Commitment issues. Fireball oak, or spiced??

[volsfan4life252]

Ok guys here's my situation. I just started a 5 gallon batch of hard apple cider. I used 4 gallons of apple juice and 1 gallon of cider with 1lb. of dark brown sugar, and 1 lb. of honey to raise the ABV. I'm struggling with what to do for additional flavor in the secondary....I have virtually no experience with either of these methods but here are my ideas.....

1. Taking some of my Jack Daniels oak chips that I already have and soaking them in fireball whiskey and add those.

2. Making a spiced tea with cinnamon, vanilla, nutmeg, and cloves.

Would both together be too much?
Would the Jack Daniels chips clash with the fireball flavor?
Has anyone used fireball with normal hard cider?

If I had a way, I would split the batch into 2 secondaries and do both separate but I only have one 5 gallon carboy.

 

[Cider123]

Do you know what you OG was? That's a lot of sugar. You're going to have one boozy cider there.

You could use a few 1 gallon glass bottles, like what apple juice sometimes comes in, and do a few small secondaries of different flavors. See what you like best for the next time.

Is this your first time making cider?

 

[volsfan4life252]

Yes this my first cider. I've only done 20 gallons or so of beer so I'm fairly green. I like higher ABV ciders that I've tried so I was shooting for more alcohol. It was probably closer to 1/2 of honey because that stuff doesn't like to come out of the bottle easily.

I did not take a hydrometer reading. I tend to have a dump it all in and hope for the best method.

I had a few of those lass jugs laying around and like most things, I threw them away to make space for beer thinking I wouldn't need them. I may pick up a few more. Thanks

 

[Cider123]

Do an archive search here on dry versus sweet ciders. I had a thread going a while back on this topic.

It is a misnomer to think that after fermentation is complete you will have a cider sweetened with honey or any sugar if added. After letting yeast go to town on your cider you will be left with something that tastes like a strong white wine. If there is any sugar left, it will be consumed by the yeast to make alcohol. A lot of folks are disappointed by this fact of nature when their cider doesn't taste like a sweet honey Woodchuck cider.

But it can be done. Read the posts. It is a matter of either killing the yeast before fermentation is done or backsweetening by adding a nonfermentable sugar like lactose. Lactose will change the mouthfeel of the cider though. The same consideration has to be given to wheather you want your cider flat or carbed.

Have fun! BTW, I know only brew beer now even though my name says otherwise!

 

[Brann_mac_Finnchad]

OG may be around 1.070, or so. Just roughly estimating off the top of my head. You can probably figure that your cider was around 1.045 before adding sugar, especially if you used store bought stuff.

I say to go for it with the oak chips and fireball whiskey (sounds tasty to me!). I do think both may be too much, but it's up to you.

You could always split the batch up and do some of each. Then blend if you wish.