Daze

Recipes 

update, after almost a week the sediment in the bottom is shrinking. I am sure what is happening is the "oat milk" is compressing and any fluids adding bulk to it are rising to the top of the sediment. This thickening and settling of the oat milk layer should make racking easy. Cant weight to see how this one ends up.

Daze

Recipes 

racked it today. there was only 1/2" of oat sediment. I took a reading and the SG was 1.010 so it should be done soon. I will weight until it clears than I will add the caramel syrup. I will update you as it progresses.

Daze

Recipes 

The cider has almost fermented out and has started to clear so I made my caramel syrup tonight. Turned out great!!! it is such a dark brown that it is almost black. The color should make for a nice dark brow cider. The flavor is fantastic, it is everything I could have hoped for!! strong caramel notes which should make my caramel apple cider about perfect.

jkoegel

Recipes 

I am very interested to see the color of the finished cider. My first batch is almost ready for bottling now. I made it with dark brown sugar and Molasses for a nice rich amber color.

I have to get a couple gallon jugs for some experimental batches. I really like the oat milk idea.

Daze

Recipes 

Interesting side note on the color I have this batch of cider sitting next to another gallon of cider made with the same apple juice concentrate. The only ingredient differences between the two are the oat milk in one and the yeast I used. Even though they started out the same color the oat milk batch is about half as dark as the non oat milk batch. I don't know if this was because the oat solids absorbed the color or if it has to do with the yeast (light one is using Montrachet where as the dark one is "domesticated wild apple yeast") As soon as the oat milk batch is done I will wash the yeast and start another batch with out the oat milk so it will be interesting to see if it comes out light or dark.

turtlescales

Recipes 

Subscribing to this, this sounds incredible.

Daze

Recipes 

here is a pic to show just how dark the caramel syrup turned out

Daze

Recipes 

tasted the cider today and took an SG reading. SG is at 1.02 so it is almost done. tastes good but a bit on the sour side, but I planned on that when I added the extra acid. the sour should play nicely against the caramel sweetening.

__________________
- "It's all about time. You can't rush perfection. Time TIME TIME!!! You either need to pay on the front end or the rear. If the batch ferments out fast you need to secondary age or bottle age it. If it ferments out slow... months not weeks, then you don't have to age it nearly as long to get good flavors. Either way time is the key when making ciders and wines."

matrim

Recipes 

Very cool idea! I'm going to give this a try tomorrow. I am using fresh pressed flash pasteurized cider instead of concentrate. What is the reason to heat the juice to 170?

Edit: aslo, did you happen to take a pH reading?

Daze

Recipes 

The 170º was done for a couple of reasons. First I don't like using chemicals and I like to start with a sterol solution so I did it to pasteurize what I was working on. 140º would have been hot enough, but I also wanted the oat and apple to blend a little more the heat facilitates that. As to the PH I didn't take a reading but I can say I made it "green apple" tart. Some of the best caramel apples I have ever had have been with either macs or granny smiths so I wanted to recreate that same tart profile. This next fall I am going to make another batch and use macs from the trees at my dads. should be good

__________________
- "It's all about time. You can't rush perfection. Time TIME TIME!!! You either need to pay on the front end or the rear. If the batch ferments out fast you need to secondary age or bottle age it. If it ferments out slow... months not weeks, then you don't have to age it nearly as long to get good flavors. Either way time is the key when making ciders and wines."