left and my LHBS does not carry it. I tasted the 6wk batch 3 days ago...really good, too dry for my wife though. I can't wait to taste it aged I am going to save some 1 year at the mininum. I have 3 BB carboys now so i plan to have EdWort's Lineup. another month or so and the 6wk batch is getting kegged.

 

[RiverSwillBeer]

gonna make my first batch tonight .... I know this is jumping the gun but when I have this on tap and have a nice label "EdWort's Apfelwein" .... when someone asks me how to pronounce Apfelwein ... How do I pronounce Apfelwein??

 

[EdWort]

gonna make my first batch tonight .... I know this is jumping the gun but when I have this on tap and have a nice label "EdWort's Apfelwein" .... when someone asks me how to pronounce Apfelwein ... How do I pronounce Apfelwein??

Ahp fel vine. Enjoy!

 

[RiverSwillBeer]

Ahp fel vine. Enjoy!

Mit tiefer Dankbarkeit!

 

[~Botanist~]

Hey all, I hope you are all doing well out there in brew land.

My first batch of apfelwein has finished bubbling rapidly and I find myself at the 28 day mark, and I have a few questions before I go into the bottles.

I plan on priming some into beer bottles and also bottling some into wine bottles.

I have read a bit about aging using pmbs and ps and was wondering what the shelf life is with and without preservatives for apfelwein, and how well it will age if preserved vs not preserved.

Also, anyone every try fermenting w/oak chips for the barrel flavor in their apfelwein?

Thanks

B

 

[BigKahuna]

I use 1 0z of priming sugar per gallon. I don't worry about any other junk going into bottles. It seems to age just fine for me without.

 

[gpogo]

This juice showed up at my local Costco. It's 100% clear juice from American Apples. Not from concentrate and NO preservatives or additives. It costs 40 cents more per 2 gallon pack than Tree Top (and Tree Top is from concentrate). I'm going to give it a 3 batch whirl as I'm getting ready to keg 15 gallons.

The increased cost of juice has just bumped up the price of 5 gallons of Apfelwein to $23.95 (juice, dextrose, & yeast). That comes to 30 cents per 8 ounce serving or 45 cents per 12 ounce serving.

Apfelwein costs have gone up almost 21% based on what I was paying a few months ago. With this juice, it is $5 more per batch.

Still, it beats paying 8 bucks a sixer for mediocre sweet cider in the store.

I found kirkland juice to finish a bit lighter, other than that it makes great apfelwein

 

[Nate]

Well... taking the plunge. Picked up 11 gallons of apple juice from Sam's and now waiting on the yeast to arrive. Still not sure what to do with it when it's done since there seems to be a split on carbing it or serving it relatively flat. Am I correct in that most people are carbing it?

 

[RiverSwillBeer]

I wont be ... Im not a big carbonation fan

 

[Pogo]

gpogo, and all -

FWIW...

I don't know how significant it may be, but a local market to me carries the Lucky Leaf brand of apple juice, using the same rectangular gallon jug/bottle as shown in your picture.

These bottles in my market are made of the type plastic coded with a # 7 inside the triangle on the bottom of the bottle, which is undesirable...at least for reuse...if not for use.

As far as I can tell, all other round plastic gallon juice bottles, no matter the brand, have all been coded # 1 inside the triangle, which is PET (the same as Better Bottle's), the best, and most safe, as of today.

Pogo

 

[Mr_Moe]

I tried carbed and non carbed.
I drink just about anything, i really dont care, hell i drink straight from the hose. However, everyone I spoke to likes the carbed stuff.


A friend of mine had a six pack of beer, still felt thirsty, then 1L of my AW and had one hell of a next day!

LOL

 

[it3castelo]

Ut-ohh,
I start my new job tomorrow. I had the butterflies so I thought I'll try the apfelwien and see how it taste. Kinda harsh out of the carboy. So what the hell. I filled up a growler then put it into the fridge. After the beach and bodybording that was supposedly gonna cool my nerves I hit up the growler. Cold Apfelwein taste delicious. Three tall glasses later, I have no butterflies and life is good. I am gonna take 3 asprin and a qt of water per ED WORT to avid a crappy 1rst day on the job
Thanks Ed

 

[Vlax79]

I just got done bottling my first batch....and put a bottle in the freezer to have after I got done...and well DAMN this is strong and GOOD:rockin:...

Thank you very much for sharing Edwort.

 

[BigKahuna]

Thank you very much for sharing Edwort.

He's not sharing...He's leading.

EdWort is another Crazy Texan Leading his cult.

See:

 

[friscobrewer]

My first batch has been bubbling for 24 hours. 29 more days or so to go before bottling. Then aging...the way I figure I will be drinking apfelwein for Labor Day.

 

[Shaggy]

Oh man...I forgot the water and aspirin before I went to bed last night.

 

[Rezilynt]

Oh man...I forgot the water and aspirin before I went to bed last night.

Hurts, don't it? Have a good day at work!
When I forget, I grab an energy drink with massive amounts of vitamin B - seems to help.

 

[Shaggy]

Hurts, don't it? Have a good day at work!
When I forget, I grab an energy drink with massive amounts of vitamin B - seems to help.

Yeah, the start of the morning was not fun lol.
However, I popped an Allieve at 6am when I first woke up and then pounded some water and went back to bed since I didn't need to be to the office until 9am. Grabbed a sammich on the way in and brought along my 1/2 gallon thermos filled with water, ice, and a few lemon slices and have been drinking up nicely and am feeling much better now.

