cinnamon sticks

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scottyspohn

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I've already racked my cider in the secondary is it to late to add cinnamon sticks and if not how do I do it and how many do I use for a 5 gallon batch and how long shoud I let or sit for thanks for any help
 
Depends on how much cinnamon flavor you want.
Adding to the whole 5 gallons when you have not done it before is less desirable than if you had divided your batch into smaller amounts (say, 4 liter jugs, smaller carboys, etc) and then added the cinnamon to just some of the batch.

In general, I'd suggest adding about 3 to 4 inches of stick per gallon to begin with ... and soak the sticks prior to adding, in enough metabisulfite solution to barely cover them for about 20 minutes (personally I'd just add both the sticks and the solution then to the cider).
The amount of cinnamon flavor is at least somewhat dependent on that "crop" of cinnamon (this is, afterall a plant product), the age of the cinnamon (how long it's been sitting around) and the thickness of the sticks.
In general, you can always add more if the initial dose does not create the amount of flavor you want ... whereas it is a big pain to try and dilute it out when you have added too much flavor.
Add the cinnamon, let it sit a few weeks and taste ... adjust ... etc
 
Having not done this myself yet I will let you know how my buddy has done it in the past.
He has tried cinnamon in primary before and did not like the taste. It gave some off flavors. He actually prefers adding any spices to the secondary. The first time he just threw them in, racked onto them and got some funky growth. Mold bacteria whatever....Luckily it was only a 1 gal test batch. After that first try he now sanitizes the sticks by lightly toasting them in the oven at 300 for 20 minutes. Then tosses them into the carboy and racks the cider onto them. 1 stick per gallon for him.
Tastes good if you like cinnamon, I prefer cloves and nutmeg.
 

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