OffbeatBrew
Well-Known Member
Ok, so I was asked for a bit more detail on a couple ciders I mentioned
Pumpkin spiced: Fresh pressed juice from unknown varieties, a mix from 3 trees in town. Fairly tart juice. D47 yeast. No pumpkin in it, but I’d like to try that experiment at some point. This one was partially spiced in the secondary (something like 2 tablespoons of powdered pumpkin spice that was boiled with a bit of water and brown sugar.. ). The goobery mess of spices floated together at the top and I was able to cleanly rack from under it. It reminded me of a kombucha scoby! I also put whole spices in some rum to make a tincture and added at bottling to taste. Cloves, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, in that order. Added probably 10oz of the strong tincture to 7 gallons. The cider is fully dry and the spice character is subtle. A big hit with friends who are not all cider geeks (many were happy to taste a “non sweet” cider. Just spreading the Gospel of good cider y’all.
Hatch chili cider. This was an EC1118 / Old packet of D47 mix (thinking predominantly EC1118 in here. Not sure it would matter too much as the hatch is the star of the show. 3 hatch chilies in a 5 gallon batch (in the secondary) was enough. Th cider has a sweetness, which I’m not sure where it’s from, but it works. It is hit or miss with friends... some are begging me to open a cidery, some think it’s awful (we live in AZ, so a decent number of people like spice, but not everyone). Do not sniff effervescent chili cider!! Sneeze attack awaits you!
Pumpkin spiced: Fresh pressed juice from unknown varieties, a mix from 3 trees in town. Fairly tart juice. D47 yeast. No pumpkin in it, but I’d like to try that experiment at some point. This one was partially spiced in the secondary (something like 2 tablespoons of powdered pumpkin spice that was boiled with a bit of water and brown sugar.. ). The goobery mess of spices floated together at the top and I was able to cleanly rack from under it. It reminded me of a kombucha scoby! I also put whole spices in some rum to make a tincture and added at bottling to taste. Cloves, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, in that order. Added probably 10oz of the strong tincture to 7 gallons. The cider is fully dry and the spice character is subtle. A big hit with friends who are not all cider geeks (many were happy to taste a “non sweet” cider. Just spreading the Gospel of good cider y’all.
Hatch chili cider. This was an EC1118 / Old packet of D47 mix (thinking predominantly EC1118 in here. Not sure it would matter too much as the hatch is the star of the show. 3 hatch chilies in a 5 gallon batch (in the secondary) was enough. Th cider has a sweetness, which I’m not sure where it’s from, but it works. It is hit or miss with friends... some are begging me to open a cidery, some think it’s awful (we live in AZ, so a decent number of people like spice, but not everyone). Do not sniff effervescent chili cider!! Sneeze attack awaits you!
