EdWort's Apfelwein

My beer brewing adventures have been going well. Just sampled my Chinook IPA this past weekend and it's a bitter resinous affair (in a good way.) Bottled a coffee stout as well so now it has three weeks to condition in the bottle. I've been absorbing a lot of information from Home Brew Talk's forums - they're a great resource for new brewers. I stumbled upon a recipe by tenured poster EdWort for an apfelwein (it's very dry and not quite a cider.) The recipe is so cheap and easy that I figured I'd give it a try.

All you need is apple juice, sugar and a packet of wine yeast. I did a half batch so I used 2.25 gallons of AJ and 1 lb of corn sugar.

I emptied half of each of apple juice into the Better Bottle. The suds are from StarSan, a no-rinse sanitizer. It's very easy sanitize with this stuff but it seems so wrong to pour the apple juice into a sudsy container. Everyone says "don't fear the foam" and so I don't!

The sugar gets poured into the AJ containers. I shake them all lustily to mix well. Then into the BB goes the rest of the juice.

After most of the juice was added, I dump in the yeast packet. I use the last of the juice to wash the dry yeast off the sides of the fermenter.

There you go. 2.25 gallons of apfelwein. Luckily the wine yeast is not as picky as beer yeast so I don't have to be as concerned with temperature control. It will stay in the utility room for two months before I bottle.

Two days later and the concoction has become cloudy as anticipated. I can see little bubbles lining the edge of the surface confirming that fermentation is happening. Looking forward to seeing how this drink develops.