Gitmoe
Well-Known Member
Good luck man! When you said you read all 88 pages today I almost fell over. I need to make another batch of this soon. Not that I don't have enough cider sitting around my house already...
Caramel Apple Hard Cider
- Thread starter UpstateMike
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Good luck man! When you said you read all 88 pages today I almost fell over. I need to make another batch of this soon. Not that I don't have enough cider sitting around my house already...
DougK
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FYI there is an updated recipe on page 42.
It really only changes the number of Apple juice concentrate cans to 3 and changes the syrup instruction so you don't boil it as much. It also clarifies the usage of the campden tablets.
DougK
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Whoops, my phone got me too. I didn't notice that. This is one of my on decks as well.
chuckalope
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I made this per your instructions, it turned out great! Thanks for the recipe!!
MidTNJasonF
Well-Known Member
Put 3 gallons in the carboy on 2/18/13 at an OG of 1.072
Cold crashed the carboy yesterday on 3/18/13
Made syrup with 1.25 cups of light brown sugar and 1 cup of water that I added to the keg.
added 3 cans of juice concentrate to the keg.
Checked the carboy and it was at 1.011 so I racked it over into the keg this morning 3/19/13
Put it on the CO2
The flat and not yet back sweetened sample was pretty nice. Medium dry and fairly crisp. Good apple flavor. Light golden in color, fairly clear. Tasted much like a commercial Cider that I can not remember the name of. It did have a slightly yeasty aroma in the nose but it was from the bottom of the carboy right off the top of the lees so that may have been the cause of that.
Then I pulled a back sweetened sample. I purposely went light on the cinnamon since I am not a huge fan. I may have underdone it a little. They syrup darkened it up to a much deeper golden color. I actually looks similar to many quality pale ales in the glass. Obviously it is sweeter now and the caramel/brown sugar comes through well. A little cinnamon flavor and still a nice apple flavor of course. Lost a little of the crispness I liked from the non back sweetened sample but it not cloying. Clarity is not great but it was just racked to the keg so I imagine it will settle and clear in the next few days. If the cinnamon does not get a little stronger I may open the keg and throw in one short whole stick as a "Dry Hop".
Not bad for a first attempt. I think SWMBO will polish this keg off pretty quick.
Cold crashed the carboy yesterday on 3/18/13
Made syrup with 1.25 cups of light brown sugar and 1 cup of water that I added to the keg.
added 3 cans of juice concentrate to the keg.
Checked the carboy and it was at 1.011 so I racked it over into the keg this morning 3/19/13
Put it on the CO2
The flat and not yet back sweetened sample was pretty nice. Medium dry and fairly crisp. Good apple flavor. Light golden in color, fairly clear. Tasted much like a commercial Cider that I can not remember the name of. It did have a slightly yeasty aroma in the nose but it was from the bottom of the carboy right off the top of the lees so that may have been the cause of that.
Then I pulled a back sweetened sample. I purposely went light on the cinnamon since I am not a huge fan. I may have underdone it a little. They syrup darkened it up to a much deeper golden color. I actually looks similar to many quality pale ales in the glass. Obviously it is sweeter now and the caramel/brown sugar comes through well. A little cinnamon flavor and still a nice apple flavor of course. Lost a little of the crispness I liked from the non back sweetened sample but it not cloying. Clarity is not great but it was just racked to the keg so I imagine it will settle and clear in the next few days. If the cinnamon does not get a little stronger I may open the keg and throw in one short whole stick as a "Dry Hop".
Not bad for a first attempt. I think SWMBO will polish this keg off pretty quick.
janson745
Well-Known Member
Okay, so my quandry is that I would like to try this bad boy out in my keg. 1, because I am new to kegging and I want to put everything in there, and then 2, because my wife finds it much easier to pull the handle than find a bottle opener and pour to a glass 
.
My question is... Would 5 campden tabs be enough to thwart the self-carbonation that will be going on with the backsweetning? I'd like to put it on the gas for about a week and have it constant at serving pressure, and be good to go. What I dont want is for all of those little yeasties to keep doing their job and over-carbing my cider.
