Caramel Apple Hard Cider

Hey guys, like brand new at brewing and at this forum, stumbled on this recipe by accident and am super excited.

So, first post on the forum, and this will be my first attempt at anything besides wine kits.

I've read all 500+ posts in this posting and just have a quick question, what are the benefits of still v. carbonated? And can I do some of one and some of the other in one batch? Was considering warming this up in the crock pot or something during those cold winter nights. Thoughts??

mikeslag said:

Hey guys, like brand new at brewing and at this forum, stumbled on this recipe by accident and am super excited.

So, first post on the forum, and this will be my first attempt at anything besides wine kits.

I've read all 500+ posts in this posting and just have a quick question, what are the benefits of still v. carbonated? And can I do some of one and some of the other in one batch? Was considering warming this up in the crock pot or something during those cold winter nights. Thoughts??

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Yup you can do half and half. Just rack half onto campden and sorbate and just bottle and carb the other half. Difference is just whether you like a little bubbly or not. Personally, I like this one carbed. As for warming it up, never did that so can't speak to it.

Mulled wine is a...pretty interesting thought. I've had it and have thought it....less than fun to drink. Mulled cider I make every year but it's non-alcoholic and includes only oranges, lemons, cloves, and cinnamon sticks. I'm kind of curious what you think of Mike's Carmel Apple warmed up and MIGHT, now that you mentioned it, try 1 bottle that way. Otherwise, I like it just how it is. Still could be good and one person said (if i remember right) that some preferred it as such. I personally like the carbed version.

If you heat this baby up, please report back!

I couldn't help but notice that this recipe is basically the same as Edwort's Apfelwein with a different yeast and backsweetened with the caramel and juice. I am wondering what difference the notty is going to make as opposed to the montrachet in the apfelwein. I can't wait to taste it before sweetening and see. It's bubbling away now.

Alright sounds good to me. I think what I'll do is make a batch of this and do it mostly carbonated with maybe a 2 liters worth or something still and the rest bottled up, it just sounds too good carbonated not to bottled. I'll let you know if it's delicious and probably make another batch and if it's not delicious...well that's all part of the fun. This forum is amazing, thanks for everything you guys are doing here!

Springpatch said:

I think what my problem was, was my air lock didn't have enough fluid. After that it started bubbling every second. though I gotta admit I was pretty damn happy to see it bubbling away in the bucket.

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Gotta keep that airlock filled! A dry airlock will let in the nasties. I had a couple fruited apfelwines go lacto thanks to dry airlock and fruit flies...worked out in the end, but was not planned.

ajohnson153 said:

I couldn't help but notice that this recipe is basically the same as Edwort's Apfelwein with a different yeast and backsweetened with the caramel and juice. I am wondering what difference the notty is going to make as opposed to the montrachet in the apfelwein. I can't wait to taste it before sweetening and see. It's bubbling away now.

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In general, the wine and champagne yeasts will produce cleaner products with winelike esters, ale yeasts will produce more cidery products with more phenols and an absence of sulfur.

Hey all, I just brewed this batch using USMike's recipe and pitched wyeast's cider strain (4766) instead of the Notty...anyone else use this? Interested to see how it turns out...

I'll be trying this one in the near future. Hope it turns out as good as the others. Waiting on the yeast and bottles. Soon come!

Quick question: Maybe I'm mis-reading the directions. I bought all the ingredients, but are you supposed to just dump the dry yeast in the fermenter or do you pitch the yeast (usually with EC 116 or EC 118, I have to pitch it in warm water).

GAHokie said:

Quick question: Maybe I'm mis-reading the directions. I bought all the ingredients, but are you supposed to just dump the dry yeast in the fermenter or do you pitch the yeast (usually with EC 116 or EC 118, I have to pitch it in warm water).

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You can make a starter, but you don't have to.

UpstateMike said:

You can make a starter, but you don't have to.

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Sorry to be redundant but if you drop the dry yeast into the apple juice, do you have to agitate it? Could you put the dry yeast in one of the half full jugs of juice and shake it?

in bottles day 3. PET bottles starting to firm up but not hard yet, couldn't wait and cracked one last night. Great flavor slight bubbles on opening the bottle but totally still in the glass. I can see why this recipe is getting great reviews. Mine hit ~7.5% ABV and you cant taste it a bit over the apple and cinnamon.

Biohazard said:

in bottles day 3. PET bottles starting to firm up but not hard yet, couldn't wait and cracked one last night. Great flavor slight bubbles on opening the bottle but totally still in the glass. I can see why this recipe is getting great reviews. Mine hit ~7.5% ABV and you cant taste it a bit over the apple and cinnamon.

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Be prepared to pasteurize in the next day or two. What temp are you letting them sit at to carb up? I'd recommend 65-70 if you can do that.

speedyG said:

Sorry to be redundant but if you drop the dry yeast into the apple juice, do you have to agitate it?

