#49 Apfelwein Recipe (German Hard Cider) Apple Wine Recipe

After a number of recommendations from other brewers, 10,838 replies and 1,668,170 views on HomeBrew Talk, I decided to try Ed Worts Apfelwien

The recipe placed 1st in the Cider & Apple Win category at the BJCP sanctioned Alamo Cerveza fest (out of 11 entries) and took 2nd place for Best of Show for the main category of Meads & Ciders (out of 50 entries).

I used following ingredients:

• 12 frozen concentrate Giant brand Apple juice (1 1/2 quarters each)
• 2 pounds Giant brand sugar
• 1 five gram packet of Montrachet Wine Yeast

1. First sanitize the carboy, airlock, funnel, stopper or carboy cap.
2. Add 100 degree water to the carboy, (*** Need Amount)
3. Add packet of Montrachet Yeast to hydrate
4. Add more 100 degree water to carboy
5. Warmed frozen concentrate apple juice
6. Pour melted concentrate into carboy
7. Add hot water to concentrate container to melt more concentrate
8. Add sugar and shake
9. Repeat Steps 5 through 8 until all of the Apple juice in the carboy and 2 lbs of sugar have been added
10. Fill Carboy up to the neck with 80 degree water.
11. 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.

Ferment at room temperature.

The advice is to let this sit for at least 3 months.

#46 Munton's Nut Brown Ale (1998)

So, this is a test into how bad will it be.  I received a can of Mutton's Nut Brown Ale with a best before October 1998.

The advice on the internet was "As long as the can is sealed, it'll be fine. Just a little darker than normal. Cooper's cans can be good if brewed well. I usually add a 3lb bag of Munton's plain DME & 2 oz of 2 different hops. The color of the DME depends on the style desired. In this case,I'd go with plain light DME. Maybe Fuggle or Kent Golding hops. Don't let anyone tell you cooper's is no good.

If you've got a good process down,you'll make good beer with the right ingredients. I do it all the time. Even my English bitter is coming along fine. And the IPA that started life as an OS Draught can is very good. When I get the recipe tweaked more to my liking,I'll post it."

The goal of the style Northern English Brown Ale

Aroma: Light, sweet malt aroma with toffee, nutty and/or caramel notes. A light but appealing fresh hop aroma (UK varieties) may also be noticed. A light fruity ester aroma may be evident in these beers, but should not dominate. Very low to no diacetyl.

Appearance: Dark amber to reddish-brown color. Clear. Low to moderate off-white to light tan head.

My thoughts:
We were only going to throw away both the can and the yeast.  Since there were extra ingredients, the cost is really about $8.  If it turns out tasting good, then great.  If not, nothing lost.

Grains

4.8 oz 60L Caramel Malt
3.0 oz Chocolate Organic
2.0 lbs Golden Light DME
Hops .35 oz Kent Goldings (15 minutes)
Yeast White Labs WLP002 English Ale (1 year old)

I wrote the above on kegging day.  We will know in a couple of weeks or maybe later today.

This turned out to be a hit.  Many thought that this was one of the better beers.  So a simple change and great results.