Cinnamon Cider

Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum

Help Support Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

d0nni

Member
Joined
Sep 18, 2013
Messages
20
Reaction score
1
Location
Armagh
Hi everyone..

im in the process of making a cider. i've just started the secondary fermentation stage for my 1 gallon batch (ive a 3 gallon batch and a 5 gallon batch still in primary) for the 1 gallon batch i decided to add cinnamon to it to give it abit of a christmasy taste as i dont plan to bottle until roughly november.

Ive been looking to backsweeten these ciders as im not a huge fan of a hard dry cider and wondering what would be the best approach for back sweetening.

ive read about adding sweeteners to it but in my experience sweeteners have a horrible aftertaste.

is there a sweetener out there which would be best for this? or would it be a better approach to add a little more apple juice to it to give it an apple taste

and is 2 cinnamon sticks too much for a gallon batch or is that just right? ive just threw them into the brew at the start of the 2ndary stage.
 
d0nni said:
Hi everyone.. im in the process of making a cider. i've just started the secondary fermentation stage for my 1 gallon batch (ive a 3 gallon batch and a 5 gallon batch still in primary) for the 1 gallon batch i decided to add cinnamon to it to give it abit of a christmasy taste as i dont plan to bottle until roughly november. Ive been looking to backsweeten these ciders as im not a huge fan of a hard dry cider and wondering what would be the best approach for back sweetening. ive read about adding sweeteners to it but in my experience sweeteners have a horrible aftertaste. is there a sweetener out there which would be best for this? or would it be a better approach to add a little more apple juice to it to give it an apple taste and is 2 cinnamon sticks too much for a gallon batch or is that just right? ive just threw them into the brew at the start of the 2ndary stage.
I think 2 might be a bit much. I'd taste it often. I think a 1/2 would be more on ratio for the size. My reference is some of the 5 gal brews use 2 cinnamon sticks.
 
oh really? - ill just keep a check on it then... how often would you recommend? i dont wanna do it too often incase i invite some unwanted bacteria into the mix obviously
 
I'll let someone with a bit more experience help here. I'm new to cider and have been researching cinnamon lately so I had some recipes lying around.
 
appreciate the input though :) if anyone has any ratio's they are willing to share by all means... ive been considering adding ginger aswell to one of these brews, has anyone ever tried this?
 
I've heard of using ginger. Ginger can be a really strong spice however. I did just post a recent thread titled "Spicing Idea". If you end up trying what I'm doing put your outcome on that thread. Also if you spice directly you may want to put your ginger in a tea bag for easy removal. Use fresh ginger root. If you end up with too much ginger flavor let it mellow a while.


I took a bath with Ginger once....her husband wasn't too happy about that.
 
Hey you want a christmasy taste add some nutmeg "MON!". Be careful too much nutmeg can make one hallucinate and ruin the taste. I'm more concerned with hallucinations...

...Really it takes quite a bit, so I hear.


~Hallucinations are confirmation that everyone but you is insane.
 
I just got done brewing 4 batches of 1 Gallon experiments. After talking with a few people I decided to get some Mulling Spice to try out as well and when I go to bottle it will work out great. I made a Simple Syrup from it and it came out really good, I will be using it to back sweeten a few. I wanted to make 1 or 2 bottles from each batch a spiced one. You can also use this for doing just Ginger or Cinnamon as well, I would say no more that 1/4 a cup of ginger on its own or a little less, you can experiment and you can use about 4-6 cinnamon stick and it should be fine since it will be diluted when you put it into a batch. Anyway here is the Recipe I used, I went with the 1/2 cup of mulling spices and it worked well. Good luck!

This is for 2 Cups

Ingredients:

2 cup brown sugar
2 cup water
1/4 to 1/2 cup mulling spices
Nylon mesh bag

Preparation:

Bring water and spices to a boil.
Add sugar and stir constantly until the sugar is fully dissolved.
Remove from the heat and allow to cool completely.
Strain the spices from the syrup.
Bottle and store in the refrigerator. It will keep for about 2-3 weeks.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
hallucinations you say?.... nutmeg you say? im intrigued? lol

Yes I'm serious, as I have heard, Nutmeg is a mild narcotic BEWARE it is also a mild poison. I've just used it for spicing.



~I'm going to get a sex change, get really drunk, and take advantage of myself.
 
Back
Top