Caramel Apple Hard Cider

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willunc2005 said:
Okay, so after I hit the low end of the recommended FG I bottled with the caramel sauce and apple juice concentrate. Two days later I open a bottle to check the carb and I see this "goo" has formed in the bottom of the bottles. I am pretty sure it is the concentrate and caramel separating into the bottom. Is that normal? Will it mix back into solution eventually? Has anyone else seen that happen?
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Sediment will happen when bottle carbing. It is some of the yeast as well, but no worry, it won't kill anyone. If you want, you can swirl around before pouring, but that might make it slightly cloudy. Wait about a month before drinking, and serve chilled, like from the fridge.
 
Here's an update on my latest batch. I checked SG last Thursday, it was almost there at 1.014. Went ahead and racked to the secondary. It was still somewhat cloudy. Checked
SG on Sunday at it was down to 1.006 so decided to bottle. Tasted pretty good before back sweetening. Half of the batch went into 750ml wine bottles for still cider and the other half went into beer bottles to carb up. Stove top pasteurized the wine bottles. I'll check one of the beer bottles at 4 days for carb level. Pretty tasty stuff. Goes down very easy. This stuff might get me in trouble....might not want to share with the wife.
Again thanks USMike for sharing the recipe.
 
fbangie said:
Here's an update on my latest batch. I checked SG last Thursday, it was almost there at 1.014. Went ahead and racked to the secondary. It was still somewhat cloudy. Checked
SG on Sunday at it was down to 1.006 so decided to bottle. Tasted pretty good before back sweetening. Half of the batch went into 750ml wine bottles for still cider and the other half went into beer bottles to carb up. Stove top pasteurized the wine bottles. I'll check one of the beer bottles at 4 days for carb level. Pretty tasty stuff. Goes down very easy. This stuff might get me in trouble....might not want to share with the wife.
Again thanks USMike for sharing the recipe.
Click to expand...

If you think it tastes good now, try it again in a month and let me know what you think. :mug:
 
Will do...I think I'll start another batch in the mean time. I'm thinking I'll change one thing. I'll use an ale yeast and be patient with fermentation.
 
Update...popped open a bottle of the carb'd version tonight the carb level is perfect so I'll pasteurize. If anyone is looking for a good cider recipe I highly recommend this one. Folks this stuff is absolutely awesome. USMike you have a superb recipe. I poured this first carb'd bottle over a couple ice cubes and HOLY POOP...and that's after just 4 days in the bottle. I wanted to get the French Vanilla ice cream out. If I can wrangle it I'll be starting a second batch this weekend. Want to be able to repeat. Thanks again USMike.
 
That sounds like a great recipe. Im going to give it a shot this weekend. Ive never made cider or beer before so this will be my first go around with carbonation. Ive done a few fruit wines on my own, a really good raspberry mead, and a couple wine kits. I really want to brew and bottle a good carbonated beverage. But im a little intimidated by the whole process, bottle bombs etc. Ive read this thread probably 20 times, as well as the home pasturization method, also located in the forum. Wish me luck, any tips, or experience tricks would certainly be appreciated.
 
You only ferment this for 24 hours before you bottle? Or am I very confused by this?
 
ezbonzo01, How you doing on your first batch? Took a few bottles of both carbed and still to the family Easter get together and it went over big. The consensus was in favor of the still version. Getting a delayed start on my second batch. Will start this weekend keeping everything the same except I'll use Nottingham Ale dry yeast instead of wine yeast.
 
Starting my first batch this Sunday and I can't wait! I was thinking about not carbonating and putting it in nice wine bottles for Christmas presents.
 
SirElven said:
Starting my first batch this Sunday and I can't wait! I was thinking about not carbonating and putting it in nice wine bottles for Christmas presents.
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You might want to consider doing that to your 4th or 5th batch, this will not last until Christmas. Not because it will go bad, but because you will drink it all long before then. :D
 
fbangie said:
ezbonzo01, How you doing on your first batch? Took a few bottles of both carbed and still to the family Easter get together and it went over big. The consensus was in favor of the still version. Getting a delayed start on my second batch. Will start this weekend keeping everything the same except I'll use Nottingham Ale dry yeast instead of wine yeast.
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I didn't end up starting it yet. Im leaving for vacation tuesday, i was afraid i wouldn't have time to complete it before i left. Im going to get on it a soon as i return!
 
UpstateMike said:
You might want to consider doing that to your 4th or 5th batch, this will not last until Christmas. Not because it will go bad, but because you will drink it all long before then. :D
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Nice! I hope it's that good! Thanks
 
I just made a batch of this last night and it is my first time making cider. This morning I saw a decent layer of light sediment at the bottom of my carboy, but no airlock activity or visible signs of fermentation. Is it possible the dextrose has settled overnight? I am using Nottingham and ambient temps are around 55-60F.

