Flavoring with Elderberry

[ScottFerment]

I've received 5 gallons of fresh pressed cider, which I just pasteurized yesterday (via heat) and started with some Ringwood yeast by WYeast. My local homebrew store suggested that, since I was feeling herby or fruity for flavor. It is just now starting to bubble a little bit. Flavoring is something I'm debating. Normally, I do some test batches with one gallon via apple juice, but didn't have that luxury this time. Last time I did this, I went with some rosemary and clove. I just straight-up added it to my secondary. It came out quite good, but way to fizzy. It was also very dry, which I appreciated. This go around, I was really hoping to try something with Elderberry. Here are what I'm assuming are my two options.

Option #1
Make a tincture with some vodka and add dried elderberries (I don't have access to fresh) and some orange peel, let sit for at least a week. I've never made a tincture before, but it sounds pretty straight forward. Add your ingredients, add just enough vodka to cover, strain, done. Someone at my local home brew supply store said to go with this method and then add drops to to a sample of my cider until I reach the desired flavor, then do the math for 5 gallons.

Option #2
I make a Elderberry syrup for colds, that has dried elderberries, ginger, clove, and cinnamon. I thought about making that, but I'm not sure how much for 5 gallons. I also debated adding the ginger, clove, and cinnamon to the tincture version.

Lastly is the idea of sweetening, I'm a little concerned about tartness on this and think it might be better if just barely semi-sweet, but I want a bit of carbonation on that too. I've been scouring YouTube for this, but haven't really found anything of the steps for this. Everybody just spends the first 10 minutes not getting to the point, and then the point is useless, but I digress. Any suggestions on that would be great too.

I ran across this thread, but it seems to have died. The individual never gave exactly how much cider they were making with this batch.

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/forum/threads/elderberry-orange-cider.542145/

 

[MarkKF]

Why did you pasteurize before pitching yeast?

 

[MarkKF]

So I had a dry cider in the carboy. I added Elderberry concentrate. It added flavor but not sweetness. So I added some sugar too. Into the keg for carbonation.

 

[JimRausch]

think it might be better if just barely semi-sweet, but I want a bit of carbonation

Here's what I do in order to get a slightly sweet/ moderately carbonated cider without getting bottle bombs: I prime with frozen apple juice concentrate, usually at 1 can per 5 G , although you could use more if you want more sweetness. I bottle one in a plastic soda bottle. When that one is turgid, I crack it open and check the flavor. If it's where I want it, I do the cooler pasteurization method. There is a detailed thread somewhere on this area of the forum ,if you want to do a search. But basically, I put the bottles in a cooler and add hot tap water to precondition the bottles. In the meantime I heat water to 175. Drain the by now lukewarm water and add the hot water. Cover and let sit for 10 minutes. Drain, and you're done.