cider flavoring ideas

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basis4adave

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So I got my first batch of cider into the primary(s) yesterday. I saved the glass containers from the cider (3 1-gallon and 5 1.5-liter) to use as mini fermenters to do experimenting with. So I have 4.5 gallons in a better bottle with no additives and one gallon in one of my new fermenters with a cinimon stick. I read not to add more than this during primary, but I am looking for ideas for spices and flovors to add during secondary fermentation. I was gonna try nutmeg in some, and maybe some cloves in another small fermenter. Any other ideas? Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Primary: cider, IPA

Secondary: Celebration Ale Clone

Bottled: Weitzenbier
 
I was going to try a ginger-root flavored cider with one of mine. I think the spiciness of the ginger would pair really well with a crisp and dry sparkling cider.
 
I've recently discovered that (IMHO) caraway seed goes very well with cider, I have 6 gallons of the stuff in secondary as I type this. Regards, GF.
 
I was thinking of putting some liquid cranberry flavoring in. Just a TINY BIT! Because cranberry can be so overpowering, but I think it goes GREAT with apple. Doing 12 bottles like that for my next batch.
 
gratus fermentatio said:
I've recently discovered that (IMHO) caraway seed goes very well with cider, I have 6 gallons of the stuff in secondary as I type this. Regards, GF.
Click to expand...

I am not surprised by this. Apples and caraway seeds are present together in many German food recipes. I will have to give this a try (in a 1 gallon sample ;))

I am now just brain-storming past typical New England fall spices like 'hints' of cranberry or pumpkin or nutmeg or cinnamon.

How about hints of ...
Clove or Anise or a nut type flavor for a winter cider,
Mint for a summer cider,
Maybe go with some herbs of rosemary or sage for a thanksgiving-ish cider,
Lime for a spring-ish cider?
 
I've made ginger cider before -- delicious. Think about 3 tbs/gallon of grated ginger would be good. Also think about maybe pumpkin/apple pie spice, cloves, cinnamon, nutmeg (be easy with this one), cardamom. Also, you can try orange peel. I haven't tried this yet but we used to make hot mulled cider with oranges, cloves and cinnamon. I bet that would be utterly delicious.
 
I found some peach flavored cider at the grocery store today. I has a good flavor.

How would you go about flavoring cider? Syrup maybe? I wonder how much?
 
I have made a mulled hard cider and that was awesome! I made 1 gal to try last year and now im going to do 5 this year. I just got a good quality mulling spice mix and added about a Tsp. Its going to go fast. This year I'm also going to try to make an "apple pie" cider.
 
Hey every one I see you are talking about flavoring ciders. I have been doing this for a while now and my flavors include: Blueberry, strawberry, blue raspberry, pear and more flavors to come. Any questions about how or what i used just ask.
 
I have done a wassail cider for the holidays with ginger, cinnamon, cardamom, orange peel, and cloves. With 1lb brown sugar syrup boiled to 270.
 
Cid3r said:
Hey every one I see you are talking about flavoring ciders. I have been doing this for a while now and my flavors include: Blueberry, strawberry, blue raspberry, pear and more flavors to come. Any questions about how or what i used just ask.
Click to expand...

I'd love to know your pear cider recipe!
 
I've just kicked off a batch of Ginger cider. Just a gallon to test.
I was thinking of doing some mental chilli cider for my nutter mates :)
 
Cid3r said:
Hey every one I see you are talking about flavoring ciders. I have been doing this for a while now and my flavors include: Blueberry, strawberry, blue raspberry, pear and more flavors to come. Any questions about how or what i used just ask.
Click to expand...

blue raspberry pls!!!!!!
 
I have ginger, and rasp/cran ciders in secondary right now. Both should be good.

As for chocolate--take a look in the files section. There is a recipe under the name of Drunken Emu.

In no particular order (some I've tried, some not):
Dried Raisins or cranberries. Molasses, cinnamon, orange, and oak. Sumac berries (want to try). Specific teas (thinking Russian Caravan or Lapsang souchong (both smoky) would be good)? Dry hopped. Rhubarb.
 
