Caramel Apple Hard Cider

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Got to this thread late. I am not a cider maker so here is my question. If I use the camden tabs to stop fermentation and plan to force cab in keg, once carbed can I then bottle from keg without the worry of bottle bombs? I would think yes, but figured better to check.
 
bferullo said:
Got to this thread late. I am not a cider maker so here is my question. If I use the camden tabs to stop fermentation and plan to force cab in keg, once carbed can I then bottle from keg without the worry of bottle bombs? I would think yes, but figured better to check.
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That's similar to what I did. Except you'll want to use sorbate AND campden tabs (kmeta). And make sure you don't try to stop an active fermentation with them. Let it run dry and then add the sorbate and kmeta, back sweeten, wait a couple days to make sure fermentation didn't kick off again, then keg and bottle.
 
chadkarol said:
About two weeks into repitching, and it did referment, and it's down to the sweetness I like, and so I'm good. Whew. Thought I had to throw out a batch.
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Well that's great! And now u have got a bigger "kick" as well! Lol
 
Just on my first batch debating on doing this, I went with red star champagne yeast for the current batch, would that work with this recipe or should I just wait till my carboy is free and start a batch with the Nottingham?
 
So this is my third batch of this cider. It's been in the fermenter 14 days. Pulled the lid off to look and there is a thick bubbly mess on top. Checked the SG 2 days ago, and it was 1010 with the bubbly mess on top.

Not sure what to do at this point.

My two other batches didn't have the layer on top after two weeks.
 
YouGotRobes said:
Just on my first batch debating on doing this, I went with red star champagne yeast for the current batch, would that work with this recipe or should I just wait till my carboy is free and start a batch with the Nottingham?
Click to expand...

I wouldn't recommend a champagne yeast. Nottingham, or maybe Safale S0-4.
 
UpstateMike said:
I wouldn't recommend a champagne yeast. Nottingham, or maybe Safale S0-4.
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I used champagne yeast for my batch. I will definitely use something else next time. I like champagne yeast for some things, but I don't think it works well with this.
 
UpstateMike said:
Hopefully you didn't warm it too much and kill the yeast.
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No, it was not even very warm. It was maybe 80 degrees if that. Looked like it was doing it's thing before I dumped it in. It's been about 30 hours. Tomorrow morning I will check on it.

Sfgoat, I put some nutes in there when it was started. :ban:
 
Alright. My hound put his neck through the dog gate(and got stuck) to sniff what was coming out the closet under the steps where I'm keeping my cider. Opened the door and there is a nice sweet fresh dough smell in there. Still no airlock activity, but the smell is delicious and I am thinking the yeast is doing something.
 
RebelliousVanilla said:
Alright. My hound put his neck through the dog gate(and got stuck) to sniff what was coming out the closet under the steps where I'm keeping my cider. Opened the door and there is a nice sweet fresh dough smell in there. Still no airlock activity, but the smell is delicious and I am thinking the yeast is doing something.
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I was told not to expect a heavy krausen with cider and notty. I pitched mine 12-14 hours ago and have a light froth, but I had that from shaking the ciders as I mixed maple syrup in the gallons at the end anyway. So, I gave it a stir, and got a bunch of bubbles out of the airlock. None before or after. Not that that matters much, but I was glad to see the cider was blanketed in CO2 considering I had just swirled it. Take a reading, that's the only way to know.

I was unsure if the sediment on the bottom of mine was from the pressed cider or flocculated yeast. When I swirled it, I could tell it was yeast that was flocculated. I would wager it's further ahead than you think.
 
Oh and, I didn't use nutrients. It was at 1.055 after mixing the syrup, I didn't see the need to add nutes, use 2 packs, or use champagne... Maybe I should have. I wasn't really surprised though, apples are fructose and maple syrup is 60%sucrose 40% water, so it's a complex diet compared to maltose. I also proofed the yeast in 80 or so degree water. I always do that with dry yeast. I pitched it when cider was at 63-64, yeast was within 15 degrees. Fermenting at 64, give or take now. Just for reference.. I used flash pasteurized (6 seconds at 160) sweet cider from a very good local farm.
 
