Cider and cinnimon sticks?

I thought about adding some cinnimon sticks to my cider batch today.

I added 7 sticks to 6 gallons.

Will that give flavor to 6 gallons?

Also I added Red Star Montrechet yeast (rehydrated it) and its a creamy layer on top of the cider now for an hour.

I dont remember that happening on the other batchs I made is that OK?

WAY too much cinnamon for my personal taste so if you like it you'll be fine!

The 'creamy' coating is fine - Don't worry.

These cinnamon sticks were super cheap so im assuming they arent as strong.

Hopefully I didnt mess the batch up.... Been 13 hours now and I keep looking to see if its starting to ferment yet.

So in patient.

And hopefully if I secondary it sooner the cinnamon wont affect it too badly.

I didnt smash up the sticks so it shouldn't be as flavorful...

britishbloke said:

These cinnamon sticks were super cheap so im assuming they arent as strong.

Hopefully I didnt mess the batch up.... Been 13 hours now and I keep looking to see if its starting to ferment yet.

So in patient.

And hopefully if I secondary it sooner the cinnamon wont affect it too badly.

I didnt smash up the sticks so it shouldn't be as flavorful...

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Personally, I'd be really careful. Sample that thing with a thief religiously! Cinnamon in that form can remain strong for a long time even though it may appear to have little aroma. Once it sits and rehydrates you will begin to draw a lot of flavor out of that bark! If you hit the flavor with the sample, rack it off immediately. That is how I'd go about it.

Do you think by smelling the airlock that that also could tell you if its getting strong?

It smells nice right now.

Maybe in a few days sooner than id normalling ill secondary it into another 6.5 carboy.

britishbloke said:

Do you think by smelling the airlock that that also could tell you if its getting strong?

It smells nice right now.

Maybe in a few days sooner than id normalling ill secondary it into another 6.5 carboy.

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No. Because taste and smell can be very different things...

Doh, it's early. I reread this and now realize you are just beginning your primary ferment. I would do this....get something long that you can sanitize and take some of those out. Like Caplan said, that amount of Cinnamon is most likely way too much and you are most likely going to overpower the batch. With the way cider is so simple on it's own, most likely any flavor additions are going to be very apparent.

boy o boy thats pretty deep........ I'm not sure what I could use.

Maybe a closes hanger......

Couldn't I just siphon it into a different primary?

britishbloke said:

boy o boy thats pretty deep........ I'm not sure what I could use.

Maybe a closes hanger......

Couldn't I just siphon it into a different primary?

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I had thought about this, but you might have to repitch? I don't know, we need somebody with a little more experience in these matters.

Don't get me wrong, I don't think your idea to add Cinnamon is a bad one. I think it is great to experiment. I just think your amount sounds high and I wouldn't want you to ruin a batch. Unless of course you really like strong Cinnamon flavor.

I do have an extra couple of montrechet? wine yeast.....

With my limited understanding I would believe there would still be a fermentation happening if I siphoned it out of the cinnamon mix........

britishbloke said:

I do have an extra couple of montrechet? wine yeast.....

With my limited understanding I would believe there would still be a fermentation happening if I siphoned it out of the cinnamon mix........

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I would imagine so. :cross: Montrachet, dunno haven't ever used it. I only did one batch of cider, and I used an Ale yeast on it. I have a strong suspicion that you have too much Cinnamon though at any rate...I would consider this a near emergency (not to make you panic ) unless of course they are 1" Cinnamon sticks? I guess that is a good question to ask! What length are they? Common ones are 3" to 4" some up to 6"...could be shorter I suppose too.

You won't stop fermentation if you siphon to a new primary. In fact, if it's early in the fermentation, you don't even have to siphon, just dump it into the new primary with maybe a strainer to catch the extra cinnamon sticks.

That wine yeast will keep on going whether you rack or not. I personally would use 1 or at most 2 cinnamon sticks, and taste every few days and remove them when it's flavored enough.

Lorena

Thanks to everyone who posted in this thread.

I think ill go ahead and pour into another primary just incase.

Ill be getting off work pretty soon here.

Yooper Brewmistress said:

You won't stop fermentation if you siphon to a new primary. In fact, if it's early in the fermentation, you don't even have to siphon, just dump it into the new primary with maybe a strainer to catch the extra cinnamon sticks.

That wine yeast will keep on going whether you rack or not.

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EXACTLY what I'd do! (Although I'd never have used cinnamon in the first place! )

Britishbloke - I'm sure you'll be fine with the cinnamon only being in your brew for a couple of days. It could have been a lot worse........
Cloves.

So a few days back I did empty into another primary.

Those cinnamon sticks sure got bigger. I didnt have to use a cheesecloth as the sticks got stuck.

The next day that airlock was going crazy, I thought it might pop off.

This cider had no krausen at all.

I hear it depends on the yeast you use...

britishbloke said:

This cider had no krausen at all.

I hear it depends on the yeast you use...

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Mine didn't really have anything but a thin foam on the surface.

also this is cheap cider so im sure its that also.

Hey,Kudos on the use of cinimon.I've seen it used frequently in NewEngland hard cider recipes along with brown sugar,I've got a batch finishing off now that called for a few cin.stix. I sampled it during the racking and "holy freekin'wow" pretty taste schtuff there... checked it with a vinometer and it's sitting steady at just about 14 % YAH HOO........ just my 2c. Shane






Primary-Dandelion
Second-N.E.Hard cider
Second-Plum
Second-Munich Lager
Bottled-Strawberry,two other different hard cider recipes.
Up next-Maybe a watermellon wine

lol, I havent tasted it yet. Its still fermenting after 10 days...

I usually dont like tasting cider until its completely ready. Like a month and a half to two months.

Im dieing to taste it.

Im also making a 6 gallon batch of grape juice which is fermenting like crazy.
I havent seen bubbles that big before in a fermentation. Very trippy.

britishbloke said:

I usually dont like tasting cider until its completely ready. Like a month and a half to two months.

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Aint' that the truth! Mine is still just getting to be ready, imo. That's been roughly 3 and a half months.