apple pumpkin cider?

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scottpdx13

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I had an idea earlier. Since spiced apple cider and pumpkin pie use the same spices could you make a hard apple cider with a slight pumpkin flavor. I've been adding cinnamon sticks, cloves and ginger powder to my batches of apple cider for a while. Maybe add a little pumkin extract when I bottle. I was just wondering if any one has done anything like this before. I think it might be tasty on a cold winter day. Thanks.
 
Sounds delicious--I'm getting ready to make a holiday cider. Where do you find pumpkin extract?
 
Wow, it must be that this season brings out the Pumpkin in everyone as the hubby and I were discussing making a pumpkin/apple wine! :D I was thinking that the little squash called "Sweet Dumpling" would be good too along with a pie pumpkin- But I was thinking more along the lines of making the "must" (total of about 3 1/2 gallons)with the squash, pumpkin and cinnamon sticks, a couple of cloves, some honey (or brown sugar)and letting that ferment for about a week in a ferment bucket and then racking it off the pulps into the 5 gallon carboy, then filling the other 2 gallons worth with either apple juice or apple cider(If I can find one around here that isn't full of perservatives! :rolleyes:) and letting it finish up.
I do know that you have to add Pectic acid(?) to help with the clearing, but does anyone know whether or not to cook the pumpkin/squash to bring out the sugar? Maybe even oven roasting it to bring up the caramelized flavor? or should it just be done with the raw grated pumpkin/squash?
And instead of adding yeast nutrient, maybe adding a nice box of raisins?
So many questions for a newb to brewing.
 
So I just started 5 gallons of this today- here's what I did-
Roast on pumpkin about 20lb when mushy remove skin, smoosh up.
add 1 #10 can libby pumpkin (canned pumpkin is aged for 1 year to give it that gorgeous orange color and depth of flavor which fresh cannot match)
2 gallons uv past. local cider
2 cans apple juice concentrate
4 lbs brown sugar
2 tblspn pumpkin pie spice
1 packet safale 4

this was all stuff on hand so we'll see how it turns out!
 
Sorry for the thread resurrection, but I'm wondering if this worked?

I recently watched the YouTube video Summit Brewing posted on brewing their new Imperial Pumpkin Stout, and they said they would toss pumpkin into the mix and yeast would eat the pieces in their entirety. My question now is, will this work in cider? If that's the way it goes, I'm sure it would, but I'm more curious if it'll end up tasting any good.

Any input?
 
Teromous said:
I know Woodchuck released a pumpkin cider this past year. It was not good at all and tasted pretty stale. Anyone else try it?

Yeah that stuff was gross. I'm looking for something more apple/pumpkin pie like. Almost creamy rather than dry and crisp.
 
Thread necromancy: Just wanted to add that I'm trying a pumpkin/cider batch now too.

5 gal Apple Cider (uv past, but no sulfates)
Wild Yeast

Adjuncts:
2 Cups of Wild Sumac juice (for the tannins)
1lb thompson raisins
1.5lb roasted buttercup squash (very sweet and pumpkin'y)
Cinnamon & Cloves

I'm debating on whether to also ferment with a champagne yeast and add lactose. The caramely milk sugar taste might bring out more of a pumpkin pie flavor but I'm concerned the champagne yeast will remove most of the apple and pumpkin flavors and thin the mouthfeel out too much. Can you think of any other yeast that might be up to the job?
 
Wow, it must be that this season brings out the Pumpkin in everyone as the hubby and I were discussing making a pumpkin/apple wine! :D I was thinking that the little squash called "Sweet Dumpling" would be good too along with a pie pumpkin- But I was thinking more along the lines of making the "must" (total of about 3 1/2 gallons)with the squash, pumpkin and cinnamon sticks, a couple of cloves, some honey (or brown sugar)and letting that ferment for about a week in a ferment bucket and then racking it off the pulps into the 5 gallon carboy, then filling the other 2 gallons worth with either apple juice or apple cider(If I can find one around here that isn't full of perservatives! :rolleyes:) and letting it finish up.
I do know that you have to add Pectic acid(?) to help with the clearing, but does anyone know whether or not to cook the pumpkin/squash to bring out the sugar? Maybe even oven roasting it to bring up the caramelized flavor? or should it just be done with the raw grated pumpkin/squash?
And instead of adding yeast nutrient, maybe adding a nice box of raisins?
So many questions for a newb to brewing.

This sounds absolutely delicious, did ya end up doing it?
 
i saw that Woodchuck is making a pumpkin apple cider - personally i don't think they go together - have you ever seen a pumpkin apple pie combo?
 