 

[Saccharomyces]

I'm joining the cult. Mine has been in the carboy 10 days now and it's still bubbling. I'm giddy to try it. I'm sure when I get this in the keg the whole neighborhood will be wasted.

I'd start my next batch now (already have extra wine yeast and corn sugar, the voice in my head told me to do it last trip to AHS) but I need my other carboy to secondary my house Irish Red first. The second that baby opens up, I'm goin' for it.

- Eric

 

[Richard]

I just bottled my first batch this past weekend, and cracked open a chilled bottle last night. Mmmmm.....it's gonna be tough to keep from drinking the rest before it ages a bit. Better get the next batch started.

Does anyone know where I can get some nice apfelwein glasses? Drinking it out of a British pint just doesn't seem right.

 

[jay415]

I followed the recipe exactly (except w/Mott's -clear juice from concentrate +asorbic acid, can't get tree top near me), Tomorrow (thursday) will be 7 weeks from the start and it is still not as clear as the starting juice. I noticed it started clearing around the 4 or 5 week mark and has not gotten clearer since. around the same time the gavity was at 1.000. Is this as clear as I am going to get it? I look at edwort's pics and they look just as clear as the original juice in much less time. whats taking so long? My fermenting temp has been 70-75.

 

[Boerderij_Kabouter]

Does anyone know where I can get some nice apfelwein glasses? Drinking it out of a British pint just doesn't seem right.

I suggest these

Not sure where to find them.

 

[EdWort]

I suggest these

Not sure where to find them.

Those are nice German Roemer Wine glasses. You can get them here.

http://www.german-toasting-glasses.com/wine_sets/g422.html

 

[BlindLemonLars]

Drinking it out of a British pint just doesn't seem right.

Drinking it by the pint doesn't seem right!

I have a thin walled 10oz glass that I like for apfelwein. A white wine glass is nice as well.

 

[Richard]

I was thinking more along the lines of a traditional glass:

These seem to be impossible to buy on the web. Here are the only ones I could find, but they have a motif on the side. I'd prefer them to be plain.
http://www.rmashop.de/eng-rmashop/eng-framesapfelweine.htm

 

[Richard]

Hmmm...on second look it appears that the wikipedia one I posted has a motif on it too.

 

[Richard]

The site I linked to charges almost 50 bucks to ship the glasses from Germany to the U.S. For anyone who's interested in buying the traditional glasses but doesn't want to pay for the international shipping, I did some more research and there is a Possmann representative in Minnesota who has some (she works out of her home). I gave her my email address, and she promised to send me some pictures of the glasses. I guess I'll call her back to order them.

Here's the site with her number:
http://www.possmann.com/contact.php

Here's some pics of the glasses:
http://www.possmann.de/shop/shop3new.php#1

 

[EdWort]

The site I linked to charges almost 50 bucks to ship the glasses from Germany to the U.S. For anyone who's interested in buying the traditional glasses but doesn't want to pay for the international shipping, I did some more research and there is a Possmann representative in Minnesota who has some (she works out of her home). I gave her my email address, and she promised to send me some pictures of the glasses. I guess I'll call her back to order them.

Here's the site with her number:
http://www.possmann.com/contact.php

Here's some pics of the glasses:
http://www.possmann.de/shop/shop3new.php#1

here's what I brought home from Frankfurt last time.

 

[Richard]

here's what I brought home from Frankfurt last time.

Nice. That's one of the glasses available on the Possmann site. Looks like yours is the .25l? How is Possmann apfelwein?

 

[EdWort]

Nice. That's one of the glasses available on the Possmann site. Looks like yours is the .25l? How is Possmann apfelwein?

Yep, I have a set of the .25L glasses. Possmann's is just like mine, or mine is just like Possmann's except mine is a tad drier and about 29% more alcohol.

 

[Richard]

Yep, I have a set of the .25L glasses. Possmann's is just like mine, or mine is just like Possmann's except mine is a tad drier and about 29% more alcohol.

I'm still deciding whether to go for .25L or .5L. The smaller glasses will need refilling more often, but that might help me moderate my intake...choices, choices...

Did you see any plain (no motifs) apfelwein glasses when you were in Frankfurt?

 

[jay415]

Yep, I have a set of the .25L glasses. Possmann's is just like mine, or mine is just like Possmann's except mine is a tad drier and about 29% more alcohol.

Hey Ed, is Possmann's carbonated?

 

[EdWort]

Hey Ed, is Possmann's carbonated?

Nope. It's still as is all other Apfelwein. I started carbonating it as a by product of kegging. SWMBO likes it better that way, so I stuck with it.

 

[jay415]

Nope. It's still as is all other Apfelwein. I started carbonating it as a by product of kegging. SWMBO likes it better that way, so I stuck with it.

Yea I think it's much better carbonated.

 

[IlliniSox4Life]

I'm sure this has been answered a few times before, but this is a really long thread, and I couldn't find the answer (plus, I've just had a couple pints of my first batch of EW's AW, and I'm feeling pretty toasty...), what is the approximate ABV of this recipe?

edit: a bit more investigation seems to lead me to believe it is in the 8-9% range. If I am wrong, correct me, please. Otherwise, don't bother responding.

And yes, my first pint I wasn't so sure I liked it. I had poured two so I drank those. After letting the second settle in me for a bit, I'm loving it and heading back for a third one. It's only about a month old. I'm sure in a few more weeks it will have mellowed and blended more and be even better. I doubt it will last till then though....

 

[jay415]

edit: a bit more investigation seems to lead me to believe it is in the 8-9% range.

Yes, your right as long as you used the same amount of dextrose. If you added more, ABV will be higher. If you added less or none, it will be lower.