Apple pie ale

TrainSafe · Sep 27, 2011

This is a yummy fall brew. I will certainly make this one again. It took some time to reach a comfortable balance point, but now it is a well rounded brew. In the first three weeks after kegging and cold-crashing, the apple cider was strong, but that soon mellowed.

I used two Granny Smith apples and two Macintosh apples sliced up and added them in the last 10 minutes of the boil. I used one cinnamon stick dangled into the secondary from dental floss in each 3 gallon secondary. (5 gal brew + 1 gal cider was too big to fit into my secondary containers, so I split it between a corney and a 5 gal carboy) Other than that, I followed the original recipe.

So, I did a 3+ week primary, followed by a two week secondary then a week of carbing/cold crashing. It probably took another week to reach full flavor balance.

iron_city_ap · Sep 27, 2011

I've been trying to decide what to brew for my next round (I usually do 2 batches/month). I'm doing a Pecan Porter and looks like this is the new winner to go with it.

[edit] After looking at it and thinking it over and playing with BeerSmith, I decided on a few changes....

1. I'm adding apples like TrainSafe did for the last 10 minutes of the boil
2. adding a cinnamon stick for the final 5 minutes of the boil (as well as for the last week of fermenting along with the nutmeg and possibly more apple)
3. Eliminating the roasted barley and switching the crystal 60 to crystal 20. It will be much more of a rich golden color.

Nobody has said much about what yeast they used/are using for this. I have some European Ale at home that seems like a good fit.

douggefreshvt · Oct 3, 2011

I made a Caramel Apple Ale yesterday at the request of SWMBO. Base grain was Munich, along with some two row, and some Carapils. I used American Ale from Wyeast. I was hoping to give it a crisp finish where the apple would shine through. Also made home made caramel with 1lb of dark brown sugar and put that into the boil along with 5lbs of diced gala apples. For hops I used 2oz of Hallertau. I'm using my phone to post so I can update with exact quantities of everything later when I get back to my Beersmith if anyone is interested. Only thing I'm upset about is SWMBO cleaned the house the night before brew day and put away my vanilla beans so I forgot to add to the boil. I may just craft an extract tonight and add to the secondary in a couple of days with cinnamon. I had a little sample on the way into primary and it has a sweet start with a hint of apple and finishes with a subtle hoppy bite.

This was an all-grain with a 2 step: saccharification at 148 and mash out at 170. My OG was 1.050 which was only off .002 from Beersmith estimate so I was pretty happy. Will keep you posted.

Stoutman82 · Oct 10, 2011

I've thought about adding some Carmel to this and changing it seasonally to what apples are in season. I'm making it again tomorrow so it's done in time for thanksgiving.