Popular cider add-ins?

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Brewskii

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I did my first cider last fall as an augmented fermentation, bottled, and then pasteurized.
It was awesome fast and easy.

Looking to jazz it up this year and was wondering what all you cider folk think are good add-ins I can throw in the fermenter to give it some character.

Any advise is good. Addition technique info would be helpful. So what have you tried that worked?
 
I am new to cider making. My list isn't very long. So far I have tried the following add-ins with good results.

piloncillo oscura (unrefined dark sugar)
coffee
fresh mango with apple-mango concentrate in the secondary
liquid smoke
cascade hops
 
I've added a cup of cooled, very strong, black tea to my ciders. Gives it a tannin boost. Also, if you're adding sugar, you can dissolve it in the tea when it's still hot.
 
I've been on a quick & easy cider kick this year. Love it... and it fills gaps in my pipeline.

Back-sweetening:
Blueberry-pomegranate concentrate
Mango-strawberry concentrate

"Dry-hop":
Habanero
Serrano
Clementine peel (without the pith)
Citra

I find that the heat of the peppers work especially well with a sweet to semi-sweet cider. Citrus (and Citra) work well with lower ABV ciders (in my personal opinion) and more carbonation.
 
I've been thinking about adding cloves to a test batch soon. Partially backsweetening with molasses is also good. A small amount of lemon and/or lime juice works well.

And of course, my favorite is copious amounts of fresh ginger.
 
I've got a 5 gallon batch on the go right now to which I added 1.5 kg of frozen and thawed blueberries in the primary. I'll probably have to add more blueberries in secondary to freshen up the flavour.
 
"Dry-hop":
Habanero
Serrano
Clementine peel (without the pith)
Citra

I find that the heat of the peppers work especially well with a sweet to semi-sweet cider. Citrus (and Citra) work well with lower ABV ciders (in my personal opinion) and more carbonation.

I would like to make a "hot" cider for some friends who think scotch bonnets are candy. Do you use dried, smoked, roasted or fresh chilis?
 
Some constant comment teabags in the secondary for a couple weeks or so to add a bit of tannin (boil in a tiny amount of water first to sanitize the teabags and then add all of it to the cider) ... frozen concentrated apple juice (FCAJ) to sweeten and add flavor ... and some malic acic (available at the brewers/vintners suppy), carefully "to taste", to make a bit brighter.
 
:smack:
I would like to make a "hot" cider for some friends who think scotch bonnets are candy. Do you use dried, smoked, roasted or fresh chilis?

<snip>
When using serranos, I generally use 2-4 per 5-gallons; habs are generally 4-8, depending on taste and heat of the specific peppers for that particular batch. The sweeter the cider, the more heat I'm comfortable adding.
<snip>

[/quote]

So, I'm going to qualify my earlier statement regarding habanero peppers. TEST your peppers for heat prior to adding them to your cider!

I was originally sourcing my fresh habs from a local store. The habs in my garden are starting to ripen, so I used those the last couple of batches. Since I was getting consistent results earlier, I just went ahead and added them without tasting. Not a great idea. :smack:

It turns out, my habs were/are hotter for some reason. I ended up mixing two 5-gallon batches - one with habs and one without - to make a drinkable brew. On the bright side, I now have 10-gallons of cider goodness to share with my brave friends. :D
 
Jacob_Marley said:
Some constant comment teabags in the secondary for a couple weeks or so to add a bit of tannin (boil in a tiny amount of water first to sanitize the teabags and then add all of it to the cider) ... frozen concentrated apple juice (FCAJ) to sweeten and add flavor ... and some malic acic (available at the brewers/vintners suppy), carefully "to taste", to make a bit brighter.

Constant comment sounds positively delightful in a cider! What's malic acid?
 
Constant comment sounds positively delightful in a cider! What's malic acid?

Malic acid is one of the primary acids used in winemaking. (malic, tartaric, & citric)
Malic is the principal acid in apples ... and so is used in cider to give it a bit more tartness or "brighten" the flavor.
Malic in crystal/powdered form is available from the Brewers/Vintners supply.
 
Linda - how much coffee did you use? I was thinking of doing a javacider...

I am still playing with it. Right now I have been using about 1 tablespoon +/- of ground coffee in a gallon batch. It's enough to get a hint of coffee in the aroma, but you can't really taste it. I think a very strong, freshly brewed cup of coffee (think Starbucks) might bring it out a little more.
 
:smack:
So, I'm going to qualify my earlier statement regarding habanero peppers. TEST your peppers for heat prior to adding them to your cider!

Haha, yes! We are growing several varieties of chillies, and they can vary considerably even on the same plant.

For cooking, we blend them 50/50 with vinegar to make batches of sauce - that way we always know what we're adding. I've heard to can go 70/30 chillies/vinegar, but it needs some acid to be able to keep. I'm not sure if such a sauce would be OK in a cider - could the vinegar possibly start a vinegarisation process?
(As you can see, I'm unsure of how this works!)
 
Only raw vinegar will be able to 'vinegarize' sonething. However, I think it would be a better to use vodka in this case. I have a hab vodka that I add to brews. That way I can add it drop by drop.
 
So, I'm going to qualify my earlier statement regarding habanero peppers. TEST your peppers for heat prior to adding them to your cider!