Cid3r said:
Hey every one I see you are talking about flavoring ciders. I have been doing this for a while now and my flavors include: Blueberry, strawberry, blue raspberry, pear and more flavors to come. Any questions about how or what i used just ask.
Click to expand...

I just started a cyser (4 gal cider + 5 lb honey) and added 6lbs of juiced (using a countertop brevil juicer) strawberries. I have only made one previous batch of cyser (the recipe above, minus the berries), but was pleased with it. Ive never worked with strawberries, do you have any pointers or suggestions for a newby?

Thanks!
 
TRueff said:
I just started a cyser (4 gal cider + 5 lb honey) and added 6lbs of juiced (using a countertop brevil juicer) strawberries. I have only made one previous batch of cyser (the recipe above, minus the berries), but was pleased with it. Ive never worked with strawberries, do you have any pointers or suggestions for a newby?

Thanks!
Click to expand...

Freeze the strawberries so you dont have to sulfite them..plus it helps burst the cell walls to aid the yeasties getting in there to do there job. And I would suggest putting them in a muslin bag or something. Fruit can be a pain to clean out of the primary...I also like to add more berries into the secondary..usually your yeast will blow off the aromatics in the primary so I hit it again in the secondary..last time I used strawberries I used two rounds of 5 lbs each
 
Thanks lolznrofls! I will freeze the berries next time. I just rinsed them with a mild iodine solution and then rinsed them real well and juiced them in a sanitized, countertop juicer. We'll see how it goes. I think I'm going to add more berries (your way) when I rack to secondary. Thanks!
 
Cid3r said:
Hey every one I see you are talking about flavoring ciders. I have been doing this for a while now and my flavors include: Blueberry, strawberry, blue raspberry, pear and more flavors to come. Any questions about how or what i used just ask.
Click to expand...

we are waiting
 
So is that when you add flavor, when it is fermenting? I have never brewed cider before, and i am very excited about it. I was hoping to try a bunch of different flavors, starting with the more simple ones (cinnamon, etc). Thanks!
 
Brann_mac_Finnchad said:
In no particular order (some I've tried, some not):
Dried Raisins or cranberries. Molasses, cinnamon, orange, and oak. Sumac berries (want to try). Specific teas (thinking Russian Caravan or Lapsang souchong (both smoky) would be good)? Dry hopped. Rhubarb.
Click to expand...


How much rhubarb per gallon are you adding? In the primary or in the secondary?
 
I'm currently running a small batch with mulling spices (orange, cinnamon, clove, allspice) trying to get the final product to taste like Mom's stovetop cider from years back. We'll see how it turns out.
 
I would say my favorite spice is cinnamon. I added a very small amount to a long ago batch, and almost had to pitch it. What I think caused it was, I put the ground cinnamon in a coffee filter and poured some high proof applejack over it.. Great idea, bad follow through... I am getting ready to start another apricot cider and use canned apricots w/o any syrup. It does take some serious aging for the apricots flavors to come back. As I remember there was very little apricot flavor at bottling, nice aroma though. Somewhere around six months later, the apricots really started to shine. This next batch, I am making apricot applejack, one bottle to drink this Christmas., and one bottle to drink next Christmas.
 
wow all this sounds really good to try my 1st attempt with cider was 3 gal just juice brown sugar and yeast 2 gal. went to jack ended up with 1/2 gal with a cinnamon stick killer stuff drinking it slow to make it last really hard to do.last gal in secondary just letting it sit started another gal re-racked and added 1/2cup raisins half large orange and orange zest very aromatic hope the flavor will be as good as it smells uploaded a pic hope it works

20140919_230657[1].jpg
 
Sometimes I flavor with black currant concentrate. It's got preservatives, but it doesn't really matter when fermentation is already finished.
 
gratus fermentatio said:
I've recently discovered that (IMHO) caraway seed goes very well with cider, I have 6 gallons of the stuff in secondary as I type this. Regards, GF.
Click to expand...

