Chaos_Being
Well-Known Member
Like many others here I'd bet, I got my first experience in making cider by trying EdWort's Apfelwein recipe. It turned out really well, but I'm one who likes to experiment and try new things, so lately I've been thinking, "what next?" Thus, I want to try to make a sweeter, caramel-flavored cider for my next cider batch.
I already have an idea on how to do this, but to make sure, I've been reading through a LOT of cider threads to see what other people have tried (surprisingly, I found very little about this particular idea.) I saw a few mentions of using wheat malt, which reportedly turned out bad. I also saw a mention of someone using caramel syrup, which seemed to have worked fairly well, but the flavor did not last. I also saw it suggested once to steep crystal, and I found one report elsewhere of someone who did this with great results.
The latter is what I had initially thought of, and which after my research, I am going to stick with as my plan. I'm thinking of steeping some (~2lb) crystal malt (probably a blend of 20 for sweetness and light caramel taste, and 60 or 80 for a more pronounced caramel flavor) in 3-4 gallons of water, cooling that, and adding enough concentrate to go with that amount of water to bring it up to the gravity of normal juice. I'll top it off with bottled juice/cider. For yeast, I'll either use WLP300, or Danstar's Windsor Ale. I want to use an ale yeast to help prevent the cider from drying out, and with the unfermentable sugars from the crystal malt, I'm hoping that it will have a nice caramel, slightly sweet apple flavor (the lower ABV vs. Apfelwein should help this too.)
I don't have the equipment to keg yet, so I'm trying to work around the difficulties of making a sweet-ish, but bottle-conditioned cider. Adding a little lactose at bottling (milk and caramel...sounds good) isn't out of the question either, but seeing as how my wife is lactose intolerant, it isn't that great of an option. I've tried some splenda in my apfelwein, and didn't like the taste.
I'll probably be trying this fairly soon, as I clear up some carboy space (or even sooner, if I just use my Ale Pail.) If anyone here has tried anything similar (or simply has feedback,) I'd love to hear it
I already have an idea on how to do this, but to make sure, I've been reading through a LOT of cider threads to see what other people have tried (surprisingly, I found very little about this particular idea.) I saw a few mentions of using wheat malt, which reportedly turned out bad. I also saw a mention of someone using caramel syrup, which seemed to have worked fairly well, but the flavor did not last. I also saw it suggested once to steep crystal, and I found one report elsewhere of someone who did this with great results.
The latter is what I had initially thought of, and which after my research, I am going to stick with as my plan. I'm thinking of steeping some (~2lb) crystal malt (probably a blend of 20 for sweetness and light caramel taste, and 60 or 80 for a more pronounced caramel flavor) in 3-4 gallons of water, cooling that, and adding enough concentrate to go with that amount of water to bring it up to the gravity of normal juice. I'll top it off with bottled juice/cider. For yeast, I'll either use WLP300, or Danstar's Windsor Ale. I want to use an ale yeast to help prevent the cider from drying out, and with the unfermentable sugars from the crystal malt, I'm hoping that it will have a nice caramel, slightly sweet apple flavor (the lower ABV vs. Apfelwein should help this too.)
I don't have the equipment to keg yet, so I'm trying to work around the difficulties of making a sweet-ish, but bottle-conditioned cider. Adding a little lactose at bottling (milk and caramel...sounds good) isn't out of the question either, but seeing as how my wife is lactose intolerant, it isn't that great of an option. I've tried some splenda in my apfelwein, and didn't like the taste.
I'll probably be trying this fairly soon, as I clear up some carboy space (or even sooner, if I just use my Ale Pail.) If anyone here has tried anything similar (or simply has feedback,) I'd love to hear it