Pumpkin cider recipe

So, I've started a 3 gallon batch of cider with US-04. I'm getting ready to rack to a secondary, but I've not yet perfected a spice mix to go with. Here's what I've been thinking:

2 cans of pumpkin, roasted.
2 cinnamon sticks.
.5oz fresh ginger, sliced
1 clove
1 oz nutmeg
1 vanilla bean

I may also add a pound of honey, not yet decided. Any thoughts?

Definitely add this in secondary.

Leave the honey out.

Grate the ginger.

Grate the nutmeg too.

Consider using allspice in addition to the nutmeg, ginger, and cinnamon.

So I'll cut out the honey. Would you add the allspice in proportionate amounts to everything else? 1 oz? I just want to be sure I'm not over spicing the cider.

Any updates on this? I know it's early, but I'm wanting to do something for the fall. Hopefully thinking about the fall will make it cooler down here in Texas.

Sorry, I haven't been on in a while. I got a late start on this and I just secondaried onto all pumpkin and spices a couple weeks ago. I'll Test it when I get off work and give you an update.

Still quite hot so it's hard to make the flavors out, but the ginger is coming off a bit strong. It also is quite dry at the moment, so I will need to backsweeten. I'll come back in a month and let you know, but if the taste now is any indication, I would try a different spice blend.

kschrodt said:

Still quite hot so it's hard to make the flavors out, but the ginger is coming off a bit strong. It also is quite dry at the moment, so I will need to backsweeten. I'll come back in a month and let you know, but if the taste now is any indication, I would try a different spice blend.

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Thanks for the update.

I was inspired by this thread to try a batch. Here's the recipe I used:

Ingredients:
2 large cans unspiced pumpkin
4 gallons Mott's apple juice
2 tbsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
10 whole dried cloves
1/2 teaspoon powdered ginger
5 cups white sugar
1 orange
1 packet Nottingham Yeast
1 gallon water

I put all of the solid ingredients and the pumpkin into a mesh bag and boiled it for 30 minutes in 1 gallon of water with 5 cups sugar in it. Then I tossed that and the apple juice into a carboy, dumped in a packet of Nottingham and put a balloon on it. It is currently bubbling away and it smells wonderful. The must had a lot of pumpkin flavor. I'll update in a week or two OG: 1.060.

10 cloves is a lot I used 2 in my JAOM and it is really strong, those are portent little things, hopefully it works out for ya and isn't a clove flavored cider

Loftearmen said:

I was inspired by this thread to try a batch. Here's the recipe I used:

Ingredients:
2 large cans unspiced pumpkin
4 gallons Mott's apple juice
2 tbsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
10 whole dried cloves
1/2 teaspoon powdered ginger
5 cups white sugar
1 orange
1 packet Nottingham Yeast
1 gallon water

I put all of the solid ingredients and the pumpkin into a mesh bag and boiled it for 30 minutes in 1 gallon of water with 5 cups sugar in it. Then I tossed that and the apple juice into a carboy, dumped in a packet of Nottingham and put a balloon on it. It is currently bubbling away and it smells wonderful. The must had a lot of pumpkin flavor. I'll update in a week or two OG: 1.060.

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Quick question. How well did the pumpkin stay in the mesh bag? I was thinking of doing the same thing but was curious how much pumpkin sediment I was going to end up with in primary, inevitably reducing the volume I could recover to secondary.

TexasWine said:

Quick question. How well did the pumpkin stay in the mesh bag? I was thinking of doing the same thing but was curious how much pumpkin sediment I was going to end up with in primary, inevitably reducing the volume I could recover to secondary.

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I made a bag from a synthetic knit material (I think it was rayon) that my wife had laying around. So I don't know how it would work out with a different type of bag. If you used T-shirt material to make a bag it wouldn't leak out any but you'd definitely get some sediment if you used anything looser.

Loftearmen said:

I made a bag from a synthetic knit material (I think it was rayon) that my wife had laying around. So I don't know how it would work out with a different type of bag. If you used T-shirt material to make a bag it wouldn't leak out any but you'd definitely get some sediment if you used anything looser.

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Thanks for the info. I've now ruled out using a grain bag! Probably going to go the old T-shirt route and deal with whatever sediment results.

GeorgiaMead said:

10 cloves is a lot I used 2 in my JAOM and it is really strong, those are portent little things, hopefully it works out for ya and isn't a clove flavored cider

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I took a taste of it today and it's wonderful so far. It is still pretty sweet though; we'll see how it tastes when the gravity gets a little lower. Today it was 1.040.

You could easily cut a pumpkin into pieces and roast it until it's just beginning to get soft then put it in either a mesh bag or cheesecloth. Either or those will maintain it without as much sediment as you would get from canned purée.

Oh my gosh I have an empty gallon carboy, think I will have to use it for this recipe.
I do have 3 other batches going.

BrewBear84 said:

Oh my gosh I have an empty gallon carboy, think I will have to use it for this recipe.
I do have 3 other batches going.

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There's always room for one more batch!

is in the secondary, tasted good but no spice flavor.

Added a couple of tsp. of pie spice inside a nylon bag.

Will try in a few days and if OK I will clarify w/ Polyclar or
SuperKleer crash cool and keg.

Ours came out great! It was smooth with a nice pumpkin and spice flavor to it. It had a thicker mouthfeel than most ciders and retained head like a beer. We had a party last night and everyone loved it.

I just started a second batch:

1 large pumpkin
1 large banana
1/2 cup oatmeal
2 tbsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp ginger
1/4 tsp mace
1 tbsp vanilla extract
10 whole cloves
4 gallons apple juice (1 gallon Musselman's Cider, 1 gallon Mott's and 2 gallons Tree Top)
Repitched Safbrew WB-06 from a previous batch of Hefeweizen. It had some boiled Hallertau hop residue in it.

