Caramel Apple Hard Cider

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If you need to give the bottles a gentle turning to mix the yeast and sugar, raise temp to low-mid 70's.
 
Put 3 gallons of this up yesterday. No airlock activity yet but I am getting a bit of yeast bloom on the top so hopefully things are progressing well enough.
 
MidTNJasonF said:
Put 3 gallons of this up yesterday. No airlock activity yet but I am getting a bit of yeast bloom on the top so hopefully things are progressing well enough.
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Are you using Nottingham? I have found that the Notty can be deceptive, producing almost no krausen, but fermenting away just as it should be.
 
UpstateMike said:
Are you using Nottingham? I have found that the Notty can be deceptive, producing almost no krausen, but fermenting away just as it should be.
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Yes Nottingham and it has only been 24 hours so I did not expect a typical beer krausen layer. My OG was 1.072. 3 gallons of apple juice from three different sources and 19 oz of dextrose. It is sitting at 68 degrees right now.
 
Thanks for the time and effort Mike, Im thinking of mixing this up with the following changes:

1. cutting the carmel and cinnamon by half
2. adding 1 or 2 split vanilla beans into the secondary for a few days
3. im going to ferment with Pacman yeast as well

im also thinking of adding about 4 oz of malto dextrine for an added layer of complexity

other then that it will be your new and improved recipe ...

anyone see any issues with the above changes?
 
Just bottled my first attempt at this cider. Hit most of the numbers, juice was 1.050, addedd sugar to mix= s.g 1.064, after 14 days it was 1.012-1.014. Bottled it up with the syrup and 3 cans of frozen juice. My main concern is I've never bottled anything that wasn't finished its fermentation. Was this supposed to be finished at 1.010-1.014 ?
A little worried now that I've bottled my 5 gal batch will be all over my floor when I get home tonight. :confused:
 
Bobbys said:
Just bottled my first attempt at this cider. Hit most of the numbers, juice was 1.050, addedd sugar to mix= s.g 1.064, after 14 days it was 1.012-1.014. Bottled it up with the syrup and 3 cans of frozen juice. My main concern is I've never bottled anything that wasn't finished its fermentation. Was this supposed to be finished at 1.010-1.014 ?
A little worried now that I've bottled my 5 gal batch will be all over my floor when I get home tonight. :confused:
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Copied from the instructions:
"If you are carbing in the bottle, be aware that this will carb up fast (4 - 5 days) due to all the sugar. When it is time to bottle the batch, I highly recommend that you fill and cap a plastic pop bottle (NOT a water bottle) first, and use that as a guide to tell you when it will be time to Stovetop Pasteurize the batch."

Keep an eye on the carb levels. if you didn't use a plastic test bottle, you may have to pop the top on a bottle in a couple days and see how it is going.
 
Thanks for the reply. I did bottle 2 500ml PET bottles and 1 330ml Corona clear glass bottle to help check carb levels. I figured the plastic one should be good and hard and the clear on will let me see whats happening inside. The balance was bottled in regular 650ml brown crown cap bottles. Will be checking them 2 times daily.
 
Had to ask one more thing, since the fermentation wasn't finished, how would you differentiate between the the plastic bottles getting hard from ongoing fermentation finishing or the bottle actually carbing up ? :drunk:
 
Just make sure that when your test bottle is firm you get all your glass bottles pasteurized. The plastic ones can be cold crashed and disposed of properly.
 
So, about 1 1/2 days later, felt a a pet bottle nice and hard, popped open a glass bottle and had a geyser. I was set to do pasteurization this morning but I guess that's out now. Do I have any other options ? Thinking of putting the batch in the garage to cold crash so bottles don't explode, anything else I could try ? Was hoping to store these to be available over the summer coming up. :mad:
 
Cold crash your batch and start a new batch. Quick turnaround is the best thing about making ciders. Consider this a good learning experience.
 
I'll be honest I've done 2 batches, half the first and all the second were still... I didn't pasterize any of them, just cold crashed, no issues to date, I've only had 1 bottle start to carb up and it sat out at about 60ish degrees for a couple days... I didn't really have to worry as my storage area is a temp controlled freezer that I have been keeping between 30 - 35 degrees...
 
I am looking at doing this recipe this fall from fresh apples. I have 65 apple trees on my property. Someone said I would have to know what type of apples I have because only certain varieties will produce a decent cider. Is this guy full of it or is there some truth to this?
 
davebstock said:
I am looking at doing this recipe this fall from fresh apples. I have 65 apple trees on my property. Someone said I would have to know what type of apples I have because only certain varieties will produce a decent cider. Is this guy full of it or is there some truth to this?
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There's truth. Most of our apples are "eating" vs cooking/baking/cider here in the us. Real cider apples out of, say, the UK, are different varieties. That's why the cider out of the UK, in my opinion, is far better than what we have here.

But, everyone's tastes are different!
 
I may have to try a batch just to see what comes of it. As long as I can crush/press without investing in equipment. If it works out, I can make a whole lot of cider off of 65 trees for the price of yeast.
 