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You don't have to, but giving it a light stir with the handle end of a mash paddle or long spoon couldn't hurt.

speedyG said:

Could you put the dry yeast in one of the half full jugs of juice and shake it?

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I don't see why not.

I have this in the fermenter but due to some really slow yeast and a baby that is likely to be coming this weekend there is a good chance that I might not be able to bottle or pasteurize on my own schedule. Anyone see any issues with me dropping the temp in the fermentation chamber to about 38 when I need to and leaving the fermenter or bottles (depending on when this goes down) at that temp until I am able to pick up and bottle or pasteurize?

If I go this route once I am ready to go should I slowly bring the temp back up or can I just set the temp back to the 68 that I fermented at and then give it a few hours?

After 1 week I've reached the 1.010 gravity. So today I am going to re rack to my 2ndary sans camden tablets. I want FIZZ! But seriously folks, this was easy as pie to make, caramel apple pie that is.

Question does letting this sit a month or so after I bottle and pasteurize do anything to enhance the flavor? I plan for this to be my thanks giving food item to bring.

UpstateMike said:

Be prepared to pasteurize in the next day or two. What temp are you letting them sit at to carb up? I'd recommend 65-70 if you can do that.

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No kidding, checked my test bottles last night before going to bed and they were rock hard, so pasteurizing got done last night instead of an extra hour of sleep. I had a few bottle leak from excess carb but I just recapped em and marked them as lo carb bottles and will drink them this week. The rest seemed ok.

Oh yeah and room temp in So Cal right now was around 75. This went from totally flat to fully carbed scary fast. Love it!

springpatch said:

question does letting this sit a month or so after i bottle and pasteurize do anything to enhance the flavor? I plan for this to be my thanks giving food item to bring.

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Absolutely!

Well change made, going with still because I won't be around for a week after bottling....Oh well I know this going to be good.

I just made this one yesterday and I realized that I was out of pectin. I know the recipe doesn't call for pectin, but I put it in all my ciders for clarity. Is it possible to put pectin in a day or so later? Should I just give up on adding pectin enzyme to the cider?

By the way, Mike. I can't thank you enough for the recipe. I've made some a few ciders before, but this was by far the easiest to start--hopefully in two weeks it'll turn out well.

So I bottled this today with camdpen 24 hr set. Had to have some and it is pretty good. Question if I added the campden should I still have to pasteurize to avoid bottle bombs?

Thanks for the awesome and easy recipe mike! The wife already asked for a spiced version for the holidays...

I split the batch for still & sparkling and like the still better, i did not use campden tabs just cold crashed(~33°) right away for still & about a week and half for sparkling... The still was a great use for all my growlers i had sitting around! For those curious im getting more of a gala or golden delicious flavor from the still while the sparkling is closer to a granny smith...

I have not had any separation of the syrup, what i did was as i was setting up to bottle i poured my fajc & syrup into a gal ziploc then floated it in hottest tap water (~130°) then added to carboy when ready gave a couple small swirls while adding and after each six pack or so...

SWOMB says she wants me to make this but doesn't like the caramel idea because she's not a huge fan of caramel, if I were to just leave the cinnamon out of the caramel mix would this still work? Or is there a substitution I could do?

Thanks guys!

The caramel flavor is VERY subtle... I left the cinnamon out completely... Next time i plan on putfting a few sticks in my secondary...

Alright just checking. I like to make sure she's good with everything because we brew this together, it's like our ONLY common hobby

mikeslag said:

SWOMB says she wants me to make this but doesn't like the caramel idea because she's not a huge fan of caramel, if I were to just leave the cinnamon out of the caramel mix would this still work? Or is there a substitution I could do?

Thanks guys!

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Instead of cinnamon, you might want to try vanilla extract. Careful, a little goes a long way. Perhaps 1/2 to 1 teaspoon?

So I'm on my 2nd 5 gallon batch. First one turned out great. However, this batch has been fermenting for a week and is almost at 1.015. Problem is, it smells a little sulfery. It had the rhino farts real bad for about a day and a half but it still has that residual smell. This didnt happen at all in my past batch. Only thing that changed was:
Ferm temp: last time at about 72 degrees(warm I know) this one at about 66.
Juice: this one has malic acid in it but that shouldn't be it
Yeast nutrient: didnt add it last time but did this time. Followed the directions for a 5 gallon batch and this is my first time using it.

Any ideas? I'm bottling soon and really don't want this smell in my cider

Thanks for the recipe, UpstateMike... My wife isn't much of a beer drinker, but loves hard cider, so I've been looking for something to make for her. I plan on getting started tomorrow and will let you know how it turns out.

All mixed up and in the fermenter.

