super cloudy apfelwein!

[RobWalker]

My apfelwein made from real apples has finished fermenting. It's so unclear that it looks like orange juice at the moment. When should i rack off, add finings etc? Everything else I've ever made cleared of its own accord with a bit of patience, so is this the same deal? I have a very thick layer of sediment at the bottom and there's some chunks that will either need to settle or be removed too.

 

[hopsalot]

Did you use pasteurized apple juice?

 

[hopsalot]

oops didnt read your post thoroughly, sorry no comment

 

[SenorPepe]

How long has it been going for? If it's for sure done fermenting and you have a thick trub layer I'd rack off into a clean vessel and play the waiting game. The one apfelwein I did with cloudy juice took a long time to clear.

 

[RobWalker]

This literally has chunks of apple floating around, the apples were juiced and strained through a muslin bag. it's at 0.994 (very dry!) so it's definitely finished fermenting, but what I'm after is whether I should do it now whilst it's very cloudy and there's loads of sediment, or wait for it to settle out as much as possible before getting it off the junk?

 

[MeadHorn]

How long has it been in the fermenter?

 

[WIP]

I have a cloudy batch that I started last October. Tastes good.

 

[RobWalker]

It's been in 3 weeks but I'm wondering whether running through a muslin bag will be worthwhile before proper clearing. It's definitely finished and by work of a miracle its dry so i can carbonate in the bottle

 

[SenorPepe]

It's definitely not gonna clear in 3 weeks if the original juice was cloudy. Think more on the order of like 2 months-many months (in my experience so far). And I wouldn't run it through a muslin bag. I'd think you'd be introducing to much air. IMO, I'd rack and let it clear totally. Or you could try some finings.

 

[Yooper]

It's been in 3 weeks but I'm wondering whether running through a muslin bag will be worthwhile before proper clearing. It's definitely finished and by work of a miracle its dry so i can carbonate in the bottle

No, don't run it through anything now! You'll oxidize it and ruin it.

A big thing to remember is that apples are FULL of pectin. I'd suggest adding some pectic enzyme in the must next batch. For this time, dissolve 1 teaspoon of pectic enzyme per gallon in a little of the wine and stir well, and add it back to the whole batch. Wait about 3 weeks or so, and see if it's better. If so, but not completely clear, you could add more pectic enzyme.

One of the things about finings is they are positively or negatively charged. So in order to use the proper fining, you've got to sort of figure out what's causing the haze. You could use something like SuperKleer that has both, a positively charged clarifier AND a negatively charged clarifier to be added at different times. I'd still try the pectic enzyme at least twice first, and probably try cold crashing/cold stabilizing before adding any other clearing agents.

 

[RobWalker]

Ah, that's good. This started as a 1 gal cider so the sugar was added after to bring it to wine percentage, hence no real planning - thanks for the advice, ill give it a bash and see what happens. Thanks for the tips

 

[bad67z]

I have 15+ gallons of apfelwein in my basement it all is all crystal clear but that as stated earlier came with time. I have used both apple juice and apple cider. The batch I made from unfiltered unpasteurized turned out the best both in flavor and clarity. That being said I made it last October of last year. It took a good 3 months to get to that stage. I racked it @ about 2 months and it was cleared in a month or so after being in the secondary.

To try and help I have a couple of questions.

1. What is your timeline?

2. Are you planing on carbonating or do you plan to keep it "still"?

3. Bottling or kegging?

4. Do you have the ability to cold crash your fermenter?

 

[RobWalker]

Fantastic

1 - plenty of time. I want this to be damn good. We're thinking about cracking it open next year when the trees are blooming again to get us excited for next year's real apple batch

2 - Lightly carbonating, the yeast should still be active and it's dry so it's just a bit of priming sugar

3 - Bottling in beer bottles (330ml) because it's 13% odd and we want to be able to crack a fresh one every now and then, not re-open a half-drunken bottle that's been restoppered.

4 - I can probably use our second fridge, but I'd rather not rely on keeping it cool because I'd like to give one or two to family members etc...

 

[bad67z]

Fantastic

1 - plenty of time. I want this to be damn good. We're thinking about cracking it open next year when the trees are blooming again to get us excited for next year's real apple batch

2 - Lightly carbonating, the yeast should still be active and it's dry so it's just a bit of priming sugar

3 - Bottling in beer bottles (330ml) because it's 13% odd and we want to be able to crack a fresh one every now and then, not re-open a half-drunken bottle that's been restoppered.

4 - I can probably use our second fridge, but I'd rather not rely on keeping it cool because I'd like to give one or two to family members etc...

Well if time is not an issue your cider should clear beautifully. I would suggest getting another batch or two going.

 

[RobWalker]

I would, but I can't force apples from the tree.
I've made apfelwein following the recipe before and it was great, but I've got plenty of beer here! Plus juice is expensive in the UK