I'm speaking from my research and not experience, but from what I've heard when you're fermenting something like cider that can ferment out so quick, adding spices and other fruits during the primary fermentation can result in off flavors. A quote from Makinghardcider.com;

Do not think that adding spices is a good idea! Trust me, adding some nice apple-pie spices for a note of nutmeg or cinnamon at this stage is a BAD idea. (Again note the voice of experience) Any time I try to sneak any flavor in at this stage of primary fermentation, I end up with cider that tastes distinctly of gym socks. BLECH! My guess is that adventurous yeast eats, and alters, the spices too, along with the sugar. If you want some extra flavors, add them after fermentation is complete and the yeast have stopped eating and altering.

Now, having quoted that. I'm 1 month in my very first hard cider and I added 1 tsp fresh ground cinnamon and I thieved a sip out this past Sunday and it was AWESOME. Maybe 3-4 years from now I'll be able to speak on this from experience.
 
I would like to know also. I was going to start something like that in a week or two .....
 
I know woodchuck has a special reserve of pumpkin cider and it is freaking delicious, hope yours turns out great!

I must be the only one who likes it. Should I put my address up?
 
If you want some extra flavors, add them after fermentation is complete and the yeast have stopped eating and altering.

I have been making hard cider for a couple years now, and started experimenting with spiced cider for fall/winter that first year. What I've done is to add a small muslin bag of whole mulling spices and dried sweet orange peel into the secondary. At first, I was leaving my cider in primary for about a month, racking into the secondary where it remained with the spices for another month, and then bottling. The results were pretty good. The spices came out in the finished product pretty nicely, if a little weak. So what I'm experimenting with now is crushing up the whole spices more, the amount of spices used, and shortening the overall fermenting time.

My base recipe is either cider or juice, and (for the holiday cider) 1/2 cup per gallon brown sugar for the slight molasses influence. A pinch of high alcohol yeast nutrient and yeast. For yeast, I'm still playing around with different ones. Those I've used most were: Wyeast sweet mead, Wyeast cider, Safale 5, Lalvin 17b 1122. The Lalvin had been recommended to me as bringing out more of the apple flavor, but I like the speed that the Safale gets the job done with (being a somewhat impatient person). I haven't noticed strong taste differences in these. But admittedly, I haven't been doing side by side comparisons. They all taste pretty good to me. O.g. is usually in the 1.060 range, and the finished product is usually just over 8% ABV and bottle conditioned to around 2.5 volumes.

I have noticed that if the cider sits for a year or two, the spice flavor diminishes. So it's been best in that first year.

I by no means consider myself an expert. This is just what I've been playing around with now and then over the last few years. I hope someone finds my experience helpful and can add to it. Like everyone else, I'm always looking to improve my results. :tank:
 
I did a simple test batch and came out nice and pumpkinny. Had five gallons fermented with nothing added and racked half at 1.02 into a 2.5 gallon carboy on top of a can of Libby's pumpkin with some assorted mulling spices and let it sit for another 2 weeks and it sure turned out pretty darn good for my first stab at it. And it's about as easy as can be.
 
I just bottled a pumpkin ale that I have high hopes for.

I dumped 5 gallons of Walmart apple juice on the yeast cake and added a bit more pumpkin pie spice and 1 1/2 lbs corn sugar for og of 1.06. We'll see what happens.
 
My first cider was a disaster. Too many spices in primary fermentation. My next attempt, I will start with apple juice and brown suger. After fermentation I will split the batch in two and add mulling spices to one and mulling spices plus pumpkin and lactose to the other.
 
Okay, so we're in the knuckle busting midst of hand grating a 20# pumpkin (we live on a boat, so appliances are scarce) to see if we can pull this off. I'm planning on simmering the pumpkin in apple juice for about 20 min to help break it down and kill off any wild yeast, then adding enough apple juice to make a 3 gallon batch. I'll be using brown sugar and a Lalvin K1-V1116 yeast, then racking it off the pulp at about a week and adding spices.

We'll see. Any ideas?:rockin:
 
Since you're boiling the pumpkin, you might consider adding some peptic enzyme for a clearer final product. But I don't know what impact that might have on the final product.

Best of luck! Please let us know how it turns out.
 
gnomepants how did this end up?

It wound up beautifully. The Pumpkin Cider wound up being one of our favorites and we're looking forward to making an even larger batch now that the big orange things are once again at our local farmer's market.

No additional enzymes appear to be needed. We simmered the must with the apple juice briefly, let it cool, and pitched. The only thing I regret is not letting any of it age longer, but it was just too good as a young, small beverage to let hang out.

M:tank::mug::ban:
 
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