How do you handle cinnamon? I’ve been told to boil it. I thought you didn’t boil cider, but I guess you could boil a pint of cinnamon sticks in juice and add that to the primary. Boiling seems like it would extract additional compounds from the bark, possibly changing the flavor versus dry addition.
Cloves? Other such? What can give cider a kick? What can I safely bring into the foreground, instead of adding a hint of a whiff of the spice?
I cold steep mulling spices in secondary, but it doesn’t taste the same as hot mulled.
Try different things, enjoy what you enjoy.
I heat my cider to 160F when I’m not doing a wild fermentation to kill the wild yeast etc. That’s when I would add it, then, unless the taste was really strong I would leave in primary.
I always add at least some malt to my ciders, and add cinnamon with 5 minutes left in the boil, and then let it steep for 15. Two sticks gives a slight spice.
I’ve also done cinnamon in the fermentor after fermentation is done. I find that to give the biggest aroma/flavor. Much like adding cinnamon to oatmeal. If you add it to the boil you lose a lot of aromatics you get when added right before eating.
Chris
Cinnamon has several different flavor compounds and they seem to be best released by heat. But you don’t have to boil your cider either. You can just boil the cinnamon in a small amount of water and add that to the cider.
I think cold-extracted cinnamon tends to emphasize the “hotter” flavors, while hot-steeped gives more of the “sweeter” flavors. I liken cold-steeped to Atomic Fireballs and hot-steeped to apple pie or mulled cider. It’s not exactly it, but that’s the general ballpark to my palate.
I’ve found that creating a tincture using either vodka or Everclear works really well. The alcohol sanitizes the spices, and the flavors disperse into the vodka. Also makes for a nice martini!