Guys make sure to check your labels on the concentrate because the one I added had preservatives and killed my yeast. So that explains why my cider never carb'ed up. Its still good though and everyone likes it. Oh well you live and you learn.
 
USM, I just started this today and I made my Carmel syrup now instead of later. My question is my syrup doesn't seem to have mixed proper. I have a sugar gel that sits in some of the remaining water and the cinnamon is strong. Will the constancy not matter and the cinnamon mellow out when mixed with the cider. Or is this all normal?
 
thejudge said:
USM, I just started this today and I made my Carmel syrup now instead of later. My question is my syrup doesn't seem to have mixed proper. I have a sugar gel that sits in some of the remaining water and the cinnamon is strong. Will the constancy not matter and the cinnamon mellow out when mixed with the cider. Or is this all normal?
Click to expand...

I made my syrup last week and the cinnamon aroma was very strong. I double the remaining ingredients to get a double batch at half the cinnamon amount. The final syrup product smelled really nice with the cinnamon not being so overpowering but when I mixed it into the cider, the cinnamon flavour was all but lost.
 
So the cinnamon will mellow out ok then, but did you have a problem with the syrup like I did?
 
Also has anyone played with adding more dextrose in the beginning? My juice started the same as USM, sg was 1.051 and I added the 2lbs of sugar and got 1.069. I wanted more alcohol so I added another lbs of sugar and got a og of 1.75. I figured with a target gravity if 1.10-1.015 I should get around 7.5-8%
 
thejudge said:
So the cinnamon will mellow out ok then, but did you have a problem with the syrup like I did?
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My syrup itself was consistent but sat on bottom of brew, took some gentle mixing to get it into the brew solution.

I only reduced the syrup mixture recipe to about 400mL (2 cups sugar, 2 cups water reduced to 400mL).

I racked from primary onto the syrup then racked that into bottling bucket to help mix it too.
 
Just bottled my first batch of this 2 says ago and have 2 comments...

First, had no trouble mixing the syrup, but I kept it and the aj concentrate mixed together and warmish on the stove(110-120f)...little gentle stirring after racking to the bottling bucket and it mixed perfect

Second, the SG in the recipe I think is misleading some people, being a cider with nothing but simple sugars it will ferment down to 1.000 or below(mine was 0.999), but my back sweetening took it back up to 1.011...when you are calculating the ABV it is with the pre back sweetening numbers
 
Made this once so far. Mine has been in bottles about 2 weeks now, stove top pasteurized 4 days after bottling. I used 3 cans of aj and syrup to back sweeten. It tastes like a run of the mill cider to me, I don't get any of the caramel taste.

I think I'll give it another try and increase the amount of cinnamon, sub 1 lb of dextrose for brown sugar, add a bit of honey to the mix and use some washed wyeast 1272 that I have on hand.
 
Spinrathen said:
Made this once so far. Mine has been in bottles about 2 weeks now, stove top pasteurized 4 days after bottling. I used 3 cans of aj and syrup to back sweeten. It tastes like a run of the mill cider to me, I don't get any of the caramel taste.

I think I'll give it another try and increase the amount of cinnamon, sub 1 lb of dextrose for brown sugar, add a bit of honey to the mix and use some washed wyeast 1272 that I have on hand.
Click to expand...

When you were bottling was any of the syrup left at the bottom? My first time doing this I had the same issue but noticed a lot of the syrup hadnt mixed in. So my 2nd time I slowly stirred the mixture in the bottling bucket the whole time I was bottling
 
I didn't notice if so, so I tend to think not but anything is possible. I'll keep a better eye on it next time.
 
I just kegged this and the first glass had some syrup in it so i am gonna leave it warm and shake it occasionally to mix. I should have left it warm and mixed it in, i dont think there would have been any problem.
 
Judge, I didn't add extra dextrose but I did put an extra fajc at the begining, and ended up around 9% final ABV...
 
I have completed this recipe and added the 5 camden tablets to stop fermentation and bottle as still cider. It's been 15 days in the bottle and my 1st popped top is carbonated?

Should I be worried about bottles exploding or is the carbonation after bottling normal?
 
Sorry to hijack, but I make my cider from a local mills' cider. If you're ever in northeast PA, shoot me a pm. They're only open in the summer through thanksgiving though.
 
Johny123472 said:
I have completed this recipe and added the 5 camden tablets to stop fermentation and bottle as still cider. It's been 15 days in the bottle and my 1st popped top is carbonated?

Should I be worried about bottles exploding or is the carbonation after bottling normal?
Click to expand...

Camden alone won't kill the yeast. You need sorbate also. If possible put them all in the fridge.
 
robbyhicks said:
Judge, I didn't add extra dextrose but I did put an extra fajc at the begining, and ended up around 9% final ABV...
Click to expand...

What is fajc? And once I hit my target fg I figured I'd have the same around 8.5-9%.
 
Ah, I see now. I didn't think to try that just cause most the flavor would be lost do to fermenting. How did it turn out flavor wise?
 

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