Lookin for advice on Spiced Caramel Apple Cider Ale.

I'm basing this recipe on the Caramel Amber ale recipe in the database but with a couple tweaks and I'm looking for advise.
Here's what I have so far:

8 lbs two row
1lb crystal 80l
3/4lb Amber Belgian Candi Syrup

1/3 oz Magnum (16.75%) 60 min
1/2oz Simcoe (13.7%) 10 min
1/2oz Simcoe (13.7%) 5 min

At 10 min add:
1 stick cinnamon
Fresh Nutmeg, allspice and clove
And at bottling add about 1/2lb lactose sugar.

Here are my questions:
How much of the Nutmeg, allspice and clove to use
And what is the best way to get apple cider flavor? I was thinking about adding about 1/2 to 1 gallon at flameout or adding a can of frozen concentrate.

Thoughts?

 

I don't brew beer, but I do make cider a lot. For a 5 gallon batch of cider I'll use 1 tbs of ground cinnamon, 1 tsp of ground clove, and 1/8th of a tsp of ground nutmeg. I simmer those in a quart of so of the juice in a tea bag for about 20 minutes. It wouldn't hurt them to go longer, so you could add them to the beginning of the boil if you prefer. I don't personally like allspice in my cider.

If you really want apple flavor forget the lactose. Back sweeten with apple juice concentrate. Then once you have your carbonation, pasteurize the bottles.

Another good method for getting apple flavor would be to add 2 lb per gallon of wort of quartered and cored apples to secondary. Preferably tart apples like granny smith, or even crab apples. Fuji are ok, but the more tart the apple the better. Leave them in there for about two weeks, then fish out the apple pieces. You will want to add pectin enzyme at that point too, if you care about getting a clear brew anyway.

If you find the final product is lacking in cinnamon flavor, split a cinnamon stick into about 8 pieces lengthwise, then break in half, and bottle with 1 per bottle for 12 oz bottles. For bombers or 750ml bottles, do not break in half. 1 per bottle is still good. If you just break them instead of splitting lengthwise the stick will unroll when it sits in liquid for a long time, and will be pretty much impossible to get out of the bottle.

Happy Brewing!

 

I never would have thought about adding cinnamon sticks to the bottle.
I know the Candi syrup will add complexity, but it will dry the beer so I wanted to add a little extra with the lactose. It was inspired from my fav session ale, widmer drop top amber.
I could backsweeten and pasteurize but that seems like a lot more work than I wanna do lol.

 

Haha, I hear that. You could also add some apple juice concentrate to the batch. The thing is, apple flavor is really dependent on sugar content in peoples heads. Without the sugar, you are going to get more of a bittering function. Though far less so then with hops. The sugars present in apple juice, or juice concentrate, are going to be 100% fermentable.

Something else you could do, is ferment a bit warm with something that tends to produce fruit esters. After sweetening, that may give you the illusion of an apple flavor.

 

Simcoe at 10 and 5 minutes will probably cover most of the apple/spice flavor. You might want to just stick with the neutral bittering from the Magnum.

 

Ok so ill drop the late hops.

I'm still trying to figure out the best way to get apple flavor without pasteurizing. Maybe add them cored and quartered after fermentation is done.

 

That'll work, just like with any fruit beer. You can also bottle with apple juice or concentrate for priming to increase the apple.

 

I tried to do a search on using juice or juice concentrate to prime and I didnt find exaxt numbers. Could anyone help me figure out how much to use to prime?

 

I have used cider (pasteurized) in the secondary and it imparts a great flavor. I highly recommend it.

I force carb, so I don't know about how much you need for force carbing. I use 1 gallon of cider in a secondary of 5 gallons of wort/beer.

 

Do you boil it first or just dump it in?

 

I just dump it in, and I've never had an infection.

You will get a renewed fermentation. Make sure you take a gravity reading before you add the cider, or you won't have any way to determine ABV. (Ask me how I know)