I had an available 5 gallon carboy, so I adjusted the first part of the recipe as such:

4 G of apple cider
1.5 lbs of dextrose
Yeast nutrient
Pectinase

OG: 1.0603

Will check gravity next weekend, but will most likely just let it ferment to dry and then back sweeten. SWMBO is excited.

UtahNate said:

All mixed up and in the fermenter.

I had an available 5 gallon carboy, so I adjusted the first part of the recipe as such:

4 G of apple cider
1.5 lbs of dextrose
Yeast nutrient
Pectinase

OG: 1.0603

Will check gravity next weekend, but will most likely just let it ferment to dry and then back sweeten. SWMBO is excited.

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Using nottingham you would have been fine doing a full 5 gallon batch in a carboy. I just did 5 gallons and had zero need for headspace. Next time I am going to do 5 gallons in one of my 5 gallon better bottles to save my big buckets for beer. I hope to get this bottled soon. I have an IPA dry hopping that I need to bottle on Monday. I used a bucket with a spigot to ferment this so I may bottle it straight out of primary.

I have a question regarding the bottling of this.... Is there any reason I can't use swing top bottles as this is the drink that will be popping my brew cherry

badboygator said:

I have a question regarding the bottling of this.... Is there any reason I can't use swing top bottles as this is the drink that will be popping my brew cherry

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No reason you can't. Only thing with swing tops, every couple brews, make sure you replace the rubber gasket to maintain an air tight seal

ajohnson153 said:

Using nottingham you would have been fine doing a full 5 gallon batch in a carboy. I just did 5 gallons and had zero need for headspace. Next time I am going to do 5 gallons in one of my 5 gallon better bottles to save my big buckets for beer. I hope to get this bottled soon. I have an IPA dry hopping that I need to bottle on Monday. I used a bucket with a spigot to ferment this so I may bottle it straight out of primary.

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This is only my 4th brew and the second time I've used Nottingham. I used buckets for my first three batches (the batch with notty is still in the FV and I haven't cracked it) so I couldn't see how high the krausen reached. I erred on the side of caution, but now that fermentation has really kicked off I can see I could have done the full 5 gallons. Oh well... I'll know better next time.

Good luck with your cider and IPA.

So I used S-04 and its been in the bottle for about 3 weeks. It's carbed and has been pasteurized for about 2 weeks. I opened one up today and it smells and tastes like banana. Was that because I stressed the yeast somehow? I fermented without temp control, so it sat at 68 ambient the whole time. Any thoughts?

Carribbean jerked pork chops, garlic & parmasan (sp?) roasted asparagus and 3 mugs of Upstate Mike's hard apple cider!! Life is good! Love brewing and this time of year! Wishing best to you and strength for those dealing with fall out of Sandy.

Got another 5 gallons going now to be ready for "Half Century 'round the Campfire' 50th birthday party!!

UtahNate said:

This is only my 4th brew and the second time I've used Nottingham. I used buckets for my first three batches (the batch with notty is still in the FV and I haven't cracked it) so I couldn't see how high the krausen reached. I erred on the side of caution, but now that fermentation has really kicked off I can see I could have done the full 5 gallons. Oh well... I'll know better next time.

Good luck with your cider and IPA.

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I'll be bottling both tomorrow if all goes to plan. I used a bucket for two reasons. Mostly because I didn't have a 5 gallon vessel to use (At the time I only had one 5 gallon carboy and the IPA is in there. I just bought two 5 gal BB's from Northern Brewer on BOGO) and because I didn't know how much head space I would need. I had never used Nottingham yeast before. If it had been Montrachet I would have known that it wouldn't need much head space at all. My roommate makes EdWort's Apfelwein in a 5 gal carboy and the base recipe is the exact same as this one with Montrachet instead of Notty. Ciders in general don't seem to produce the foam that beer does. With that being said I can't wait to try this once it's finished and see if any changes need to be made to make it to my liking so I can brew up another batch. Gotta put those new BB's to use.

Alright, went to the homebrew store and got my stuffs, now I just need to pick up the apple parts. I don't know anything about yeast yet, but can someone help me out, the Nottingham says rehydrate before use, do I rehydrate or just open and sprinkle?

I've done it both ways. I think that you'll be fine with sprinkling but rehydrating isn't too hard to do. Just get the temp right. It helps to ensure the yeast isn't shocked from what I understand. Compare it to being punched in the face and asked to do something or gently coaxed to do the same thing so you can start with a little more focus.

Just make sure the measuring cup or whatever is clean if you decide to rehydrate.

mikeslag said:

Alright, went to the homebrew store and got my stuffs, now I just need to pick up the apple parts. I don't know anything about yeast yet, but can someone help me out, the Nottingham says rehydrate before use, do I rehydrate or just open and sprinkle?

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If it helps I just bottled mine and I just sprinkled. Actually if you want it mixed really well you can put it in one of the juice containers with the corn sugar and shake it.