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  • Apple Ale

    I have recently befriended a local farmer. He donated pumpkins to my pumkin ale at no carge in exchange for some props to his farm. He now has offered fresh pressed apple juice as well. I want to make an apple ale with this juice. I am thinking 50 gallons of juice into my fermenter for a 7bbl batch. I will make a base beer that is fairly light, as this will replace my blueberry wheat for my fruit beer selection. Has anyone ever made an apple beer in this manner? Will my ale yeast be sufficient for fermenting the apple juice? Actually, it is cider, unpasturized and fresh pressed. Any comments or ideas are greatly appreciated.
    Tim Butler

    Empire Brewing Co.
    Syracuse, NY

  • #2
    Heck just make some cider. New England style apple cider recipes are real good. Sell it in bottles as a special offering, might be kind of cool.

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    • #3
      Thats the problem, legally I cant. Has to be 50% malt for me to legaly sell it.
      Tim Butler

      Empire Brewing Co.
      Syracuse, NY

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      • #4
        Apple Ale

        Well, I have run into the same legal problems with trying to produce cider. It seems that you can't obtain a license to produce cider and beer in the same building. (Explained by the liquor commisionner, as a good move on their part because beer and wine yeast compete when put in close quarters?)
        But, If the cider is unpasturized then it will still contain wild microfauna and "spoil" the beer in the fermenter. You may need to heat the cider first to avoid any of those problems. I wouldn't boil the cider because of potenial pectin problems.

        Dan Rudy
        Milly's Tavern
        Dan Rudy
        Soul Brewer
        Milly's Tavern
        Manchester, NH

        Asking someone their favorite beer style is like asking a parent to choose their favorite child, some will do it but what does it say of their character?

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        • #5
          So, maybe add it to the kettlec at whirlpool?
          Tim Butler

          Empire Brewing Co.
          Syracuse, NY

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          • #6
            Tossing it in at whirlpool sounds like a good option. The other thing that may be of concern is fermenting with regular ale yeast. Since you are using cider as roughly a fifth of total volume, the cider will undoubtedly contribute much flavor. I don't know anyone else's thoughts on this but I have found that fermenting fruit with ale yeast can produce some pretty awful fermentation by-products.
            Dan Rudy
            Soul Brewer
            Milly's Tavern
            Manchester, NH

            Asking someone their favorite beer style is like asking a parent to choose their favorite child, some will do it but what does it say of their character?

            Comment


            • #7
              So should I start with my regular yeast and add a wine or other yeast to finish?
              Tim Butler

              Empire Brewing Co.
              Syracuse, NY

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              • #8
                I personally really love the wild yeast profile in some French cider.
                Maybe you can try brewing a wheat beer, add the cider into the fermenter, pitch in some house yeast, and just let it do its own thing?

                small size trial batch is always a good idea though.

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                • #9
                  Please don't yell at me if this is considered "out of bounds" for brewing, but what about fermenting the apple juice and the beer separately and combining them in a brite tank. For instance, fermenting the apple juice on wine or champagne yeast and fermenting your "base beer" the usual way separate from the apple juice.

                  OR!! I just got another idea - after mixing the fermented apple juice and base beer in a brite tank, you could throw in some sugar or add some wort, transfer them back to the base beer's fermenter on top of the slurry and ferment both of them together for a second fermentation. Or use a different yeast - maybe a Belgian yeast?

                  I really don't know, I'm just spitballing here. But it would seem that fermenting separately and then mixing would eliminate the microfauna/spoilage problems that Mr. Rudy mentioned. Would the apple character be lost doing it this way, though? Are there other problems that would arise?
                  Mike Hiller, Head Brewer
                  Strangeways Brewing
                  2277-A Dabney Road
                  Richmond, VA 23230
                  804-303-4336
                  www.strangewaysbrewing.com

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                  • #10
                    I did a "Peach Lambic", well it was a batch of Honey Wheat that was contaminated with wild yeast that we decided to add peaches to. We bought several hundred pounds of bruised and imperfect peaches from a local orchard, pitted and juiced them and added the juice and pulp to the fermenter for a second fermentation. It finished a little dryer than expected, and i hate to admit this but, we added 7-up syrup to the Brite to sweeten.

                    What a wonderful mistake it was!! My old roomate recently found a few growlers of it i had put back to age, after almost 4 years, lets just say father time was very kind to it. YUM
                    Last edited by Jephro; 10-22-2007, 01:35 PM.
                    Jeff Byrne

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                    • #11
                      Originally posted by NYSBrewer
                      Thats the problem, legally I cant. Has to be 50% malt for me to legaly sell it.
                      For the feds it has to be 25% malt by weight and must contain the equiv. of 7 lbs of hops per 100 bbl.
                      Cheers & I'm out!
                      David R. Pierce
                      NABC & Bank Street Brewhouse
                      POB 343
                      New Albany, IN 47151

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                      • #12
                        Last year I borrowed some yeast from a bottle of Jolly Pumpkin , thanks Ron =)
                        I used it to produce some interesting saisons as well as a small batch of cider that I later added oak chips to. I was very pleased with it. It was a low ABV cider, 5% if memory serves correct.I would make the assumption that you could use any interesting yeast strain that you like.

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                        • #13
                          I like Tse's idea of combining the 2. Just out of curiosity, is it necessary to fudge the paperwork a bit since you are technically brewing a cider on it's own?

                          Personally, (also in agreement with a previous poster) I would brew an Apple Saison. That strain can be pretty finicky, but it has always produced remarkable fruit beers in my experience.

                          This is what I would do (others please chime in if this is overkill).
                          Brew your beer, pitch Saison yeast at 72 degrees, and let the ferm.temp free ride up (no glycol). At high krausen, hold your apple juice at 180 for 20 minutes, and knock out through the H.E. into the beer. Might take a couple of weeks to attenuate properly, but I think it will be well worth the wait. You may also want to consider using pectase. Apples are pretty starchy.

                          That's just my $.02

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