Caramel Apple Hard Cider

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Fridge definitely, freezer and you'll be concentrating your alcohol, which is a whole different animal. I just crashed some bottles at 45*. Side note, cold crashing, as I've been told, doesn't totally stop your yeasts, just severely retards their activity.
 
I was reading in another thread that you should only use 1 can of apple juice concentrate per 5 gallon batch because of bottle bombs.

I think I may try using half and see what happens.
 
Stickys folks. Read. Your. Stickys. In order to avoid BB's, use a soda bottle of the same brew to test carbonation, once it's good and hard, pop one of your regular bottles to see it the carb. is where you want it. Once you have reached desired carb, stovetop pasteurize. Stickys folks.....
 
Swmbo has formally requested that I make a batch of this for her. She helps a lot in my brewing even though she hates beer, so I'm definitely going to comply with her request. I'm dying to see how this tastes myself.
 
When your bottles were gushing, were they warm or cold? Cold brews tend to gush less. I had a few from my caramel batch that gushed at room temp and were fine when chilled and had no problems when pasteurizing. When testing for carbonation I throw one in the fridge to see, because I won't be drinking them warm anyways, so that makes the most sense to me.
 
Stickys folks. Read. Your. Stickys. In order to avoid BB's, use a soda bottle of the same brew to test carbonation, once it's good and hard, pop one of your regular bottles to see it the carb. is where you want it. Once you have reached desired carb, stovetop pasteurize. Stickys folks.....

Yeah, I did read the stickys and have 2 plastic bottles to test. For first 2 days they were very soft, still not ready and on the 3rd day they were rock hard. I popped a top on 2 of my bottles and this is where the gushers started.

Also, the temp was cool room temp. I keep them in the basement which ranges from 67*-72*.

So, needless to say, they are in the fridge now, where they will remain until I drink them :mug:
 
So I've read the first 6 pages and I can't wait any longer. My questions may have already been answered, but I'm eager to get this going. I intend to follow the recipe as close as possible to achieve the acclaimed character of this, but I don't want to bottle condition. I keg my beers and would prefer to stop fermentation when It still has a little residual sweetness. I haven't used campden tablets in brewing, I assume they kill off the yeast. Has anyone done this recipe with force carbonation in a keg? I don't mind doing keg conditioning, I just want to control it to avoid over carbonation. Killing off the yeast and force carbonation seems to be the only sure way to control that.

One thing I also want in this (since I am a beer brewer) is mouthfeel, head retention and lace. Has anyone experimented with Malto-Dextrine for these characteristics?

If you keg and get it cold right away fermentation will stop. That is how I did it and it worked fine. The only problem I had was that all the syrup settled to the bottom of the keg even though I stirred it really good. Next time I might rack on to the syrup in the keg and put just enough pressure to seal the keg and leave it warm for a day or two. It might ferment some of the sugar out but hopefully not too much and fermentation will mix it up. Plus I could save on CO2 carbonating.
 
UpstateMike said:
Cut back on the concentrate if you wish, but don't cut back on the caramel syrup mix. This is what gives this cider its unique signature.

After having several people try my caramel apple cider, I've received mostly good reviews with a few people mentioning it did get a little too sweet for their taste by the bottom of the bottle so next time I might try only two cans of concentrate. Just my two cents.
 
This may have been covered already, but how much kreusen are you guys getting from the Nottingham yeast in this. The only fermenter I will have available to make this is a 5 gallon better bottle.
 
I did mine in a 6 gallon food flavoring bucket that is dark blue. Have no idea how much head it developed
 
Well, I pulled it out of primary after sitting for 17 days. Made the full batch of carmel cinnamon syrup and mixed it with 2 cans of concentrate.
Added that back in and stirred gently. Pulled a sample and tried it on ice while I was bottling and it was really good. After carbing up and sitting for a week I think this will be extremely tasty!
2 cans was good for me and I don't like my cider very sweet. Keep in mind that it was extremely dry from the Montrachet before I back sweetened so your mileage may vary with an ale yeast.
 
Getting ready to mix all the fermented cider with the syrup and 2 cans of concentrate in the bucket prior to bottling...

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FG reading before backsweetening...

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Will this benefit from pectin enzyme addition? Was thinking about picking up the ingredients today.
Caramel Apple Hard Cider

Ingredients, Part 1:
7 x 96 ounce bottles (5.25 gallons) Wegmans 100% Apple Juice, pasteurized, only vitamin C added
2 lbs. Dextrose
Nottingham Yeast

Ingredients, Part 2
5 campden tablets (Optional, see notes)
5 – 12 oz. cans of Frozen Apple Juice Concentrate, thawed to room temperature
12 oz. Caramel Syrup

Recipe for Caramel Syrup:
2 cups of water
2 cups of light brown sugar
2 tsp. ground cinnamon
Combine in a saucepan and bring to a boil. At boil, reduce heat and simmer for about 5 minutes (until volume is reduced to half). Let cool & bottle for future use.

