Irish Red Apple

[Mrgreenlee]

I am looking to make a simple Irish Red but thinking of adding apple flavor to it. I plan to use an apple extract at bottling but I was wondering if I could use some actual apple cider in the boil process instead of water. Thinking maybe 2 gallons cider to 3 gallons water. What do you think?

 

[timrox1212]

Not sure on the cider but I used 2lbs of fresh peeled and cut apples in the secondary and I got great results. Good mix of beer/ cider taste. One of my favorite brews so far.

 

[KeystoneHomebrew]

If you use cider, there's a couple of things to keep in mind. Most importantly is if the cider has preservatives. This will keep your bottles from carbing up. The other is that if you use cider without preservatives, it is going to ferment. So you would need to add the cider to primary or secondary, let it ferment, then bottle. Whatever you do, don't boil cider. Cooked cider has a funky taste to it in my opinion.

If going the cider route, it won't take much. maybe a 1/2 gallon or so for a nice apple flavor.