Dave's Carmel Apple Cider

[ellicit]

Hey this is a terrific recipe! I've brewed this a few times and is a favorite among my friends. Easy to make. My only comment was that it was a bit more sweet than preferred. So in an attempt to make it more semi sweet I changed the yeast to White Labs English Cider Yeast. (YLP775) and used 3 cans of concentrate instead of 5. The cinnamon flavoring works very well.

I give this two thumbs up!

Yeah, the original version is very sweet! The English cider yeast you are using will make it a little more dry, which some prefer... I've toned mine down a bit on the syrup and concentrates as well, they're a hit especially with the summer BBQ's.

 

[andyturner87]

Quick question... Is this concentrate the sort of thing i can use in the syrup? http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B005GDU5D8/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20
Concentrates seem rare in the UK and that is all I can find except for grape. Lack of concentrates prevents me using many nice looking recipes on this site!

 

[ellicit]

Quick question... Is this concentrate the sort of thing i can use in the syrup? http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/aw/d/B005GDU5D8/ref=mp_s_a_1?qid=1366506485&sr=8-1&pi=SL75
Concentrates seem rare in the UK and that is all I can find except for grape. Lack of concentrates prevents me using many nice looking recipes on this site!

Andy,

Yes that is exactly what some of my friends over there are using and it turns out great.

 

[tnorman93638]

Sorry, wrong thread

 

[andyturner87]

Andy,

Yes that is exactly what some of my friends over there are using and it turns out great.

Oh good i will start using it! Thanks

 

[getsome]

Fellow cider-lovers,

I have read hundreds of posts on a dozen different threads, but I still come away confused about how to proceed with my first batch of cider. I am sincerely hoping you can give me a little clarity about my situation.
I would like to make 5 gallons of this recipe. I have a keg, and plan to force carb. Things that have me confused include: campden, or no? phosphate or no? when to add syrup mixture?

Thanks in advance for your help. I'm really looking forward to this project on Saturday.

~B

 

[Darth_Trader]

I woul have thought to OG would be higher

 

[sniperd]

Fellow cider-lovers,

I have read hundreds of posts on a dozen different threads, but I still come away confused about how to proceed with my first batch of cider. I am sincerely hoping you can give me a little clarity about my situation.
I would like to make 5 gallons of this recipe. I have a keg, and plan to force carb. Things that have me confused include: campden, or no? phosphate or no? when to add syrup mixture?

Thanks in advance for your help. I'm really looking forward to this project on Saturday.

~B

I've made this cider twice. I love it. I used campden and phosphate. I put the syrup in before I force carb it. Now I think I'm actually screwing up there, when I go to bottle gun it out I always get a cup full of yuck syrup that I toss, but the cider has the nice syrup flavor. I also had a heck of time getting it carbed, took about 4 weeks at 25-35psi so next time I'm going to back sweeten it less by making a weaker syrup.

 

[jessiczar]

Hey guys! Newbie here. I just made this cider in a gallon batch with Notty yeast and I love the color and taste. Can't wait to see how it goes once bottle carbing for a bit, pasteurizing, and conditioning. But a question - is there anyway to break down the cinnamon for the future? I don't have the globs of syrup problem, but there are a bit too many specks of cinnamon for my preference. I'd love to get it a bit smoother without sacrificing that wonderful cinnamon taste.

 

[sniperd]

IMO cinnamon will only really break down under boil, very hard to get into solution otherwise. So you could boil some water toss in the cinnamon, wait for chill and pitch it in, perhaps even at bottle time.

