This is a cyser which was started back in December and the fermentation ended in January. I made 3 gallons of it and just opened the final gallon about 2 weeks ago. I invited a friend over to drink it with me. Both him and my wife (and me too!) really liked it. My friend got drunk after 1.5 glasses and I later found out that he was raving about it to his friends. Based on that positive reaction, I figured I should share it here.
The cider portion was taken from recipes I found here and the mead portion was taken from a book I have on homebrewing.
Ingredients
2 gallons of apple cider (I had 2 one-gallon jugs of cider purchased from a farm stand)
3 lbs of clover honey
1 gallon of tap water
1.5 cups of white sugar
1 pack of Lalvin D47 yeast
Procedure
1) Put 0.5 gallon of water in a pot, add all of the honey, mix it together.
2) Heat the honey water at 140 degrees F for 20 minutes. When I did this, the heat shot up to 190 after 10 minutes, so I shut off the heat.
3) Pour 0.5 gallon of apple cider into the carboy.
4) Add half of the sugar into the remaining cider, shake the jug to mix it together, and then pour into the carboy.
5) Repeat steps 3 and 4 with the second jug of cider and remaining sugar.
6) When the honey water is at room temperature, pour into a one gallon container and then add enough water until you have a full gallon.
7) Shake the container of honey water for 10 minutes. Then pour half of it into the carboy.
8) Pitch the yeast.
9) Pour the rest of the honey water into the carboy and set the stopper/airlock.
Fermentation appeared to stop after about a month and I moved it into growlers. I was a bit impatient in terms of waiting before drinking and the glasses I had in January tasted pretty good. However, the gallon which sat untouched for 9 months tasted even better.
Here's a photo I took of the carboy the night I made it.
The cider portion was taken from recipes I found here and the mead portion was taken from a book I have on homebrewing.
Ingredients
2 gallons of apple cider (I had 2 one-gallon jugs of cider purchased from a farm stand)
3 lbs of clover honey
1 gallon of tap water
1.5 cups of white sugar
1 pack of Lalvin D47 yeast
Procedure
1) Put 0.5 gallon of water in a pot, add all of the honey, mix it together.
2) Heat the honey water at 140 degrees F for 20 minutes. When I did this, the heat shot up to 190 after 10 minutes, so I shut off the heat.
3) Pour 0.5 gallon of apple cider into the carboy.
4) Add half of the sugar into the remaining cider, shake the jug to mix it together, and then pour into the carboy.
5) Repeat steps 3 and 4 with the second jug of cider and remaining sugar.
6) When the honey water is at room temperature, pour into a one gallon container and then add enough water until you have a full gallon.
7) Shake the container of honey water for 10 minutes. Then pour half of it into the carboy.
8) Pitch the yeast.
9) Pour the rest of the honey water into the carboy and set the stopper/airlock.
Fermentation appeared to stop after about a month and I moved it into growlers. I was a bit impatient in terms of waiting before drinking and the glasses I had in January tasted pretty good. However, the gallon which sat untouched for 9 months tasted even better.
Here's a photo I took of the carboy the night I made it.
