Well, unfortunately my coffee cider experiments are halted for the moment, life got in the way and my cider developed some mold! I didn't want to mess with it, so I just dumped it
. Moving to Alabama in about two weeks, so all brewing is completely stopped until settled.
I do however have excellent news regarding my imperial cider.We kicked the keg in one day, and everyone was delightfully hammered!
Recipe:
5 gallons cheap crappy apple juice
1.5lbs lactose
64 fluid ounces of grade B maple syrup
1lb dark toasted oak chips (into primary 1 week before kegging)
Champagne Yeast
Fermented at 60 degrees for three? weeks. Maybe four. Cant remember!
*oak chips were soaked in water ovnernight, then toasted in the oven at 400 until deep brown/slightly singed in places (deep vanilla smell). They were then thrown into a mason jar and covered up with some dark island rum to soak for a few weeks. I dried the chips out before adding to primary by straining and then putting them in a brown paper bag to waft until completely dry.
The lactose dd its job beautifully. It raised FG by 9 gravity points in theory, and the sweetness of the cider was absolutely spot on. Not too sweet, not dry, right in the middle where drinkability is at its best. I will say though, that the maple syrup flavour was not noticeable at all. I dont know if it contributed any complexity to the taste, but there was zero colour or flavour that I could personally pick out.
The theoretical ABV was 10.5 I believe (if I did my calculations correctly), and it certainly played out that way. A few buddies had three glasses of the stuff and were absolutely flying.
The biggest surprise for me, was that this cider was delicious within a month. Usually high gravity stuff needs to age out, but this came out of the primary swinging. Not sure why, but I'm not arguing! Maybe the oak chips? Anyway, happy brewing.