 

[Bobbysbrews]

Hello all,

First off thank you for such a thorough job on everything you all do on this site, it's a great resource for a learning brewer.
I want to brew this hard cider recipe in the next week or so and i have had a lot of thoughts and potential changes to the recipe thrown at me through reading this thread. Some things I am still unclear on however, and I'll be honest, feeling slightly lazy to go through and read all 19 pages of comments/suggestions.
Anyways, i am hoping to lay out my plan for brewing here and get feedback as to that, as well as answer a few specific questions.
I plan to brew this and add the recommended campden tablets, but also the potassium sorbate because i plan to keg and carb it that way using the set it and forget it method to help with aging also. Wanted to be sure this was the recommended or suggested procedure for kegging this recipe.
Also, for stopping the congealed cinnamon syrup, has anyone developed a strategy besides shaking up the keg every couple days.
Next would be, i have seen a lot of folks saying this is a very sweet recipe, i am not looking for a very sweet cider. I enjoy very much the taste of Woodchuck cider and also Angry Orchard if anyone has tried or heard of them and can compare i would appreciate it. And if anyone has a suggested change or alteration for reducing the sweetness I'd love to hear it.
Lastly, I plan to use Safeale US-05 yeast due to the lack of Notty at my LHBS, i suspect this will add a litte sweetness but just wanted to be sure that it was a reasonable move and wouldn't give any drastic taste changes.
That's about it, i greatly appreciate any advice. Thanks again.

 

[ellicit]

Hey guys! Newbie here. I just made this cider in a gallon batch with Notty yeast and I love the color and taste. Can't wait to see how it goes once bottle carbing for a bit, pasteurizing, and conditioning. But a question - is there anyway to break down the cinnamon for the future? I don't have the globs of syrup problem, but there are a bit too many specks of cinnamon for my preference. I'd love to get it a bit smoother without sacrificing that wonderful cinnamon taste.

Gentlemen,
The way I've been doing it is, if you have a Starbucks nearby go in and buy a bottle of their Cinnamon Dolce syrup. Its already done for you and no visible cinamon flake.

 

[ellicit]

Cinnamon Dolce syrup from Starbucks

 

[rocketsan]

Make your own cinnamon extract. Put a bunch of cinnamon sticks (snapped in half) in a jar, cover sticks with vodka. Give a shake a couple times a day, in a week or two, strain off liquid and you'll have cinnamon extract...

 

[jessiczar]

Very smart. I'll definitely try it that way in the future. Thanks!

 

[TastefulNudity]

Just bottled and followed the recipe exactly. Forgot to take an OG but ended up with an FG around 1.004, which was deliciously dry by itself. For some reason even though I used exactly 5 gallons of apple juice I got way more bottles of this than any other batch I've done (not that I'm complaining). With the 5 cans of concentrate and 12oz of cinnamon syrup it's amazing even when it's flat, can't wait until it's done carbing. Just wanted to say thanks for the recipe and that it's awesome.

 

[sledzib]

Hello All!

I'm a new homebrewer, as of this last year or so. I have about a half dozen - a dozen successful brews and a few unsuccessful under my belt. This is my first attempt at a cider. This recipe looks easy enough. I have read all 20 pages of this post but I just have a few noob questions. 1. I don't want a carbonated cider. I prefer it to just be like regular cider. What do I need to do to stop the secondary fermentation in bottles. Is this a strange request? I'm primarily afraid of the bottle bombs I've been reading about. 2. What is all this talk about pasteurization? Is this something I need to do whether I carbonate or choose not to carbonate? If it's needed either way, how is it done, and why?

Those are my main concerns and I can't wait to brew up a batch because it looks so easy and I'd love to give some cider to my "woodchuck" friends. Thanks in advance!

 

[Clifton]

If you don't want to carbonate then you don't need to pasteurize. Read a thread on back sweetening and you'll know just want to do with this cider.

 

[pieman396]

What is the average ABV on this?

 

[Gerald46]

This is my first try at cider and I followed the recipe exactly. The cider has been in the bottles 13 days. Last night one of the bottles exploded in the closet I had them stored in. It scared my wife so bad she wouldn't walk down the hall until I covered the bottles up with a beach towel. Today I took one of the bottles which had been in the fridge for 2 days outside and opened it. The cider foamed out until I poured some in a glass. There was also a lot of floating sediment in the bottle. The cider had a very good flavor but didn't really taste like caramel or cinnamon. My thought is the cinnamon and caramel is in the sediment. I put all of the bottles in wine buckets with lids in case more explode. The cider tastes too good to lose, but I'm afraid more bottles will explode. Is there anything I can do to save it? The campden tablets apparently didn't stop the fermentation. What can I do differently next time?

