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arkador
04-29-2009, 02:55 PM
Thought I would share the recipe I am doing tonight. Quick, Cheap, Easy. A 5 galon batch will cost about $20 and end up arround 8.5% ABV

EdWort's Apfelwein
Ingredients

5 Gallons 100% Apple Juice (No preservatives or additives, Asorbic Acid is acceptable) I use Tree Top Apple Juice
2 pounds of dextrose (corn sugar) in one pound bags
1 five gram packet of Montrachet Wine Yeast

Equipment

5 Gallon Carboy (I use a Better Bottle)
Carboy Cap or Stopper with Airlock
Funnel

1:First sanitize the carboy, airlock, funnel, stopper or carboy cap.
2:Open one gallon bottle of apple juice and pour half of it into the carboy using the funnel.
3:Open one bag of Dextrose and carefully add it to the now half full bottle of apple juice. Shake well.
4:Repeat Steps 2 and 3, then go to step 5.
5:Pour in the mixture of Apple Juice and Dextrose from both bottles into the carboy.
6:Add all but 1 quart of remaining 3 gallons of apple juice to the carboy.
7:Open the packet of Montrachet Yeast and pour it into the neck of the funnel.
8:Use the remaining quart of juice to wash down any yeast that sticks. I am able to fit all but 3 ounces of apple juice into a 5 gallon Better Bottle. You may need to be patient to let the foam die down from all shaking and pouring.
9:Put your stopper or carboy cap on with an airlock and fill the airlock.

There’s no need to worry about filling up a carboy so full when you use Montrachet wine yeast. There is no Kreuzen, just a thin layer of bubbles.

Ferment for 4 weeks (FG should be below 1.000), then bottle or keg. If bottling, use 1/3cup of dextrose for carbonation.

MightyCow9
04-29-2009, 04:27 PM
WOW! You can get your FG below 1.000? What yeast are you using to convert water into alchohol? :p

arkador
04-29-2009, 04:37 PM
Notice there is no water in the recipe.....
OG 1.062 FG .994 (8.2%ABV)

Pic of a batch going
http://img32.picoodle.com/img/img32/4/2/6/f_DSCN0835Smam_13c2daf.jpg

MightyCow9
04-29-2009, 05:25 PM
So that can become less dense than water? That is pretty cool.

kilted-txn
04-29-2009, 05:51 PM
I did one similar to that but I used 1 gal of unpasteurized apple juice, 1 gal of water, & 2 lbs of cane sugar with champagne yeast. It turned out to be around 18 abv. I will bring one to the May meeting for you to try.

jayellis
04-30-2009, 02:04 PM
Sounds pretty tasty!

TurboBrew
04-30-2009, 02:57 PM
I've got 10 gallons of this sstuff going as we speak. Identical recipe on homebrewtalk. It's REALLY good and REALLY easy. Ferments out really dry and after 6 weeks it's crystal clear. If it's too dry, add some apple juice (not much) and it comes out tasting great.

arkador
05-13-2009, 01:40 PM
If it's too dry, add some apple juice (not much) and it comes out tasting great.
If i find it to be too dry for my taste, I will likley add 1-2quarts of fresh applejuice to the keg.

mwedge
05-13-2009, 03:04 PM
You might need to add some sulfite to kill any remaining yeast or it will ferment the new juice.

arkador
05-13-2009, 03:05 PM
You might need to add some sulfite to kill any remaining yeast or it will ferment the new juice.

It shouldn't ferment in a 38degree keezer, should it? If i do add more juice for sweetness, it will be chilled already.

mwedge
05-13-2009, 03:24 PM
If it is always kept that cold I would not think you would get too much fermentation. But if you ever bottle some of it make sure it is not allowed to get warm.

gwbbc
05-15-2009, 04:28 PM
OR BOOM

anything close to 50 could begin to spell disaster.

jayellis
05-15-2009, 05:11 PM
But the stuff on the walls and ceiling sure smells nice after it dries...

arkador
05-15-2009, 06:48 PM
But the stuff on the walls and ceiling sure smells nice after it dries...

It would dry slightly before my blood finished drying if that happened, because my wife would kill me...

Sulfite it is!

mwedge
05-15-2009, 11:47 PM
That is not a pretty picture.

Lumpher
07-15-2009, 10:32 PM
new to the site. sorry for the late post. have 5 gallons bottled using this exact recipe as of last weekend, so haven't tasted it yet. what did everyone think of this? you are probably drinking it by now, since i'm so late here...

Mr.C
07-16-2009, 10:41 AM
I'm interested in how it turned out, too. I have 5g fermenting right now, but it's only been a week so it's nowhere near ready.

I do like a really dry wine, so I think I won't be sweetening it at all.

arkador
07-16-2009, 11:34 AM
it is very good, and for $17/batch and nearly 10% ABV, it is a keeper. I have my second bach in a fermenter now. It does come out pretty dry, and is more of an apple wine, than a hard cider.

Homebrewtalk.com has a thread where people post how many galons of this stuff has been made, i think it is about 8,000 galons so far this year, and about 45,000 galons of beer.

Mr.C
07-16-2009, 11:37 AM
They are at 13,236.5 gallons of apfelwein so far!

arkador
07-16-2009, 02:59 PM
They are at 13,236.5 gallons of apfelwein so far!

Homebrew = 16,918
Apfelwein = 13240.5

There are about 40K members of homebrewtalk.com and I am sure only a small percentage have contributed to these running totals. Still, it shows that the active members that do contribute, make almost as much of this stuff, as they do beer.....

Lumpher
07-24-2009, 10:32 PM
i'm drinking my first brew of this stuff tonight. potent, tart, and good :D