PiecefulToker

Recipes 

Picked up a couple of gallons of fresh cider and a 44oz jar of honey from Whole Foods, and I want to make a cyser. I was thinking I would just take a 1 gallon glass jug, pour some of the cider in, add the honey, mix it up, and top off with cider. The GotMead calculator puts the OG at ~1.13, with a potential of ~17.5% ABV.

I also have 2 quart jars of local honey (one blackberry, one clover) that have some missing, so I am guessing they are about 2lbs each. I was thinking about just pouring both jars into a 1 gallon jug and topping off with water, giving an OG of ~1.147, potential of ~20% ABV.

I have a packet of D-47 and a packet of V1116, which should I use for which batch? I was thinking D-47 with the cyser and V1116 on the mead due to the gravities and attenuation potentials, but should I just use D-47 on both?

Also, what kind of nutrient schedule, if any, do I need to follow for these? I have some Wyeast nutrient... Is that ok, or do I really need to go buy other nutrients? Do I need to add the honey in steps to prevent a stuck fermentation?

Thanks in advance for any advice.

Torg

Recipes 

The basic formula is 2.5lbs honey per gallon of mead. I have never used yeast nutrient. Almost all my meads are fruit, maybe some lemon juice, water and yeast. I do start the yeast with a 1/2 warm water, 1tbsp white sugar. But I have never needed to use any nutrient.

I prefer the cotes de blancs redstar, only because it will go to about 13%ABV then stop. The D-47 should give you about the same thing. If you want higher ABV then look into champagne yeasts.