Dave's Carmel Apple Cider

brazedowl said:

I already have a batch of Edwort's Apfelwein going which is almost exactly the same except no caramel syrup, no extra concentrate, and Montrachet yeast. Can I just add the concentrate and caramel syrup at bottling and get the same effect? I really think it'll be better carbed, but not sure how the yeast change up will affect it. Any thoughts?

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Yes you can the only difference will be the dryness. Using the Montrachet will leave a very dry cider. If you don't add K sorbate before you bottle I suggest you use champagne bottles and can carbonate. Wine yeasts are very hearty and will eat every bit of sugar and make bombs in any normal bottle. The Nottingham can only withstand so much pressure and co2 content before it will die.

Hmm... it tastes amazing. Just like apple pie... but the brown sugar and cinnamon like congealed into snot-looking goopy threads... did I miss a step to prevent this aesthetic abnormality?

Howdy Folks!

I have a bunch of fresh apples that I just picked, and I want to make something similar to this recipe. All I have is Safale S-04... Any thoughts on using that instead of Notti? I also have Red Star, Cote des Blancs and Assmanhausen (crazy name!) Dry wine yeast, but I really don't want a dry, high octane wine. I'd really rather have something a little sweeter with a lower ABV, so I'm hoping the S-04 will work. My LHBS is out of Notti, and these apples need to be processed today before going bad...

Thanks for any advice!
Mike

I think you should be ok, though I am not sure of the differences of Nottingham and S 04. I used s05 once and it tasted very similar to the Nottingham and ended right around 1.010.

D_Nyholm said:

I think you should be ok, though I am not sure of the differences of Nottingham and S 04. I used s05 once and it tasted very similar to the Nottingham and ended right around 1.010.

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I made it yesterday, and I pitched the S-04. I changed it up in comparison to the OP's recipe. I made my own cider with apples from my back yard. On the sugar additon I used 1/2 table sugar and 1/2 brown sugar. Since the cider was homemade I had to boil it, so I tossed some pumpkin spice in the boil. It tasted great, so I'm excited to see how it turns out. When I bottle I only plan on using about half of the concentrate...

Has anyone made this successfully without having bottle bombs? If so, what exact procedure did you use?

Soggyfoot said:

I did not pasteurize but i did use Campden tablets after the fermenting stopped.

Also last night when i opened 2 bottles both erupted with carbonation. Today i opened 2 and they were carbonated but not more than I would expect if I was trying to bottle carb them.

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Did you ever figure out how to make this without it becoming a bottle rocket??

Use WhiteLabs Nottingham. Using Danstar Nottingham causes bombs, dry is notorious for contamination.

Could I make this by substituting fresh pressed cider for the cans of concentrate?

Don't see why not.

Good, I've got about 16 gallons of juice from a honeycrisp tree in the neighborhood and I'd love to find ways to use it all.

I'll add my batch to the thread!

Just pressed about 5.5 gallons of fresh cider from a local honeycrisp tree in the neighborhood. Added 2 lbs of corn sugar and 6 campden tablets to kill off any wild yeast. I will let it sit for 48 hours then pitch Nottingham. I have a packet of danstar but may swap it for another brand. OG is at 1.072.

After 2 weeks my cidar ( I used S-04 instead of Notty) has only dropped to 1.020 from 1.048. I'm a beer brewer, so I'm kind of surprised it hasn't already finished fermenting. I'll check it in a week and see if it drops anymore. If not, I might pitch something else to finish it up.. I just don't know what yet. I have wine yeast and a few strains of washed ale yeast.

brazedowl said:

Hmm... it tastes amazing. Just like apple pie... but the brown sugar and cinnamon like congealed into snot-looking goopy threads... did I miss a step to prevent this aesthetic abnormality?

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Oh noes! I have the same problem!! Haven't tasted it yet, but a lot of my battles have gross stringy floating gunk

Im considering dumping this batch and starting over, but anyone have ideas on preventing this? Everything else went pretty smooth, i started with apple juice with an SG of 1.0064 and almost 2 months later it finished at 1.002.

Well on the upside... you can't taste them or feel them in your mouth. It's just ascetic. It tastes amazing.

I just kegged this. Stirred and shook like mad. Went to take a sample....ALL syrup. Will it mix with time? Shake it everyday? Anyone have any advice?

You mean that stringy goop at the bottom made from the cinnamon & sugar? You can shake all you want, it'll just sink to the bottom again.

