Caramel Apple Hard Cider

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Just an update. After 2 1/2 weeks
Organic cider at 10.4%, tastes great but cloudy
Honeycrisp at 10.6%. Clearing nicely, tastes great as well.
I am shocked that Notty went this far.
I am cold crashing these in fridge now, will add sorbate and bottle when it clears. I'm not even back sweetening, it tastes great right now!

The difference in flavor from this vs previous batches w EC1118 is remarkable. So much more residual sweetness and apple flavor. I will def be using beer yeast from now on!!

SWMBO and I like both batches as is, i know ciders get better with age look forward tasting these over tine (if i can wait that long) next gallon I will try organic with 1 lb brown sugar dissolved into it.



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iRebound said:
4 days in bottle so far and it hardly carbed up. I'll check again in 2 days.
Click to expand...

How much did you backsweeeten? I ask because I add the brown sugar and 5 cans FAJC and at day 4 I start opening one every 12 hours at day 4, cause once it starts to carbonate, it happens fast!


"Sometimes Im right half of the time ...."
 
TrustyOlJohnson said:
How much did you backsweeeten? I ask because I add the brown sugar and 5 cans FAJC and at day 4 I start opening one every 12 hours at day 4, cause once it starts to carbonate, it happens fast!


"Sometimes Im right half of the time ...."
Click to expand...

That sounds delicious man! Ive been wantin to go with more brown sugar and see what thats like. Ive always had to watch mine real close once I get to about 3 1/2 days. Lemme know how this tastes!


"Sometimes Im right half of the time ...."
 
Quick note on the pasteurization process. I purchased a new dishwasher recently and the sanitation cycle on it does not get hot enough to make sure that all the yeast is killed. most of my bottles for my last batch now have a little too much carbonation. Not at bomb level but a little too fizzy.

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Bottle pasteurize on stove top at 180 in a large kettle. Get heat up to 180, turn off and let 5-6 bottles pending bottle size sit for 10 minutes covered, remove with oven mits then repeat. More info in pappis stove top pastuerizing sticky


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The cider has been in the bottle for 7 days so far with very little carbonation. I thought it should be carb fully by now.

Is it because I let it ferment all the way down to 1.005?

I used 2 cups brown sugar, 2 tsp cinnamon and 4 frozen apple concentrate.
 
iRebound said:
The cider has been in the bottle for 7 days so far with very little carbonation. I thought it should be carb fully by now.

Is it because I let it ferment all the way down to 1.005?

I used 2 cups brown sugar, 2 tsp cinnamon and 4 frozen apple concentrate.
Click to expand...


What? U shud have frothy bottle bombs by now? Did you kill all the yeast before bottling??


"Sometimes Im right half of the time..."
 
Hey yall. Planning on doing this recipe, the one on the first page, very very soon. Here are some questions I have.
Whats all the talk of bottle bombs? Does the added sugar syrup cause overcarbonation or something? I would like to modify the recipe to only carb it as much as is needed, dont really want to pasteurize bottles.
But I could maybe if the taste was worth it, I just don't know how to do it. Do you just put all your capped bottles in the dishwasher for a full cycle? I could check which washer I have and the temps and get back to you.
Also is there an updated recipe I didn't see in between pages 1 and 162? lol
 
oh ok, stovetop pasteurization, I could do that. is that how yall are doing this recipe? seems like thats the best method to capture the syrup taste n such that seems so important to this brew.
 
The first batch I ever did I split in half and carbbed half and did still cider with half... swmbo and I both prefered still so I just cold crash and store my bottles... ive got a dedicated keezer for storage so I can keep them about 36 or so... from reading this and a couple of other threads if you carb the cider you definitely want to stove top or pasteurize some how...
 
JRW1 said:
Hey yall. Planning on doing this recipe, the one on the first page, very very soon. Here are some questions I have.
Whats all the talk of bottle bombs? Does the added sugar syrup cause overcarbonation or something? I would like to modify the recipe to only carb it as much as is needed, dont really want to pasteurize bottles.
But I could maybe if the taste was worth it, I just don't know how to do it. Do you just put all your capped bottles in the dishwasher for a full cycle? I could check which washer I have and the temps and get back to you.
Also is there an updated recipe I didn't see in between pages 1 and 162? lol
Click to expand...

Ive made 4 batches of this with different amounts of FAJC at bottling and I prefer the 5 cans with the syrup. Backsweeting with this much sure wil DEFINITELY give you bottle bombs. My solution? Once the carb is where I like it, I put it in my fridge at 36 deg. I use Nottingham every time and that temp with that yeast stops the process. Ive tried stovetop method, it gets a lil bit too dangerous for me. If I had a dishwasher, I would def go that route. It sounds like it works real well.
The updated recipe essentially reduces from 5 cans to 3 cans FAJC and you dont cook the syrup to reduce it.


"Sometimes Im right half of the time ...."
 
Oh, and for me, I wasnt a fan of the snotlike consistency that comes with using cinnamon powder in the syrup, so I use 1 tsp cinnamon extract and (for good measure) 1/2 tsp vanilla extract.


"Sometimes Im right half of the time ...."
 
TrustyOlJohnson said:
Oh, and for me, I wasnt a fan of the snotlike consistency that comes with using cinnamon powder in the syrup, so I use 1 tsp cinnamon extract and (for good measure) 1/2 tsp vanilla extract.


