Cinnamon sticks ???
- Thread starter OHIOSTEVE
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How big is your batch? How fresh is your cinnamon? How far along is the fermentation?
The alcohol content should be high enough that there won't be any problems just adding the sticks. Dried cinnamon is antiseptic, so there shouldn't be an nasties living on them.
The alcohol content should be high enough that there won't be any problems just adding the sticks. Dried cinnamon is antiseptic, so there shouldn't be an nasties living on them.
OHIOSTEVE
Well-Known Member
5 gallon batch....sg 3-4 days ago was 1.004 been in fermentor 5 weeks so it is pretty close to done. I am thinking three sticks??? ( McCormick in a bottle from Walmart).
If it were me, I'd do a taste test. Crunch a little piece off and hold it between your gum and cheek like Copenhagen. Feel the burn. If it burns hard, remember it. If it doesn't burn hard, add the whole bottle. It also depends on how long you are going to age it. I'm drinking a mead right now that had clove and cinnamon added. Two months ago, it was too much. Right now, just about right.
To answer your original question though, no, you don't have to sanitize or boil your cinnamon sticks. They are naturally antiseptic, it's basically dried-up tree bark that lasts years without decay (although loses flavor to evaporation of oils). In apfelwein, the alcohol content should be high enough to inhibit anything that may be on the sticks.
OHIOSTEVE
Well-Known Member
no....and i STLL don't get the haunted carboy thing???
Also, in about 10 minutes, you are going to start feeling the burn and then you are going to be sorry you listened to some guy named "Fletch" on the internet whose only apfelwein experiment ended up being distilled into a fuel additive for a 7.5 hp Sears Gamefisher outboard motor for the crappie spawn.
OHIOSTEVE
Well-Known Member
lol....nah only gonna leave it a few days anyway...even thinking about priming and bottling it with brown sugar and hope I can get a hint of that flavor also.
Grasslands
Well-Known Member
You added the entire bottle of cinnamon sticks? I don't want to be a bubble-burster, but I think that might've been a bit of overkill. Let us know how it turns out, but I've got a weird feeling for how your batch will turn out.
A guy in the Apfelwein thread put two in his 5 gal batch and he said the cinnamon flavor was the dominant flavor - and not in a good way.
With regard to the brown sugar priming, what sugar did you use in the making of it? I used brown sugar in the fermenting, corn sugar in the priming and it turned out great.
A guy in the Apfelwein thread put two in his 5 gal batch and he said the cinnamon flavor was the dominant flavor - and not in a good way.
With regard to the brown sugar priming, what sugar did you use in the making of it? I used brown sugar in the fermenting, corn sugar in the priming and it turned out great.
OHIOSTEVE
Well-Known Member
Normally I would gree 100%..... However I tasted these and there was almost nothing. That said however I am gonna bottle it today I think anyway just to be on the safe side....... used brown sugar to make it and will use corn sugar to bottle.
Grasslands
Well-Known Member
Cool...I'm making another batch of Apfelwein this week and I'm going to use about 3 tblspoons of cinnamon in the beginning stages. The brown sugar really comes through, so I'm seeing how a little cinnamon works into the flavoring.
cheezydemon3
Well-Known Member
I burn cinnamon sticks ever so slightly over my propane burner for a seasonal ale, just the first hint of black, and then in they go.
It adds a hint of bitterness from the burnt part and ends up wonderfully.
Just thought I'd add my experience!
It adds a hint of bitterness from the burnt part and ends up wonderfully.
Just thought I'd add my experience!
OHIOSTEVE
Well-Known Member
Grasslands..... THANKS! I just tasted the apfelwein and you were right. If I had left the sticks in another day it would have been over powering.Right now it is exactly what I was after...You taste it and go MMM thats good...oh theres cinnamon lol!........... I racked into a clean carboy. I was gonna bottle it but the sticks clouded the apfelwein quite a bit so I added some gelatin and will botle in a few days.... again thanks.