So the cinnamon syrup will never mix? Then what's the point of putting it in?

The flavor is imparted from the oils in the cinnamon so it does it's job. and most of the brown sugar dissolves just a small amount is in that goopy stuff.

brazedowl said:

The flavor is imparted from the oils in the cinnamon so it does it's job. and most of the brown sugar dissolves just a small amount is in that goopy stuff.

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I made my syrup purposefully thinner to avoid a distribution issue- has anyone tried this with any success? Still have another week in the carboy before I'll add the syrup.

804Amy said:

I made my syrup purposefully thinner to avoid a distribution issue- has anyone tried this with any success? Still have another week in the carboy before I'll add the syrup.

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I did the same thing, and there is still sediment in the bottom of most of my bottles. Taste wise you don't really notice it, but if you pour it into a glass you can see it.
Would it be okay to add the syrup to the primary and then rack on top of the apple juice concentrate to reduce the amount of sediment?
I'm pretty new to beer and cider making....

Every time I want to impart flavor for an apfelwein or any kind of cider or wine, I usually take part of the base liquid (apple juice, water, etc.) and then make a tea with the flavoring. For example, I take 1/2 gallon of apple juice in a non-reactive pot and place broken cinnamon sticks and crushed nutmeg berries in a piece of cheesecloth. I then tie the sachet and add to the juice, then bring to a boil. After boiling for about 5 minutes, remove from the heat and let steep for 1-3 hours, covered. After that, add it to the must and you should get a really good flavor from it. Of course that is my 2 cents worth, but it works for me

I plan on making a 5gal batch of this cider on the weekend. Im kinda new to this homebrewing thing so I have a few questions.....


Can I use pasterized apple juice for this? I was looking at apple juice at my local super market and it has k sorbate in the ingredients, will this be ok to use?

how long should i let it sit in the primary? How long should I bottle it for?

What temp should I ferment at?

I would like to get a carbed cider, but I hope that I dont have the bottle bomb problem like others on here.

A) Pasturized is ok, that's just heated to kill baddies in the juice

B) K-Sorbate is a no-go. that's what we add at the end of fermentation to stabilize brews and stop future fermentation.

C) Sit in the primary until the SG drop below 1.000

D) Room temp? good question.

E) I have crazy bottle bomb problems going right now. Hence my upcoming "Drink The Cider Party"

Is there anyway to bottle and not get bottle bombs? Alot of ppl on here seem to be having that problem

So, many months after making my batch, here is what I learned:

1. BOTTLE IN CHAMPAGNE BOTTLES! They are built to hold much more pressure and I had no bombs despite having overly carbonated cider in them.
2. Wait at least 2 months (maybe 3) after bottling to let the carbonation settle down a bit or you will lose roughly half of each bottle to foam when you open it.
3. Make more than one batch at a time, it tends to be popular and goes entirely too quickly.

About to make another batch for the holidays. Good luck all.

Cheers,
Cort

I started a cider before I found this recipe...I used Safbrew Safale S-33 Ale Yeast because that is all I had on hand. Any issues or concerns with using this yeast rather than the recommended? Also, if I slightly reduce the syrup and/or concentrate will that reduce the chances of bottle bombs? I have a feeling my wife won't be very understanding if a bottle explodes anywhere near our 3 year old...

JerryMN said:

I started a cider before I found this recipe...I used Safbrew Safale S-33 Ale Yeast because that is all I had on hand. Any issues or concerns with using this yeast rather than the recommended? Also, if I slightly reduce the syrup and/or concentrate will that reduce the chances of bottle bombs? I have a feeling my wife won't be very understanding if a bottle explodes anywhere near our 3 year old...

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I have a feeling S 33 will work fine, but I'm just guessing. I also plan on priming mine differently than the recipe in this thread. I'm going to make a lactose caramel to back sweeten and then carb it up with table sugar using a priming calculator.

just started a cyser yesterday with 2 gallons of pasteurized cider and 5lbs of honey, brought it to a boil and steeped for a couple hours with 4 cinnamon sticks and a couple cloves then pitched a pack of champagne yeast. if the product is dry i plan on adding the cinnamon dolche syrup to sweeten it back up. not sure yet if im going to carbonate or add the syrup into the secondary and wait till still before bottling. OG was 1.122

any thoughts on this are appreciated since i have not attempted a hard cider or cyser before.

