I have made some changes to the recipe. Changes are in RED.
Caramel Apple Hard Cider
Ingredients, Part 1:
7 x 96 ounce bottles (5.25 gallons) Wegmans 100% Apple Juice, pasteurized, only vitamin C added
2 lbs. Dextrose
Nottingham Yeast
6 tsp Yeast Nutrient (or follow the directions on your bottle of yeast nutrient for a 6 gallon batch). This will help eliminate the "Rhino Fart" phase of fermentation.
Ingredients, Part 2
5 campden tablets (Optional, see notes)
3 – 12 oz. cans of Frozen Concentrated Apple Juice, thawed to room temperature (Reduced from 5 cans, this will make it less sweet, and make it not carb up so fast. Feel free to adjust the amount of FCAJ to your taste.)
Caramel Syrup (See recipe below)
Recipe for Caramel Syrup: (Make about 24 hours before bottling)
2 cups of water
2 cups of light brown sugar
2 tsp. ground cinnamon, OR 1/2 tsp liquid cinnamon extract
Combine in a saucepan and bring to a low boil. At boil, reduce heat to Low and simmer for about 5 minutes. (EDIT: Removed "Reduce by half". This may have been making the syrup too thick to properly mix) Let cool & bottle for future use.
Part 1:
Opened 1 bottle of apple juice, got a gravity reading of 1.050. Temp is 64 degrees.
In a 6 gallon carboy, pour in bottles 1 and 2 of apple juice.
Open bottles 3 and 4 of apple juice. Pour half of each bottle into carboy. Add 1 pound dextrose per bottle to the remaining amount of apple juice in bottles 3 and 4. Shake bottles to mix sugar and apple juice. Pour bottles 3 and 4 into carboy.
Pour bottles 5, and 6 of apple juice into carboy. Take another sample for OG, got a reading of 1.064. Open Nottingham yeast, pour into carboy. Agitate carboy to mix in yeast. Pour bottle 7 of apple juice into carboy.
Part 2 (In about 14 days):
Check for target FG of 1.010 to 1.015
Rack cider into another carboy. This is optional, but it may help in clearing.
OPTION: If you want a still cider, add 5 crushed Campden tablets to the cider at this time. If you want a carbonated cider, do not add Campden tablets.
Make the Caramel Syrup and wait 24 hours before proceeding.
After 24 hours, siphon cider into your bottling bucket. Add the Caramel Syrup and the 3 cans of apple juice concentrate while siphoning to aid in mixing. Bottle the cider and enjoy.
If you are carbing in the bottle, be aware that this will carb up fast (4 - 5 days) due to all the sugar. When it is time to bottle the batch, I highly recommend that you fill and cap a plastic pop bottle (NOT a water bottle) first, and use that as a guide to tell you when it will be time to
Stovetop Pasteurize the batch.