Mead/Cider Hybrid

What do people think about using a small amount of honey, say around 12-16oz per gallon, and then making up for it with some sugar and/or juice?

I'm completely new to mead, but have an extra pack of Montrachet yeast and thinking about giving it a try. Even though it wouldn't be mead exactly, what do you think would work well for a spiced mead/cider hybrid?

When honey is in a cider and the mead character comes through, it's called a cyser.

Try it. It's quite tasty

jeburgdo said:

What do people think about using a small amount of honey, say around 12-16oz per gallon, and then making up for it with some sugar and/or juice?

I'm completely new to mead, but have an extra pack of Montrachet yeast and thinking about giving it a try. Even though it wouldn't be mead exactly, what do you think would work well for a spiced mead/cider hybrid?

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Well, you could do that, and it would likely be drinkable, but it wouldn't be mead & I'm not sure it could technically be considered a cyser either. The basic idea with mead & cyser is to get all that honey flavour or honey & apple flavour. All you get from plain sugar is alcohol. IMHO, you'd be getting a much less flavourful version of mead or cyser by using sugar. That's my 2 cents worth. Regards, GF.

I was thinking about this a bit more last night. You'll probably want to double the honey to gallon of juice ratio to get a cyser. The one I'm working on right now is 2lbs to 1 gallon. I may add a pound of brown sugar towards the end of it or I may add more honey.

Hmm. So what if I were to do something like:

1.5lb Honey
1.5lb Brown Sugar
Fill up with 2 gallon apple Juice
1 Cinnamon Stick
2 Cloves

Would that be a cyser type drink?

Oh I see you just replied. Wouldn't that get too high on the alcohol content with the sugar from the juice?

What you have there is a pretty nice sounding recipe for a cider/apple wine with honey and spices. I wouldn't get hung up over semantics. You can call it dishwater and it will still taste OK. My suggestion--when it's finished, bottle it & make some pretty labels. String together some random set of letters to make an unprounounceable name. When people ask what it is, say "It's a family recipe from back in the Old Country."

Thanks for the advice everyone. I think I'll give it a try.

Go with one clove, you will thank me. It comes through strong and you can always leave in on the spices longer to get more flavor if you choose.

It will be wassil like.

Well I would thank you Tusch, but I literally just put the airlocks on the jugs. Hopefully two cloves won't be too overwhelming, maybe I could fish one out... The final recipe was:

about 2.6lbs honey
1lb brown sugar
1gal Apple Juice
1gal water
Cinnamon Stick
1/2tsp Nutmeg
2 Cloves
2 Allspice Berries
All boiled with a sliced apple for 15min

Motrachet Yeast
OG: 1.091

Anyways, thanks for all the advice. HBT has always been amazing to me with how quick and helpful people are. Cheers

why boil it? cider can be put in the carboy without heating if it comes from a bottle as its already pasturized. 'stuff' doesnt live in honey because of the high sugar content, so it doesnt need heating, other than to be mixed with water that is warm to aid in mixing. Heating = loss of flavor for future reference.

And boiling juice or even heating it too much with set the pectins (that's how you make jam) creatic pectic haze, I suggest adding some pectic enzyme.

Hmm, I thought I had seen somewhere to boil it, but now I can't seem to remember where. Guess I really didn't have a reason.

Would I need to add the pectic enzyme immediately, or can I wait until I have a better opportunity to get back to my LHBS? Also will it have any effects on flavor if I add it?

Its not critical to add it now. Dont add too much, follow the directions, as it can alter the flavor.

And if you dont care about the clarity, dont worry about it. Setting the pectins in the AJ will just leave a haze.