Cyser question

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methusula110

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Got "Homebrew Favorites" book for Christmas and am going to attempt a Cyser recipe. The recipe calls for boiling 11 lbs of honey and 5 gallons of cider for an hour. Reading the threads in here, it seems most of you say not to boil cider because of cloudiness. I bought pasteurized apple cider.

Any opinions on this would be nice, I will add that it "claims" to be a tried and proven recipe. Thanks
 
I use a gallon of Whole Food's juice and one pound of honey. I remove about three cups of juice from the jug to begin the preparation.

Gently warm the container of honey and eventually dilute the honey in a sterile saucepan with a little of the juice. I don't boil anything. Just very low heat. I pitch the rehydrated EC-1118 in the jug, give it a little shake and then pour in the diluted honey mixture. Top off with a little of the previously removed juice and install the airlock.
I have two jugs bubbling away in my attic. I have had some very good results with nice apple and honey taste, nice sweetness, and a respectable alcohol level.
 
Any nutrient or energizer? I like the whole foods apple juice tho I can never get it very clear.....sounds pretty good. Tho I would have went with a ale yeast
 
Jackfrost,
5 gallons of Apple Cider (pasteurized)
11lbs of clover honey
3 cinanmon sticks
6 whole cloves
all of this boiled for an hour

1 teaspoon of orange peel at lat 15 minutes

Champagne yeast

2 weeks in primary
3 weeks in secondary


bottle with priming sugar
 
stupid mistake, didn't realize the cider had preservatives on it because it only said pasteurized on the front. Guess I'll be drinking a lot of "normal" cider for a while. Argh :-(
 
Stroke of luck, I was able to find cider without preservatives. I followed the original instructions and have the cyser fermenting right now. OG was 1.14
 
If anyone is interested, 9 days and the airlock hasn't slowed down yet! Getting a bubble every 2-3 seconds. I'm supposed to transfer to a secondary this weekend, but I'll have to see if the fermentation has slowed a little before I do.
 
Did you still use the whole foods brand? The one marked organic? That's the one I use the most I like the different blend of apples and the fact you can potential drink it around 2-3 weeks...next time dnt boil the honey heat it up to 110°f....this Id good practice to get into because if you get into using more expencive honeys. You will loose a lot of aromatics when you boil
 
Jackfrost,

I had a near emergency and didn't get to whole foods ( I discovered the preservatives in my cider about an hour before a planned brew time with my daughter). I actually purchased the cider at Harris Teeter and don't recall the brand. I'll see if I can find out what it was. I can tell that I am now at 2 weeks and the fermenter has only slowed a little to about every 4 seconds now on the airlock. I do know that almost all the mead brewers do not boil the honey or the cider for that matter, but I had a recipe from a published book of award winning brews (beer and mead), so I thought I would stay true to the recipe (which called for an hour long boil). I will report the outcome and plan to sample a little between racking :). I do appreciate the tips and plan to try this again. Maybe next time with no boil and compare the difference.

Joe in CT, curious, how much honey do your bees produce?
 
I primed and bottled the Cyser yesterday (3wks in primary, 3wks in secondary=6weeks). The OG was 1.14 and the FG was 1.000. There was a strong apple taste and it was a little bitter. I'll give it 2 weeks in the bottle and see how it turns out (I am checking it regularly for bottle bombs).
 
A question for the experienced: How long should let the Cyser age in the bottle before enjoying the fruits of my labor?
 
It's been my experiance that any cider made with honey takes a little longer to smooth out the rough edges. Brown sugar seems to take the least. My Cyser some time takes 6 months before I like it better if I can wait even longer. My same reciepe with brown sugar, much less time, maybe half.
 
So, the end result was a very good Cyser, 14-15% alcohol and a strong apple presence. it is completely different than any of my friends have tried before, but they liked it. BTW, it will kick your a_ _
 
Glad to hear your drink turned out well. As far as heating goes i think you should save some of your current cyser and do a identical batch minus the boiling. Compare the results and report. Oh and your mead will improve 5 fold after a year. Post a pic of your finished product! I wana see it
 
My hives have not been very productive. I've had a few that overwintered well but were very poor honey producers, and a couple that did fairly well. I may have gotten about 130 lbs.

130 POUNDS? That's a lot of honey, honey!
 
I made this Cyser a little over a year ago. I am still enjoying it, and time has been very good to it. The taste is bitter apple and it has a nice "tingle" to it. I have to warn everyone who drinks it not to guzzle it like beer, it will send you to La La land :D

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