Aging Cider in a Rum Barrel

[Rik van den berg]

I recently aged a strong ale in a freshly emptied 5 gallon rum barrel I bought from a local distillery. Came out great!

After the beer came out, I put some cheap rum back in the barrel to keep it from drying out, so that's how it's sitting now waiting on an new product to age.

I am thinking an apfelwein/cider to be the next one on deck for this barrel. Probably a still one in around the 12%ABV range.. After fermentation complete is complete I would let it age in the barrel for one to two months, bottle and let it age out in the bottles for at least 6 months.

Has anyone ever aged cider in a rum barrel? How did it turn out?

Thanks!

 

[cortex]

Never tried it personally, but looking forward to hearing how it turns out! There's a couple of rum aged ciders from craft breweries for sale in the UK which could be worth looking into to get an idea of how it might come out (I believe Healeys and Hallets both sell rum aged) if you can get hold of them

 

[Fly_Guy]

I haven't tried this, but I do Amharic a blackberry cider I plan on aging on brandy barrel chips...its super experimental, and also has some d-45 in it.That won't be ready for a few more weeks unfortunately.

 

[jrgtr42]

I've done similar - but added cubes that I'd soaked in rum into secondary. Came out great.
keep in mind that cider is more delicate flavor than the strong ale, so it may take less time to get to where you want it.
Have you been periodically rotating the barrel to keep all sides moist?

 

[Rik van den berg]

I've done similar - but added cubes that I'd soaked in rum into secondary. Came out great.
keep in mind that cider is more delicate flavor than the strong ale, so it may take less time to get to where you want it.
Have you been periodically rotating the barrel to keep all sides moist?

good point. 2 weeks will probably be plenty.
And yes, I’ve been rotating it.

 

[mashpaddled]

Never tried one but it seems like a good fit.

 

[cyberbackpacker]

About 9-10 years ago New Holland Brewing did a small batch of rum barrel aged cider in 5 gallon oak barrels (from rum they distilled themselves). The cider aged for six months in the rum barrel and it was fantastic.

 

[Tancred the Brewer]

My go-to home cocktail is a nice aged rum mixed with my homemade sweet applejack. It is dangerously good, so your experiment should turn out fine.

 

[Rik van den berg]

About 9-10 years ago New Holland Brewing did a small batch of rum barrel aged cider in 5 gallon oak barrels (from rum they distilled themselves). The cider aged for six months in the rum barrel and it was fantastic.

Wow 6 months in a 5 gal! Seems like that would be pretty overpowering on the rum/oak, were there any apple notes left?

 

[cyberbackpacker]

I tried it at a festival, I wasn’t taking notes, And it was almost a decade ago, so I don’t remember details.

That said what I do know is that of everything we drank that night it was the favorite beverage of my friends and myself. It was a beer festival that was featuring beverages that had been fermented with some component of Apples (cider and beer).

 

[Local85 Cider]

Just curious to know, can u get carbs to barrel cider? Im noobie, and thinking this actually earlier today.

 

[Maylar]

No. You age the cider in a barrel then carb it in bottles.