Smoked Cider?

[CRock303]

I've had a crazy idea floating around in my head ever since I had some smoked bourbon on vacation last April. I did a little research on how bourbon is smoked and found out it's pretty easy with the right tool. If you bubble in smoke using a smoking gun you don't need to add anything, just smoke right before bottling.

If I can get my hands on one, I know a few chefs that might have access, I was going to smoke about a gallon of a batch I started in primary yesterday. I was thinking of using a lighter fruit wood smoke, so naturally apple wood.

Has this ever been done before? I did a forum search on it and couldn't come up with anything. I'll take any other suggestions as well.

 

[UpstateMike]

Interesting idea.

Here's a vid on how they smoke bourbon. Should be able to do it the same way for cider. Not sure i'd want to do more than a gallon at a time.

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7wQ5JhbsF-g"]Smoking Four Roses Bourbon at Manifesto, in KC[/ame]

 

[CRock303]

Yeah that's the video I saw. I'm gonna split off a gallon when I bottle and try it with that. I don't want to ruin an entire batch if it turns out terrible.

 

[gratus fermentatio]

You know, you could always just steep some smoked or peated malt & add the resulting liquor to your cider. A little should add quite a bit of smoke flavour & some added body. You might want to add a can or 2 of unreconstituted FAJC (thawed) to make up for the added water/liquor. Seems like this would be a lot easier than the smoking process in the video posted above.
Just my 2 cents worth. Regards, GF.

 

[CRock303]

I'm trying to stay away from using any malt in my ciders. I like the suggestion though, I'm just stubborn that way.

 

[bmartinesq]

My fear would be the smoked flavor being to harsh since its fresh. I would smoke the cider first, then ferment it so the smoke has time to blend with the cider. Excited to hear how it turns out though.

 

[CRock303]

If I can get my hands on a smoke gun I'll smoke in bottles and try different smoking times on bottles to see if I can get a general idea of how much smoke to use. They will still bottle age so some of it should mellow out and using a fruit wood will help keep it from being too strong as well.

 

[Schlenkerla]

You know, you could always just steep some smoked or peated malt & add the resulting liquor to your cider. A little should add quite a bit of smoke flavour & some added body. You might want to add a can or 2 of unreconstituted FAJC (thawed) to make up for the added water/liquor. Seems like this would be a lot easier than the smoking process in the video posted above.
Just my 2 cents worth. Regards, GF.

Necrothreadoply....

Been thinking about this for a bit. I was thinking if doing it how you said above since its seems like a more natural process. I smoke grain frequently. I would definitely not use peat though. Bleack, double-bleack on the peat. Tastes like printed circuit boards. However smoking caramunich 40L would be the ticket. Gonna add smoke, add some caramel to it too. I might even do a demerara invert or the FAJC.

I have that smoking gun. It works but its kind of harsh if its the wrong smoke and overdone and doesn't seem to blend well or be as natural had one used malt. Done it on whiskey and its meh... take it or leave it for what it does. The best thing for the smoking gun is cheese. Cheddar cheese to go with your smoked cider!

 

[bmd2k1]

Though not as "sexy"....how about just adding a bit of liquid smoke to a batch.

Cheers & Good luck [emoji111]

 

[Maylar]

Smoke some pork butt on the smoker. Pulled pork sammies and hard cider were made for each other.

 

[Schlenkerla]

Smoke some pork butt on the smoker. Pulled pork sammies and hard cider were made for each other.

These ribs were smoked for four hours and hit with an apple juice spray every 15 minutes. The juice caramelized on the meat and kept them moist.

Yeah...smoked cider might be the ticket.

 

[Schlenkerla]

Though not as "sexy"....how about just adding a bit of liquid smoke to a batch.

Cheers & Good luck [emoji111]

Some have vinegar, which is not good unless you're wanting it as a sour. However Wright's Liquid Smoke is better but it's not as subtle as if you use grain. Caramel malt smoked would work for me. It's my preference.

 

[bmd2k1]

Some have vinegar, which is not good unless you're wanting it as a sour. However Wright's Liquid Smoke is better but it's not as subtle as if you use grain. Caramel malt smoked would work for me. It's my preference.

Finally scored some Wright's Hickory liquid smoke -- playing around with it and it's pretty damn good! After some trials it appears that 1ml to 4oz of my cider appears to be the right ratio for me.

Will be upsizing this with some of my batches in the upcoming weeks.

Cheers!

 

[globell]

how did this turn out?
How about smoking the apples themselves? (cold short smoke)