Ginger Citrus Cyser

So a few months back I made my first batch of edWorts apfelwein and fell in love with it. One night a couple glasses deep I decided to try mixing a touch of ginger ale in with my apfelwein and really enjoyed the product. Wanting to make something similar without losing any of my ABV I set out to try and come up with something that could fill that void. After a good bit of perusing the forums here I came up with this recipe:

1 Gallon apple juice. (The Costco special.)
2.5 tablespoons zested ginger root.
1 pound light brown sugar. (roughly)
1 pound honey.
juice from 1 lemon and 1 lime.
1/2 envelope of red star montrachet wine yeast.
1/8 teaspoon yeast nutrient.

So I've got this test batch in the primary and its fermenting vigorously. I was wondering if anyone has had any experience with anything similar to this recipe, any advice for a fledgling cyser maker, or any other type of feedback. As of right now it smells absolutely incredible.

More honey, no sugar, probably could use more nutrient, montrachet a bad choice if it doesnt get enough nutrients, rhino farts have smelled better than a struggling montrachet. We really like making ginger wine and a ginger mead is on the list. We are also playing with a lot of cider and cysers, I totally agree with putting ginger in with cider as long as the apple cider can still come thru and maybe backsweeten with a little honey. Who knows, you might see this in a cider 6 pack already nicely carbed one day. WVMJ

I thought about dropping the sugar and using just honey for this one but my intention was to make this thing one part apfelwein, one part ginger, ale, and one part mead for some extra ABV kick. I have another gallon of apple juice and more honey so I'm definitely going to make another test batch. As for the amount of nutrient I added I wanted to take it easy on that because the instructions called for 1 teaspoon per 5 gallons. I suppose I used someplace between an eighth and a quarter of teaspoon. Judging by the manner in which this thing is fermenting I don't think I have any shortage of yeast. I just don't want a yeasty taste. Any recommendations for a good yeast other than montrachet?

I have a similar cyser recipe without the citrus that is just starting to get where I'd hoped after almost a year. Originally the ginger didn't come through at all and I thought I hadn't used enough, but now it's starting to come out as the other flavors mellow.

Your recipe looks good, you'll enjoy the results, but it will probably need to age.

Thanks Dam. This is just a test batch and is only 1 gallon. I probably wont age this one too much and if I like where its headed after a couple months ill devote a carboy to a batch and let it age properly. Have you ever tried oaking a cyser? I was thinking that its going to be a real sweet bastard so I was hoping to cut the sweetness with the lemon/lime juice but I was wondering if some oak would help round out all the flavors and tie them together a bit.

Oaked cysers are very nice as long as you of course dont put to much oak in there, WVMJ

Today, as part of the new year, I decided to start another batch of apfelwein.

The yield from my first batch, started Fourth of July 2011, has almost run dry. That batch was made with GreatValue apple juice, GreatValue cane sugar, and Montrachet wine yeast. It tasted crisp and neat by football season of 2011, and has only improved year after year.

This time around I was looking to try something a little different, and stumbled upon Thirdthorpe's recipe. Reading WVMJ's response of "more honey no sugar", I've decided to split the difference, arriving at a ratio similar to those of ArcaneXor's "Transatlantischer Honig-Apfelwein" found here:

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f79/transatlantischer-honig-apfelwein-112813/

As it stands now, my recipe consists of:

5 gallons of apple juice (3.5 Indian Summer, 1.5 Langers)
2.3 lbs brown sugar (11 oz light, 27 oz dark)
8 lbs of honey
Juice of 5 limes
Juice of 5 lemon/mandarin hybrids
12.5 tablespoons of ginger.

The ambient temperature will be around 72-75 F.

Considering the above I'm left wondering which yeast I should use. I have:
Redstar Montrachet
Lavlin D47
Redstar Premier Cuvee
Redstar Cote des Blancs
SafaleUS-05
MoreWine's Dry Wine MT
MoreWine's Dry Wine D21

(I have starter nutrients and Fermaid K to help whatever I choose along)

Of course I'm Googling, but do any of the more experienced forum members have recommendations which strains I should lean toward or away from for this concoction, or any other adjustments that should be made?

Do you want it to be sweet or dry?

Time for an update! After making my first gallon I made a second gallon two days later with roughly 50% more fermentables and I hit it with red star champagne yeast because I wanted something I could sip on as well as take paint off my walls. Anyways, about a week ago to took a gravity reading and the first gallon is sitting right at around 15% alcohol and the second batch closer to 18%. Upon tasting they have some very strong flavors battling for dominance of your mouth. A lot of heavy citrus notes, strong peppery bite from the ginger, and a huge booze presence. Because the high ABV's on these guys I stuck them out in the garage for a week to cold crash them. I brought them in a few nights ago because it got down to negative 12 here and that seemed perhaps a wee bit too cold. I took the opportunity to add some american oak to both of them. After just a few days the difference from cold crashing and oaking is huge. All the strong flavors are taking a back seat and the pleasant flavors I was looking for are shining through. The booziness is smoothed out by the oak but it still warms your stomach nicely. Its turning into a realpy successful experiment.