I was originally sourcing my fresh habs from a local store. The habs in my garden are starting to ripen, so I used those the last couple of batches. Since I was getting consistent results earlier, I just went ahead and added them without tasting. Not a great idea. :smack:

It turns out, my habs were/are hotter for some reason. I ended up mixing two 5-gallon batches - one with habs and one without - to make a drinkable brew. On the bright side, I now have 10-gallons of cider goodness to share with my brave friends. :D

This is very good advice for anyone making a beer or cider with hot peppers. I recently judged a pepper beer in the Spice/Herb/Vegetable category last weekend that was undrinkable. It was so freaking hot that none of us could take a sample without being in physical pain.
 
I did my first cider last fall as an augmented fermentation, bottled, and then pasteurized.
It was awesome fast and easy.

Looking to jazz it up this year and was wondering what all you cider folk think are good add-ins I can throw in the fermenter to give it some character.

Any advise is good. Addition technique info would be helpful. So what have you tried that worked?

I've used various types of malt & LME, oats, raisins, ginger, caraway seed, liquorice, molasses, brown sugar, honey, lemon zest, lemon juice, lemon balm, lemon grass, all with varying results.

I used Brandon O's graff recipe as a base for most of the above adjuncts.
As with beer, the various malts & LME(s) will impart their flavours to the cider.
Oats give it a smooth, silky mouthfeel & I've heard that toasted oats will impart much more flavour, but I haven't tried toasting them yet.

Raisins add some body without adding much discernable flavour when used at 2-4lbs/6 gallons.
Ginger can be good, but it can also add some bitterness; I'm still working that out.

Caraway seed is AWESOME! If you like seeded rye bread, you'll like caraway seed in graff/cider. the longer you leave it in, the stronger the caraway flavour.

The liquorice I didn't care for, but my friends loved it. I used brewer's liquorice & a little goes a long way; I used 1/4 stick if I remember correctly & I boiled it in water & cooled before adding to the must/wort.

Molasses is good, but for me there's a small window between the molasses flavour being virtually undetectable & being overwhelming. Been thinking of trying priming with it, but haven't actually done it yet.

The lemon juice was a bust, doesn't do anything except lower the PH.
The zest wasn't bad, but I think I need to use more to get more lemon flavour.

The herbs didn't work out as well as I'd hoped. They had a certain vegetal flavour that I didn't like.

Honey just ferments out unless you use a lot of it, then you're into mead/cyser territory.

If you use spices, use whole/sliced/cracked & put 'em in a hop sack or make a little teabag & toss it in. Makes things easier to control, and easier to remove once your desired flavour profile has been reached. You can't remove powdered spices without filtration & some of them will make quite a mess.
Hope this info helps.
Regards, GF.
 
I am still playing with it. Right now I have been using about 1 tablespoon +/- of ground coffee in a gallon batch. It's enough to get a hint of coffee in the aroma, but you can't really taste it. I think a very strong, freshly brewed cup of coffee (think Starbucks) might bring it out a little more.

Did you put it in primary of secondary?
 
Just started making cider but I am enjoying it.

Add ins -
2 kg of frozen berries thawed
1 oz of Citra hops, dry hopped for a week (my fav)
2 kg of frozen papaya thawed (this weekend)
 
I got a bit crazy and added atomic fireballs in the 2nd fermentation. Time passed, bottled it. Slight pinkish color but nice looking. I was surprised it tasted very good, slight cinnamon flavor but not overpowering. I added 10 fireballs for a gallon batch.
 
Hmm, the joy of fruit / herbs / spices. So far I've done ciders using:


  • Cranberry
  • Ginger
  • Honey
  • Blueberry
  • Cherry
  • Juniper
  • Grapefruit
  • Burnt sugar
  • Cinnamon
  • Brown Sugar
  • Corn Syrup
  • Frozen Concentrated Apple Juice
  • Malic Acid
  • Black Tea
  • Pear
  • Cardamom
  • Molasses

The frozen apple juice concentrate, black tea, and malic acid are used in pretty much all of my ciders as part of my base recipe. The Cardamom was used with the pear juice, the molasses I pared with the cinnamon, and the juniper was paired with the grapefruit.
 
Hmm, the joy of fruit / herbs / spices. So far I've done ciders using:


  • Cranberry
  • Ginger
  • Honey
  • Blueberry
  • Cherry
  • Juniper
  • Grapefruit
  • Burnt sugar
  • Cinnamon
  • Brown Sugar
  • Corn Syrup
  • Frozen Concentrated Apple Juice
  • Malic Acid
  • Black Tea
  • Pear
  • Cardamom
  • Molasses

The frozen apple juice concentrate, black tea, and malic acid are used in pretty much all of my ciders as part of my base recipe. The Cardamom was used with the pear juice, the molasses I pared with the cinnamon, and the juniper was paired with the grapefruit.

Care to share specifics on juniper? How much, batch size, length of time, tasting notes, etc...
I've been considering using juniper for a while now, just haven't gotten around to it yet.
Regards, GF.
 
Care to share specifics on juniper? How much, batch size, length of time, tasting notes, etc...
I've been considering using juniper for a while now, just haven't gotten around to it yet.
Regards, GF.

I've yet to sample the results- they were used in an batch of cider made to be reminiscent of an IPA, using grapefruit juice and juniper instead of hops.

The grapefruit juice in the cider has taken 5 months to clarify after being racked to secondary- it's probably ready to sample, but I've simply not had the time. I think I used used one tablespoon of crushed berries in once gallon of cider. I'll have to check my notes.

All I can say at this time is that the juniper seems to have imparted a beautiful deep burgundy color to the cider. It looks nearly like red wine.

I'll update when I have more to share!
 
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