"Sometimes Im right half of the time ...."
Click to expand...

Hmm... I might have to try the vanilla extract with the next batch.
 
It is delicious with the vanilla. Took a break workin round the house one day and I had a glass of this and a biscuit. Cudve sworn I was eating a piece of apple pie! Yum!!


"Sometimes Im right half of the time ...."
 
I made something similar to this that's been in the keg for over 3 weeks now and still have very little carbonation. Do I need to set the psi higher when kegging something that's backsweetened like this? I added 3 cans of AJ concentrate and a cup or so of the cinnamon/brown sugar syrup in a 5 gallon batch.

I also bottled some without any backsweetening (just priming sugar) and those aren't carbed up yet after over a month in the bottles.

It's my first cider (I've done graff a bunch of times) so maybe I'm doing something wrong.
 
Well, I kicked my keg of this last night. Time to brew up some more. :( May wait until I get my plastic Big Mouth Bubbler early next week. :) After all it's not like I have to boil wort or anything. :)
 
Question... when adding the corn sugar, the instructions say to pour it into half-empty cider/juice bottles and shake well to mix before pouring in the carboy. OTOH, I've read other threads where people say "don't worry about mixing up extra yeast food...it'll get discovered and eaten." Does it REALLY matter if we don't mix well before pouring it into the carboy or should we just dump the sugar into the funnel and dump the cider in after? :)
 
Just speculating here, but I don't think it really matters. The more evenly mixed the sugar is I would think the yeast would have an easier time.
You also get an added benefit of introducing oxygen into the equation if you shake things up.
The net difference is probably minimal though :mug:
 
Cheesy_Goodness said:
Just speculating here, but I don't think it really matters. The more evenly mixed the sugar is I would think the yeast would have an easier time.
You also get an added benefit of introducing oxygen into the equation if you shake things up.
The net difference is probably minimal though :mug:
Click to expand...

Thanks. Kinda what I was thinking. I have an oxygenating setup anyway, and I usually give my brew a shot of pure O2. :) I think this time I'll skip mixing the sugar in before hand and maybe just shake the carboy up a little after the first bottle or two of cider/juice. :) And make sure to add plenty of nutrient. :tank:
 
robbyhicks said:
Did you use the sorbate tabs? If so you probably stopped up most of the yeast...

from Windy Wyo
Click to expand...

I only used the sorbate on the 5 gallons that went into the keg. The other 1 gallon was bottled before that.

I've had the CO2 cranked up to 20 psi the past couple days and it finally seems like it's carbonated. I guess I'm just wondering if things with higher residual sugar content (backsweetened cider, soda, etc) just need a higher psi in general to get carbed up?
 
29thfloor said:
I only used the sorbate on the 5 gallons that went into the keg. The other 1 gallon was bottled before that.

I've had the CO2 cranked up to 20 psi the past couple days and it finally seems like it's carbonated. I guess I'm just wondering if things with higher residual sugar content (backsweetened cider, soda, etc) just need a higher psi in general to get carbed up?
Click to expand...

That strikes me as extremely unusual. Is the keg holding pressure? Even over the course of a few days you should have seen a carbonation level gradually increase. If nothing else, give it 1 full week without "testing" and see what happens.
 
I'm new to cider making been brewing for a couple years now. Does the cider need to age in the secondary for a couple months before being kegged
 
Just started another 5.25 gallons of this (in a 6 gallon Better Bottle. :) Unfortunately I have lost my drilled stopper (who the heck knows where it is???) so I have the mouth of the BB covered by aluminum foil sprayed with StarSan. :) Hopefully that's good enough. :) I probably wont' be able to get another stopper before Monday... *sigh*

Update: I found the stopper -- in plain sight. :)
 
This is my first batch of cider and I did everything, I can see that my cider is fermenting as it has condensation on top of the carboy and there is bubbling inside but my airlock has no activity? This is about 5 days in? What have I done wrong?


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And also there doesn't seem to be any leak in the carboy either?


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If you can see bubbles being produced but the airlock isn't moving, I would bet there's a leak somewhere.

Sounds like there's nothing to worry about.
 
Cheesy_Goodness said:
If you can see bubbles being produced but the airlock isn't moving, I would bet there's a leak somewhere.

Sounds like there's nothing to worry about.
Click to expand...

Yep. Check the stopper. Chances are you need to push it in a bit more. Try spraying some StarSan around the stopper. Bet you'll see bubbles. :) But as Cheesy Goodness said, as long as you've got fermentation, you're good, as it's positive pressure and you basically are trying to keep nasties out of the brew. :)
 
29thfloor said:
I only used the sorbate on the 5 gallons that went into the keg. The other 1 gallon was bottled before that.



I've had the CO2 cranked up to 20 psi the past couple days and it finally seems like it's carbonated. I guess I'm just wondering if things with higher residual sugar content (backsweetened cider, soda, etc) just need a higher psi in general to get carbed up?
Click to expand...


I usually have my CO2 at 30 psi to carbonate. It usually take 2-3 days at that pressure and then I dispense at 10-12 psi.


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Do a tincture of cinnamon in alcohol. I like it in a good rum (I use Cruzan).


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