Adding Apple & Caramel to a Brown Ale

The way you can avoid the dilution conundrum is to make the recipe for a normal batch. Then withhold a volume of brewing water equal to the cider addition. Determine the amount of sugar in the cider and enter it as sugar in the recipe.

If you think a can of concentrated apple juice tastes as good as fresh pressed unfiltered cider, then there is no reason to use cider.

 

+1. Bearded lady speak truth!

 

Just make sure you adjust for mash efficiency and hop utilization, yes.

I, personally, don't think that concentrate tastes as good as the fresh unpasteurized, unfiltered local cider I use for fermenting. I also wouldn't waste my money on it to make a caramel apple brown ale, because I can't taste expense and pride.

 

Or just plan for less water in your mash, boil, etc. Figure out the desired malt concentration and work backwards, making a higher gravity wort that comes out to desired gravity when you add the cider.

 

Adding a touch of cinnamon wouldn't be a bad idea either. It should help reinforce the apple flavor.

 

In case the joke hasn't been made in everyone's mind... Apple Brown Betty.

 

What about making your own Apple concentrate?

 

Are you thinking of an "ice" approach i.e., freeze concentrating?
http://www.themadfermentationist.com/2008/12/ice-cider.html

 

That would work for sure.
What about buying a gallon of martinelli Apple juice and reduce slowly. Until basically a 1/4 liquid remains. Threw a cinnamon stick in during the process, took about 3 hours

 

Another idea is make the base beer normally, boil the wort to reduce it to 1-2 gallons, then add back in cider to bring to volume. The reason this is different than making a more concentrated wort pre-boil is that the long boil will make more melanoidins and possibly other unfermentables, which could keep the final beer sweeter. I think @ryane advocated this idea on his blog?

 

I can't help but notice that nobody in that other thread recommended using actual apples, and some gave specific reasons as to why it's not a good idea. You'll often get a lot of varying opinions on this forum, but when everyone in a thread basically agrees on something, it's probably about right.

 

An important characteristic for good baking apples is that they retain some semblance of their shape. That is not relevant for this application. But you might want to see what these guys say about flavor: http://sweets.seriouseats.com/2011/...st-apples-for-apple-pies-how-to-make-pie.html

You also might just pick up a few individuals from different varieties and microwave them and decide which ones you like. By cooking them, you are going to set some pectins, which may cause haze, which may not matter to you, especially in a brown ale. Finally, the varieties that are available to you may, to some degree, depend on timing. Some set fruit early, some let. Unless you know what variety you want, based on flavor, than pick something local. "Locally grown" always amps up the coolness factor.

Edit: Bear in mind you will be getting cooked apple flavor. It seems like the main reasons people didn't think adding whole apples was a good idea is that it would cost you beer and you wouldn't get much flavor. I don't know about that. I think it could be worth trying. But somewhere in that thread you said you wanted natural apple taste, and cider, rather than cooked apples would help bring that to the glass. It actually sounds like you want apple pie.

 

Same as the last time you asked, use one of these types of apples:

 

If you are going to go ahead and use "real" apples, there is no reason to limit yourself to one type. Throw some granny smith, honeycrisp, golden delicious, ... in and see what happens. Or, go with the cider approach that will almost certainly make better beer. Your choice

 

Try it like @wspscott says. Most hard ciders are made from a blend of apples to optimize different flavor elements; of course your strategy may depend on what you want. Be prepared to add cider to amp up the flavor as desired should you find what others suggest, that you won't get much of a payoff with fresh apples. You also might consider dosing with acid blend or malic acid if the apples don't pop enough.

 

I'd go with a blend of McIntosh, Fuji, Jonathan, Mutsu, Zabergau Reinette and Red Delicious. No wait...I'd just use cider.

 

I think this is all secret cider thread code : )