Spices

Hi. This is my first post on here but have been lurking in the shadows for a couple years. Lots of great info here. I've been making cider about a year now and really like how it's turned out. I'm want to make a spiced cider. What is a good starting amount for 5 gal. Cinnamon, clove, allspice.

Well, in the beer world, I would say start with a tablespoon and perhaps don't favor the cinnamon over the others because that is a strong flavor. You can do equal teaspoons of all three or you can favor one over another. I'm assuming cider is similar. But you could do two tablespoons if you're feeling sassy.

I will be boiling whole spices in a simple syrup made of brown sugar and then adding it to my cider.

Smart move to use whole/cracked spices, the powdered ones are messy & cannot be removed without filtration. I get better results by putting my spices in a hop sack along with a couple of marbles to weigh it down, and suspend it in the carbouy with fishing line (sanitized of course).

I tried boiling caraway in water & adding that, but it was much more bland than I thought it would be. I used 1/4 as much in the hop[sack & got 10 times the caraway flavour.

All that being said, I'd start with 2 of each spice & go from there. Clove & allspice are going to be the strongest of the 3 spices & will likely dominate. You might want to increase the cinnamon, depending on the flavour profile you're shooting for.
Regards, GF.

Gartus thank. I might have to try the hop sack. I guess you just taste it ever so often until it where you want.

mike3505 said:

Gartus thank. I might have to try the hop sack. I guess you just taste it ever so often until it where you want.

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That's exactly how I do it. The longer you leave the spices in, the more flavour you get out of them. Depending on the spice, I usually start tasting about 2 weeks, but I've waited as long as a month to taste. Taste more frequently as you get closer to the desired flavour profile.
Regards, GF.

GF I went with the hop sack with cinnamon and cloves. I backed sweeting with ajc and bottled today. The flavor is great just a hint of the spices.
Thanks for the info.

So ground spices won't settle with other solids on carboy bottom with time?