 

[sar_dog_1]

gonna try a one gallon baych tonite!

 

[TechyDork]

This is my first try at cider and I followed the recipe exactly. The cider has been in the bottles 13 days. Last night one of the bottles exploded in the closet I had them stored in. It scared my wife so bad she wouldn't walk down the hall until I covered the bottles up with a beach towel. Today I took one of the bottles which had been in the fridge for 2 days outside and opened it. The cider foamed out until I poured some in a glass. There was also a lot of floating sediment in the bottle. The cider had a very good flavor but didn't really taste like caramel or cinnamon. My thought is the cinnamon and caramel is in the sediment. I put all of the bottles in wine buckets with lids in case more explode. The cider tastes too good to lose, but I'm afraid more bottles will explode. Is there anything I can do to save it? The campden tablets apparently didn't stop the fermentation. What can I do differently next time?

How long did you wait after adding the tablets? Did you crush them and use 1 per gallon?

I usually give the tablets 48 hours or so and then back sweeten and keg. I think with bottles I would try to cold crash for a few days before bottling. Just to try and get as much yeast out of suspension as possible. Personally I would not recommend bottling a sweet cider.

 

[rjthomas21]

So I'm looking to make a batch tonight and keg it in a month for the holiday season. I was planning on bottling some from the keg to bring to parties and I was wondering how I should handle the use of campden and/or sorbate.

My understanding is that if I am able to keep the cider cold the entire time then there is no need to use either as the yeast will be dormant due to the cold. But should I add sorbate/campden anyways due to my bottling a few of them? I don't plan on letting the bottles get warm for extended periods of time so should I be ok with not adding the chemicals?

 

[Clifton]

You should be fine. However, without preservatives your bottles could explode if someone took one home no knowing to keep it chilled.

 

[mrdeshone]

New to home brewing. How would I pasteurize this and what is back sweeting.

 

[sledzib]

I just bottled this last Thursday, the 14th. I tried some that night. I could really taste the alcohol. I have tried a bottle the last two nights. I can barely taste the booze and it's such a great flavor! There is a little bit of smoke but not much carbonation yet. I'm wondering if the bottle bomb people just bottled too soon. I plan on cracking a bottle each night to monitor carbonation. If it doesn't get too crazy, I'm sure we'll drink them all on Thanksgiving. It's a great, easy to folllow recipe. I was worried because when I started fermentation, we had a heat spike up to 80 degrees! I was worried about off flavors but it sure seems good. I think I'm ready to do another batch so it'll be ready at Christmas time. Thanks for the great recipe!

 

[Clifton]

New to home brewing. How would I pasteurize this and what is back sweeting.

Back sweetening is adding sugar after fermentation is done in order to have a sweeter product. Search the forum for stovetop pasteurization. There are some good threads that are simple to follow.

 

[mrdeshone]

Back sweetening is adding sugar after fermentation is done in order to have a sweeter product. Search the forum for stovetop pasteurization. There are some good threads that are simple to follow.

Thanks

 

[Biergarten]

Kegging - can I just keg the cider after fermentation and add the Caramel syrup and throw keg in kegerator or is adding the Camden tablets a must? I hope to keep this transfer simple. I understand this could potentially impact the overall sweetness, but seems like extra cost/work if minimal impact.

 

[Tombstone0]

Kegging - can I just keg the cider after fermentation and add the Caramel syrup and throw keg in kegerator or is adding the Camden tablets a must? I hope to keep this transfer simple. I understand this could potentially impact the overall sweetness, but seems like extra cost/work if minimal impact.

As long as you keep the cider cold you don't need the the sorbate or sulfite, but if you let it get warm it will start fermenting again.