Part 1 (Started 1/7/12):
Opened 1 bottle of apple juice, got a gravity reading of 1.050. Temp is 64 degrees.

In a 6 gallon carboy, pour in bottles 1 and 2 of apple juice.

Open bottles 3 and 4 of apple juice. Pour half of each bottle into carboy. Add 1 pound dextrose per bottle to the remaining amount of apple juice in bottles 3 and 4. Shake bottles to mix sugar and apple juice. Pour bottles 3 and 4 into carboy.

Pour bottles 4, 5, and 6 of apple juice into carboy. Take another sample for OG, got a reading of 1.064. Open Nottingham yeast, pour into carboy. Agitate carboy to mix in yeast. Pour bottle 7 of apple juice into carboy.


Part 2 (In about 14 days):
Check for target FG of 1.010 to 1.015

Rack cider into a 5 gallon carboy.
OPTION: If you want a still cider, add 5 crushed Campden tablets to the cider at this time. If you want a carbonated cider, skip this optional step.
Make the Caramel Syrup and wait 24 hours before proceeding.

After 24 hours, siphon cider into your bottling bucket. Add the Caramel Syrup and the 5 cans of apple juice concentrate while siphoning to aid in mixing. Bottle the cider and enjoy.

If you are carbing in the bottle, be aware that this will carb up fast (4 - 5 days) due to all the sugar. I highly recommend that you fill and cap a plastic pop or beer bottle first, and use that as a guide to tell you when it will be time to Stovetop Pasteurize the batch.

Picture is Caramel Apple Hard Cider in the foreground, after adding yeast. The Apfelwein is ageing in the background.


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ajohnson153 said:
This may have been covered already, but how much kreusen are you guys getting from the Nottingham yeast in this. The only fermenter I will have available to make this is a 5 gallon better bottle.

Very little krausen. The s04 I just used for Graham's English cider recipe had more krausen.
 
Just served 10 gallons of this at a friend's wedding - was gone within 30 minutes. Back sweetened each 5 gallon batch with caramel syrup per Mike's directions and 2 cans of AJ concentrate. Stovetop pasteurized after about 5 days. Thanks Mike for the recipe! Everyone loved it.
 
If you keg and get it cold right away fermentation will stop. That is how I did it and it worked fine. The only problem I had was that all the syrup settled to the bottom of the keg even though I stirred it really good. Next time I might rack on to the syrup in the keg and put just enough pressure to seal the keg and leave it warm for a day or two. It might ferment some of the sugar out but hopefully not too much and fermentation will mix it up. Plus I could save on CO2 carbonating.

I've done the same with kegged hard ciders before and have had no problems.

I cold crashed the batch down to high 30's and let it sit for a few days before racking it to a chilled keg. Since the keezer is set to 39 deg I have not experienced any additional fermentation in the keg - or if there was any additional fermentation, it was so slow that any change in flavor was not noticeable. I used Notty yeast.

I think I'm going to try to make this batch for winter. Since I'm kegging and force carbing, I'll try the following:
- make the caramel mix and pour into the keg while it's still hot. The hot mix will kill any yeast still remaining in the cold-crashed cider and help with the settling issue that some people experienced.
- I'll also add the concentrates into the reduced caramel mix and heat it to near boiling for the same reason

I'll start with 2 cans of concentrates for back sweetening as I'd rather error on the side of not sweet enough than too sweet. I can always add more.

Thanks for the recipe USM.
 
Well I just had to dump my batch:(
My test soda bottle just about blew out of my hand!
Most of the batch tasted like crap other half tasted great,
I'm really not sure what went wrong.
Any help would be greatly appreciated.
 
I read through the majority of this thread without finding exactly what I'm looking for....

Looks like a proven recipe so that's great! congrats Mike.

I'm looking to try my hand at cider, I've got access to a press and apples so I'm planning on pressing a couple bushels to use as the base. I understand I'll have to add camden tablets to the cider before pitching to fill off existing yeasts????

Toss in 2lbs corn syrup, probably go w/ notty since I've got experience with it.

Run it down to 1.01 or so, rack onto syrup + concentrate...

I'm wondering if I would be able to simply use more cider for this step to keep it 'home grown'

Planning to make this carbonated so forgo the Camden then if I'm correct and bottle, pasteurize when it's carbed to desirable levels.
 
How long did you have it bottle carbing?

I had it three days in the bottle, as for the variation in taste,I guess that I should have stirred it when I racked to my bottling bucket.
I do want to give it another shot.
The carmel syrup recipe does that make 12 oz or more?
 
I read through the majority of this thread without finding exactly what I'm looking for....

Looks like a proven recipe so that's great! congrats Mike.

I'm looking to try my hand at cider, I've got access to a press and apples so I'm planning on pressing a couple bushels to use as the base. I understand I'll have to add camden tablets to the cider before pitching to fill off existing yeasts????

Toss in 2lbs corn syrup, probably go w/ notty since I've got experience with it.

Run it down to 1.01 or so, rack onto syrup + concentrate...

