Apple Cinnamon (or Apple Jack's) IPA

I'm thinking about doing an apple cinnamon beer for a christmasy type beer. I was at my local homebrew shop and mentioned apple cinnamon. I got the response that I should do something like an apple cinnamon IPA, maybe an apple jack IPA even to the point of using apple jacks in the mash.

How would I go about doing this with apple jacks? Would it be better to just use apples and cinnamon? Let me hear your thoughts. I was searching a bit through the cereal type posts but couldn't find much other than small discussions with no real conclusions.

If there is anything I should be reading feel free to link it, but I'm more or less looking for a discussion; thanks!

Interesting, Im going to keep my eyes on this post. Want to see what others think.

The guys who do Basic Brewing video did a cereal mash for Halloween a couple of years ago using the Frankenstein cereal. Not sure how apple jack would work out in an IPA, but you never know till you try

Ok, I'll chime in with my 2 cents...since I am sipping on my holiday brew...First I wouldn't base your recipe on a IPA...I'd say go with a basic pale ale. In the past I've had really good luck with ginger as a pleasant adjunct. I made a straight forward pale ale (with a cup of rolled oats hoping for increased mouthfeel), cascade hops (1 oz 60 mins, no other additions), during the 60 min boil I thinly sliced a 12 ounces of ginger, then at flameout, tossed in 1 tablespoon (heaping) of pumpkin pie spices (major brand forget which). Let ferment until nearly done, transferred to secondary fermenter on top of 2 16 oz cans of sliced peaches, let ale sit on peaches for about 2 weeks, subsequently kegged. I used US-05 yeast and fermented 65 degrees F. I have to say this is a very quaffable brewski, not overly spicy, nor peachy, just a hint of peaches, which is nice and what I was aiming for. Perhaps, if I wanted an apple ale, I would do the same recipe, then secondary on chopped roasted apples (roasted in apple pie spices), maybe even add a gallon of apple cider to the secondary as well. Good luck!

bighorn_brew said:

Ok, I'll chime in with my 2 cents...since I am sipping on my holiday brew...First I wouldn't base your recipe on a IPA...I'd say go with a basic pale ale. In the past I've had really good luck with ginger as a pleasant adjunct. I made a straight forward pale ale (with a cup of rolled oats hoping for increased mouthfeel), cascade hops (1 oz 60 mins, no other additions), during the 60 min boil I thinly sliced a 12 ounces of ginger, then at flameout, tossed in 1 tablespoon (heaping) of pumpkin pie spices (major brand forget which). Let ferment until nearly done, transferred to secondary fermenter on top of 2 16 oz cans of sliced peaches, let ale sit on peaches for about 2 weeks, subsequently kegged. I used US-05 yeast and fermented 65 degrees F. I have to say this is a very quaffable brewski, not overly spicy, nor peachy, just a hint of peaches, which is nice and what I was aiming for. Perhaps, if I wanted an apple ale, I would do the same recipe, then secondary on chopped roasted apples (roasted in apple pie spices), maybe even add a gallon of apple cider to the secondary as well. Good luck!

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If you dont mind I'd like to take this and try it out. It sounds fantastic !!!

I like the way you're thinking bighorn. I was thinking something along those lines as well if I wasn't going to use the actual cereal in some way. I was thinking the gallon of apple cider, and also thinking about sauteed apples in cinnamon, brown sugar and maybe even use some of the apple cider to caramelize with the apples as far as your canned fruit idea goes. I assume since you said that turned out good there were no problems with using the canned fruit?

I meant just a pale ale, the I got thrown in there by mistake! Good catch. I'll be configuring a recipe tomorrow or Friday to brew so I'll let you guys know what I come up with and how it turns out!

If anyone else has anymore input or suggestions feel free to post!

No problems with canned peaches, but had I live where fresh were available I would use those instead. And if I were to use apples, I would use fresh, perhaps as many different types as I could get my hands on. Good idea on using the cider to simmer the apples in...I might have to use that trick...I've got my October spiced beer nearly finished, and need another for December. Another trick you might want to consider is using spiced tea, if I remember correctly...yep...celestial seasonings makes this:
Cinnamon Apple Spice Tea | Herbal Teas | Celestial Seasonings
Looks perfect for spicing a beer,,,perhaps "dry hopping" with a couple of these tea bags might be perfect...

Ok so here is what I brewed. My first plan was to do two batches, a 4% blonde and a typical pale ale. I came up short on the pale ale, I did this as a 10 gallon batch so I could have just the pale ale and another half apple cinnamon, but I'm about a gallon short in each fermentor (I evened them out for ease).

16lb 2-Row
4lb Vienna
1lb Crystal
3oz Cascade (60, 30, 15)
US-05 Yeast

I mashed at about 154 for 60 minutes. Batch sparge. Somehow boiled off over 2 gallons over the hour, so I got about 9 or so gallons it seems.

Now it's fermenting regularly in the primary, I'm going to throw it in a secondary in about a week. I have a big question and concern about adding apple cider to the beer. How can I do this without letting the cider ferment away and dry out the beer? I've been reading posts where people say that this will happen, but no one mentions how to stop this or add it without the cider fermenting away. I don't neccesarily want it to be very sweet like cider, but I also don't think that only a gallon would add that much, does anyone else?

I also read someone added apples that he just washed and quartered and he got a nice apple flavor. I think I'm definitely going to do this. I'll also be adding 2-3 cinnasticks and taste test every 2-3 days to see if I need more. I like the idea of the cinnamon apple spice tea, I might have to grab a box and try some to see what I think.

So what I'm looking for is, how to add cider? Is it worth it? Will it only dry out the beer and not add any apple flavor? Should I just top off the beer with a spice tea or just with the cinnamon and apples and about a half gallon of just water? Thoughts are much appreciated!

I have an Apple Pie Ale in the fermenter now, bottling this weekend. I used .75 gallon of Apple cider, added to the fermenter at day 3 and I will taste the hydrometer sample at bottling time to know how much Apple Extract I am going to add. I got the 4oz LD Carlson apple extract, had to have some real apple in there as well (the cider part) but will use the extract to adjust to where I want it to taste.


Rev.

Rev2010 said:

I have an Apple Pie Ale in the fermenter now, bottling this weekend. I used .75 gallon of Apple cider, added to the fermenter at day 3 and I will taste the hydrometer sample at bottling time to know how much Apple Extract I am going to add. I got the 4oz LD Carlson apple extract, had to have some real apple in there as well (the cider part) but will use the extract to adjust to where I want it to taste.


Rev.

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Definitely let me know, especially before you add the extract. I'm not too keen on using extract so I'd like to go another route but let me know how the cider part turns out. Thanks!

Edit: Another thought that just came to mind, since I will be kegging I could potentially easily back sweeten it, maybe even with the cider? My only hesitation would be the cider might completely change the beer if I add too much or too little at the time of kegging. Maybe add to taste at the time of kegging?