Any help/advise is appreciated!!
.My question is... Would 5 campden tabs be enough to thwart the self-carbonation that will be going on with the backsweetning? I'd like to put it on the gas for about a week and have it constant at serving pressure, and be good to go. What I dont want is for all of those little yeasties to keep doing their job and over-carbing my cider.
Any help/advise is appreciated!!
This is an awesome thread; thanks for starting it USMike, and to all the other contributors! Before I found this thread today, I started a cider 12 days ago with 5.25 gallons of Safeway juice and Wyeast Cider 4766 at about 64 degrees. OG was 1.045; 7 days later it was 1.020. My plan is to let it go to about 1.000, back sweeten with the recommended 3 cans of concentrate, bottle/carb, pasteurize, and end up with a nice, crisp, sweet-but-not-too-sweet cider. At this point I think I'm going to forgo the syrup and shoot for a slightly sweeter version of Strongbow. What are anyone's thoughts on opting out of the syrup, or any other details of my attempt?
Update: My cider was 1.003 last night after work. Nice and dry, but still very appley and yummy and yellow with a decent cloudiness. I think I'll put 1 can of AJ concentrate in my bottling bucket and rack onto it, then give it a sip. If necessary I may use 2 or 3 or whatever it takes to get it where I want it (and make swmbo happy), then bottle. I'll fill one 12oz soda bottle and give it a daily squeeze, then pop a glass bottle when the plastic one firms up. When I get a nice pffft I'll pasteurize. Any thoughts? By the way, the full caramel recipe is definitely getting done this Fall!
Update: My cider was 1.003 last night after work. Nice and dry, but still very appley and yummy and yellow with a decent cloudiness. I think I'll put 1 can of AJ concentrate in my bottling bucket and rack onto it, then give it a sip. If necessary I may use 2 or 3 or whatever it takes to get it where I want it (and make swmbo happy), then bottle. I'll fill one 12oz soda bottle and give it a daily squeeze, then pop a glass bottle when the plastic one firms up. When I get a nice pffft I'll pasteurize. Any thoughts? By the way, the full caramel recipe is definitely getting done this Fall!
DougK
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I've got 5 gallons fermenting away. Should be ready to keg in a week.
Now I just have to clear a keg for it.
Bad news is after next week my Keezer won't have anything "ready to go" on tap. Everything will be conditioning.
Now I just have to clear a keg for it.
Bad news is after next week my Keezer won't have anything "ready to go" on tap. Everything will be conditioning.
desrtdwller
Member
So I popped this recipe in the other night and now about 4 days later I am at 1.010
My fermentation room is usually pretty warm, around 74-76. Is this gonna cause me problems? The liquid in my carboy is very light colored but completely cloudy and opaque. I haven't tasted it yet but the speed at which it fermented concerns me though I am sure it is due to the temp of the room I am fermenting in.
I am going to build a son of fermentation chiller soon to slow down my fermentation times....
Thoughts?
~DD
My fermentation room is usually pretty warm, around 74-76. Is this gonna cause me problems? The liquid in my carboy is very light colored but completely cloudy and opaque. I haven't tasted it yet but the speed at which it fermented concerns me though I am sure it is due to the temp of the room I am fermenting in.
I am going to build a son of fermentation chiller soon to slow down my fermentation times....
Thoughts?
~DD
Mine fermented down to1014 in 4 days at about 24-25 C (75-77 F). I racked onto the concentrate and syrup and bottled. It carbed in about 2 days and I pasteurised. It has conditioned perfectly in the bottle since and is a quite clear, has a rich colour and tastes great (if you like it sweet).
Swmbo said I should go with the syrup, so I did (of course), and 3 cans of concentrate, which brought me back up from 1.003 to 1.018. Bottled yesterday. Had almost a full bottle left over. OMGAWD is that stuff good!!! It had a little fizz to it already, so the plastic soda test bottle firmed up pretty quickly, not quite as firm as the unopened Coke next to it though (for comparison). Probably pasteurize tomorrow, after only 2 days. Before and during bottling I stirred the hell out of it to keep the syrup suspended; it wanted to settle. I think I got a pretty even mix, tiny bit of sediment and cinnamon in each bottle. Nice golden color! Can't wait!
