I’ve been reading about Apfelwein (German apple wine) on Homebrewtalk.com for a while now.  Everybody talks about how complex the flavor is.  There are more than a few stories about the medicinal effects of its 8.5% alcohol by volume too.

I’ve always wanted to make some but I never seemed to have the extra corn sugar or yeast on hand.  An order to Austin Homebrew remedied that and I mixed up my first jug of Apfelwein last week.  After working through four batches of homebrew mixing up a bottle of Apfelwein is just too easy.  Here’s the recipe:

What you’ll need

5 Gallons of preservative free Apple Juice – Preservatives will hamper the fermentation.
2 pounds of Dextrose (corn sugar) in 1 lb bags – An online homebrew shop like Austin Homebrew is your best bet.
1 packet Dry Montrachet Wine yeast – Again at Austin Homebrew.

Here are steps

1. Sanitize your jug or carboy (I use 6 gallon plastic Better Bottles) and big funnel.
2. Pour half of one gallon of juice in the carboy. Then add 1 pound of Dextrose to the half empty bottle of juice. Put the cap on and shake it up to dissolve the sugar.
3. Repeat step 2 with another gallon of apple juice and the other pound of Dextrose
4. Pour the half bottles of juice/dextrose into carboy
5. Pour the rest of the juice into the carboy saving about a quart
6. Sprinkle the yeast into the funnel then rinse with the rest of the juice so all the yeast is now in the carboy.
7. Attach your airlock and put the carboy in a dark place to ferment.

It’s best to let the Apfelwein stay in the carboy for three months before you bottle it.  After bottling the flavor will continue to develop as the months pass.  I’m aiming for opening my first bottle six months from now.  I’m sure one or two will be sampled long before that though.

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