MacBruver
Well-Known Member
Interesting... looking forward to hearing your results from the caramelized DME. Sounds cool!
Caramel apple cider
- Thread starter Chaos_Being
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Chaos_Being
Well-Known Member
I made Caramel Cider 2.0 this weekend. I used 5 gallons of Mott's Apple Juice (I gallon of which I used to steep my Crystal Malt,) 1.5lb of Crystal 60, and 1lb of Amber DME. The DME I dissolved in a medium sized saucepan full of water, and boiled it for over an hour until it was a nice mahogany colored syrup. It tasted very carmelly, and almost a little roasty (I may have carmelized it a bit too much.) I used S-04 yeast.
The entire concoction is fermenting like mad in my basement now. I'm hoping that it comes out good this time, but I just realized now (far too late) that there may have been another reason that my other batch went sour. I steeped the grains, but never boiled the resulting wort before...and I did the same thing this time. I'm hoping that the sourness I encountered last time wasn't a lacto infection from the grain, becuase if it was...I just did it again. D'oh. Wish me luck!
The entire concoction is fermenting like mad in my basement now. I'm hoping that it comes out good this time, but I just realized now (far too late) that there may have been another reason that my other batch went sour. I steeped the grains, but never boiled the resulting wort before...and I did the same thing this time. I'm hoping that the sourness I encountered last time wasn't a lacto infection from the grain, becuase if it was...I just did it again. D'oh. Wish me luck!
cimirie
Well-Known Member
I'm glad this thread has continued because I've been thinking about this for a little while. I do have one question for everybody, though... Everybody is talking about steeping the grains. Why not mash the grains? Wouldn't mashing bring out more of the flavor and the sugars (both fermentable and not)? Or is the advantage of mashing in this situation only marginally better than steeping so why the extra work?
Any insight would be appreciated and anybody with success story follow ups, we'd love to hear them!
Any insight would be appreciated and anybody with success story follow ups, we'd love to hear them!
Chaos_Being
Well-Known Member
Yep, I'm pretty sure that's what did the 2nd batch in as well. I applied some of my ideas here (mainly the carmelized malt) to a batch of Graff that should be about ready to bottle. So, I'll soon have a comparison batch that actually boiled the wort from the crystal malt, so I should have a solid answer soon.
Chaos_Being
Well-Known Member
Thread necro time...
Yes, boiling did the trick all right. The batch of caramel cider/graff with the wort boiled came out great! It has a nice cider taste, a bit tart, but with a slightly sweet/caramelly roundness to the taste that keeps it from being overly sour. It's aged well too, as I still have some bottles (I haven't brewed much for the past year or so...well, make that haven't brewed at all.) I plan on fixing that soon
Yes, boiling did the trick all right. The batch of caramel cider/graff with the wort boiled came out great! It has a nice cider taste, a bit tart, but with a slightly sweet/caramelly roundness to the taste that keeps it from being overly sour. It's aged well too, as I still have some bottles (I haven't brewed much for the past year or so...well, make that haven't brewed at all.) I plan on fixing that soon