I'm considering using a sealed 32 oz container of maple syrup instead of 2 cups water and 2 cups light brown. It should be pretty close to the same amount of sucrose, with no molasses obviously. I would suspect the taste will be different though, not just from the maple but from the sucrose not being crystallized.
 
cervid said:
I was told not to expect a heavy krausen with cider and notty. I pitched mine 12-14 hours ago and have a light froth, but I had that from shaking the ciders as I mixed maple syrup in the gallons at the end anyway. So, I gave it a stir, and got a bunch of bubbles out of the airlock. None before or after. Not that that matters much, but I was glad to see the cider was blanketed in CO2 considering I had just swirled it. Take a reading, that's the only way to know.

I was unsure if the sediment on the bottom of mine was from the pressed cider or flocculated yeast. When I swirled it, I could tell it was yeast that was flocculated. I would wager it's further ahead than you think.
Click to expand...

I ended up opening the bucket to take a look and it started bubbling like crazy so I closed it back up. Now there is some airlock action. Yay! I love the smell too. To me it smells like sweet dough....for now. Thanks guys for the quick responses.
 
cervid said:
I'm considering using a sealed 32 oz container of maple syrup instead of 2 cups water and 2 cups light brown. It should be pretty close to the same amount of sucrose, with no molasses obviously. I would suspect the taste will be different though, not just from the maple but from the sucrose not being crystallized.
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REAL maple syrup? Or that 2% stuff with a bunch of other poo in it (yes, I use it)? I think the additional ingredients of your "standard" pancake syrup would be bad. But if you use the pure stuff, it could be really good. Or just use corn syrup instead?
 
REAL, Michigan, maple syrup. The stuff that costs 14 dollars for 32 oz's. The stuff that says Ingredients:Maple Syrup on it.

I had it, so I wanted to try it. You could barely taste it when I checked the OG. So, I depending on taste I may or may not use it before bottling. I am also considering using vanilla extract with the cinnamon whether or not I do the brown sugar addition. I don't know if you guys were adding extract to the mix before boiling, but I would add it after. That's how you add it in baking as the boil will drive off a lot of flavor and aroma. The extract shouldn't boil.

I'll post how it is. But, I think the vanilla might take it up a notch and vanilla is used in most all recipes you bake apples with it seems. If 1/2 tsp cinnamon seems right, I think 1/2 tsp vanilla would be ok too. Or halve both.. I'm not sure.

The thing with maple syrup, from what I've heard, is if you let it ferment all the way out it is even less noticeable and a waste of money. It seemed appropriate for this since It's getting stopped at 1.010-1.014.

Or maybe 1 cup water, 1 cup brown and 16 oz maple and the extract after the boil. I don't know, I'm still thinking about it.. I'm trying to get close to the fall woodchuck. I have some family who love that and would flip out if I got it close at Thanksgiving. I think the fall woodchuck might be oaked, which I don't want to try as I have less time and not enough experience with it. I feel more comfortable back sweetening and using the extracts.
 
Another question I had is, has anyone let this ferment all the way out before back sweetening it? I would think by backsweetening with the concentrate you'd get the apple flavor back plus a little higher alcohol content and a little slower carbonation as well as a clearer end product.
 
Without having to go through 135 pages on this thread I'm going to ask a simple question:

The only apple juice I can find is Pasteurized, 100% Apple Juice From Concentrate.

Is From Concentrate Juice okay??
 
Mcaudio said:
Without having to go through 135 pages on this thread I'm going to ask a simple question:

The only apple juice I can find is Pasteurized, 100% Apple Juice From Concentrate.

Is From Concentrate Juice okay??
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That's pretty much what I use. 100% juice sometimes from concentrate. Concentrate isn't the issue as far as I know - it's the added stuff/ingredients you want to stay away from.
 
cervid said:
Another question I had is, has anyone let this ferment all the way out before back sweetening it? I would think by backsweetening with the concentrate you'd get the apple flavor back plus a little higher alcohol content and a little slower carbonation as well as a clearer end product.
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Yes, I've let this ferment for 2 months before and taken it down to 1.000. Figured I might as well bump up the ABV if I'm going to backsweeten anyway. Turned out great and strong.
 
cervid said:
Another question I had is, has anyone let this ferment all the way out before back sweetening it? I would think by backsweetening with the concentrate you'd get the apple flavor back plus a little higher alcohol content and a little slower carbonation as well as a clearer end product.
Click to expand...

