Caramel apple cider

[Llama]

Wouldn't you want to use both a priming sugar and the lactose? I do believe lactose is an unfermentable sugar.

 

[Chaos_Being]

Wow, people have still been watching this thread?

Well...things have been extremely busy lately, and this cider is actually still sitting in the primary I haven't really had the time or the energy to mess with any of my brewing stuff lately.

This means, that it will either be really nicely aged, or it's going to taste horrible because it's been sitting on the yeast for months I will probably be bottling it very soon though, as there are several beers that I meant to start a while ago which I plan to finally start in the next few days, and I need the fermenter space. I did remove the airlock very briefly a couple of days ago to get a whiff, and it still smelled like hard cider and not vinegar, so that's a good sign!

I'll let everyone know how it finally finishes out, I'm probably just going to carbonate it as is and see how it tastes. Then I can experiment with extra flavorings and whatnot on the next batch

 

[DUCCCC]

Wow, people have still been watching this thread?

Well...things have been extremely busy lately, and this cider is actually still sitting in the primary I haven't really had the time or the energy to mess with any of my brewing stuff lately.

This means, that it will either be really nicely aged, or it's going to taste horrible because it's been sitting on the yeast for months I will probably be bottling it very soon though, as there are several beers that I meant to start a while ago which I plan to finally start in the next few days, and I need the fermenter space. I did remove the airlock very briefly a couple of days ago to get a whiff, and it still smelled like hard cider and not vinegar, so that's a good sign!

I'll let everyone know how it finally finishes out, I'm probably just going to carbonate it as is and see how it tastes. Then I can experiment with extra flavorings and whatnot on the next batch

Bump.
What's the story on this?

 

[russb123]

Has anyone tried the caramel extract before in a cider?

Do you just use it at bottling or put it in the secondary(if you use one), most of them say no sugar so they should not ferment out.

Just curious because the caramel smell when drinking could be very interesting(and tasty)

 

[homebrewer_99]

I've been following this for a while also...this is why I date my posts (sometimes...)...

 

[russb123]

Post dates are in the upper left corner of every post

 

[homebrewer_99]

My point exzachary...

 

[michael88n]

Okay... Here's yet another bandwagon that I've jumped on. Yesterday I cranked out:

1 lb crystal 60, 1 lb crystal 20, steeped at 150F for 45 min in 1 gallon of water
Sparged with another .5 gal
2 cans of apple juice concentrate
4 gallons Treetop apple juice (which has a GREAT apple taste btw)
1 tsp yeast nutrient
1 package US-05

This morning it is bubbling away nicely. Got a good smell in my laundry room.

Anyone else made this?

 

[adamjab19]

I'm gonna try something like this this week. I want it sweet though.

3 gallons fresh cider from the mill.
.5lbs crystal 40
.5 crystal 80
wlp011 yeast

Steep the grains in a gallon of water for 40 mins then let it boil down a little. Add everything in a carboy. See what the SG is and add some sugar if needed. In the secondary I am thinking of putting in 1tsp ground nutmeg, 1 tbls ground cinamin, and 1 cup brown sugar. I'll make a little tea of it and let the whole thing sit in secondary for a while then bottle. It sounds like the WLP011 will keep things sweet.

 

[Tusch]

I would recommend against ground spices. Whole work much better in my opinion. The ground nutmeg and cinnamon will just get mixed up and become part of the sediment. Where as if you use whole spices you can choose to siphon off of them, just making it cleaner and easier. Also, this allows you to better control the level of spice you add to your brew.

 

[adamjab19]

good point.

I am wondering though, and just throwing this out there, if I could get enough of the cinnamon and nutmeg flavor into the "tea" I could leave the ground remnants behind in the boil pot. Almost like making an extract? I have a bunch of ground spices, that aren't old, that I could use to save the money of buying whole ones.

 

[Tusch]

Yeah, a spice tea should work well.

 

[Crisco87]

Interesting post. Has anyone heard how this has turned out? SWMBO would probably appreciate if I made a batch of this as well so she'll have something to drink that isn't too wine-y. I saw a question above that I don't believe was answered so I'll ask again: would a caramel extract work well since it doesn't have any sugar and shouldn't ferment out? I think after this spiced cider recipe I am working on I'll have to try this.
Newbie question: what is this malt crystal stuff you are all talking about? I did a google search and it is showing beer malt. If that is the correct stuff, why would you use beer malt for a cider?

 

[adamjab19]

crystal malt is and a malt that is roasted to different color levels and thus impart different amounts of caramel flavors all the way to raisny. it is a beer type malt but more for flavor and color than actually tasting beery.

 

[o8secridr]

Why not use condensed milk. If you boil the condensed milk in the unopened cans for three hours turning over every half hour you can make your own caramel. Shouldn't this be a good caramel syrup for the cider? I have been trying to think of a way to make a caramel apple cider also. I make a great caramel pie this way and maybe it could be used this way also.