MisterWoody
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I am in the process of brewing my first cider. I wish I had seen this recipe before I started! I have a question about pasturizing. Can a cider be bottle carbed and pasteurized in plastic PET beer bottles or is there something inherently dangerous about heating plastic? I have not purchased bottles yet but I want to keep it cheap and easy and the liter PET bottles you can find on amazon are tempting. Any feedback or suggestions?
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Excited to give this a try.
OP
OP
UpstateMike
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I would not recommend using plastic PET bottles if you plan on heat pasteurizing.
Find a local bottle redemption center, you may be able to score used glass bottles cheap.
MidTNJasonF
Well-Known Member
Kegged my batch of this a little over a week ago. Finally took it around to some friends for an impromptu tasting tonight. Both of these guys have palates that are pretty well developed and one has extensive judging experience. Both thought it was outstanding, possibly the best cider they had ever had. It is also a huge hit with SWMBO and another lovely lady that sampled some. I think this one is an all around winner.
goteamwhatever
Well-Known Member
I am going to try this for sure but a quick question. Can I use table sugar, pure cane sugar, instead of dextrose and I f I do how much do I use. What's gonna be the difference?
OP
OP
UpstateMike
Well-Known Member
Seems to me I read somewhere that if you use table sugar when the recipe calls for corn sugar, you should use 5% less than what the recipe calls for. So instead of using 2 pounds (32 ounces, 907 grams) of dextrose, try 1.9 pounds ( 30.5 ounces, 862 grams) of table sugar. Just be sure to check the gravity with your hydrometer. Get the SG to approximately 1.065 and you should be good to go.
goteamwhatever
Well-Known Member
OK gonna start a three gallon batch tomorrow. Here is my revised recipe. Bottles of a.j. are 3 qt.
Caramel apple hard cider
Ingredients
3 gallons of apple juice
1.14 lb of sugar
Lalvin EC 1118 wine yeast
Ingredients, Part 2
3 campden tablets (Optional, see notes)
3 – 12 oz. cans of Frozen Apple Juice Concentrate, thawed to room temperature
7.2 oz. Caramel Syrup
Recipe for Caramel Syrup:
2 cups of water
2 cups of light brown sugar
2 tsp. ground cinnamon Combine in a saucepan and bring to a boil. At boil, reduce heat and simmer for about 5 minutes (until volume is reduced to half). Let cool & bottle for future use.
Part 1 (Started ___):
Opened 1 bottle of apple juice, got a gravity reading of ____. Temp is __ degrees.
In a 3 gallon carboy, pour in bottle 1 of apple juice.
Open bottles 2 and 3 of apple juice. Pour half of each bottle into carboy. Add .57 lbs of sugar per bottle to the remaining amount of apple juice in bottle 2 and 3. Shake bottles to mix sugar and apple juice. Pour bottle 2 and 3 into carboy.
Pour half of bottle 4 of apple juice into carboy. Take another sample for OG, get a target reading of 1.065. Open yeast, pour into carboy. Agitate carboy to mix in yeast. Pour the rest of bottle 4 of apple juice into carboy.
Part 2 (In about 14 days): Check for target FG of 1.010 to 1.015
Rack cider into a 3 gallon carboy. OPTION: If you want a still cider, add 3 crushed Campden tablets to the cider at this time. If you want a carbonated cider, skip this optional step. Make the Caramel Syrup and wait 24 hours before proceeding.
After 24 hours, siphon cider into your bottling bucket. Add the Caramel Syrup and the 3 cans of apple juice concentrate while siphoning to aid in mixing. Bottle the cider and enjoy.
If you are carbing in the bottle, be aware that this will carb up fast (4 - 5 days) due to all the sugar. I highly recommend that you fill and cap a plastic pop or beer bottle first, and use that as a guide to tell you when it will be time to Stovetop Pasteurize the batch.