That's exactly what I did.
 
Hey everyone. I have done this recipe twice with store bought juice and the revised process and I was awesome!!! I have a line on fresh pressed cider and would like to try to replicate this using that. Would the cider have enough natural sugar in it to not need the extra, or should I just stick to the recipe as is?
Do I have to do anything to unpasteurized juice before working with it?
 
My fermentation has been going for about six days and it is already time for step two. My og was 1.064 and today it was down to 1.0.

There is a problem. It's my fathers bday and everyone is sick in the house. I need to wait a couple days preferably. Will my cider be okay if I do this or do I need to do it NOW?
 
RebelliousVanilla said:
My fermentation has been going for about six days and it is already time for step two. My og was 1.064 and today it was down to 1.0.

There is a problem. It's my fathers bday and everyone is sick in the house. I need to wait a couple days preferably. Will my cider be okay if I do this or do I need to do it NOW?
Click to expand...

You can wait man. Worst case it's a little stronger. If so, just add a little more FJAC to sweeten 'er up a bit if you find it necessary. I doubt you'll have to though.
 
RebelliousVanilla said:
My fermentation has been going for about six days and it is already time for step two. My og was 1.064 and today it was down to 1.0.

There is a problem. It's my fathers bday and everyone is sick in the house. I need to wait a couple days preferably. Will my cider be okay if I do this or do I need to do it NOW?
Click to expand...

I have let each batch sit for three weeks in primary, fermenting 7 days each at 62/65/68. Ive done three batches, all came out great!
 
Thanks guys :) this is what I figured but it's so much cider I didn't want to mess anything up! I figure it probably still needs to settle too.

I'm so excited. Haha
 
Hello all, just as an update the cider came out very good, not too sweet and could taste the caramel, swmbo liked it. I'm now day 2 fermenting my second batch yay, airlock was already chugging away after 12 hours. I think I like straight up dry cider better since I bottled a gallon before back sweeting and mixing the caramel, maybe I'll do a gallon of carbed dry for this next 5 gallon batch.

My only exceptions were on my bottles, since I used the 32 ounces I was a bit nervous about bottle bombs, long story short, 4 of them broke during pasteurization I tried using the stove top at 180 lost 2 :( I then tried using my dishwasher lost 2 more :..( was sad to hear the loud pop. In hindsight I think I filled them too much, they were filled about 1 inch from the top, maybe 2 inches next time. All bottles so far seem way under carbed, let them sit for 5 days, using pet bottle to feel firmness. Working on making empty bottles for this next round.
 
This is my first try at making this recipe.
I used a gallon of freshly pressed cider from apples I picked,I pasteurized the cider before using it. I used 4 gallons of store bought cider and used the Nottingham yeast. The airlock activity started after about 18 hrs...and its still bubbling every 3-4 seconds after 11 days?
Is this normal?
temperature is about 65 in the room.
Today I look in the carboy and see sediment clinging up the sides of the carboy along the glass rings and theres about an inch of sediment in the bottom.
I've only brewed beers in the past and I'm not used to seeing steady airlock activity for this length of time.
 
skillzman1 said:
This is my first try at making this recipe.
I used a gallon of freshly pressed cider from apples I picked,I pasteurized the cider before using it. I used 4 gallons of store bought cider and used the Nottingham yeast. The airlock activity started after about 18 hrs...and its still bubbling every 3-4 seconds after 11 days?
Is this normal?
temperature is about 65 in the room.
Today I look in the carboy and see sediment clinging up the sides of the carboy along the glass rings and theres about an inch of sediment in the bottom.
I've only brewed beers in the past and I'm not used to seeing steady airlock activity for this length of time.
Click to expand...

Grab a hydro sample and see where it's at. Give a day or two and check again to see if the party really is still going on. I'm bettin' you're slowin' down a tad. I'm assuming the cider's more clear than it was when you put it in? Those proteins from the apples will have settled out with some of that material in the bottom.
 
It seems to have slowed from the first 5 or so days, it was burping every 2 seconds..now its more like 5. And yes it has cleared some...I took a reading and its at 1.020 right now..will check it at day 14 and see if its finishing.
 

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