The ABCs: Apfelwein, Beans, and Carboys

Today I had plans...many, many plans; the most important was to avoid the news and television. I started the day early by pickling and canning some spicy Asian-style green beans, putting the new pressure canner to work. Talk about a frustrating and scary piece of equipment.

Asian Styled Pickled Green Beans

1lb Green Beans, blanched and tops trimmed

1 1/2 cups Apple Cider Vinegar

1/2 cup water

6 Tbsp. Soy Sauce

1 Tbsp. Sesame Oil

1 Tbsp. Peanut Oil

3 Dried Chilis or 1 tsp. szechuan peppercorns. I used a mix of both.

3 Garlic cloves, peeled & sliced

1 Quart Jar

1. Trim the tops off of the green beans, then blanche for approximately 1 minute. Scoop out, and put into a bowl of ice water to keep them from cooking.
2. Put the chilled beans lengthwise into the quart mason jar.
3. Mix the rest of the ingredients (water, oils, vinegar, chili, cloves) in a pot and bring to a boil, for approximately 3 minutes.
4. Pour the hot liquid into the jar, over the beans.
5. Put into the refrigerator if you plan on using soon; let them sit for at least a day to soak up the yummy mixture.
6. If you want to store these on the shelf, you will need to pressure can this. Follow the instructions for your pressure canner. In my case, I let sit at 10lbs of pressure for 35 minutes. Please note that this is my first attempt at trying the pressure canner, so this particular step will vary with mileage. If things don't come out right, well, I'll be updating:)

With the morning being done, I had further plans for a bevy of home brewing this afternoon. First on the list was Apfelwein. I was going to break in the 5 gallon carboys, so happily went shopping and picked up 5 gallons of all-natural Apple Juice (no preservatives, please! It will hinder the fermentation process). I had also picked up Dextrose. My plans were to follow the EdWort recipe, and reap the benefits a few months from  now.

Disaster struck, however, when I realized that I only had 1lb of Dextrose, and the local supermarkets don't carry it. Short of a 65 mile trip into the 'big city' to get to the nearest homebrew shop, I mulled over my choices.

Since I did have two one-gallon carboys, and more than enough dextrose for two gallons, I'd go ahead and whip up smaller batches. I always hate downsizing brewing recipes, but...I have no doubts this will work out well. I've modified the directions here, to allow for the 1 gallon version. The directions for EdWort's Apfelwein are as follows (with my modifications):

Ingredients
2 Gallons 100% Apple Juice (No preservatives or additives) I use Tree Top Apple Juice, 1/2 gallon sizes (as this was all the store had)
6 ounces dextrose
1 five gram packet of Montrachet Wine Yeast

Equipment
1 Gallon Carboy
Carboy Cap or Stopper with Airlock
Funnel

1. First sanitize the carboy, airlock, funnel, stopper or carboy cap.
2. Open  bottle of apple juice and pour half of it into the carboy using the funnel.
3. Take half of your 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. Open the packet of Montrachet Yeast and pour it into the neck of the funnel.
7. 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.
8. 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.

Remember to reserve judgment till after 3 glasses. It grows on you.

The final one-gallon bottle, ready to go hide in my closet for the next few months.

Since I made two gallons of this, my additional plans to make my 5 gallons of mead were thwarted...I forgot that I only had two stoppers and airlocks.

I was quite sad. It looks as if there is a stop scheduled at my homebrew shop in San Jose slated for tomorrow.