How would you extract from fresh apples?

I don't have an opinion on what you ask, but others may chime in. However, if you browse back thru this list of recent threads that deal with apples and beer you will find some other opinions, suggestions, etc.
http://www.beeradvocate.com/community/search/31637343/?q=apple&o=date&c[node]=8

 

You won't get much flavor out of 12 apples. Apple cider has an OG of roughly 1.050 and usually zeros out on the FG. The hardest thing I think I've found in making cider is to keep the apple flavor. It usually just kind of tastes like feet to me. Just funky in the wrong ways. Others can weigh in on getting this to shape up quickly in a beer that you'd want to drink in the next months, but ciders also seem to get much more drinkable after a year.

How many pies does 12 apples make?

 

I think most people would suggest you NOT heat the apples. You would boil off a lot of the flavor and you would end up with a lot of pectins (think haze). I think you would need a lot more than 12 apples to even notice a slight apple flavor.

 

one trick is to use FCAJ. just that it and add to the primary.
boiling apple is a bad idea. there is not too much flavor, the "appleness" is from aroma. boiling will just leave you with a lot of ferment-able sugar. that is not always a bad thing, but you don't need apples for that. you can get a secondary fermentation going if you add it to your finished brew and you don't have to worry about pulp or haze. CO2 will blow off aroma as well, so a gentle relatively cool fermentation helps keep it in check.

as for adding spice, it seems many people that want to get an apple profile want to add cinnamon or something. that too is not a good idea imo. traditional apple spice is much too strong for the apple flavor. you may as well skip the apple all together.

fermented apple is very delicate. everything you do should be to preserve aroma. if you should decide to use real apples, do the research. find a good aroma variety. those are typically apples with low sugar content and not what most Americans are asking for. the varieties at the A+P are going to be very good for farmers and 3rd grade students. stop by the farm stand and ask for the variety that they can't sell. that's the one you want. crab apples even. no kidding.

Cheers.

 

Natural Apple Extract @packaging.
Used by ciderist to add xtra apple notes.

 

Flavor tip two:
... adding some nice apple-pie spices for a note of nutmeg or cinnamon at this point in the (primary) fermentation process is a BAD idea. Any time I try to sneak any flavor in at this stage of fermentation, I end up with cider that tastes distinctly of gym socks."

 

Use juice, not whole apples. You'll need way more than 12 apples. More like 2 or 3 gallons of juice in a 5-gallon batch. Make a small 2-3 gallon batch of beer, then add the juice later. All been described before in threads such as:

http://www.beeradvocate.com/community/threads/adding-apple-caramel-to-a-brown-ale.326292/