Caramel Apple Cider

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Also, just a thought but what yeast did you use? If you used an ale yeast or something similar it may have reached it's alcohol tolerance.
 
I used Nottingham Ale Yeast.. bottled thursday night. Opened one today to test and there was barely any carbonation at all. I'm going to wait another 4 or 5 days for it to carb then pasteurize.
 
A method that I've seen a lot more people using is while bottling your actual bottles, bottle one in a similarly sized plastic bottle. Pasteurise when the plastic bottle feels hard to touch.
 
This will be my first attempt at a cider, so excuse the newb questions. I kinda skimmed over the thread and didn't see the answers I was looking for. How long has everyone been letting this ferment? 2-3 weeks sound right? Also, how long do you let the bottles carb before pasteurizing? Thanks in advance for the help!
 
A month is quite usual for primary fermentation with ciders. I would leave the bottles for about 2 - 3 days depending on temperature and strain of yeast.
 
So i'm confused. done some brews...no cider yet. You let it barb for a few days then pasteurize. Does the carbonation go away is that why your referring to as a still cider? Our is it still carbonated? Pasteurizing would just prevent it from carbing further....right?
 
Did I do something wrong? I followed all the instructions, and after fermentation got a final gravity of around .998. Taste was dry but quite yummy. I caramelized 1.25L of honey and added. Kegged and carbed and tasted...yuck! I don't know what the honey did but the taste is kind of over-sweet and too much honey? My wife even thought it tasted funny and she likes sweeter ciders than me. I pulled it out of the kegerator for now and I'm gonna let it ferment the honey dry in the keg to hopefully save the batch.
 
About to pitch my yeast on a 5 gallon batch. Is my hydro wrong or should I be reading 1.080!?

Well my hydro is broken now, bumped it with my arm when I was cleaning and snapped it in half. :(
 
About to pitch my yeast on a 5 gallon batch. Is my hydro wrong or should I be reading 1.080!?

Well my hydro is broken now, bumped it with my arm when I was cleaning and snapped it in half. :(

Sounds about right, will not be accurate without a working hydrometer though.

Did I do something wrong? I followed all the instructions, and after fermentation got a final gravity of around .998. Taste was dry but quite yummy. I caramelized 1.25L of honey and added. Kegged and carbed and tasted...yuck! I don't know what the honey did but the taste is kind of over-sweet and too much honey? My wife even thought it tasted funny and she likes sweeter ciders than me. I pulled it out of the kegerator for now and I'm gonna let it ferment the honey dry in the keg to hopefully save the batch.


My recipe only calls for 250 ml of honey. That's probably why it is so sweet! I suggest brewing another batch leaving out the honey and then diluting it down with it. Use a third vessel and pour half sweet, half no honey and then the rest of the no honey into your sweet one would be the easiest.

So i'm confused. done some brews...no cider yet. You let it barb for a few days then pasteurize. Does the carbonation go away is that why your referring to as a still cider? Our is it still carbonated? Pasteurizing would just prevent it from carbing further....right?

I left mine as a still cider, that is the option if you would like to have it bubbly, after pasteurising the dissolved CO2 does not go away. I pasteurised straight after adding honey so there was no CO2 production.
 
Im making a first attempt at this cider... at five gallons.
so far all is going ok. the sugar foamed up when i took an eye off it, but it doesn't taste burnt (tastes like carmel marshmallows :).
 
I have 3 gallons of this fermenting right now. I can't wait until it's ready! One question though. Did you use any priming sugar before bottling? I'm new to homebrewing, so I'm still wotking on getting the hang of things. This is only my second batch. Other than that, it's going great so far.
 
I have 3 gallons of this fermenting right now. I can't wait until it's ready! One question though. Did you use any priming sugar before bottling? I'm new to homebrewing, so I'm still wotking on getting the hang of things. This is only my second batch. Other than that, it's going great so far.

No, he added honey - which provided the sugar needed to carb the bottle once capped. After your bottles carb up at room temperature, around 5 days later (check them by opening them and listening for carbonation!) - then you follow Papper's Pasteurization technique to stop their fermentation and kill the yeast. Age, chill, and serve.
 
No, he added honey - which provided the sugar needed to carb the bottle once capped. After your bottles carb up at room temperature, around 5 days later (check them by opening them and listening for carbonation!) - then you follow Papper's Pasteurization technique to stop their fermentation and kill the yeast. Age, chill, and serve.

Okay. I didn't know the honey would replace the priming sugar. Thanks for the help!
 
I started this cider about 2 weeks ago and I'm going to keep it in primary for one more week. But I'm worried about it. At first the fermentation smelled like carmel apples and semi pleasant.now however it smells pretty awful. It's the smell coming our of the air lock indicative of any issue or should I just let be because ours supposed to be like that.
 
Search the term 'Rhino farts' in the search bar. Completely normal! Just leave it a few more days than normal after fermentation for the yeast to clean up after themselves.
 