Mostly I am just wondering if it would be a bad idea to give it a good stir tonight (24 hours since pitching the yeast).
 
Try getting it in a warmer place. If I remember Notties recommended fermentation temp range is 57F-70F. Try to get it between 60F-65F at least. I started another batch this past weekend and pitched Nottie this time around. It started up within half hour. By the next morning the air lock was burping every 3 or so seconds. Mine is right around 72F. I'm on the high end of the temp range. I might be a few degrees too warm. If you can't get the temp up a few degrees let it go. It'll be slow but it'll eventually do it's thing.

Here's the link to Danstars Nottingham page. At the bottom is a link to a PDF spec sheet for Nottingham.
http://www.danstaryeast.com/products/nottingham-ale-yeast
 
fbangie said:
Try getting it in a warmer place. If I remember Notties recommended fermentation temp range is 57F-70F. Try to get it between 60F-65F at least. I started another batch this past weekend and pitched Nottie this time around. It started up within half hour. By the next morning the air lock was burping every 3 or so seconds. Mine is right around 72F. I'm on the high end of the temp range. I might be a few degrees too warm. If you can't get the temp up a few degrees let it go. It'll be slow but it'll eventually do it's thing.

Here's the link to Danstars Nottingham page. At the bottom is a link to a PDF spec sheet for Nottingham.
http://www.danstaryeast.com/products/nottingham-ale-yeast
Click to expand...

Yesterday when I got home I saw the layer of sediment at the bottom of the carboy is almost fully dissolved, and there is a nice layer of foam and visible air lock action. Thanks for the advice regarding temperature, I can slap a brew belt on the carboy to hit the mid-60s.
 
Stupid question/brain fart (or total malfunction)....WTF is dextrose?! I type it in to all the vendors and NOTHING comes up? I was hoping to buy it and get this moving? I keep reading lots of stuff on Google but it's all about what dextrose does vs where the devil I can buy it and what it would be called on a vendor's site.

I apologize for the probably less than intelligent question.
 
:drunk: where's the little emoticon where the dude is shootin' himself in the face....holy. crap.

my ONLY redemption - and it's a stretch - is that the vendors didn't call it that so I was searching....yeah, i get no excuse. thank you for taking pity on me.
 
Don't see why you couldn't....Strongbow does it. I do wonder if there's an issue with the back-sweetening done with this particular recipe though as you're giving the yeasties lots more sugar to eat at bottling and the plan is to pastuerize....
 
Absolutely you can keg if you want. There's sulfides you can get to kill the yeast prior to kegging.
 
Charlieatthedisco said:
This might be a dumb question but can you keg cider?
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If you want to keg and maintain sweetness I would do the following:

Before backsweetening cold crash if possible (refrigerate for 24-48 hrs) This will get a lot of the yeast to settle out.

Add 1 crushed campden tablet and 1/2 tsp Sorbate / gallon as you are adding the backsweetening sugars.

Transfer to keg, if you can keep it cool it will be more likely not to restart fermentation.
 
roadymi said:
If you want to keg and maintain sweetness I would do the following:

Before backsweetening cold crash if possible (refrigerate for 24-48 hrs) This will get a lot of the yeast to settle out.

Add 1 crushed campden tablet and 1/2 tsp Sorbate / gallon as you are adding the backsweetening sugars.

Transfer to keg, if you can keep it cool it will be more likely not to restart fermentation.
Click to expand...

Is the back sweetening when adding the frozen concentrate?
 
I have a dumb question... Do you physically stir up the cider once it's in the bottling bucket and the caramel concentrate mixture has been added? Or will just dumping it into the bucket and then siphoning on top of it be enough to get an even mixing without aerating so much?
 
A gentle stir should not cause any oxidation. People degas wine all the time before bottling and that is way more aggressive than a gentle stir would be.
 
You definitely want to stir well. Just don't splash.
You want to make sure the syrup is completely dissolved so all your bottles all have even amount of sugar. If your syrup is laying on the bottom of the bucket you will have some flat bottles and some over carbed ones.
 
Your caramel recipe bailed me out after I slacked on racking a "very similar primary" as in your recipe. I caught it a couple days too late and was drier than I'd normally let it go. But that's where Upstate Mike's Caramel Syrup turned things around! And yes, I had to bust out the calculator since I was only dealing with 2 gallons;) Thanks for the Caramel recipe that brought my stuff back to life in a big way!
 

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