Adding Cinnamon Sticks to Hard Cider

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awarner322

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Hi Everyone..

I am new to the Cider brewing, as I usually stick with beer. Decided I want to try a 5 gallon Hard Cider. I plan on getting 5 gal of unpasteurized cider from a local mill. My question is can I add a few cinnamon sticks in my primary for additional flavor? Has anyone ever tried this? Thought it might be something interesting to try!

Any additional tips, tricks, hints would be greatly appreciated as well!

Thanks
 
I've had really great results heating the cider to pasteurize it and having some mulling spices in a muslin bag while doing so. I cool it afterward just like I would wort (usually ice bath since I work in smaller batches) and have had great results with Vintner's Harvest MA33 strain.

That reminds me - may be time to bust a few gallons of cider out.

Hope this helps! Happy brewing!
 
Thanks Topher..
That is where I get somewhat confused...after you cool it you pitch yeast and put in your carboy? I have been reading things about explosive bottles, leaving bottles to sit for a year..
It seemed people also had success pitching yeast right away and letting it ferment...bottling it and then putting capped bottles into a boiling pot to pasteurize this way?

Can anyone shed any knowledge on that?
 
I ferment out just like beer (let the yeasties do their thing).
The MA33 does a nice job of maintaining apple flavor and I generally cold crash for a couple days to bring the yeast out of suspension before bottling. I'll then get my priming sugar ready and add a little bit of yeast to the bottling bucket (more MA33, or Safale US-05).
Haven't had a bottle bomb yet.
 
Alright...thanks a lot. To cold crash...do you put your entire carboy or primary bucket right in the fridge....fridge space could be an issue for me :p
 
That's part of the reason I've been working in smaller batches (1-3 gal).

If you're careful racking it off that yeast, a "secondary" would prolly do the trick without crashing the yeast out.
 
Hi awarner332

As for some general pointers check out this very imformative website

I have been doing cider and other things non-beer for some time now and Topher is on the right track, but there are a few small tweeks I would add.

The first is purley cosmetic, but if you boil apple juice it will cause hazing/clodiness due to the pectin in the juice setting from the heat. This can be reversed by adding petic enzyme or not caring about cloudy jucie. Again, this doesn't affect the flavor or the look of the cider.

Also, even when you cold crash (which is getting the liquid to a tempature close to 38 degrees ferinheight) it will cause the yeast to go dormant, but not out of suspension, so at bottling time there is no need to add more yeast.

Bottle bombs are a by product of there being too much sugar for the yeast to ferment. If you are letting you cider fully ferment to a dry cider and then add just enough sugar to prime (3/4 a cup per 5 gallon) you shouldn't have any problems. If you want a sweet cider this is where you can run into problems.
 
Thanks Doctor - Limited experience on the cider front, but liked the results (mostly).

What temperature does pectin set? And what non-fermentable sugars/sweeteners would you add for just that little bit of sweetness? Again, I like the outcome of MA33 + mulling spice, but just for the sake of knowledge.

How's the Tardis?
 
I never mind sharing cider knowledge!

I believe that pectin sets at the boiling point, I read this hugh explanation once about the exact breakdown of the cell walls and the pectin protein once, but I don't recall the exact temperature. I usually don't heat my juice at all...when I do add spices I find that adding them at the secondary for a week or two is fine to provide to flavors. And it's always best to start small and add more if necessary, because you can't subtract flavor once it's too much!

I never found a non-fermentable sugar that I liked. I tried splenda, stevia even lactose, but all of these left an undesirable aftertaste in the cider. I did taste tests and found that I preferred the dry taste to the over chemical sweetness (but I still like a sweet cider sometimes) So I have been developing my tastes for dry cider. Otherwise, I use nottingham yeast, which usually finishes at 1.010 fg, which I think is the perfect balance between dry/sweet.

And if your way works for you, then it's golden!

The Tardis is fine, but Rory the Roman has just been taken by the vertiforms and Pond has run after them. Must be off. Allons-y!
 
I'm new to cider brewing as well and plan to do so this weekend. What about using honey as a sugar? I have seen that mentioned a few times in the research and curious to know when to add that if it's a good source.
 

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