I am making an apple cider from fresh pressed apples. I pressed the apples into juice and have added a campden tablet to it. i was advised to add the campden tablet in place of heat pasturizing. I want to follow this recipe, but the campden tab is added after fermentation...can I still use the juice?

JoKoZo said:

I am making an apple cider from fresh pressed apples. I pressed the apples into juice and have added a campden tablet to it. i was advised to add the campden tablet in place of heat pasturizing. I want to follow this recipe, but the campden tab is added after fermentation...can I still use the juice?

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Yes! You can still use your juice. The campden tablet added after fermentation is to make sure all the yeast cells are killed and then you wont have bottle rockets. The campden tablets you added into your fresh apple cider is to kill off wild yeast. So your all good.

Just threw everything in the bucket. First cider attempt
Sure is easier than a 4hr brew day!

I followed the original recipe except that I used Wyeast Cider Yeast (4766) instead of Notty. I fermented at 62 degrees for 2 months before I hit FG 1.010. The bottles were fully carbed after about 4 days after bottling, at which point I did Pappers' stove top pasteurization. The end result is a very sweet, nicely carbed cider. I am a big fan. Alcohol content is pretty high, too, relative to my other brewing experiments.

Gotta say, I love this recipe! Kegged a batch last week and it's a big hit! Only change that I would have made would be to go much heavier on the cinnamon, to balance out the spice against the sweetness and alcohol.
Thanks for posting!

sarsnavy05 said:

Gotta say, I love this recipe! Kegged a batch last week and it's a big hit! Only change that I would have made would be to go much heavier on the cinnamon, to balance out the spice against the sweetness and alcohol.
Thanks for posting!

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That's funny. I actually left out the dolce syrup and just added 1 to 1.5 can of concentrate to the keg (I've made two batches in the past with the syrup). Brought it up to about 1.018 and tastes perfectly sweet for me. And I can't even taste the alcohol! This stuff is dangerous!

D_Nyholm said:

That's funny. I actually left out the dolce syrup and just added 1 to 1.5 can of concentrate to the keg (I've made two batches in the past with the syrup). Brought it up to about 1.018 and tastes perfectly sweet for me. And I can't even taste the alcohol! This stuff is dangerous!

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No kidding! After a month in primary I was down to about 1.000 (SG around 1.090, the calculation was a little iffy), weighing in at ~11%. Leaving out or reducing the syrup, as suggested, may take off some of the sweetness and bring more of the spice aroma out. I was pretty happy about using the fresh, ground nutmeg!

Sounds like an excuse for me to make another batch!

I bottled this in Sunday. The sample I took was delicious! So much so that I started a second batch today! Thanks for sharing the recipe.

Chavi said:

So, I made this recipe. My SG was 1.068 and my FG was 1.010. I made the syrup and kegged it but all the syrup sat at the bottom so when I went to pour a glass, I got nothing but syrup. For those of you who have kegged this, how do you add the syrup without it sitting at the bottom?

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Planning to try this recipe tonight and will be kegging. I am wondering if simmering the syrup with cinnamon sticks instead of ground cinnamon would help with this issue?

Also, planning to force carb and use campden and k sorbate, so I probably don't need to use as much of the concentrate and syrup as the recipe calls for, correct? I want it to be somewhat sweet but not overly sweet. Thinking I can just add little of each until it tastes right to me.

mcshaw16 said:

Planning to try this recipe tonight and will be kegging. I am wondering if simmering the syrup with cinnamon sticks instead of ground cinnamon would help with this issue?

Also, planning to force carb and use campden and k sorbate, so I probably don't need to use as much of the concentrate and syrup as the recipe calls for, correct? I want it to be somewhat sweet but not overly sweet. Thinking I can just add little of each until it tastes right to me.

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I am kegging too... thinking I will start with 3 cans of frozen concentrated juice. Not sure what I'm doing with the cinnamon dolce yet? Maybe I will infuse vodka and add that??

I have found that 1-2 cans is really all you need when you keg. I would recommend to put one in first, shake it up, then taste it. You may be surprised how sweet it already is. I would say about as sweet as a woodchuck cider, maybe just a little less sweet. Though i do have to say this is my experience when i am kegging and start with a 1.010 cider. If you ferment down lower than that with a different yeast (i've used Nottingham and S-05 to get to 1.010) you will need more concentrate.