I chopped up the pumpkin and boiled it with the banana, oatmeal and spices for an hour. Strained it, added apple juice and pitched the yeast. I'll give it a month in primary, prime and bottle carb for one week.

Loftearmen said:

Ours came out great! It was smooth with a nice pumpkin and spice flavor to it. It had a thicker mouthfeel than most ciders and retained head like a beer. We had a party last night and everyone loved it.

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Forgot to ask, was it clear or cloudy?

TexasWine said:

Forgot to ask, was it clear or cloudy?

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the first batch came out crystal clear. the second batch was cloudy because I used the safbrew wb06

Did you backsweeten or carb the pumpkin cider? Also, with the orange did you get any flavors from that or was it just used for the acid?

This sounds fantastic. I've been wanting to get into cider, I believe I will try the original recipe you posted. I saw your update at the 1.040 gravity, but what was the final gravity? Did it get any stronger?

Loftearmen said:

I just started a second batch:

1 large pumpkin
1 large banana
1/2 cup oatmeal
2 tbsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp ginger
1/4 tsp mace
1 tbsp vanilla extract
10 whole cloves
4 gallons apple juice (1 gallon Musselman's Cider, 1 gallon Mott's and 2 gallons Tree Top)
Repitched Safbrew WB-06 from a previous batch of Hefeweizen. It had some boiled Hallertau hop residue in it.

I chopped up the pumpkin and boiled it with the banana, oatmeal and spices for an hour. Strained it, added apple juice and pitched the yeast. I'll give it a month in primary, prime and bottle carb for one week.

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Hey Loft. When you chopped the pumpkin did you only use the pumpkin flesh or did you leave the outer skin on the pumpkin? I did the later. Haven't tasted it yet to see if that impacts the flavor negatively.

MattLikes2Party said:

Did you backsweeten or carb the pumpkin cider? Also, with the orange did you get any flavors from that or was it just used for the acid?

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I bottle carbed it with corn sugar. The orange was just used for the acid, you couldn't taste any orange flavors at all but the orange skin added a little bitterness to it which was a good thing.

sector7slums said:

This sounds fantastic. I've been wanting to get into cider, I believe I will try the original recipe you posted. I saw your update at the 1.040 gravity, but what was the final gravity? Did it get any stronger?

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It went down to 1.005. Nottingham yeast has a pretty high attenuation and alcohol tolerance.

TexasWine said:

Hey Loft. When you chopped the pumpkin did you only use the pumpkin flesh or did you leave the outer skin on the pumpkin? I did the later. Haven't tasted it yet to see if that impacts the flavor negatively.

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The first batch i used unspiced, canned pumpkin, on the second batch I used the pumpkin with the skin, boiled in water; however, I recently made a pumpkin ale since I had a bunch of pumpkin sitting around and I juiced the pumpkin in a juicer and added it to the boil. This method added much more pumpkin flavor than the first two methods.

Loftearmen said:

The first batch i used unspiced, canned pumpkin, on the second batch I used the pumpkin with the skin, boiled in water; however, I recently made a pumpkin ale since I had a bunch of pumpkin sitting around and I juiced the pumpkin in a juicer and added it to the boil. This method added much more pumpkin flavor than the first two methods.

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Very good to know! I've got a Brevelle just waiting for some pumpkin.

loftearmen, which recipe came out the best?

I'm a rookie looking to make a full bodied pumpkin cider this week. Let me know thoughts on this:

- 5 gallons of Costco Apple Cider
- 1 x 500g bag of Briess Sparkiling Amber DME
- 1 x Safbrew WB-06 Wheat Yeast (dry) - 11.5 g
- 1 x 426g can of Farmer's Market Foods, spiced Organic Pumpkin Pie Mix
- 1 banana
- 1 orange
- 1/4 cup whole grain apple cinnamon grains
- large cinnamon sticks soaked in vodka for secondary
- 2 tbsp cinnamon
- 1 tbsp vanilla
- 1/2 tsp nutmeg
- 1/2 tsp grated ginger
- 3 cloves

I was thinking boil the food ingredients all together in a gallon of water for an hour. Then strain the liquid out and cool, mixing with 4 gallons of cider. Take another gallon of cider and dissolve the 500g of DME. Finally, mix it all together in the carboy and pitch with yeast.

Will this be ok? Or should I boil the ingredients in the gallon of water with 5 cups of sugar as loftearmen did? I'm thinking no, because I already have 5 gallons of Cider plus 500g of DME.

After two weeks of primary fermenting, I'd transfer to remove some sediment, and add the vodka infused cinnamon sticks. Ferment another two weeks, then bottle with 160g of priming corn sugar for another two weeks.

Any thoughts are appreciated

This may be `splitting hairs` here but if you are going to soak anything in a spirit for a cider wouldn't you want to use a calvados instead of a vodka?

Loftearmen said:

I was inspired by this thread to try a batch. Here's the recipe I used:

Ingredients:
2 large cans unspiced pumpkin
4 gallons Mott's apple juice
2 tbsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
10 whole dried cloves
1/2 teaspoon powdered ginger
5 cups white sugar
1 orange
1 packet Nottingham Yeast
1 gallon water

I put all of the solid ingredients and the pumpkin into a mesh bag and boiled it for 30 minutes in 1 gallon of water with 5 cups sugar in it. Then I tossed that and the apple juice into a carboy, dumped in a packet of Nottingham and put a balloon on it. It is currently bubbling away and it smells wonderful. The must had a lot of pumpkin flavor. I'll update in a week or two OG: 1.060.

Click to expand...

Hey, I was wondering 2 things. Do you put the boiled water in or the bag? Or both? How do you get such a massive object in a carboy?

Also, from many people isn't that a lot of clove?