Adding sliced apples to cider during fermentation?

I don't have easy access to fresh, unpasteurized apple juice/cider where I live and i'm stuck using the sprouts/whole foods gallon jugs of cider.

I'd like to give them a little more 'real' apple flavor and thought about adding 4 apples, sliced, during fermentation for a 1 gallon batch. The varieties would be honeycrisp, braeburn, granny smith and golden delicious.

Do you think this is going to be enough to impart any added apple characteristics or should I change the amount (or just forego the apples entirely)?

I added one or two Granny Smiths chopped up to a gal. of cyzer. I don't know if the apples did it because I have nothing to compare it to but it was pretty good.

MarkKF said:

I added one or two Granny Smiths chopped up to a gal. of cyzer. I don't know if the apples did it because I have nothing to compare it to but it was pretty good.

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I actually have two gallons of cyzer fermenting right now, one made with fresh pressed apple cider from a local orchard, and one with a gallon of mott's apple juice with a granny smith chopped up into it.

Same recipe otherwise, so I can report back what I've found at least. For me it was more an attempt to see if I could lower the cost of the ingredients.

BeeDeeEff said:

I actually have two gallons of cyzer fermenting right now, one made with fresh pressed apple cider from a local orchard, and one with a gallon of mott's apple juice with a granny smith chopped up into it.

Same recipe otherwise, so I can report back what I've found at least. For me it was more an attempt to see if I could lower the cost of the ingredients.

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Awesome. Please post back when you sample them. Like I mentioned in my OP, i don't have access to fresh pressed juice so i'm also trying to find a way of mimicking that flavor cheaply.

BeeDeeEff said:

Same recipe otherwise, so I can report back what I've found at least. For me it was more an attempt to see if I could lower the cost of the ingredients.

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Funny thing is every time I cost out no preservative AJ or FAJC compared to farm fresh cider it's pretty close and I've even got farm fresh cheaper. Only cider Apple blends are more than $5/gal.

MarkKF said:

Funny thing is every time I cost out no preservative AJ or FAJC compared to farm fresh cider it's pretty close and I've even got farm fresh cheaper. Only cider Apple blends are more than $5/gal.

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Location: Connecticut :smack:

Not everyone is so lucky to live in apple country

TandemTails said:

Location: Connecticut :smack:

Not everyone is so lucky to live in apple country

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True. But you get Hatch chilies and we don't.

FWIW, when I make cider from store bought juice I always add a pinch of this stuff: http://www.naturesflavors.com/flavors/organic-flavor-concentrate/organic-apple-cider-concentrate/c284_289_293/p60823/-cp/

It really makes a difference. Might look to be expensive, but it's highly concentrated and just a 1/4 tsp per gallon does it.

Maylar said:

True. But you get Hatch chilies and we don't.

FWIW, when I make cider from store bought juice I always add a pinch of this stuff: http://www.naturesflavors.com/flavors/organic-flavor-concentrate/organic-apple-cider-concentrate/c284_289_293/p60823/-cp/

It really makes a difference. Might look to be expensive, but it's highly concentrated and just a 1/4 tsp per gallon does it.

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Haha, true. Green chile is awesome.

These flavor concentrates look pretty neat. There are a lot of flavors that look like they might be fun to experiment with.

I went ahead and bought the 4 apples today, cored them, sliced them into thin pieces and threw them in the freezer. I figure I'll let the cider ferment for a couple days and then throw the apples in for a month or so before racking to secondary.

When i make cider I usually use four gallons of store bought juice then use my juicer on about 10# of apples to top it off to about 5 gallons. Gives it a little more mouth feel.

Maybe I'm too ghetto? Walmart great value apple juice with the right spices have won me best of show in the past.

nDub said:

When i make cider I usually use four gallons of store bought juice then use my juicer on about 10# of apples to top it off to about 5 gallons. Gives it a little more mouth feel.

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Any kind of apples in particular? The only real apples we get around here are dessert apples and mushy ass horrible red delicious.

TandemTails said:

Any kind of apples in particular? The only real apples we get around here are dessert apples and mushy ass horrible red delicious.

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Typically granny smith or winesaps when I can get them.

The granny smith definitely give an acidic bite.