I'm wondering if I would be able to simply use more cider for this step to keep it 'home grown'

Planning to make this carbonated so forgo the Camden then if I'm correct and bottle, pasteurize when it's carbed to desirable levels.

This is a great recipe however........I wouldn't waste your fresh pressed juice on it. You will have just as good results using cheap store bought juice IMHO.

I would save the fresh pressed for a standard hard cider or cyser.

just my .02.......do as you please of course.
 
I think he's saying that adding concentrate to good fresh cider, assuming you have a good blend, would be a waste. Most cider guys want to just let the cider and yeast do their thing without adding caramel and other flavors to it. I see nothing wrong with adding more cider to backsweeten your cider. Try it out. There is a lot of good reading in this forum regarding acid additions, tannins, and such.
Good Luck!
 
Ah, gotcha

I think I'm going to try abd keep it simple.

Should have extra juice I can use to back sweeten if needed
 
Just threw a batch of this together today. My first dabble with a cider, I'm hoping to have it all bottled and ready for a family parting I'm going to the last weekend in October. Used regular bottled and pasteurized cider from the market, Nottingham yeast and added two and a half lbs of dextrose. . Wish me luck! BTW thats the cider on the right in the bottom picture, keeping my Bavarian Hefe on the right company.

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Pratzie said:
Just threw a batch of this together today. My first dabble with a cider, I'm hoping to have it all bottled and ready for a family parting I'm going to the last weekend in October. Used regular bottled and pasteurized cider from the market, Nottingham yeast and added two and a half lbs of dextrose. . Wish me luck! BTW thats the cider on the right in the bottom picture, keeping my Bavarian Hefe on the right company.

Why oh why did I not think to put my carboys in milk crates...
 
Why oh why did I not think to put my carboys in milk crates...

Because spending $12 on a brew hauler was a better idea? :p

nah, but seriously, that's a good idea, but I like the brew hauler better for convenience at least....the better bottles though might work just fine in a crate. Glass? I'll use the webbing.
 
Found a case of four on Amazon for 24 bucks... After all the excitement of brewing my first batch (which i effed up in numerous ways), i experienced the Better-Bottle-Back-Suck. Never again, i almost lost my marbles when I saw it suck the entire airlock worth of sanitizer into the wort. Ive found they fit slightly loose in the crate, just enough to put a 20 oz bottle for blowoff tube in the corner if thats what I decide to work with instead of an airlock. They are perfect for transporting to my basement and can also keep the bottle just high enough off the ground to keep it from getting very cold.
 
Quick question about botteling the cider.
Im planning on starting this recipe next week. Im thinking about botteling into wine bottles. Do i need to add the tablets to stop carbonation or should i just pasteurize after corking?

Thanks!
 
I believe if u add it ahead of time, it won't carbonate, but if u pasteurize after you bottle, that will give it a chance to carbonate within the bottle. But it may also depend on the FG of the cider, in relation to final gravity and just how much yeast is left in the batch. If u want it carbonated, everything ive read is that u should add some sugar before bottling to give the yeast something to eat so they can carbonate it.
 
Just wanted to update. I bottled my last batch on 9/9 and it took about 6 days to carb up good (maybe because I only did the syrup and 2 cans of concentrate, so a lot less sugar). Had some Saturday and it really came out great. Took some to a cook out with friends on Sunday night and they loved it there too. I will definitely be making this again!

For reference, my batch was done with Montrachet yeast that I let ferment for about 2 1/2 weeks. At that point it was about 10%. After backsweeteing with the syrup and 2 cans of concentrate it was still about 9%. It definitely does not taste "hot" (no one notices the high alcohol) and people are shocked when I let them know it is 9%. This is what I was looking for in my batch of cider... delicious, broad appeal with a kick. Thanks again Upstate Mike!
 
srmcnaughton said:
Quick question about botteling the cider.
Im planning on starting this recipe next week. Im thinking about botteling into wine bottles. Do i need to add the tablets to stop carbonation or should i just pasteurize after corking?

Thanks!

I believe the tabs will stop all fermebtation, which since carbonation is a byproduct of it continuing to ferment in a closed environment, means it won't carbonate. Add the tabs if you want still cider. Pasteurize later if you want it sparkling.
 
Confused what I should do... OG was 1.072... 1 week in fermentation is just starting to slow. Sat it literally blew up! Took a reading and I am at about 1.013. Still some krausen on top, and the yeast hasn't dropped.

I am going to keg and force carb, should I rack on to campden and let it sit for 24, then cold crash in an attempt to halt fermentation and clear the cider?
 
Confused what I should do... OG was 1.072... 1 week in fermentation is just starting to slow. Sat it literally blew up! Took a reading and I am at about 1.013. Still some krausen on top, and the yeast hasn't dropped.

I am going to keg and force carb, should I rack on to campden and let it sit for 24, then cold crash in an attempt to halt fermentation and clear the cider?

Give it at least 14 days. Don't worry if it dries out a bit more. You'll campden and backsweeten and all will be OK. Heck, I think I gave mine 3 weeks.
 
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