Hard Cider and Pumpkin Pie: Results

The 'pumpkin pie' turned out pretty good.  I wish it were a bit thicker, but the flavor is pretty close to what I was shooting for.  1 thing for improvement:  use twice the pumpkin.

And my hard cider turned out pretty good too, especially for being my first cider!  Something in it has a flavor similar to the pumpkin beer, likely the pumpkin pie spice.  And next time I make it, I think I'll pasteurize after 4 days instead of 5... A little too carbonated this time.  Also for next time, I'll be adding cloves and allspice along with the cinnamon, those are the ingredients that are in Bob's spiced cider around here, the best cider ever.  Oh and I think I'll use filtered juice/cider to begin with.  It's pretty darn cloudy right now.

Cider: Pasteurized

Ok so it's been 5 days since I backsweetened and bottled this cider.  Today I pasteurized it.  I followed these instructions:

http://www.homebrewtalk.com/f32/easy-stove-top-pasteurizing-pics-193295/

Basically it goes like this:

1.  Heat water to 190 degrees or so, then turn off burner.

2.  Place bottles in water for 12 minutes.

3.  Pull bottles out carefully with tongs and hotpads and place on counter to cool.

4.  Reheat water to 190.

5.  Repeat until all bottles are pasteurized.

I learned something today.  No, no bottles broke or exploded, which is good.  However, I noticed air bubbling (hissing) from the swing cap bottles.  At first I thought these types of bottles/caps just couldn't take the heat... But then I opened one.  BOOM!  Cider volcano!  Sure enough, I think I let them sit and bottle condition for 1 day too long.

Lesson learned.

Should be interesting as I go to open the rest in the coming weeks/months!

Cider in bottles

Boom.  Start the 4 day clock.  And notice the plastic bottle I filled as my canary in the coal mine.  We tried a glass each.  Overall a little on the weak side, though fairly well balanced it seemed... Hopefully it is amazing after a bit more fermenting and aging....

Spice it Up.

Spice it Up.

Ok so the cider has been fermenting for 1 week.  Deciding against racking it to a secondary.  Not gonna lie, I'm too busy to clean another carboy and worry about it right now.  

So, I just boiled my spice mix.  Here's what I decided to do:  1/2 cup brown sugar, 4 cinnamon sticks, 2 tsp nutmeg, 1 tsp cinnamon powder, 1 tsp pumpkin pie spice.  

It's cooling now, then I'll dump it in with the cider and give it another week.

Cheers!