Dave's Carmel Apple Cider

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that post was a little hard to understand, I was referring to this as the "original" recipe.

Manco,

Check the date of the very first posting as compared to the one you reference. This is the "original" recipe.
 
:) oops, guess I need to lay off the cider while trying to read the posts on my phone. My apologies Manco.
 
Been reading another post where they're using Brett to ferment the cider and coming up with some great flavors... Has anyone here tried this? I'm thinking of trying a Brett with this recipe in lieu of Notty and see what it turns out to be... Could be interesting.
 
I say go for it. I had a batch of cider that I back sweetened with red hots. It was too sweet so I used some wit beer yeast to dry it out. It was interesting. But I won't do it again. 1 gallon batches are great for new ideas.
 
im thinking of brewing a version of this. maybe cutting the caramel and cinnamon by half and throwing 2 split vanilla beans in the secondary. Also im going to ferment with Pacman as opposed to the notty.

im thinking this is gonna be goooooood!
 
I'm having a hard time locating the dextrose. Does anybody know if another kind of sugar could be substituted in its place?
 
RJ15092 said:
I'm having a hard time locating the dextrose. Does anybody know if another kind of sugar could be substituted in its place?

You can use corn sugar or dme from your LHBS
 
Ok and I take it that it turned out fine?

Yeah I've done the same as Clifton. I generally substitute white table sugar in most of my recipes if I'm out of corn sugar. It just takes a little longer to break it down is all.
 
I would like to make this a still cider. If I add my k sorbate just before I bottle, like with wine, it wont carb and I wont have bottle bombs, correct?? Also, would I add my syrup right from the start or would I wait til I rack to a secondary?....still new to this and would like any direction you could give me on making this a still, SAFE cider lol
 
Add your k sorbate and k meta. Wait a few days. Add your syrup then bottle.
 
I don't understand how to campden tablets prevent bottle bombs if they don't inhibit or kill the yeast...


Well I guess this is the answer I found in one of relic's posts:

"Wine yeasts are very hearty and will eat every bit of sugar and make bombs in any normal bottle. The Nottingham can only withstand so much pressure and co2 content before it will die."

If I bottle this with us-05 in champagne bottles with a ton of sugar will it carb until the yeast die? so it would be carbed and also give me sweetness as well?
 
I don't understand how to campden tablets prevent bottle bombs if they don't inhibit or kill the yeast...

Well I guess this is the answer I found in one of relic's posts:

"Wine yeasts are very hearty and will eat every bit of sugar and make bombs in any normal bottle. The Nottingham can only withstand so much pressure and co2 content before it will die."

If I bottle this with us-05 in champagne bottles with a ton of sugar will it carb until the yeast die? so it would be carbed and also give me sweetness as well?

No, the bottles will not explode for say but when you open the bottle you will end up with only a half of the original product as it will become a geyser. Campden prevents "wild yeast" from growing is all, which can become common especially in fruit juices.
Best method I have found is to skip the K sorbate add the syrup and additional concentrates, the campden, then bottle and let the bottles sit in a location between 68-72 degrees for 6-7 days....at 6 days crack a bottle to see if its carbonated enough for your liking.... if so, I suggest you check out Stove Top Pasteurization or like in my case I have a Bosch dishwasher that gets really hot, so after a week I stick the bottles in the dishwasher without detergent and let it cook the bottles. Heat is the on,y surefire way to kill the yeast and still maintain a naturally carbonated beverage.

Also, I did find out the hard way that even Notty in a regular bomber beer bottle will explode and/or make geysers.
 
Hey this is a terrific recipe! I've brewed this a few times and is a favorite among my friends. Easy to make. My only comment was that it was a bit more sweet than preferred. So in an attempt to make it more semi sweet I changed the yeast to White Labs English Cider Yeast. (YLP775) and used 3 cans of concentrate instead of 5. The cinnamon flavoring works very well.

I give this two thumbs up!
 
Thanks for the recipe. This is the first thing I've made that justifies my brewing hobby to my wife.

I bottled in 16oz PETs to avoid bottle issues with over carbonation and haven't had a problem...yet.

After bottling, I let them sit in the dark at room temperature for about a week until the bottles started to firm up, then I threw them in the freezer for a few hours, and then transferred them into the fridge.

Can't really add anything else to what's been posted so far, but I will confirm that if you follow the original instructions, you'll get a mighty fine cider.
 
Hey this is a terrific recipe! I've brewed this a few times and is a favorite among my friends. Easy to make. My only comment was that it was a bit more sweet than preferred. So in an attempt to make it more semi sweet I changed the yeast to White Labs English Cider Yeast. (YLP775) and used 3 cans of concentrate instead of 5. The cinnamon flavoring works very well.

I give this two thumbs up!

Yeah, the original version is very sweet! The English cider yeast you are using will make it a little more dry, which some prefer... I've toned mine down a bit on the syrup and concentrates as well, they're a hit especially with the summer BBQ's.
 
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Fellow cider-lovers,

I have read hundreds of posts on a dozen different threads, but I still come away confused about how to proceed with my first batch of cider. I am sincerely hoping you can give me a little clarity about my situation.
I would like to make 5 gallons of this recipe. I have a keg, and plan to force carb. Things that have me confused include: campden, or no? phosphate or no? when to add syrup mixture?

