Difference between revisions of "Apfelwein"

What is Apfelwein

Apfelwein (German: apple wine) is basically the German type of cider (hard cider in the United States of America). While normal cider simply uses the naturally occuring sugars from apple, the German variant usually includes a bit of sugar, thus augmenting the percentage of alcohol by volume.

EdWort's Recipe

Ingredients

5 Gallons 100% Apple Juice (No preservatives or additives) 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

Directions

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 with cheap vodka. No bacteria will live in vodka and if you get suckback, you just boosted the abv.

Variations in recipes

The normal recipe is dry. There are those who like it, and those who prefer a sweeter cider. To attain a sweeter cider, the solution is to back sweeten.

Amount of Apfelwein brewed

3060 U.S. Gallons. (as of November 1st 2007)

Historical figures:

3000 U.S. Gallons: October 29th 2007 (reached by smoke76)

2500 U.S. Gallons: October 3rd 2007 (reached by justinmcdevitt)

2000 U.S. Gallons: August 20th 2007 (reached by EdWort)

1500 U.S. Gallons: June 29th 2007 (reached by Drunkensatyr)

1000 U.S. Gallons: April 23rd 2007 (reached by JeepGuy)

500 U.S. Gallons: March 6th 2007 (reached by johnsma22)

External Links

Main Apfelwein thread

Amount of Apfelwein brewed

Wikipedia article on Apfelwein