Concentrated apple flavour

[Chalkyt]

For the next lot of cider I plan to try boosting the apple flavour. In a post a few weeks ago it was suggested that freezing apple juice blocks then letting them thaw to the point where the juice leaches out leaving blocks of water, will result in an apple juice concentrate.

Would adding this to the primary result in a boost to the "appleness"? I suppose that it would also increase the SG.

Has anyone tried this and if so what were the results? All comments and views are welcome.

 

[MindenMan]

As long as you don't ferment out all of the sugar available in your concentrate, yes, there will be more apple flavor. There will also possibly be more malic acid available to add to the flavor "bite". I use a high ratio of FAJC when I make cider, and I do it because I don't want to use any sugar that isn't from apples as I believe it changes the final flavor. I make a lot of applejack so I am very picky about which specific flavors get concentrated and which ones do not.

 

[bembel]

Google "how to make ice cider" as a start, but you will get the most apple flavor by adding cryo just before kegging or bottling to a fully stable dry base cider.

 

[bembel]

I added cryo to primary last season with mixed results, some interesting caramel notes, but results were contrary to my initial thought that you can improve regular juice by boosting it with concentrate. It certainly came out better, but also hotter and not with much increased apple. Now blending an ice cider or a cyser with a regular cider, post fermentation, is a whole different ballgame. Look up Mike Wilcox's New England cider recipe that won this years NHC. It's a primer on blending post fermentation.