Thanks in advance for your help. I'm really looking forward to this project on Saturday.

~B
 
Fellow cider-lovers,

I have read hundreds of posts on a dozen different threads, but I still come away confused about how to proceed with my first batch of cider. I am sincerely hoping you can give me a little clarity about my situation.
I would like to make 5 gallons of this recipe. I have a keg, and plan to force carb. Things that have me confused include: campden, or no? phosphate or no? when to add syrup mixture?

Thanks in advance for your help. I'm really looking forward to this project on Saturday.

~B

I've made this cider twice. I love it. I used campden and phosphate. I put the syrup in before I force carb it. Now I think I'm actually screwing up there, when I go to bottle gun it out I always get a cup full of yuck syrup that I toss, but the cider has the nice syrup flavor. I also had a heck of time getting it carbed, took about 4 weeks at 25-35psi so next time I'm going to back sweeten it less by making a weaker syrup.
 
Hey guys! Newbie here. I just made this cider in a gallon batch with Notty yeast and I love the color and taste. Can't wait to see how it goes once bottle carbing for a bit, pasteurizing, and conditioning. But a question - is there anyway to break down the cinnamon for the future? I don't have the globs of syrup problem, but there are a bit too many specks of cinnamon for my preference. I'd love to get it a bit smoother without sacrificing that wonderful cinnamon taste.

caramelapplecider1.jpg
 
IMO cinnamon will only really break down under boil, very hard to get into solution otherwise. So you could boil some water toss in the cinnamon, wait for chill and pitch it in, perhaps even at bottle time.
 
Hello all,

First off thank you for such a thorough job on everything you all do on this site, it's a great resource for a learning brewer.
I want to brew this hard cider recipe in the next week or so and i have had a lot of thoughts and potential changes to the recipe thrown at me through reading this thread. Some things I am still unclear on however, and I'll be honest, feeling slightly lazy to go through and read all 19 pages of comments/suggestions.
Anyways, i am hoping to lay out my plan for brewing here and get feedback as to that, as well as answer a few specific questions.
I plan to brew this and add the recommended campden tablets, but also the potassium sorbate because i plan to keg and carb it that way using the set it and forget it method to help with aging also. Wanted to be sure this was the recommended or suggested procedure for kegging this recipe.
Also, for stopping the congealed cinnamon syrup, has anyone developed a strategy besides shaking up the keg every couple days.
Next would be, i have seen a lot of folks saying this is a very sweet recipe, i am not looking for a very sweet cider. I enjoy very much the taste of Woodchuck cider and also Angry Orchard if anyone has tried or heard of them and can compare i would appreciate it. And if anyone has a suggested change or alteration for reducing the sweetness I'd love to hear it.
Lastly, I plan to use Safeale US-05 yeast due to the lack of Notty at my LHBS, i suspect this will add a litte sweetness but just wanted to be sure that it was a reasonable move and wouldn't give any drastic taste changes.
That's about it, i greatly appreciate any advice. Thanks again.
 
Hey guys! Newbie here. I just made this cider in a gallon batch with Notty yeast and I love the color and taste. Can't wait to see how it goes once bottle carbing for a bit, pasteurizing, and conditioning. But a question - is there anyway to break down the cinnamon for the future? I don't have the globs of syrup problem, but there are a bit too many specks of cinnamon for my preference. I'd love to get it a bit smoother without sacrificing that wonderful cinnamon taste.

Gentlemen,
The way I've been doing it is, if you have a Starbucks nearby go in and buy a bottle of their Cinnamon Dolce syrup. Its already done for you and no visible cinamon flake. :)
 
Make your own cinnamon extract. Put a bunch of cinnamon sticks (snapped in half) in a jar, cover sticks with vodka. Give a shake a couple times a day, in a week or two, strain off liquid and you'll have cinnamon extract...
 
Just bottled and followed the recipe exactly. Forgot to take an OG but ended up with an FG around 1.004, which was deliciously dry by itself. For some reason even though I used exactly 5 gallons of apple juice I got way more bottles of this than any other batch I've done (not that I'm complaining). With the 5 cans of concentrate and 12oz of cinnamon syrup it's amazing even when it's flat, can't wait until it's done carbing. Just wanted to say thanks for the recipe and that it's awesome. :D
 
Hello All!

I'm a new homebrewer, as of this last year or so. I have about a half dozen - a dozen successful brews and a few unsuccessful under my belt. This is my first attempt at a cider. This recipe looks easy enough. I have read all 20 pages of this post but I just have a few noob questions. 1. I don't want a carbonated cider. I prefer it to just be like regular cider. What do I need to do to stop the secondary fermentation in bottles. Is this a strange request? I'm primarily afraid of the bottle bombs I've been reading about. 2. What is all this talk about pasteurization? Is this something I need to do whether I carbonate or choose not to carbonate? If it's needed either way, how is it done, and why?

Those are my main concerns and I can't wait to brew up a batch because it looks so easy and I'd love to give some cider to my "woodchuck" friends. Thanks in advance!
 
If you don't want to carbonate then you don't need to pasteurize. Read a thread on back sweetening and you'll know just want to do with this cider.
 
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?
 
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