Caramel apple hard cider
Ingredients
3 gallons of apple juice
1.14 lb of sugar
Lalvin EC 1118 wine yeast
Ingredients, Part 2
3 campden tablets (Optional, see notes)
3 – 12 oz. cans of Frozen Apple Juice Concentrate, thawed to room temperature
7.2 oz. Caramel Syrup
Recipe for Caramel Syrup:
2 cups of water
2 cups of light brown sugar
2 tsp. ground cinnamon Combine in a saucepan and bring to a boil. At boil, reduce heat and simmer for about 5 minutes (until volume is reduced to half). Let cool & bottle for future use.
Part 1 (Started ___):
Opened 1 bottle of apple juice, got a gravity reading of ____. Temp is __ degrees.
In a 3 gallon carboy, pour in bottle 1 of apple juice.
Open bottles 2 and 3 of apple juice. Pour half of each bottle into carboy. Add .57 lbs of sugar per bottle to the remaining amount of apple juice in bottle 2 and 3. Shake bottles to mix sugar and apple juice. Pour bottle 2 and 3 into carboy.
Pour half of bottle 4 of apple juice into carboy. Take another sample for OG, get a target reading of 1.065. Open yeast, pour into carboy. Agitate carboy to mix in yeast. Pour the rest of bottle 4 of apple juice into carboy.
Part 2 (In about 14 days): Check for target FG of 1.010 to 1.015
Rack cider into a 3 gallon carboy. OPTION: If you want a still cider, add 3 crushed Campden tablets to the cider at this time. If you want a carbonated cider, skip this optional step. Make the Caramel Syrup and wait 24 hours before proceeding.
After 24 hours, siphon cider into your bottling bucket. Add the Caramel Syrup and the 3 cans of apple juice concentrate while siphoning to aid in mixing. Bottle the cider and enjoy.
If you are carbing in the bottle, be aware that this will carb up fast (4 - 5 days) due to all the sugar. I highly recommend that you fill and cap a plastic pop or beer bottle first, and use that as a guide to tell you when it will be time to Stovetop Pasteurize the batch.
I pasteurized last night, first time ever. A little background: Fermented from 1.045 to 1.003 in 18 days with cider Wyeast. Had a little fizz at that point. Added syrup and 3 cans of ajc and bottled last Saturday (3/23). Filled a plastic soda bottle to test firmness, even bought a new Coke in same bottle type to compare. One day later, plastic bottle about same as after bottling, didn't open glass bottle. Two days later, plastic bottle slightly firm, glass bottle opened with slight pfft. Third day, plastic bottle felt same as day 2, no glass bottle opened (mistake!). Day four, yesterday, (3/26), plastic bottle finally felt same as unopened Coke. Opened glass bottle... gushed all over! Remembered that warm soda sometimes gushes so I decided to pasteurize 1 bottle. Worked fine. Pasteurized 6 more, no problem, then 6 more, no problem. Yes, I was nervous as hell, but my confidence and comfort level were building. Eventually pasteurized a total of 52 bottles, but 2 of them gave me my first lesson in bottle bombs! Not sure how high I jumped, but swmbo cleared the couch by 6". Both detonations were inside my large brew kettle, one in my hand (holding top with thick silicone oven mitt, bottom of bottle blew off underwater), the other blew the top third of the bottle off with the lid closed (thankfully). The caps domed slightly on all of them. Some of them are now in the fridge, I'll test cold carb level tonight. The rest are not, to verify that yeasties are indeed deceased. All else aside, my taste tests so far have been very tasty (in spite of minor syrup floaties)! Bottom line, swmbo likes it!
Post-pasteurization perfection! Perfect "pfft!" Tiny bubbles! Amazing smell and flavor! Many thanks to all who posted, especially UpstateMike!