Are you serious?!?! Please tell. My in laws are caraway growers and have more acres contracted with other farmers as well. They clean caraway seed all winter and send it to Chicago by the semi load. My father in law has taken a liking to my ciders. I was mulling over adding some caraway but wasn't sure of quantities. I presume I could easily do it in secondary? I have a number of batches running in primary right now.
 
chevalcider said:
Are you serious?!?! Please tell. My in laws are caraway growers and have more acres contracted with other farmers as well. They clean caraway seed all winter and send it to Chicago by the semi load. My father in law has taken a liking to my ciders. I was mulling over adding some caraway but wasn't sure of quantities. I presume I could easily do it in secondary? I have a number of batches running in primary right now.
Click to expand...

Sure you can add caraway seed to secondary. Caraway seed & apple go together like bread & butter! A lot of German food recipes use both caraway & apple.
https://www.google.com/webhp?source...UTF-8#q=German recipes with caraway and apple

I like to add a tablespoonful of caraway seed to a 6 gallon batch of graff. I usually leave it in for about a month, but the longer you leave it in, the stronger the caraway profile. You'll need to taste it periodically to see when it reaches the flavour profile you like. I've even experimented with adding a couple seeds to the bottle at bottling time. Those bottles had a very strong caraway flavour, almost like aquavit.

I've added it to primary too, both work well, though you'll get a better caraway flavour in secondary with cider. You can add less & leave it in longer, or you can add more & get that flavour a bit faster. Try a taste test by putting a good sized pinch of caraway seed in a glass of apple juice & pop it in the microwave for a minute or 2. Let it cool to room temp before you taste it. It won't taste exactly like it will in a cider, but it'll give you a rough idea as to how the flavour of caraway works with the flavour of apple. I like it quite a bit, if you like caraway, I'll bet you'll like it too.
Regards, GF.
 
gratus fermentatio said:
Sure you can add caraway seed to secondary. Caraway seed & apple go together like bread & butter! A lot of German food recipes use both caraway & apple.
https://www.google.com/webhp?source...UTF-8#q=German recipes with caraway and apple

I like to add a tablespoonful of caraway seed to a 6 gallon batch of graff. I usually leave it in for about a month, but the longer you leave it in, the stronger the caraway profile. You'll need to taste it periodically to see when it reaches the flavour profile you like. I've even experimented with adding a couple seeds to the bottle at bottling time. Those bottles had a very strong caraway flavour, almost like aquavit.

I've added it to primary too, both work well, though you'll get a better caraway flavour in secondary with cider. You can add less & leave it in longer, or you can add more & get that flavour a bit faster. Try a taste test by putting a good sized pinch of caraway seed in a glass of apple juice & pop it in the microwave for a minute or 2. Let it cool to room temp before you taste it. It won't taste exactly like it will in a cider, but it'll give you a rough idea as to how the flavour of caraway works with the flavour of apple. I like it quite a bit, if you like caraway, I'll bet you'll like it too.
Regards, GF.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the advice. I find caraway to be overwhelming at times so I might go light at first (and in a small sample - I could easily rack into a 1/2 gallon secondary) just to see what it is like. When I step into the seed cleaning plant/warehouse the smell of caraway makes my eyes and nose water almost immediately...but there are usually stacks of 1 ton bags on skids stacked to the ceiling!
 
Morejello said:
How much rhubarb per gallon are you adding? In the primary or in the secondary?
Click to expand...

I haven't made a rhubarb cider yet. However, I would probably go with the standard 3lb per gallon (maybe more...my rhubarb is fairly mild), pouring boiling water (or maybe apple juice) over it, and letting stand in a sealed container for three days. Then straining, adding remaining ingredients and fermenting.
There is also the option of simmering it down to a concentrate after straining, then adding apple, so you get maximum rhubarb flavour with the maximum of apple juice in the overall recipe.

It'll have to wait until next year to test. The rhubarb is pretty much dead by now.
 

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