 

[Pogo]

Boil for 3 hours in unopened cans?

How would you know when it's boiling if the can isn't opened?

If it WAS boiling, wouldn't the can explode?

And, if you opened the can and used a pot to boil it in, wouldn't you be left with some dry, hard, black cement after 3 hours?

Plus, who wants to stand over a stove for 3 hours?

I mean, don't get me wrong, I love caramel, but maybe I'm missing something here.

Pogo

BTW - Care to share that caramel pie recipe?

 

[Kilgore_Trout]

Boil for 3 hours in unopened cans?

How would you know when it's boiling if the can isn't opened?

If it WAS boiling, wouldn't the can explode?

And, if you opened the can and used a pot to boil it in, wouldn't you be left with some dry, hard, black cement after 3 hours?

Plus, who wants to stand over a stove for 3 hours?

I mean, don't get me wrong, I love caramel, but maybe I'm missing something here.

Pogo

BTW - Care to share that caramel pie recipe?

You heat the can in a pot of water. If you get it to hot i can DEFINITELY be dangerous, at the very least it will ruin the sauce.
http://www.ehow.com/how_2148841_caramel-milk-spread.html

 

[oldtimeydave]

Whether or not you get caramel like this would you really want a dairy product in your cider? That would scare me to death. I just don't think milk or milk bi-products belong in cider.

If someone where to do this I'd make the caramel from sugar as suggested before. Caramel is cooked sugar. I've read about folks adding butter to caramel recipes but you can find recipes where it is just cooked sugar.

That caramel taste is the cooking or browning. I suppose one might be able to try caramel syrups for coffee like Torani. Not the SAUCE but the syrups like in a 750ml bottle.

Why not use condensed milk. If you boil the condensed milk in the unopened cans for three hours turning over every half hour you can make your own caramel. Shouldn't this be a good caramel syrup for the cider? I have been trying to think of a way to make a caramel apple cider also. I make a great caramel pie this way and maybe it could be used this way also.

 

[GolgiApparatus]

I used 2 lbs of molasses in my cider since it ferments out to a toffee and carmel flavor.

 

[gratus fermentatio]

I used 2 lbs of molasses in my cider since it ferments out to a toffee and carmel flavor.

Was this in 5 or 6 gallons? Also, did you get any "butterscotch-like" flavours? Regards, GF.

 

[o8secridr]

I thought the same things about the cans of condensed milk myself when I first started making caramel pies. Take the labels of the cans and put the cans in enough water to cover the cans. You can put a little vegetable oil in the water this will actually keep the cans from popping. It works I make caramel pies this way all the time.

 

[adamjab19]

Put this together today:

3 gallons fresh cider from the mill.
.5lbs crystal 40
.5 crystal 80
wlp011 yeast
3 tsp. yeast nutrient


I steeped the grains for 40mins in 150ish degree water and then brought the temperature to 170 and then boiled the wort for 15 minutes. Chilled it and through it in with the cider. It smelled good. The cider I used was rather tart so hopefully the crystal will balance it out. Probably should have made a starter though for the yeast. I'll keep this thread updated.

 

[jayhuff]

I jumped in on this tonight... I used what I had on hand...

2 gallons apple juice
8oz crystal 10L
4oz lbs chocolate malt
wp300 from starter

I ended up with almost 3 gallons. It tasted great pre-fermented btw! OG was 1.046, so it should be a nice drinkable cider with some sweetness from the unfermentable sugars.

I steeped the crystal and chocolate in 155 for 15 mins. It was dark as coffee and the cider was dark too.

I'll update in a week.

 

[Tusch]

Ooooh caramel chocolate apple, now that sounds good. Wait are we brewing brews or candies? Haha, keep us updated, everybody who went in on this.

 

[adamjab19]

Darn I have a bunch of chocolate malt laying around too...that should definitely give it a nice malty background. Just waiting on mine to start bubbling. Usually takes 48 hours without starter.

 

[jayhuff]

That's what I was thinking, caramel chocolate! Like I said, it tasted great prefermented!

 

[Crisco87]

Now, I know I am an abomination to all men around the world but, I don't like beer. Does using crystal and the chocolate malt add any beer -type flavors to the cider? Or is that the hops that makes beer taste like beer?

 

[adamjab19]

this is all experimentation but what I am trying to get and others is a sweet background taste to the cider. so you should be beer taste free.


edit: got home from work and it's bubbling away nicely and smelling great out of the air lock!

 

[jayhuff]

Well the batch I made on last Monday is all good! It fermented out out 1.006 and I went ahead and bottled it. I didn't want it to ferment all the way out so that it would be dry. The taste was awesome, it reminded me of the granny smith woodchuck. The malt was a very nice flavor addition.

 

[JoMarky]

WLP 300 to make cider? Interesting. I guess if you like apple-banana sauce sprinkled with clove dust.