Hard cinnamon cider

[GeorgiaMead]

I just made a cider, I used fresh crushed apple juice not from concentrate. I also took the cinnamon sticks and boiled/simmered them for around 25 min. After cinnamon had made my house smell amazing I started adding sugar to make a simple sugar out of the cinnamon water. I added the juice to a 1 gallon carboy along with some sugar which I shook till it dissolved and then added the simple syrup and two sticks of cinnamon. After that I took S.G. readings and increased the SG to 1.116. I am just wondering what anyone thinks this will be a good batch. I plan on adding at least 1 more stick during secondary fermentation. I am still fairly new an brewing and this is my first batch of cider. I was wondering what the experts thought.... I used lalvin ec-1118 yeast... Any advice or criticisms would be appreciated

 

[ssuchem]

I just made a cider, I used fresh crushed apple juice not from concentrate. I also took the cinnamon sticks and boiled/simmered them for around 25 min. After cinnamon had made my house smell amazing I started adding sugar to make a simple sugar out of the cinnamon water. I added the juice to a 1 gallon carboy along with some sugar which I shook till it dissolved and then added the simple syrup and two sticks of cinnamon. After that I took S.G. readings and increased the SG to 1.116. I am just wondering what anyone thinks this will be a good batch. I plan on adding at least 1 more stick during secondary fermentation. I am still fairly new an brewing and this is my first batch of cider. I was wondering what the experts thought.... I used lalvin ec-1118 yeast... Any advice or criticisms would be appreciated

That's super high gravity. I don't know if the yeast will start in that. If they don't you may need a starter. Also its a lot of cinnamon. I've found 1 stick per gallon to be a lot. Next time I'm gonna use only a half of a stick. But other than that if it ferments dry you will have very strong cider and will likely require aging to mellow out.

 

[Sewer_Urchen]

The EC-1118 will definately go in that! I'm still working on a cider with that yeast that was an OG of 1.125. Here's the deal...you won't be able to drink it for a year.
I started mine in November, and it's STILL fermenting...true, I keep it around 64*F, but with a cider/wine this strong, you want a slow fermentation or you'll have a lot of hot, hangover alcohols in there.

Basically, forget about it for 6-8 weeks, then rack it to the 2ndary and leave it in the secondary with the same cinnamon sticks for 3 months...if fermentation slows or stops, and it's still sweet, try adding some yeast "Energiser"

If it hasn't started fermenting that well within two days (I'm talking about right now), put in one teaspoon of fermax yeast nutrient.

In about six months when you bottle it, leave it in the bottles for another six months...and I wouldn't plan on sparkling this stuff, because with your OG, you'll probably be at even EC-1118's maximum alcohol content by the time you're dry.

Good luck.

 

[GeorgiaMead]

Ok thanks for the info. It has started fermenting, so I guess it's time to play the waiting game. So just to clarify after I rack it to secondary add the energizer to kick start any yeast left?

I am not a fan of sparkling ciders and I use the 118 yeast cause I know it had a high alcohol tolerance, if I'm not mistaken it can reach up to around 22% abv I I remember correctly. This was just a fun batch I decided to make on a quick idea cause I had all the stuff an figured why not... Something pass the time while a cherry melomel ages until January.

 

[Sewer_Urchen]

Don't bother adding the energizer unless you find yourself with a stuck fermentation and you know the yeasts maximum alcohol tolerance hasn't been reached yet.

If you find after 6 weeks fermentation is still slowly going, I'd give it another two weeks, unless it's sitting on a big cake of sediment, then rack it and top it off with more fresh juice (once in the 2ndary you can top it off closer to the top of the neck and only leave a couple inches of head space)

Then just forget it as long as you can stand it. The batch I have going I told you about is still sweet after several months and I needed the energizer to kick the yeast back into action because I knew from gravity readings I was still at only around 15% and I was going for 18%. (I also pitched another packet of 1118 starter I made three days earlier, just to be sure I had good active yeast)

and 1118's max is a little more like 17-18%, not 22%, but 18's about as high as you'll get any natural fermentation to go without freeze concentrating, and I wouldn't do that. You might get as high as 20 if you're lucky, but given the OG you had I wouldn't keep going, just let it get as dry as it gets and bottle age it as long as you can stand it, especially if you don't want to bother sparkling it. If you make sure it's fermented out you won't need to add any sorbate's or metabysulphites to preserve it, the alcohol content at that level will be preservative enough for several years, but who are we kidding, it'll be gone by next Christmas...

 

[GeorgiaMead]

Ok just a last checking... Leave it fermenting in the primary for 6-8 weeks and as long as it is fermenting and when it has almost finished according to the SG rack into the 2ndary till it is around 6 months in age for bulk aging period then bottle it and try to wait 6 more months.

 

[GeorgiaMead]

Also before bottling this cider do I need to degas the batch?

 

[Sewer_Urchen]

You won't have to degass, because you've left it in the fermenter so long...really degassing is just important for those kits that try to tell you you can have a perfect bottle of wine in 26 days, which they can as long as you like the taste of sulphites.

By the time you bottle in 6-8 months all the gas should be pretty well gone...