Dave's Carmel Apple Cider

CornyKegs 728
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Gerald46 said:
This is my first try at cider and I followed the recipe exactly. The cider has been in the bottles 13 days. Last night one of the bottles exploded in the closet I had them stored in. It scared my wife so bad she wouldn't walk down the hall until I covered the bottles up with a beach towel. Today I took one of the bottles which had been in the fridge for 2 days outside and opened it. The cider foamed out until I poured some in a glass. There was also a lot of floating sediment in the bottle. The cider had a very good flavor but didn't really taste like caramel or cinnamon. My thought is the cinnamon and caramel is in the sediment. I put all of the bottles in wine buckets with lids in case more explode. The cider tastes too good to lose, but I'm afraid more bottles will explode. Is there anything I can do to save it? The campden tablets apparently didn't stop the fermentation. What can I do differently next time?
Click to expand...

How long did you wait after adding the tablets? Did you crush them and use 1 per gallon?

I usually give the tablets 48 hours or so and then back sweeten and keg. I think with bottles I would try to cold crash for a few days before bottling. Just to try and get as much yeast out of suspension as possible. Personally I would not recommend bottling a sweet cider.
 
So I'm looking to make a batch tonight and keg it in a month for the holiday season. I was planning on bottling some from the keg to bring to parties and I was wondering how I should handle the use of campden and/or sorbate.

My understanding is that if I am able to keep the cider cold the entire time then there is no need to use either as the yeast will be dormant due to the cold. But should I add sorbate/campden anyways due to my bottling a few of them? I don't plan on letting the bottles get warm for extended periods of time so should I be ok with not adding the chemicals?
 
You should be fine. However, without preservatives your bottles could explode if someone took one home no knowing to keep it chilled.
 
I just bottled this last Thursday, the 14th. I tried some that night. I could really taste the alcohol. I have tried a bottle the last two nights. I can barely taste the booze and it's such a great flavor! There is a little bit of smoke but not much carbonation yet. I'm wondering if the bottle bomb people just bottled too soon. I plan on cracking a bottle each night to monitor carbonation. If it doesn't get too crazy, I'm sure we'll drink them all on Thanksgiving. It's a great, easy to folllow recipe. I was worried because when I started fermentation, we had a heat spike up to 80 degrees! I was worried about off flavors but it sure seems good. I think I'm ready to do another batch so it'll be ready at Christmas time. Thanks for the great recipe!
 
mrdeshone said:
New to home brewing. How would I pasteurize this and what is back sweeting.
Click to expand...

Back sweetening is adding sugar after fermentation is done in order to have a sweeter product. Search the forum for stovetop pasteurization. There are some good threads that are simple to follow.
 
Clifton said:
Back sweetening is adding sugar after fermentation is done in order to have a sweeter product. Search the forum for stovetop pasteurization. There are some good threads that are simple to follow.
Click to expand...

Thanks
 
Kegging - can I just keg the cider after fermentation and add the Caramel syrup and throw keg in kegerator or is adding the Camden tablets a must? I hope to keep this transfer simple. I understand this could potentially impact the overall sweetness, but seems like extra cost/work if minimal impact.
 
Biergarten said:
Kegging - can I just keg the cider after fermentation and add the Caramel syrup and throw keg in kegerator or is adding the Camden tablets a must? I hope to keep this transfer simple. I understand this could potentially impact the overall sweetness, but seems like extra cost/work if minimal impact.
Click to expand...

As long as you keep the cider cold you don't need the the sorbate or sulfite, but if you let it get warm it will start fermenting again.
 
Tombstone0 said:
As long as you keep the cider cold you don't need the the sorbate or sulfite, but if you let it get warm it will start fermenting again.
Click to expand...

ok, ty Tombstone - that is the plan to put it immediately in the kegerator after transfer and the caramel syrup addition.
 
Question guys,

So I followed the recipe ('cept substituted White Labs WLP775 for Nott) , and 16 days later I've still got krausen..The weird thing is that it periodically dissipates..then reforms. I donno whats up, but should I rack to secondary or just wait it out? I don't have a hydrometer btw (newb), and the temp's stayed around 72.
 
Just wanted to say thank you for this recipe!

I brewed a 5-gallon batch and hauled the whole lot of bottles to a friend's Christmas party last weekend. They were gone in a couple hours.

I didn't have any dextrose, so I subbed AJC to your OG, which seemed to work fine. I also bottle carbed them. The only problem I encountered was that after I put the bottles (with the caramel sauce) into the fridge, some of the caramel and spices came out of solution. It wasn't a huge problem since most folks were pouring it into a cup, but it did take away from the visual appeal of the cider to see some brown gunk floating around the brim.

Will definitely make more of this!
 
