Apfelwein Revolution

In my limited experience of home brewing beer, I've found it to be very enjoyable, often times rewarding, and sometimes frustrating. The argument is often made that it can be less expensive to brew your own than it is to buy commercial brews. While this may be the case for experienced brewers who have their process down to a science-For me it has been a break-even endeavor at best.

This was until I was introduced to German Apfelwein. While the stuff is more wine than beer-it tastes very similar to champagne, and is utterly easy and inexpensive to make. It is much drier than commercial ciders available in the states-but very tasty. The recipe I've used was concocted by 'Ed Wort' a home brewer who lived in Germany for some time and became fond of the beverage. The recipe is rather simple:

Ingredients:

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

2 pounds of dextrose (corn sugar) in one pound bags1

5 gram packet of Montrachet Wine YeastEquipment

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

Procedure:

First sanitize the carboy, airlock, funnel, stopper or carboy cap.
Open one gallon bottle of apple juice and pour half of it into the carboy using the funnel.
Open one bag of Dextrose and carefully add it to the now half full bottle of apple juice.

Shake well.
Repeat Steps 2 and 3, then go to step 5.
Pour in the mixture of Apple Juice and Dextrose from both bottles into the carboy.
Add all but 1 quart of remaining 3 gallons of apple juice to the carboy.
Open the packet of Montrachet Yeast and pour it into the neck of the funnel.
Use the remaining quart of juice to wash down any yeast that sticks.

You may need to be patient to let the foam die down from all shaking and pouring.
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.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 (see here).

I'm able to fit all but 4 oz. of my five gallons in the bottle. Ferment at room temperature.

It will become cloudy in a couple of days and remain so for a few weeks. In the 4th week, the yeast will begin to drop out and it will become clear. After at least 4 weeks, you can keg or bottle, but it is ok to leave it in the carboy for another month or so. Racking to a secondary is not necessary. It ferments out very dry (less than 0.999, see here)If you want to bottle and carbonate, ¾ cup of corn sugar will work fine. Use as you would carbonate a batch of beer.

Not too difficult, and you end up with 5 gallons of tastiness at about 8.5% ABV. It is the one homebrew that makes clear economic sense in terms of material cost, labor required, and final product. This is probably why over 6,000 gallons of this stuff has been made, and the number keeps on climbing. Join the revolution and start a batch for yourself!