Ok - so I thought this was a pretty decent recipe after making it. The 3-week bottling conditioning period was all of my experience with this. Today I cracked open a 3-month old bottle and this stuff has exponentionally improved - and I would now call it amazing. The tiny bit of hot alcohol burn that existed when I first tried it has gone away. oldmate's tasting notes of 'an apple dunked in caramel and honey' is dead-on for what I'm having the pleasure of enjoying now. This will be a repeat recipe.
 
I have a few questions

1. So when i rack this to secendary its only to add the honey and shake then to bottle right i dont let it sit any to ferment longer right and if i do is it still under air lock at that point?

2. ive read alot of stuff on cider making that says to not add additional sugar or honey in secondary because it starts fermentation all over again. Is that why you bottle and plasturize so that it will kill the yeast and stoping further fermentation? I dont have any bottles right now and i have a batch fermenting right now its got about another week to go so can drink it as soon as i rack it to secondary and add the honey and sake and serve in a glass i just wana make sure i dont get sick.

3.im on a tight budget right now i dont wana have to buy bottles unless i have to can i just recycle some bud light bottles and sanitize them and use a capper to reseal the bottles? Sorry these are all such noob questions i really hope to hear some responses
 
1. Yes that's correct, if you want to bulk age stabilise first with chemicals.

2. That is also correct. There is very little chance you will get sick with any brew unless you have poor sanitation. Mould is really the only way you can get sick. I'm not really sure on your question, if you add the honey without stabilising or pasteurising you will just get a renewed fermentation.

3. That is definitely alright, I do it with every one of my brews.
 
1. Yes that's correct, if you want to bulk age stabilise first with chemicals.

2. That is also correct. There is very little chance you will get sick with any brew unless you have poor sanitation. Mould is really the only way you can get sick. I'm not really sure on your question, if you add the honey without stabilising or pasteurising you will just get a renewed fermentation.

3. That is definitely alright, I do it with every one of my brews.

well yeah i was gonna pasteurize the honey then add to secondary like normal and shake then maybe drink half with some buddies then bottle the other half and have for another time and just to make sure on the bottles i can just use regular beer bottles and save the caps and re seal them right i heard i couldnt buy caps to put on my bud light bottles since there a different type didnt know if this is true or not
 
You will need a bench capper to reuse twist off bottles. Wing cappers don't get the job done on these bottles. Pry off bottles are way better, easier to use, and more substantial. They do tend to be harder to come by, though.
 
I assumed that I plan on using the red star champagne yeast. I have been brewing beers for a year or so now and I am ecstatic about this batch of cider. The whole family is I think. Is this better still have you tried it carbd yet. Is it to sweet with the late honey edition?
 
So I saw this recipe and wanted to try it out as my first hard cider. I did change the recipe due to not having enough table sugar. I ended up using half table sugar and half light brown sugar. Here is the sugar during caramelization.


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Cider color during fermentation.

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It comes out quite sweet. If you're a fan of drier ciders than you can just skip the backsweetening step and carb as you would a beer. Looks great Evolcoms!!
 
I've never had a cider so I may split the batch to see witch one I like better. To backsweetin, I'm gong to use some Orange blossom honey.
 
Oldmate....do you remember how long you let it sit in primary? Im going on 6 weeks on the 30th. Im still seeing airlock activity, althought it every 30-40 sec's.
 
I brewed this a while back and left some with my girlfriend. She loves it but called me after one glass of it and she was decidedly tipsy. She was very happy because of the alcohol and very unhappy because she has to get up in the morning and I didn't warn her this stuff is very alcoholic.

Judging by the effect this has had on me I would say it is upwards of 10% abv. Drink it out of a wine glass, not a pint glass.

On the whole it is fantastic.
 
Just started a batch of this (3 Gal.) and used a Windsor yeast. Its a beer yeast and after 30 min it is off and running. Carmalized 4 cups of Sugar in the Raw with 2 cups of brown sugar. Should be interesting to see how this progresses. Thanks for posting the recipe...

Don
 
Well..just started a batch of this. I also added 1/4c brown sugar into my apple juice prior to mixing the caramelized sugars+juice into the carboy. Just for a little added ABV. Pitched yeast at 1.086 SG and using Montrachet yeast. :tank:
Cant wait for it to be finished. If it tastes as well as every1 says, Ill make a ton more in the upcoming months
 
If I accidentally prepped my dry yeast with cold water will it ruin mess it up for fermentation?
 
If I accidentally prepped my dry yeast with cold water will it ruin mess it up for fermentation?

I dont think it will mess it up. Just might take a little bit of time to get started.
Just think, normally the yeast is stored in a fridge, so it will just need to get down to room temp and then it should begin. might take a day or two to get going
 
just took a quick reading to see where I was at after 2 days and its already at 4% with very steady activity...of course I needed to taste-test the sample...and then again when the wife came home (for no other reason than it was really good)...think this is going to be a winner! Thanks again Oldmate for posting this.
 
DaveVanO said:
I dont think it will mess it up. Just might take a little bit of time to get started.
Just think, normally the yeast is stored in a fridge, so it will just need to get down to room temp and then it should begin. might take a day or two to get going

Thanks Dave. Should be fine, have a little activity as of this morning.
 
So I finally bottled this and my wife and friends love it! I'm debating on back sweetening my spiced cider.
 
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