Dark and Dry?

[NovemberEchoes]

Hey all,

I've been brewing cider for the past six months or so in a build-up to attempting some gluten-free beers. I've done a variety of ciders, some apfelwein, and even a couple cyser batches.

One thing I haven't tried or seen any advice on is dark and dry ciders. When I lived in Massachusetts I would pick up Woodchuck's Dark and Dry cider all the time, but now I'm in the mountains of North Carolina and don't see it anywhere.

The dry part is easy enough, but how about the dark? Is it the same process as beer, where I need to be adjusting my water in terms of minerals, ph levels, etc.?

Any advice (or better yet, clone recipes) is greatly appreciated. Thanks all!
-N

 

[wildman]

The only three ways I know of to give cider more color. More air contact when pressing, more crab apples and dye... I never knew woodchuck made a dry... isn't a commercial cider anywhere near here dry enough for my tastes.

 

[jwynia]

I just made a batch of cyser using "burnt" or caramelized honey (search for Bochet Cyser). A little bit of that goes a LONG way in darkening cider. It also adds a nice, complimentary caramel flavor to the end result. Since it's still pretty simple sugar, you should be able to ferment out pretty dry even with that in it.

I also tend to use black tea in a lot of my ciders (which I'll never claim as traditional, but people really like 'em). Same with molasses. Both add color and interesting flavors to ciders and popular opinion from those who try mine say the net effect is positive.

 

[KevinM]

According to woodchuck's website, the Dark & Dry uses caramelized sugar to create some of the darker coloration, and that same addition of sugar will of course increase the alcohol content, making it dryer (some fully fermented ciders are still pretty sweet), and if they ferment it out completely, it will become dry as well.

So yeah, bochet cyser sounds approximately what you're looking for.

Welcome to the cider, and pre-emptively welcome to the gluten free area too. I did the same thing, cider & the gluten free beer, but haven't yet mixed the two together, surprisingly.

 

[DoctorWho]

In line with what jwynia said, I like to use brown sugar as my fermentable sugar because it does add a small molasses flavor and darkens the cider. I use light brown sugar, but dark would of course add more color.

I also add black tea sometimes for tannins and flavor, and this can darken.

Experiment, let us know and good luck!

 

[NovemberEchoes]

Thanks all for the info and suggestions, very helpful! Jywnia, I've just been getting into cyser, and really enjoying it, so that sounds perfect.

One last question- for those of you who mentioned black tea, how much are you using?

 

[DoctorWho]

I use 1 tea bag per gallon and I use a strong black tea like english breakfast.

 

[jwynia]

I generally take 0.5-0.75 oz of black tea (usually assam) into 1 gallon of water. I bring the water to a boil, turn off the heat, then add the tea and my "flavored sugar" (molasses, brown sugar, dark Belgian candi sugar, burnt honey, etc.) to that gallon of water. I let the tea steep for 5-10 minutes or so and then that entire mix goes in as my 5th gallon along with 4 gallons of juice.