Hi all, new guy here. I,m a rookie at making cider but have been cooking for 35 years. I have read through all posts for this recipe to educate myself and take advantage of trial and error problems. There are quite a few people having problems with the dolce syrup not dissolving or separating. A minor correction needs to be made in the making of the syrup....Directions instruct you to bring it to a boil, if you get it that hot you will start to crystallize sugar and get into a soft candy type of sauce that will not dissolve unless heated again. In order to keep this as a water soluble syrup do this...dissolve sugar in water over med-high heat until ALMOST boiling, whisk constantly until sugar dissolves then whisk in cinnamon (adding cinnamon too soon can cause clumping that you will see floating in your cider) Continue to whisk until it reaches a pancake syrup consistency, then cool and store. If you cook until volume is reduced by half as recipe says you may end up with a sauce so thick it wont dissolve correctly. Hope this helps somebody in the future, I will definitely be making this cider as soon as a have an empty carboy !!

ALSO...when adding syrup to batch i would recommend removing a small amount (like 1 gal out of 5) and use this to completely dissolve syrup, then add to the rest. This is not like adding sugar or concentrates, it may take a little more coaxing to get it incorporated into cider.

OK 1 more edit...if you want to eliminate the visible specks of cinnamon use 2 cinnamon sticks..steep in water for 10-15 minutes before adding sugar. All the flavor with no residue.
 
WhySoSerious said:
Hi all, new guy here. I,m a rookie at making cider but have been cooking for 35 years. I have read through all posts for this recipe to educate myself and take advantage of trial and error problems. There are quite a few people having problems with the dolce syrup not dissolving or separating. A minor correction needs to be made in the making of the syrup....Directions instruct you to bring it to a boil, if you get it that hot you will start to crystallize sugar and get into a soft candy type of sauce that will not dissolve unless heated again. In order to keep this as a water soluble syrup do this...dissolve sugar in water over med-high heat until ALMOST boiling, whisk constantly until sugar dissolves then whisk in cinnamon (adding cinnamon too soon can cause clumping that you will see floating in your cider) Continue to whisk until it reaches a pancake syrup consistency, then cool and store. If you cook until volume is reduced by half as recipe says you may end up with a sauce so thick it wont dissolve correctly. Hope this helps somebody in the future, I will definitely be making this cider as soon as a have an empty carboy !!

ALSO...when adding syrup to batch i would recommend removing a small amount (like 1 gal out of 5) and use this to completely dissolve syrup, then add to the rest. This is not like adding sugar or concentrates, it may take a little more coaxing to get it incorporated into cider.

OK 1 more edit...if you want to eliminate the visible specks of cinnamon use 2 cinnamon sticks..steep in water for 10-15 minutes before adding sugar. All the flavor with no residue.
Click to expand...

This is excellent information! Will definitely incorporate next time I do this.
 
Ok so first of all, fantastic recipie. This was my second attempt and I love it!.
Couple of questions for my more experienced brewers.

My first 1 gallon batch I simply racked to a 1 gallon glass jar and placed in the fridge with a crushed capden tab. I made it with actual cider and it was good but.. eh...

Second batch I used aj and followed full recipie but this time no capden tab. Again one gallon batch. Sooooo friggin good!! I fermented for about 3 weeks then bottled. Again, no campden tab or sorbate. I placed the bottles in a room temp closet to carb. 3 days later, I popped one to test carb lvl. Zero carb. I have tested one every day in fear of bottle bombs and still zero carb. Its been 8 days sinse I bottled and still no carb....grrrrr!!! Don't know the og or fg due to a broken hydrometer but deff fermented with a strong and delish alcohol taste.

Anybody have any thoughts as to why it did not carb???
 
Before bottling did you rack to a new container and add the syrup/aj? Then immediately bottle? What yeast did you use?

Sent from my HTC6500LVW using Home Brew mobile app
 
Thanks for posting this one ellicit. This was my first attempt at a cider and it turned out really well. I ended up force carbing and it was outstanding. It took a bit of the sweetness out and finishes clean.


Sent from my iPhone using Home Brew
 
You're welcome sneep. I like experimenting, some turn out awesome and others not so much. This one came from a drink the SWMBO gets at Starbucks "Carmel Apple Spice" so I just asked what they put in it and voila! Now have a great little flavored cider with a kick.

Sent from my HTC6500LVW using Home Brew mobile app
 
Made up some of this last night but bumped the og up to 1.070. Hope it doesn't come out hot. It is for a festival though so a little more alcohol can be fun :)
 
Just FYI, in the "other" Caramel Apple Cider recipe, some folks suggested using cinnamon extract. That's what I do. Theoretically you should only need about 1/2 tsp for 5 gallons of hard cider, but I usually put about 5 or 6 times that much (about 2-3 tsp) since I like cinnamon apple cider. :) Everyone who's tried it loves the flavor when I make it. This recipe and the "other" recipe are virtually identical, so I thought I'd pass along that tidbit of wisdom.
 
Can I just add the campden tablets and potassium sorbate to my keg with the syrup at the same time? Or should I add the tablets to the keg, rack the cider on top of it, bleed O2 and then wait til the next day before adding the syrup? Just curious. What others have done.
 
