Cyser recipes

I found a bunch of recipes on making a cyser, or an apple-pie mead. I was just wondering on technique, whether or not to crush the apples, skin on or off ?

Also the type of apples being used. I sort of wanna try a granny smith since it has that sourish taste to it.

I was thinking of using a ICV D47 yeast from Lalvin, since it has good aging properties, however im open to suggestions.

Im going to be using clover mixed with wildflower. I found a goldmine at 4.99/kg!

With the availability and selection of great ciders or cheap apple juices on the market, most people skip the use of real apples and just buy juice. It works just as well or better and will save you the hassle of dealing with the apples. Orchards that produce fresh pressed cider are really your best bet but its just a little out of season now. 10lbs honey, 4 gallons juice, D47 and nutrient following Hightest's advice in his sticky and you can't go wrong.

Wow, thats alot of cider or juice. I might go and try to find a good frozen concentrate with no preservatives added, because cider will be hard to come by especially now.

I kind of liked the JAO idea of just using orange quartered/eighthed to get the flavour of the fruit in the mead, it seems easy. The only problem is you dont get that much of the flavour of the fruit.

I was thinking of buying more of this wild flower/clover honey because its such a great deal, I know I wont see honey of this kind go on sale again anytime soon. Should I buy 5-6 more jars even if I keep them for a year ?

just get some tree top

incase you are unsure about brewing with treetop it has been well tested https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f25/how-many-gallons-edworts-apfelwein-have-been-made-20383/

i have have made a few batches with 10#of honey and 4 gal of treetop turns out very nice i think

I've gotten good results using fresh cider and only adding a quart or two of juiced apples (with the skins on) for variety...in the fall of course!

I've used winesaps, granny smiths, galas, and some other type I hadn't come across before- can't remember!

Hey stu, I'm in the gta too, and thinking about doing some prickly pear mead. Would you be willing to share where you found the honey on sale with me?

I found it in the flyers in my local area.

A place called "blue sky" supermarkets, its an asian store.

Right now they probobly dont have it on sale, it was just for a week! You just have to keep your eyes out on things.

If you're using actual fruit, leave those skins on, they'll add color & flavour. I've never crushed apples, but I do get my juice from the press in the orchard. I get pure MacIntosh juice, but I've found that adding some sweeter juice in the form of store-bought frozen apple juice concentrate helps to balance the flavour. I've used the D-47 in cysers & had good luck with it. My latest 3 cysers are made with either K1-V1116 or EC-1118 as these are high alcohol cysers. I've also found that a little molasses can really make a cyser's flavour pop, but a little bit goes a long way. Regards, GF.

I believe I remember reading that a "true" cyser has to be at least 51% honey...

51% of the fermentable sugars ?

I finally went back to the brewery, to buy some more hopped coopers malt extract, since this beer is the best to make. Ive noticed when you let it sit for a whole month or two the beer gets alot better and carbonated better. I need to buy me some more beer bottles so I could semi-age them!

I also picked up my D47, the guy specially ordered it for me, and only charged me the same price as any other packet of yeast!! SWEET!

Im going to be thinking of a cyser recipe, also trying to hold out for cider season. IF ANYONE has made a cyser from store bought apples and had a great result please share!!

I should wait till cider season,
but I really want to use this honey I bought because I noticed the lids on the jars open very easily, almost too easy.....i guess thats why their only 5$/kg.

GF, how much molasses are you adding? Sounds tasty and I would like to try that out.

thanks

Sum1Stu said:

51% of the fermentable sugars ?

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No, 51% honey and 49% apple juice...

All that apple juice and it sounds like my yeast wont survive in all that acid! Since its been done before, I guess ill just go with that basic recipe 10# honey and 4gal juice, with no water...

Ahh the problem is even though apple juice labels say they have no artificial ingredients, and the ingredients doesnt include sorbate or sulfites. I still think theres something in there that makes the whole product get spoiled.

I made a frutopia wine, and it has this strange taste to it, I checked the labels too it is all natural! The ferment went realllly slow, had to add more lalvin ec-1118 and the ferment didnt ever finish. I bottled it with a SG of about 1.010.

homebrewer_99 said:

No, 51% honey and 49% apple juice...

Click to expand...

That can't be right.

Pure mead is, on average, 20% honey.

I used apple juice from about 32 lbs Macintosh, 32 lbs. Gala, and 3 lbs. Granny Smith. This got me about 3 gallons of juice (I might be a bit off on the amounts, but it is close) I added approx. 1 gallon PC brand Apple Cider, and 1 gallon Organic apple juice from Sobey's (couldn't find any more PC brand). I then poured in a gallon of honey from a local Apiary. This Cyser turned out GREAT and I think I will be making it again someday.

I used Campden tablets to get rid of the wild yeast. I added dry Red Star champagne yeast and made a failed attempt at stopping fermentation, so I ended up fermenting dry.