xumbi
Well-Known Member
Greetings!
It's cider/apple season in New England, and I'm looking for feedback on whether this is a good idea or not...
I'm planning to brew the Arrogant Bastard clone in the recipes section this weekend. I batch sparge, so first and second runnings would go towards the AB.
I am considering sparging a third time to create another beer. The amount of sparge water I haven't decided, since the more I use the lighter the beer will be. Right now I'm thinking 5 gallons, one gallon lost during boil, then add 1/2 to 1 gallon of fresh local cider while the wort is cooling, at 180F. I have read in a few places that you will lose a lot of the apple flavor if it is added to the boil, or even at flameout. This way I figure I kill off most of the wild yeast and/or baddies, but hopefully maintain some good apple flavor and aroma, while helping to boost my likely low OG (and cooling down the wort a bit faster, bonus!).
I am also considering peeling, de-coring and chopping up about five pounds of fresh apples and adding that to the wort at the same time as the cider. This would be just in hopes of adding apple aroma and flavor, I know I won't get much, if any, fermentable sugars.
For hops I have willamette, and I figure 15-20 IBU's would work. Based on my past efficiency calculations I figure this would come in at about 1.024-1.028, before adding the cider. A 3-4% ABV beer with slight tartness and apple aroma sounds really nice to me.
Any feedback would be greatly appreciated.
It's cider/apple season in New England, and I'm looking for feedback on whether this is a good idea or not...
I'm planning to brew the Arrogant Bastard clone in the recipes section this weekend. I batch sparge, so first and second runnings would go towards the AB.
I am considering sparging a third time to create another beer. The amount of sparge water I haven't decided, since the more I use the lighter the beer will be. Right now I'm thinking 5 gallons, one gallon lost during boil, then add 1/2 to 1 gallon of fresh local cider while the wort is cooling, at 180F. I have read in a few places that you will lose a lot of the apple flavor if it is added to the boil, or even at flameout. This way I figure I kill off most of the wild yeast and/or baddies, but hopefully maintain some good apple flavor and aroma, while helping to boost my likely low OG (and cooling down the wort a bit faster, bonus!).
I am also considering peeling, de-coring and chopping up about five pounds of fresh apples and adding that to the wort at the same time as the cider. This would be just in hopes of adding apple aroma and flavor, I know I won't get much, if any, fermentable sugars.
For hops I have willamette, and I figure 15-20 IBU's would work. Based on my past efficiency calculations I figure this would come in at about 1.024-1.028, before adding the cider. A 3-4% ABV beer with slight tartness and apple aroma sounds really nice to me.
Any feedback would be greatly appreciated.