Best way to steep the flavor from whole nutmeg and whole cinnamon sticks

janson745 · Feb 27, 2013

I had this bright idea to add the flavor of Nutmeg and Cinnamon to my cider. Last batch, I just put the ground cinnamon powder into about 2 cups of boiling water for a few 5 minutes, then let it cool and added the cooled cinnamon water to the finsihed cider in the bottling bucket. But I found that the cinnamon powder never actually dissolved and was like little black and brown particles floating in the cider.

The other day I came up with the idea to use whole nutmegs and whole cinnamon sticks. So, my thought was to do like a tea, and steep them in water to pull the flavors. Would it be best to go for say 165-175 degrees, or should they be boiled? How many whole nutmegs and cinnamon sticks should I use if I would like a good balanced flavor, just not too over pronounced in a 5 gallon batch of cider?

Have any of you had any experience with this before? Thanks for your help!

Spc_Scott · Feb 27, 2013

I just added cinnamon to 1 gal of cider by soaking 4 sticks in a few of shots (maybe 3.5?) of vodka. Added just the vodka to the carboy. At worst I lose a gal. I let the sticks soak for 2 days. Vodka got a real good color to it and the sticks unrolled in it all on their own. Just tasting a bit on my finger the vodka got pretty well infused at room temp. We'll see what happens I guess.

Bluespark · Feb 27, 2013

I would try to break the nutmeg in some way to expose more surface area.

I've just been shaving a chunk off the nutmeg and throwing that and the cinnamon stick whole into my brew. Turns out great.

Revvy · Feb 27, 2013

Bluespark said:
I would try to break the nutmeg in some way to expose more surface area.

I've just been shaving a chunk off the nutmeg and throwing that and the cinnamon stick whole into my brew. Turns out great.

When I made my sweet potato mead I did this as well. I shattered the nutmeg with a hammer. And added the cinnamon whole.