WannabeBeerNerd
Active Member
Have been enjoying my first batch of this for about 3 weeks and have my second batch cold crashing right now...flat out awesome, but while reading some of the posts about pasteurizing I just remembered what happened last week...had made and bottled my first batch and while bottling, no idea why now, I bottled one 22oz bomber along with my other regular 12 ozers. Pasteurized everything and made the point of keeping the bomber at pasteurization temps what I thought would have been plenty of time, at least five times as long as the reg. bottles...anyway, all the 12s are great, but the 22 apparently didn't die and kept carbing because about a week after pasteurization it LAUNCHED itself off the top of my fridge and shattered on my stove...15 foot radius spray of glass and cider...lesson learned only bottle back sweetened cider in consistently sized easy to measure pasteurization bottles
sathrovarr
Well-Known Member
question about the newer version of the recipe (on page 42): should the whole amount of caramel syrup should be added to the bottling bucket or just 12 oz. like in the original recipe?
I think the original and edited versions say the same thing: add the whole batch of syrup. If you're referring to the "reduce by half" in the original version, that refers to how long you simmer it, not how much you add. He took that out though and said "simmer for 5 minutes." Yes, this leaves more syrup, but it's less concentrated than the original version, keeping the amount of sugar about the same, and it mixes better being thinner. I added the whole batch per the edited version and it turned out great, not at all overpowering. Just make sure to mix a lot during bottling.
sathrovarr
Well-Known Member
OP
OP
UpstateMike
Well-Known Member
sathrovarr
Well-Known Member
Yes, add ALL of the syrup.
Thanks
I have another question.
My cider has been fermenting now for 2 weeks. The OG was 1.045, I didn't add Dextrose because I wanted to save it for my beers and didn't understand what is it good for except for boosting up the alcohol level.
I took a gravity reading today FG=1.022. So I think I will let it ferment for another week. Kind of a bummer since I wanted to take it for a party tomorrow.
Anyway, my question is: had I added the Dextrose in the beginning would the fermentation have been going faster? What is the reason for adding the Dextrose?
My understanding of dextrose is the same as yours: it boosts alcohol. It is also my understanding that increasing the sugar won't make the yeast work any faster, it just adds to their workload. To make the yeast work faster you can increase temperature or add nutrients. My closet stayed around 64F (18C) while I fermented my cider. Week 1 went from 1.045 (OG) to 1.020. Week 2 went from 1.020 down to 1.003. I used Wyeast Cider 4766 smack pack, but didn't let the pack swell before pitching, so it took a day to really get going. I have never used yeast nutrient so I can't comment on that... I would try increasing the temp a little.
sathrovarr
Well-Known Member
The temperature in my basement is 68F (20C),
I've used Safale-04 so maybe they are slower than your cider yeasties.
I've used Safale-04 so maybe they are slower than your cider yeasties.
RosieTheGreat
Member
Yeah i got this recipe going away for about a week now... still very cloudy.
og 1.070, nottingham, 65F. still getting a bubble every 8 seconds. thoughts?
og 1.070, nottingham, 65F. still getting a bubble every 8 seconds. thoughts?
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Don't worry, have a home brew.
RosieTheGreat
Member
Yeah figured as much. Took a gravity reading today still at 1.030. Got a little bit.
SkyeBrewer
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Just made my first batch of this, where's the fast forward button so I can get to drinking this already!?
mhurst111
Well-Known Member
i made 2 gallons of this a couple of weeks ago. FG was at 1.008. I bottled on 3/31 with 1 can of AJ concentrate and the syrup (i did 2/5ths of the ingredients). The taste is fine, but the bottles have not carbed up hardly at all. I have been testing it every three days or so and while i don't mind it with almost no carbonation, i prefer it carbonated.
I don't want to either:
1. deplete this batch with opening 'test' bottles (i only got 20 bottles out of the 2 gallons and have tested 3 already)
2. get bottle bombs
There is a very small amount of yeast settling in the bottles, but no where near what i experience from beer.
The bottles have been sitting in the basement which stay around 62 degrees this time of year.
Maybe bring them upstairs for a day or two before i do my next 'test'?
Any other options?
I don't want to either:
1. deplete this batch with opening 'test' bottles (i only got 20 bottles out of the 2 gallons and have tested 3 already)
2. get bottle bombs
There is a very small amount of yeast settling in the bottles, but no where near what i experience from beer.
The bottles have been sitting in the basement which stay around 62 degrees this time of year.
Maybe bring them upstairs for a day or two before i do my next 'test'?
Any other options?