To the guys that stated they cut the sweetness back a bit: did you cut the concentrate back? Also for the keggers what kind of psi did you use?
 
update. I kegged this on Sunday without putting any campden tablets or potassium sorbate in. Cold temp should be sufficient. I ramped it up for 24 hours on gas at 35 psi. It tastes great. Could use a little more carbonation, but that will come as I continue to age on gas. I made the syrup as directed on the site, but ended up with closer to 20 oz. I dumped it all in for max flavor. I'm sipping this along side some Tennessee Moonshine right now and I'll be honest. I like this cider, but like the moonshine better. Has anyone (southerners chime in) figured out how to flavor something like this to resemble apple pie moonshine? curious. Good work on the recipe though. I'm 1 glass in and buzzing nicely. :mug:
 
Can I skip the cam tablets at the end and bottle it and let it sit a few days to get carbonated? Then stove top pastier ise? Would I have to add more sugar for it carb up properly?
 
Brought a keg of this to a beer festival this past weekend. It was One of the first kegs that were kicked and I got awesome feedback on it. I did change the recipe slightly to bring it up to 9.5% with additional caramel sauce and a cinnamon stick to combat the alcohol, but it was very drinkable and was only a bit hot when I first kegged it. 4 weeks in the keg and it was great. I bet I created a lot of hangover headaches the next day!
 
I have a version of this fermenting right now -- 5 gallons of cider/juice, 4# of corn sugar, and about 3 Tbs of nutrient. I started it Friday night. I checked Saturday morning and it didn't appear to be fermenting so Sunday I ran up to the LHBS and bought another packet of yeast, oxygenated and tossed in the dry yeast. On top of that, I tossed in another tablespoon and a half of yeast nutrient. Now it's bubbling away quite nicely.

When it's done fermenting, I plan on backsweetening with three cans of apple juice concentrate and adding the caramel syrup. As I have mentioned previously, I like a lot of cinnamon flavor, so I'll probably add two teaspoons of home-made cinnamon extract. For my cinnamon extract, I poured some Captain Morgan spiced rum into a bottle of cinnamon sticks. I used some of that for my last batch, so I topped it off with regular rum. We'll see. I may try to do something similar with some allspice or something and see how that goes to try and add a little more "apple pie" flavor.
 
Definitely taste it as you are adding the concentrate. I rarely add more than 2 cans as the Nottingham has only taken my cider down to 1.010 on most occasions.

You are going to be up around 9% or more depending on what the yeast do!
 
How long does this typically take to ferment? Sounds great for Christmas!


Sent from my iPhone using Home Brew
 
Ok Im a newby here and Ive read over this thread several times however Im still not 100% sure what to do next.

I want carb but not bottle bombs.
Im confused on this recipe on if I need to stove past. or not.

If I add the 5 campden it should stop ferm. right?
When the apple conc. is added will that restart ferm?
Or just make it sweeter?

It seems on one thread someone is saying you dont have to stove past (to prevent bombs) it will be just fine....and someone else says yes to past.

Can someone clarify....pasteurize or not?

Im at the point now in the recipe that I need to add the campden and move forward!!!!!

Many thanks!
 
If you want carbonation, do not add campden/kmeta. You will have to backsweeten and bottle, then pasteurize. If you don't care about carbonation, or want to keg, by all means use Campden/K-Meta
 
Thank you all so much for this great advice!!! What a wonderful resource for a newbie crafter... Was wondering if anyone has tried this recipe with a champagne yeast??? If so, any advice/suggestions would be extremely appreciated!!!
 
So does this recipe call for pasteurization then? I know it's a dumb question, but I had to substitute Nottingham for safale-04 and I'm not sure what kind of gravity you're looking at after you add the 5 cans of concentrate and caramel dulce. Don't want bottle bombs. Followed the recipe with 2 five gallon batches with Treetop apple juice, 1.070 OG.
 
Meadiator said:
So does this recipe call for pasteurization then? I know it's a dumb question, but I had to substitute Nottingham for safale-04 and I'm not sure what kind of gravity you're looking at after you add the 5 cans of concentrate and caramel dulce. Don't want bottle bombs. Followed the recipe with 2 five gallon batches with Treetop apple juice, 1.070 OG.
Click to expand...

When I used notty, I ended anywhere from 1.000 to 1.010. I usually sweeten 5 gallons with 2 to 3 cans of concentrate and the syrup. I have a feeling 5 cans would be sickeningly sweet. Btw, I have made about 8 batches of this with varying degrees of alcohol (5.5% up to 9.7%) and never used more than 3 cans.
 
Meadiator said:
So does this recipe call for pasteurization then? I know it's a dumb question, but I had to substitute Nottingham for safale-04 and I'm not sure what kind of gravity you're looking at after you add the 5 cans of concentrate and caramel dulce. Don't want bottle bombs. Followed the recipe with 2 five gallon batches with Treetop apple juice, 1.070 OG.
Click to expand...

Yes, you will either have to stovetop or dishwasher pastuerize, if you dont have gushers yet. If you do have gushers, your only remaining iption is to put it in the cold, 38 deg or so will do, to put the yeast dormant.
 

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