Cider flavorings

[chaindriven]

I have been watching 3 1 gallon bottles of cider age and I was hoping to do three different flavored ciders.. When would it be smart to throw the "flavoring" items in.. And what should I use? I was hoping for a gallon of peach flavored apple cider, raspberry apple cider and more of a "spiced" cider.. Like using mulling spices.. Someone had told me, get a bag of frozen peaches, frozen raspberries and the spices wanted and just throw them into my secondary... Is that right..?

 

[MarkKF]

I use frozen fruit and frozen berries. I throw them in the primary and rack them out of the secondary I don't get a strong fruit flavor. It's more like an apple cider with a hint of peach, cranberry, raspberry, etc.

 

[bernardsmith]

I think the amount of flavor depends on the amount of fruit in... I am currently making a wine (not really a cider) that uses 1 gallon of apple juice, 3 lbs of fruit and about 1 lb of honey - so it is a kinda sorta fruit cyser... Still in the primary and what I can taste is the fruit (strawberries, blueberries and raspberries). The fruit was frozen and I added pectic enzyme and K-meta as it thawed in a mesh bag. I then blended the honey with the apple juice and poured that on top of the fruit. Used K1 yeast and added some nutrient (because of the honey)... Initial gravity was about 1.090 and this morning it was around 1.020. Plan on racking off the fruit into a carboy when the gravity drops to around 1.005

 

[chaindriven]

So, basically from the two previous posts.. I should have had the cider sit on the fruit in the primary.. Not my secondary..?

 

[Brauer]

I have only made one cider, but I have made a few wines. I always juiced the fruit, strained, and added to secondary with pectic enzyme a week before your ready to bottle

 

[chaindriven]

That is what I had hoped to hear from at least one person.. That is my plan.. Minus the juicing part.

 

[kgressler]

Now my thought would be the fruit that was added during the primary would all ferment out leaving no flavor unless you are stopping fermentation before it finishes. IE cold crashing.
Wouldnt it be a better idea to add in fruit 3-4 days before cold crashing and bottling this way you get some of the residual fruit flavor?

My last 5 gallon batch I fermented it down to 1.008 then added 1.5 lbs of fruit let it ride again till it came back down to 1.008 which was just a few days.
I racked and cold crashed it for 2 days then racked it to bottling bucket and bottled.
I used Notty for my yeast I dont know what type you used so this may not work for you. This process works for a few Ale yeast but I have only tried it with Notty.

 

[chaindriven]

I used notty as well and am most likely going to do what it sounds like you did.. Minus the cold crashing..